REPORT ON ALLEGED CURES

NZ Truth, Issue 1255, 19 December 1929, Page 1

REPORT ON ALLEGED CURES

Public Should Be Told About Claims of White, Ward and Clapham

OFFICIAL DELAY MENACE TO HEALTH . (Prom "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative). iiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiininiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiuuiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiu<^ ,

i New Zealand within the last couple of months has seen two sensational claims by lay- | 1 men to be able to cure and alleviate dread scourges that have been responsible annually | | for a large number of deaths. First came Mr. L. N. White, who declared that he had | | cured himself of cancer by his own kerosene cure, and now comes the Rev. Edward f I Ward, vicar of the Church of Ascension, Point Chevalier, Auckland, who claims to have | | discovered a cure for tuberculosis. . * §. | Neither claim can as yet be accepted, least of all that of White, and it is possible \ | that irreparable harm will be done if the public blindly accepts the claims as put | | forward. In the face of this, it is difficult to explain the casualness which has charac- 1 | terised the Health Department's investigation of the two claims, and some explanation is \ | certainly required from 'the. .Minister -of the delays which have occurred. |

=:iiiiiiiiiuiniiimiiiuiiimiiiiiiiiii(iiiiiiitiiiiiiiiii(miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiirii MR. WHITE'S remarkable claim was advanced six or eight weeks ago. and within a few days the Health Department announced that it was undertaking;'a thorough- investigation into the alleged cure and Mr. "White's claim -to have rid himself of a cancerous growth. ■ But since then the department has been successful only m maintaining a barrage of -silence. . ,',, Something like three wefeks ago, Dr. M. H. Watt, deputy Director-general of Health, informed "Truth" that the Department was "only awaiting certain particulars from Auckland before finalising Its report, but. so far as the public is the Department is as far off presenting art authoritative statement, on the subject as ever. The whole matter has been handled, with a , casualness that is simply astounding. There was imperative need for .speed,- but the department has dawdled to such an extent that, had it been a race, the tortoise would have far outstripped it. It is for Minister of Health Stallworthy to give his department a sound shaking up, and to impress upon the departmental officers that such matters as these are urgent and the decision is required upon them m this decade, not m the next. , With the Rev. Ward's claim, the. position is. somewhat different; for the announcement of his alleged cures was not made until a fortnight ago. But if the matter is handled by the department m the same way as it has handled White's claim, the public may expect to know the result of any investigation by about April or May of next year. . Yet both are matters of vital im- ; portance, involving"! as they do, . the | health of thousands of citizens. If the claims are exaggerated and farfetched, immeasurable harm may -be done; for sufferers, not doubting for a moment of the genuineness of the claims put forward, entrust themselves

to the care of the claimants, and are consequently deprived of the benefit of expert medical attention. A cure is not effected, and the interval which has elapsed, has seen a further extension and growth of the disease. It is even possible that by trusting to the cure-claimants and excluding the medical profession, the patient enables the disease, if it be in-' fectious, to spread to other persons. Obviously, very great harm can be done, and whenever any medical men Or laymen advance claims to be able to cure such diseases as <janeer and T.B. their claims should be subjected to an immediate and searching investigation, the result of which should be announced with as little delay as is 1 possible. "Truth" does not, accept or reject the claims of Messrs. White and Ward, although- it believes that the former's claim will not be substantiated and considers that Mr. 'White mistook some other growth for a cancer. But what this paper does insist upon is that sufferers should place no reliance m either claim until such time as competent, medical experts pronounce them to be genuine.

White's claim has already been fully discussed by this paper, and when the announcement . of Mr. Ward's alleged c«rp was made, "Truth" interviewed the Point Chevalier clergyman. He was perfectly open and frank up to a point, but was decidedly reticent m other ways. Hailing from near Kawhia, North Auckland, Mr. Ward stated that- for about three years he had been using his cure with the utmost success. • He first came to know of the New Zealand shrub which forms the basis of his medicine through a friend who mentioned that this plant contained valuable medicinal properties, and being a qualified pharmaceutist, Mr. Ward experimented with the plant and certain other well-known drugs. The result he asked sufferers of tuberculosis to try. When he commenced to obtain definite and successful results, he considered that at last he had discovered a cure for the dread disease. He approached several medical men, after he' had definite proof of what he claimed, but he found that they refused to recognise his discovery, until he at last found one doctor who is even now using it and has been doing so for some time. Mr. Ward told "Truth" that he had never yet treated a case of haemorrhage without being thoroughly successful. Ward's Recipe V It was not only the medicine, said Mr. Ward, that effected the cure, it was also the following of a strict set of rules m regard to diet and exercise. His methods m that respect followed the lines used m the German School of Medicine, and the mixture itself, which was m the form 1 of a powder,, was harmless and pleasant to take. So many cures had, been effected, according to Mr. Ward, during the last three years that there was m his opinion not the slightest doubt of the efficiency of it m the majority of cases. Where one Auckland doctor had been using his medicine, there were now two — both members of the B.M.A. : It was not his purpose to make any profit out of the discovery, but •he would pass it on for a nominal fee of 9d per week to pay for out-of-pocket expenses. Mr. Ward, m describing the medicine, stated that It was composed of a. N,ew Zealand plant, and combined with this were certain mineral salts that were used extensively m a German medical school. It was not his' intention' to disclose the recipe, but 'he could say that the mixture, while having no specific action on the. tubercle bacillus, had remarkable tonic properties. The powder is made ready for use by pourIng" "water on it. Mr. Ward has titled his medicine "Koiranui," or .Big Cure, and, according to Mr. B. C. Aston, of the Chemistry section of the Department of Agriculture, it is made from Kumarahou, a common plant of the gumlands of the Auckland province. : It is known among the miners as j

iiiimmiiinmiiiiiiuimimiiimiiiiiiimiimiimiiiiiiimiiimiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^ "poverty," and m scientific circles as pomaderris elliptica. When Mr. Ward was asked by ■ "Truth" to give the names of some of the people who had benefited by his cure, he refused to do so, and m spite of an assurance that the identity of the persons would not be disclosed, he would not alter his decision. These cure claimants are, at the moment, as common' as political promises during an election, and besides Messrs. White and Wuru, tnere is Mr. Herbert Clapham, an Auckland medical botanist, who claims to have discovered cures for tuberculosis, neuritis [and rheumatdid. -arthritis. , interviewed by '"Truth," Mr. Clapham, declared that i'or many years he was resident m Nelson, and that while there he was challenged by the medical men of that town to cure a case of T.B. that was considered as hopelass. ■ : Mr. Clapham declares that he was ' successiui, and that after six months the patient was able to leave his bed, ! and that later he was married. "Truth" has not been able to investigate this alleged cure, which was effected m 1892, but it resulted m a petition, signed by 8000 residents, being presented to Parliament, asking for the 1 recognition of Mr. Clapham's cure. The Nelson City Council was also interested m the matter, and much publicity was -. accorded the affair at the time; Mr. Clapham's composition, accord- , ing to what he told "Truth," includes a New Zealand drug, and, ' unlike Mr. Ward's cure, is m the form of a liquid, not a powder. "I honestly believe that I have got the nearest thing to a cure for tuberculosis m the world," said Mr. Clapham. "No one medicine will cure the disease, because when T.B. sets m it brings a lot of other troubles, making

a. group of diseases that must be combated. "It is essential to get the human machinery working before any good will result, and I have here a full course that if followed will have definite results." Mr. Clapham furnished "Truth" with the names of several" of his patients and accompanied this paper's representative on a visit to them, but the success or otherwise of his treatment is not a matter which this paper can determine. The Department of Health is investigating' the claims of Messrs. Ward and White, and, since Mr. Clapham is m business and is treating patients, it should also 1 thoroughly inquire into his so-called cure also. "Truth"- does not doubt the bona-fides of these three individuals, but it considers that their claims cannot be accepted unti} investigated and tested by medical experts. If it is proved that they are genuine cures, then the public should be told so; if the claims are disproved and' rejected, then the individuals concerned should, be prevented from treating patients or selling their remedies. And if the present legislation does not permit this, then Minister of Health Stallworthy should see that the necessary amendments ; to the Health Act are made to enable the department to take a.ctioni