LATEST TELEGRAMS.

Kumara Times, Issue 1984, 8 January 1883, Page 2

LATEST TELEGRAMS.

[new ZEALAND PRESS ASSOCIATION,] Timaru, January 5. Harvesting operations have now been commenced in this district. The crops are promising a splendid yield. There is a great scarcity of labor, and efforts made to obtain it in Dunedin and Christchurch have proved unsuccessful. Ashburton, January 5. The harvest prospects are magnificent, and are exceeding most sanguine expectations. Numerous crops are being harvested and in the course of a week cutting will be general. Wanganui, January 5. John Wilson, farm laborer, committed suiede this afternoon by drinking arsenic from a bottle at Craig’s Wairoa farm. He was brought into Wanganui Hospital and died ten minutes after his admission. Before taking the poison, Wilson threatened Mrs Craig and family with a revolver, and is believed to have been insane. January 6. At an inquest on John Wilson today, there was a verdict of temporary insanity, one out of thirteen jurymen dissenting. The evidence showed that Wilson took a pound of arsenic, and that the cause was a love affair, EXHIBITION OF POWER TO CURE DISEASES. Wellington, January 6. Milner Stephen yesterday afternoon gave an exhibition of his power to cure at the Athenaeum Hall, which was kindly lent for the occasion. It was crowded to excess, it being estimated that fully 700 persons were present; among them was the Hon, Thos. Dick and Drs. Key worth and Hutchinson. No charge was made for admission to the hall, or to those who received treatment. On ascending the stage Mr Stephen said this was the first opportunity in New Zealand that he had of lecturing, and he wished to make a few explanations as to the power with which he had been gifted by the Almighty. He had for a long period earnestly prayed to God to give him power to do some great work before he died, and this wish had been bestowed. It occurred in this manner: Mr Stephen was at the house of a gentlemen in Sydney who had been deaf for ten years, when the thought came to the former that he could cure him, and at once he set about to carry out the idea, being successful in restoring hearing after the third treatment. He read several extracts from Australian newspapers of cures he had effected, and also an affidavit of medical officers of St. George, Melbourne, as to his ability to cure cancer. He mentioned several other wonderful cures he had effected, the principal of which, the total blindness of a woman in Sydney who had been given up by r the medical advisers as incurable, and that of lengthening a young lady’s leg seven inches. She had suffered from hip disease, and this had drawn up her leg. After his passing his hands down the thigh the hip commenced to grow—two inches on the first, three on the second, and then its natural length. The fact of his being endowed with this wonderful power had reached all quarters of the globe, and only a short time back he received a letter from a lady in Germany asking

him to send her some of his power to cure her husband. He denied that his cures were only temporary, and contended that they were even more permanent than those of doctors. About 30 cases were treated by Mr Stephen yesterday, those suffering pain being first taken. A lady was the first to appear, suffering from rheumatic fever, disease of the longs, and pains in her legs. Stephens made passes about the legs and, breathing on a piece of red flannel, placed it on the parts affected, when the sufferer appeared to be considerably relieved. Her husband was then treated for epileptic fits. After having his head stroked he was told that he might have one more fit, but that would be the last. Another old lady who had been suffering from rheumatics called down the blessing of the Almighty for having been relieved from pain. Four or five cases of long standing deafness were then treated with varying success. The larger number of cases of deafness were the result of cold after an attack of measles. The next case was one that can fairly be said to be wonderful, and Mr Stephen was loudly cheered. This was a young girl named Dora Hathaway, about five years of age, daughter of a resident at Masterton, and she had suffered from paralysis, which rendered it necessary for her to be carried about. Mr Stephen took the child on his knees, and after stroking her legs for a couple of minutes he put her down, and she ran across to her father. This was the most successful case during the day. A case of partial blindness was acted upon, but it was not successful, although the patient stated that he could see innumerable bubbles of light. A woman who had been deaf for 20 years was treated so that she could hear the tick of a watch. A lad suffering from asthma was relieved, and could breathe freely. A man named Ironmonger, who had lost the sight of one eye, had it improved, and a lad about 9 years old, named Upham, partially blind, stated he could see the people around him. He also treated with more or less success a number of other cases comprising pains in the head and chest, deafness, rheumatism, injury to spine, paralysis, blindness, spinal contortion, bent knee, sciatica, and gout. Mr Stephens in his treatment uses only a silver tube, through which he breathes on the various parts of the body, red flannel wadding, and magnetised oil. A bottle of magnetised oil or water was presented to each patient when leaving the hall. Another exhibition of a .similar nature will be given next Saturday.