HEALING WATERS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 601, 4 August 1933, Page 3

HEALING WATERS

eropean spas WELLINGTON TRAVELLER PAYS TRIBUTE TO ROTORUA LEGENDS AND LUXURY i Weiilngion, Wednesday. "While abroad I had the opportunity of visiting spas in England, t Germany and Italy; and found great , interest ih 'their inspection," said Dr. • , W. Simpson in the course of an interesting ' talk at the Ro lary Club's luneheon yesfcerday. "A spa," said Dr. Simpson, "is originally a spring whose healing powers had been discovered centuries J ago, and each one aecording to its contents has built up a reputation for a different disease — rheumatism, heart, kidney, alimentary traet, and liver troubles mamly. The powers of Bath waters were discovered in a strange manner. It is said that the pre Roman inhabitants were troubled ] with a disease in their swine which | was cured in the case of the herd ' that drank of ,and swam in the Bath ■ spring. The people then found it efficacious in their own troubles, and j used it freely. The Romans built ' baths there in A.D. 54, and remains of these buildings are still being ex- 1 cavated. "Many Italian waters achieve mcrit by having cured Popes centuries ago. There is a spring near Belgrade which has the reputation of curing anyone who sampled it of a taste for alcohol. I found that many of the Continental wines had the same ef- ! f ect. Holidays and Healing "The healing properties of the waters of the Italian spas have been well known all over Europe for centuries, and gradually round the | springs, magnificent cities have been | built catering for all classes of the ' population of which all grades patronise the Spas in thousands. There •> are gardens of great beauty where the Spa water is served by attendants to the hundreds of perambulating patients who are. oidcred by their doctors to walk and sip during certain periods of the day — mostly the mornings. There are fine hospitals lavishly equipped with the newest 1 apparatus for the treatment of, the. 1 various diseases they deal with, and | modern plants are installed for bottling the waters, which are exported 1 to all parts of the world. "Continental people are ' spa mind'ed' to an extent that we cannot real- j iso in our healthy country," said Dr. Simpson. "To a very large proportion of people the annual holiday | consists of a visit to one of the spas to drink and bathe in the healing waters. The curative powers of such a holiday rest in more than one factor. First, the holiday is taken fqr the express purpose of attaining health, and you have at the start the right mental attitude for recovery. Then it is usual to prescribe a routine method of living in the matter of diet | bathing and massage. The. drinking of the waters depends for its elfect not only on the curative substances in the water, but also on the mere taking of large quantities of fluid. Lucrative for Doctors "One feature that struck me was that the staff of the spas and the doctors in private practice were mostly drawn from the ranks of the famous. University professors and eminent physicians from the. cities left their usual haunts during the spa season 'and worked lucratively at one of the spas. I do not know whether it is worth anything for the tip, but don't be surprised if you hear that Dr. Gibbs and Fred Bowerbank will be practising at Rotorua or Taupo during the coming summer. "I believe we have a great spa at Rotorua, which has an extraordinary variety of curative waters to get which you would probably have to travel hundreds of miles elsewhere. The value of Rotorua is not adequate- ( ly known or advertised in New Zea- 1 land, and as Australia is very lacking in spa facilities I ara sure that an honest statement of what we have to offer could be widely advertised there and would lead to an inereasing influx of invalids each year."