Abstract
The basis for this essay has been founded on the regulations that were introduced into New Zealand in the early twentieth century to curtail the activities of quacks, with all their fallacious and therapeutic will-o-the-wisp cures. The continuing success of quackery, already rampant and entrenched in New Zealanders' lives, has called for an exploration into the prevailing attitudes that engendered the implicit faith and harsh declamations surrounding such a vital, if virulent, section of New Zealand society. [extract from Preface]