Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1894. THE HACKETT CASE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4748, 15 June 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1894. THE HACKETT CASE.

SECOND EDITION

Tut: Supremo, Court' juries have plnyed havoc with the damsels young and the Indies old whom our " bold 'gendarmes" have arrested nud prosecuted, In this instance common sense lms come in at the jury stngo and condemned the somewhat cruel raid which lms been recently made on harmless nndunprotectcdfemalcs, Of course there is no doubt that in the case of the medium Hackett there was, to put it mildly, a palpable deception, and even the most credulous person would bo slow to believe that he curried phosphorised oil about with him to cure his corns. Tho very pcoplo, however, whom he duped—the spiratualists of Wellington and the Wairnrapa—do not demand that such a man should be punished by aterm of imprisonment. They know that professional mediums aro, liable to yield to temptation in exhibiting their powers, and that Hackett is only one of very many who have succumbed and been guilty of dishonest practices. In spiritualistic seances the spirits control the medium, i-ncl not the medium the spirits, and it often hnppens that whon a number of people have assembled round a noted medium, and paid for their privilege, the spirits don't work, don't appear, and thp_ unfortuuato medium has two alternatives before him. He must cither refund tho money or do a littlo hanky-panky with muslin and phosphorised oil. We'do not doubt that Mr Hackett was a genuine medium at certain times whon the spirits worked for him, and that at others ho was a charlatan when the spirits struck, and he had to cither imitate theni or refund tho money. Deceptions liko that which was apparently practiced by Mr Hackett are frequent enough in spiritualistic experiences, and investigators', of spiritualistic phenomena-, while they deplore and regret them, do not attach undue importance to them, because they are ablo in a measure to discriminate between the true and falso aspects of a seance. They don't want tho Supreme Court or any other authority to intervene on their behalf, for they can' themselves do their own detective work, and where necessary expose a fraudulent practice, However, if tho " bold <7«ndurmei" have done nothing else they hayo.given the spiritualistic and occult arts a grand advertisement throughout the colony, and probably [ ina quiet way tbodemand for seances and palmistry delineations will he greater than ever. ', '.'"'

I Tub pvoceetlings at St. Mattliow's parish meotiiig. -Jrtst evening' were ludicrous in the'extairio and the less said about thorn; tho; better!'' Some dozen years ago ov sbthupiiriilhvns lin a worso muddle than it is now [although., this : moy appear to bo ;

incredible. We refer to the time! when tho Ravi Mr Teaekle took his' 1 departure from Masterton.. The best menjn the congregation then came forward, and forming a yestry, put matters on a proper footing, and without diffioulty provided ways and means. Now the best men in the congregation won't accept office and on more than one occasion, we will not say Jews, Turks, and Infidels, but certainly Wesleyanß, have been pressed to toko office. It would he

for better to shut up the Church altogether than to, place it in the humiliating position which it occupied last evening.