ALLEGED DISCOVERY OF CANCER CURE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 10

ALLEGED DISCOVERY OF CANCER CURE.

j Sir.^Allow.-me . .to.: refer, to.: my, Nel-- , ison' rori-Mjxjiidorit, tho .notably vigorons and ] tearless ' Captain 'Klk" Tanner; .whose "ex-" ploits .and -enterprises have mado -his namb , a household /.word iri some parts of-Austo- ] lia and; of .New' Zealand. Born at Mulgoa in , 1863, ho was but ; eleven years' old' when -lie j witnessed--tho" performances of M. Blo'ndin- - ( ■ia;.;the' Sydnoy -JDomain, -and not' ; loiig after-' ] wards inade his public debut atr a-' boy : "tight-' ;] 'walker, a tour of the Continent, ; visiting.'lndia and. Africa, and crowning his '( rope-walking . feats ::.by . orossmg tho; Blow' < Holo.at : Baama. Ho then bccamo a famedballoonist and-.parachutist; also an intrepid i and-enduring diver-,-:and then, convinced' i -that; ; fasting - was' a .fnndr' unfailing., j condition oi restoring, promoting; and pre- ] serving-'health,' and 'to test and show .how' "] far it might bo 'Safely carried, ho fasted' j foitj daj-a and nights, first at Melbourne; i then at Broken Hill, and then at Adelaide,' , and again, for 21 days and nights at Syd- ( ncy and again at Wanganui, taking no food i .but about a pjntj;of ■ water per day: and .in ' each instance -J}eing"-under keen hiedical sur- j veiilance. As a result of his. experience as; - food-abstainer, aild it' is over fifteen years' < pinco. ho began his abstemious course, ho. i states that no chas. had-the. best of:health, , t and,ki-sr'demonstrated.that.:"mostvof, our. 'j trouble and disease' arise,from the -stomach;' • and that,'if wo dealt moro mercifully - with j .thislcenfiral digestive, organ; would t bo frSction, and human lifo ] would y be, substantially _ - ; Then; ] Ayith ; of born, inventor,' He ) 'gave his''at.tenti6n"to -.'the; construction ,of an 1 ' iinsinkable.' lifoooat';';; and t - after' 7various" at- : : tempts constructpd ; ,a-i barrel-shaped ket-ch- 1 '.rigged vessel, on. which,, with fivo comrades, . 1 •tw<»'-yeftifs'^o. : .;jast'i'in^th'JiJ» - ' ( •from Sunnier -to' •,Timairu, 'and was greeted t on tho mam wharf by a crowdiof spectators. t "Tanner's Ark" : failed to inspire public con- i fidenco, but:.xievor.. ; ;lost: its builder's, who J declares iit- unsinkable,. and a model life- (

Y0t,.1,L jsubmit, ..Captain Tanner -has other/and. higher claims than these his wonderful, exploits; can give. Ho is by instinct a naturalist, an intuitive student" and lover'-of>Nature--imd;y.'6till more, ho is a philanthropist. _■ MoreJ-modcflt yet -nobler ; than all his .of cool intrepidity and fortituao-iliavo- iieCn those yeais of investigation : intb'v tlie'' cause or causes, and tKo possible'cu'rc/iof rt)iat fell:disease, can- ! cor, that is'ibV; : d&imatirig !this colony, as 'it is the most civilised-nations of the world. In a letter to thb jfekon "Evening Mail"! of March 9 rlhst;;'. Captain .-.Tanner states that' for sixteen years'ho li'as'pursued invostiga-, tiona in. various; lands,-and is convinced that' cancer, is ouraßle, that "its cause is deep and persistent as_ the" erroneous habits and indulgence of civilisation, and that he has discovered and verified a cure nnd preventive.' He desires to.makel:this.kuown in the fullest widest manner, and to do so proposes 'to' procoed . to London, and lay his investigations and their results - b'eforo tbo Cancer Research . Fund -authorities. He had already offered to do so before medical health officers at Adelaide, hut his offer was . declined, although urged l -by tho lato Mr. Kingston, the then Premier of South Aus. tralia. It appeared to him, as it must to others, a reasonable condition that if Cap- j tain! Tanner proved by taking/and successfully treating cancer cases chosen by the doctors, ho enould bo coinpeimated. TbofacitJ

.was.and is that ail the Captain's enterprises •and achievements have left him a poor, in fact, a deplenished, man. Honce, no- recently appealed to Sir Joseph Ward for 'a bonus of £50 to maintain his wife and children during bis absonce, whilst he would S ti'"' s P ass:l S 0 to and from England. This the Premier declined to do, saying he had no fund for such a purpose. And yet, Sir, thousands of pounds have been annually found, and wasted upon a Vaccination Establishment, although thoro is not, or has been a single caso of -sui*ll-pox in the colony! What then remains? Self-help! So the Captain intends, when winter is over and gone, to make a. lecturing tour—to give the story of his lifo and adventures, and his investigations and experience in relation to public health. Personally, Captain Tanner is a- stranger to ine. I only know him ,through correspondence, but believing that ho is sincere and truth-loving, and'as lie is undoubtedly brave, I feel certain that if lie will disclose and test without any, disguising fold whatever all ho knows and can do for the reduction and prevention of one of . the 1 most insidious and terrible of human maladies, ho will, assuredly receive! as lie Avill deservo, the gratitude and ready , assistance of tho people of New Zealand.—l am, etc., ' . EDWIN. COX. Cambridge, July 4, 1909.