1.—14.

J. E. S. LOED.j

67

1, John Watt, gas engineer, late of Dunedin, did, by suggestion, relieve and remove the following cases of acute suffering during the Exhibition, where I was in charge of the Christchurch Gas Company's Court: One evening a lady attendant in the Stall of the Mint, Messrs. Stokes and Co., had to go home early in the evening suffering from so severe a cold that it was impossible to hear her voice unless within a foot of her, and then with difficulty. I volunteered to cure her if she would do as directed ; which she willingly promised. I told her to retire to bed at 10.30 (at which time I should be free, and on the street going home, and free to send suggestion), and to remember that I told her that at 10.30 she would be cured of her cold, and that she would fall into a sound sleep, on awakening from which the cold would be entirely gone, and not the slightest trace would remain. She left about 7.30, promising to do as directed. Next morning about 9 o'clock she came up to me at the stall, and laughingly remarked, "What do you think of me now?" and in a voice as clear as a bell, explaining it as the most marvellous experience of her life. Shortly after she left a gentleman in charge of one of the wine courts came to me with a bottle of wine in his hand, which he had gone to give to the lady referred to, to be taken hot, as he had seen the lady the previous evening suffering from such a severe cold, and had promised to bring round the wine; but the lady was gone, and he expressed amazement at what he termed the most marvellous cure of the age. These facts were well known in the Exhibition, for the lady was far from keeping it a secret, and brought quite a number of her friends to be relieved and cured of toothache, earache, neuralgia, headache, &c. I have relieved and cured over thirty cases in the Exhibition alone, which fact was well Known, as it was a common joke in the Exhibition that every ache or pain could be removed at the Gas Company's stall free of charge by a little fellow with one eye, who had simply to look or speak, and all would vanish at the time or place he would mention; in fact, I could give an instance of one case that was cured by giving instructions through the telephone, the companion of a lady who had been cured of a severe attack of neuralgia, and whom I had never seen till she came to thank me for the wonderful miracle, as she termed it. Amongst the most striking cases of cure by suggestion and passes in my experience in the Exhibition alone were lady attendants at the stalls of Sargood, Son, and Ewen, Aulsebrook, Atlas Confectionery, Bohemian Glass Stall, Cherry Tea-rooms (quite a number), Maoris in charge of Cook Island Court, together with quite a cumber of young lads suffering from toothache. These cases were extreme cases of intense pain, even to tears. I have had several cases of deafness, where the persons referred to had been treated by several doctors without success, and in several instances the results of a few treatments were astonishing—one particularly, Mrs. Abbot, of Dundas Street, Dunedin, aged eighty-four, who for years had to use an ear horn or trumpet, but after a course of some eight treatments extending over some five weeks, of about half an hour's duration, she could hear the tick of a watch. Other cases could be named, but the power of suggestion is absolutely undeniable unless by those who have never had the time, opportunity, or inclination to study the subject, either as a hobby or a science. I might say that of all the cases I have had the pleasure of treating and curing I have never received one single penny, my sole motive being the pleasure of being able to remove pain and suffering from my fellow-men by a gift, power, or knowledge I seem to possess. I have nothing to gain materially by this testimony, but if there is any power, force, or influence that can benefit suffering humanity, it certainly ought to be encouraged, instead of being hampered for the sake of the favoured few. My name is sufficiently well known throughout the colony to know that what I commit to paper are undeniable facts, no matter how much we may agree to differ. J. Watt, Angus Avenue, Wellington. P. S., of Cuba Street, Wellington, suffered for years from ulcerated stomach, which doctors of Victoria or this colony failed to relieve or cure. He was unable to retain food, and was not expected to live, and was given up as incurable by a doctor of this city. Ten weeks of magnetic treatment by a resident of Wellington, Mrs. , cured him, and he has had no return of the disease for four and is now strong and healthy. S. M. was an inmate of the Wellington Hospital for nine months with paralysis and curvature of the spine, and was sent home as incurable. She was taken on a mattress, in an emaciated and dying condition, to a mental healer, and after three months' treatment she was strong and well.