Dear Sir,—Hearing that you are about to publish some account of the Hot Springs at Waiwera, it has occurred to me that you may think my experience of their healing qualities worth relating. I left England for New Zealand in the year 1851; during the voyage out I was attacked by Rheumatic Gout; I was so ill that I could not walk, and had to be carried from the boat which landed me at St. George's Bay. Seeing a very well written notice in the Auckland newspapers, which described, in the George Robin's style, the virtues of your Hot Springs, and the beauties of the surrounding neighbourhood, I, although an unbeliever in these kind of advertisements, resolved to try the healing effects of the Waiwera (Hot Springs) on my Rheumatic Gout. Communication with the different parts of the coast was not then as it is now, and I had to wait for more than a week. At last, Captain Daldy was kind enough to take me in his boat to Waiwera, and I was most kindly received by the persons who were then in the occupation of your cottage. The result of my visit was much beyond my expectations, for, what with the virtues of the Springs, and good nursing, I, who for some weeks before could not walk, was, after a ten days' sojourn at the Springs, able to take part in a cricket match the day after my return to Auckland.

During my stay at Waiwera, I remember a lady of the name of Videl, come down there; her case was much worse than mine, for she had lost the use of her limbs; I used to see her carried on a litter to the bath. After a few weeks stay at the Springs, I met her walking about Auckland, and no one would have known that she had ever been ill; I believe she never experienced a return of Rheumatism.

The community have to thank you for the spirited manner in which you have undertaken the task of rendering these Springs a benefit to invalids; and I hope that the enterprise will not only be a benefit to the sick, but also to yourself, in a pecuniary point of view.