THE TEMPERATURE IN CENTRAL OTAGO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13209, 16 February 1905, Page 10

THE TEMPERATURE IN CENTRAL OTAGO.

Sin,—ln one of your late issues I notice special mention made that at Port Chalmers the thermometer recorded 93deg in the sun. Here to day at 2 p.m. the thermometer read 105deg in the sun and 90 in .'the shade. Three weeks ago for two consecutive days —Saturday, and Sunday—tho -thermometer read 100 in the shade at 2 p.m. It is thia excessive dry heat'that enables this district to grow the finest wheat and barley in Otago, . and gives such a luscious flavour to all fruit grown here. Almonds and figs are also grown to perfection; and our .grapes have been famous for many a year. Now that it is possible to send fruit from' here in one day: Dunedinitcs in the near future can prepare themselves for. a : ' treat. This season," unfortunately, has been an adverse one for fruit culture,—l am, ctc., ' ■ . Lewis Habris. . Cromwell, February 13.

- THE DRINK' PROBLEM."' -TO.-.THK RDiTOII. . Sir,—l had hoped to liavo given you, your readers, and myself a rest for a time—as far, at. least,, a3 any contributions of mine to this discussion aro conccriic'd, —but Mr A. S. Adams's lettor in your issue of the 7th inst. contains such a very remarkable medley of what ho terms " authorities*" but which I think he cotild more correctly have described as "absurdities," that I.will ask your jier- ; mission to draw attention to them. He numbers his paragraphs as if they were con. elusion's of iriafheniatical accuracy and valiio, and ! will deal with them as briefly as possiblo in the "order in which lie gives thorn. The first and second paragraphs are example of what may be termed, wo will say, pardonable rhetorical exaggeration. The third paragraph is a Quotation from a certain Dr Norman Korr (date 1879), in which he says (speaking, I presume, of the United Kingdom) " that at least, 120,000 of our population annually'lost their lives through alcoholic excess." Whitaker gives tlio popu. latiou of the United Kingdom in 1879 as 34,562,259. .'The deaths f.rom all causes in tlio United Kingdom at the present time averago under 16 per 1000, but, to bo perfectly fair, .we will take the average deaths in 1879 to be 20 per 1000. This gives us 691,240 deaths for that year; co, according to tKe authority of. this Dr Kctr, the deaths froin " alcohciio cxcoss" wore more than 'every, six! Now, when we consider tho immc-use ijiinibor who dio in early years from infantile complaint,?, the vast numbers 01 1 abstainers: and women who never or hardly ever touch alcoholic liquors, not to mention these' who take them in moderation, I nsk, Can. an); sane mn believe such a, monstrous assertion? Paragraph is a statemerit by a,Captain O'Gorman that Dr Kerrs ; computatiou' was laid before various learned societies [names not . given], by whom it was thought moderate and under tno ! Paragraph sis a statement bv .roseph Collins, Ph.D., N«r York, that competent investigators," both in the United .States and Great Britain, "have accumulated statistics to show that not less l f <f!V of 11,0 mortality is owing' HrllwnM t « mk ' a ' ld 7 PCT C<?nt ' mo ™ indirectly to tiio same cause "—lO pei cent il«1 ! m wK' m C . VCr) ' 10 deatlls (luo to alcohol. Well, variety is charming! ParaPP, V 3 S to 1)0 from a s,lcet ii/ . v ,rlol ' aucc an<l General Life Office and runs thus: ' came"vvi'-t , Austl ; alas,a , f rom the same El r , altt 7 lvts tl,e dMths »' United Kingdom for 1903 at 667,851: so according i 0 this veracious authority,' -1 °!T- ry m -tbe United Kingdom is due to drink! Considerably more than 1 ueafch out of' every .3! But his is fi. triflo to 'the mortality from drink in Australasia, for we are told that 31,000 perish annually in these colonies from this wnlui ( '° atllS 111 tlic Commonv )/ ? r - , 1 wcrc onl 5' 45,300, and in nra . u L a V cl , for . 1802 ' 03 P er Ycar Unok, ojjfp;—total deaths for Australasia, 53,675. Ihß gives an annual death roll due to drink in Australasia, according to this veracious authority, of very much more than half the total deaths! "How is that for high?" ior a wonder there is no "tag" appended 0 this careful (!) calculation of deaths duo |o alcohol to the effect that "competent investigators, learned societies, etc., considered it moderate and under the mark." 1 erhaps its accuracy appeared to the ingenious correspondent who is responsible lor ami to those of his way of thinking, such a gem of purest ray serene" that it did not' require any "tinfoil"' backing to add io its lustre. It is clcar that all these widely varying estimates" cannot be correct, and it would bo interesting to know which of these "authorities" Mr Adams stands by, or if he considers any of them even approximately true. It seems unfortunate that nien of Mr Adams's stamp don't, use their brains and do a little figuring on .their own account before quoting such patent rubbish holus-bolus from a prohibition broad sheet or manual. It is' really deplorable that such unreliable trash should he used and circulated to influence the credulous and ignorant, on ah important social question. The evils resulting from excess are. had; enough without wholesale and ridiculous exaggeration. It would seem as if the prohibition leaders were mainly concerned in keeping up an unhealthy and emotional excitement in their eagerness to force their nostrum, right or wrong, upon tlio genera! public, and that they regard all. means as justifiable, -however wide of the truth they may be. They would evidently like to bm'k all opposition. They attempt to howl down any ;rational discussion on the subject which' may run countor to their prejudices, or which impugns their infallible " cure-all" prohibition, which tlioy have set up as tho god of their idolatry. I was glad to observe that.an attempt to draw unwarranted conclusions, favourable to their cooreivo policy from the Welsh revival was promptly met and confuted in an excellent letter from Mr W. Thomson which appeared in your issue of the 7th inst. Now,, unless circumstances should arise similar to those under which tho Divinity student in his viva voec examination declared it was allowable for a Christian man to swear—viz., " circumstances of great provocation "—I shall hope to "abstain" from prohibition for .a while.— I am, etc., February 9. A. H. Maude.