The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 45

Extract From New Zealand Herald

Extract From New Zealand Herald,

13th September, 1875.

The Hot Springs of Waiwera, little over twenty miles from Auckland, deserves more attention than they have yet received, Their value as a hygienic and medicinal restorative is beyond question. The number of persons who have derived permanent benefit from a visit to them, and even a short residence in their neighbourhood, is very great. Those who have experienced this benefit are emphatic in their enconiums of the attention they received during their stay at the Hot Springs from the manager of the excellent Hotel which has been established at Waiwera. The proprietor of the land upon which this establishment stands has, by means of a most liberal expenditure, improved the house and grounds so that the accommodation provided shall be commensurate with all the requirements which would serve to give pleasure and comfort to the ordinary visitor, and ease and retirement to the invalid. The water is also ærated, and bottled similar to soda water, and in this state retains all its medicinal qualities, and is pleasant to take. The surrounding country presents many features of attraction. The proprietor is putting up a new wing to the Hotel. The grounds are laid out in flower-gardens and vineyards, paddocks for cricket and field sports. The Springs are contiguous to the German and English settlements of Puhoi and Warkworth. There are interesting caves along the coast. Almost opposite, and accessible by an open boat, is Sir George Grey's delightful Island of Kawau. The beach and bays which indent it are rich in shells. For the enjoyment of leisure, or in quest of renewed health, this place is one of the most interesting and valuable in the Colony.

Extract from Daily Southern Cross, of 8th September, 1875.

It is very gratifying to learn that the number of visitors to the Waiwera (Hot Springs) has this year been so numerous, that the enterprising proprietor is now making arrangements for the completion of a new wing to the Hotel, containing fifty additional bed-rooms, and a commodious billiard-room. Our advertising columns have for some months past contained testimonials as to the efficacy of the Hot Springs in curing Rheumatism, Sciatica, Scrofula, Gout, and Skin Diseases, and from the above-mentioned fact of further Hotel extension being required, it would appear that their name and fame must be extending to the Southern Provinces and the sister colonies. It would be difficult to conceive a more charming spot where the healthy could disport themselves for a holiday season; and to the sick, suffering from any of the above-stated complaints, it is sheer folly to drag on a miserable existence, while such preponderating probabilities exist of a speedy and most agreeable cure being effected. There are no nauseating draughts to swallow. The water itself is pleasant to the taste, and is mostly drunk by the bather on entering the bath and leaving. The additional accommodation which is now to be provided, will meet the wants of patients who are not blessed with a plethora of cash; but it is the aim of the proprietor to ensure the utmost comfort to both first and second-class boarders, whilst residing at the Hotel; and with this view, extensive gardens have been laid out to please the eye; music, croquet, and other games are provided; and every delicacy of the season to tempt the palate.

Extract from Evening Star, 10th September, 1875.

To residents in this city it is unnecessary to give a description of Waiwera, but by a large body of our people we believe the fact is hardly realized that we have, within a pleasant trip of a few hours steaming, one of the most remarkable in the world, of those strange chemical laboratories in which Nature herself compounds her medicines for the healing of the ills to which flesh is liable. From the testimony of those who have personally called on us to express the wonderful relief and cures they have experienced, we could afford strong evidence that at Waiwera we have a boon provided which might truly be regarded as a blessing from Heaven. The surprising cures that are now of frequent occurrence from bathing in and drinking of the waters, have been rapidly producing effect on the popular mind, and a place that a year or two ago had only infrequent visitors, has now become so popular that the large hotel is always crowded, and the proprietor is about to add fifty additional bed-rooms. Nothing could better express the manner in which the character of the Springs has asserted itself, and we venture to say that as the days roll on the fame of the Springs will be soon such that invalids from all the colonies will come trooping in thousands, and sound the praises of Waiwera far and wide. The little pamphlet now appearing will tend largely to this end, for in a graphic style it truthfully tells the rare attractions of the place. The healing powers of Waiwera, and the simple sylvan, quiet beauty of the surroundings, will ever make it a favourite resort for invalids. Pending the hoped-for connection of the telegraphic wire, we have endeavoured to assist the enterprising proprietor, by maintaining connection between that little sequestered cove and Auckland, through the agency of our feathered messengers.

Extract from the Auckland Echo, July 20th.

The virtues of the water of the Hot Springs at Waiwera are only, after many years use and experience, becoming generally known and appreciated. Of late years the enterprise of the proprietor of the adjacent land has provided the necessary accommodation for visitors of all classes, and the value of the Springs, and opportunities for using them, are becoming more widely known, which is proved by the fact of visitors, who, arriving from time to time from a distance, will, beyond a doubt, again carry back into all parts of the colonies, the account of the wonderful restorative powers which, in certain cases, these waters possess. To old settlers about the adjacent settlements their value has been long known, especially for Rheumatic affections. More than sixteen years ago—at which time the only accommodation near the Springs was a small bush public-house, a bath could only be obtained by digging out a hole in the sand on the beach, into which the water flowed, and the bather lying down stopped in it till the sand gradually filled in under him, and left him lying on the beach again. The writer recollects an Australian miner, completely crippled with Rheumatism, scarce having the use even of his hands, spending some three months at Waiwera, and leaving as hale and sound as he ever was in his life. No such specific for this disease can, we believe, be found in the world as the Hot Springs at the Waiwera, the water being used for both drinking and bathing purposes.

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