MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1600, 14 September 1885, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

— ♦ In an article on the Land Bill of which the House passed the third reading last week, the Melbourne Argus°says:— "It looks as if th»- New Zealand lawgivers will have runsj thu changes on every conceivable nos-trnm and specific for umna^ins: the agricultural litisiuessof the people, except the common sense, one of letting tl o people manage it themselves : and alt'iough all the Australasian Col ones might send quaint and curious educational . •xlfiint-i i» the way of land legislation to Jviiilh Kensington, New Zealand would prol»aMy t »ke the prize tliere after all."

r.-M )-nr: of the medical c!;iii'voy.i.i i.n )')stnre. A cont/tbntor with tin tun* de guerre. ->f "Muvellas " wem :.i! (to .xoiae of the " clairvoyants' >.;;iii<in^ in t!i« city, submitted ; s;"i-'3 of t-HtS, took note, of U'h ;t th"} still, an I fully dr-Wili.ul the circum ?'-u:ces attending the interviews. Tlji conclnsinn he arrived at is that tb( wljvile thing, is a shallow fraud, and that the Legislature on.^ht to step in hv the protection ot the public. Tlu medical clairvoyant business in Mcl bourne is a thriving one. Its professors o'-cuny well appointed houses, and eamu,re folk consult them. It is eurnng that such crednliy can prevail among educated people. The "clairv yant," is a man who ha 3 had no medicil training, yet people take his prescrip'ion*?, and place implicit con fi dtMiceinhistlingnosisof thcircasesmade by tlie practitioner when in apret«nd"d fc-*M«ice. Tlie pip?r.s of " Ma»-o. l]<i<" h ive shown up the extreme folly of flip whole procedure. A« lonjr n<? ■"clairvoyant" can confine himself *o v.i-jue j»eneralif.ies he often epcapes m:ikin£{ extraofdinary hliiiuiers. but n^ 8 »on as he is confronted wi'.h a sp.'fifc disease, or asked a specific question, like the n<je ov sex of the pn tient wbo<?a lock of hait i< before hi-n, be is com-;)!-t-ly at fault. I-i the tests referred to the sa-ne lock of hsur.was snlj-uitted thion times over, and ent.tr, \y dif i'orent aecotvits of ths owner were .riven each tune. Fortunetellers are. no .oilier allowed to receive remittances f-'n-otujli tlu» p'HtofHv, and these nv-flical charlatans should be treated m fcJie same way. • T!»^v not only trifle with the health ofcredulonsppople, they are liable to mike statements in the' so called trance affoctinj* rhe poace. of families. One of tbe mnst noticablw j failures mide by a ileibonrne medical j •clairvoyant" was his innbility to j detect anything wrong with a chronic j asthmatic. The impnst.er also not only failed to detect diabetes in another pitipnt, but described the j sate of his urinary sy.rte.in as beinj; ! exactly the reverse of what is found in this disease. But while human nature HMnains what it is charlatanry will nuke, its ijriins. Vast numbers of People are content to believe in f;vlse liiiracles without tronbii'm <o investiirite their fraudulent p!i'»no-nena, and so considerable siv.'cess is hoinc; m:ide in various p-irts of t.)ie world by professors who deal in di(f.»rent forms of spirtualtstic moclinmship. Economy, pubic and private, must | be our Wiitciiword (says the. Chris!- j churc'.i Pfeßs), not merely £or the present, but for all time to come, if we, wish to be saved from the constant recurrence of these periods of depression. The cycles of trade are chit-fly ■ caused by a period of'trroat extravagance beiiijj allowed to follow a period of great repression. Economy is rather a drab-colouied virtue. It. is easy to sneer at it, and call it living J in a wliare on roots. But it is pleaeant«r to live in a wharo free of debt ! than in a palace with an execution in | the house, [f the electors will but remember their private affairs, and insist upon their members remembering j it iv their conduct of public- affairs, I we should very soon have nothing of tbe depression left but au unpleasant memory. Tv writing of the Duke of Arqryle's attack upon his old friends and Lord Rose 'cry's skittish rsply to the M- Call urn More (writes the London correspondent x)f the Ar^is), I oti^ht j to have mentioned that whilst the fluke himself is visibly drifting towards Conservatism, his son and heir (Lord Lome), who vns thought to have adopted it wit!, hi-- -vife, i* {join;,' out more an 1 more niio t'lie lladical country. T!i« ehan (^? w'.ich hasc-rnc \ over the noble marqui^siiice hi' 'vt'irn I ffom Canada is surprising. Hi* progresses by leaps and bonu.K. and the other ni^lit, whilst bis fathe- was discliiim'mj; funously a^ai.ist M- Chamberlain as a M::iif;rer of the Crown, his son was s-».yin^ t): : + if he had his way he would put Mr P.-irnell into the Cabinet. The f >:':> are asking if this is thi; result of tne reaction from tlio s 'V< j re re.ifciiiiiits of a matrimonial connection with Uih Court.