ALCOHOL AND LONGEVITY.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12669, 3 May 1905, Page 4

ALCOHOL AND LONGEVITY.

STATISTICS FOB ABSTINENCE.

T» the Editor of the " Timaru Herald." < Sir,—ln this morning's issue of the' ''Herald' T a letter appears from an anonymous correspondent, challenging & statement made by Father Hays to the effect thai; "Life Insurance Societies found that total 'abstainers hare 25 per cent, higher expectancy of life than the general pnblic." Your correspondent seeks to discount this statement by giving some figures from the report of a Commission appointed by the British Ifedical Association to inquire into the vital statistics of the temperance question. Tour correspondent gives as no account of the genesis of this Commission, nor does he give, the publishers and date of the re- • view in which their report is to be found. One would like to read the report to learn, something of the data on which the figures were founded,-and to see the setting in which they stand v Will your correspondent kindly furnish this information* I am surprised we have not heard of this Commission and these figures before, and that the report and its marvellous findings should lie buried up to the present in an obscure review with a decidedly French name—the "Revue ficientifkpie:" The figures given by your correspondent contradict all previous statistics, run counter to the wett considered statements of some of the most distinguished medical men, and prove the directors of many leading insurance societies to be among the greatest fools under the sun. The Registrar-General of England, with, all Iris vast opportunities of knowing l , informs the British Parliament that "the death rate undoubtedly depends more upori the extent to wirico people are brought into contact with drmi than upon anythW else whatever. The mortality of men**© a*e "$£ concerned in.the liquor traffic is oppafirng. And yet according to the figures jpven by your correspondent the average life among such should be years higher than among total abstainers. The late Sir Andrew Clarke, physician to our late Queen, and senior physician to the London- Hospital, said: "I repeat to i? 8 resfßlt of Ion * continued and careful thought, that health is not a state Iw? i o *?-™ *W sense b « benefited by !*Sr- • It - om bear h «»metimes without obvious mjury, but be benefited by it— SET & r Wm- Gull, *!*> physician to the Queen, said: "I Wo uld like to say that a SSJ* 3 * i?T» ber ol lP»Pfe & society are dying day bjrday poisoned by alcohol, but not supposed to be poisoned by it." * n Q» a ™ v Dictionary of Medicine. 1902 &w Stated: So fact is better recognised .tor the medical profession than that a h«h fimfase. rate- and a high mortality rate

, invariablv accompany an excess in the rise of alcohol in any form in our population. While a declaration was signed a few years aao by 20CCT feedkal men in the Jbnited Kingdom wh|ch contained the following statement« "The total and universal ab-; stinehce iroittalcoiafiiliqnbis and lntoxicatina beverages /of-allv.a»b wou:d greatly; the prosperity, the morality, aM of the human race" -"' . - •->-- v '-, ; .''"'- / . ■■ As f» the experience" of insurance societies, to Fbich Father Hays -Stared alone, the facte are irresistible, In 1840 Mr Bobert Warner applied to have life bJ* msnred. It came out; that he was a total abstainer.- The drink fallacies had not Jhen been exposed, and be was asked to pay 10 per cent. extra,' He'refoaed. Some of his Mends started the: United Kingdom Temperance and General Provident Institution. That society bas.ltwn* sections—temperance and general. bad over 130,000 policies. SiDc'e iS66 tfiey Bave t pubb:sh«d statistics giving'for each .year the" number of deaths' expected, and the nuihbei' e*pmcnced in.each section.. The last figure* to my hand are- for the 36years eliding 1901. In the" temperance section .the? total expected deaths' were{Bß3B,. while" the 1 actual deaths.were" only 6300. .In the general sec-; tion the expected deaths were 11,727 and the actual !Q-,24D: v . ■.' - More than a score: bftimesl was orlered. lower leading"""insurance" societies, in the Old Country because" I wM a total abstainer. Are tie managers of insurance' societies fools.*/'- The Briton Life Associa'--tion, Strand^-London, gives total abstainers," a reduction" of 10; per* cent anent which their secretary TsJtys: " The deduction we allow has been>arrived at after careful consideration of the "experience which we" all have before.ns-now'as to the superiority of the lhres'rbf such;': The tabulated stanow show/ that, total "abstinence aScls about 5 yeara: 9 months to. a man's-life, or rather that-his Efe is uot«ii-,sh<>i*.l>&that period, which would he. were a drinker. "A question Tecentrv proposed to 42 of ( fie Amerieaa.life offices bring* out the fact," says the Policy Holder, " that 40 of the said offices "pronounce in favour of the abstainers. - {One. declares that- the use of alcohol reduce* - .the'expectancy of life nearly two-rhir<&. vArid -another affirms that its awn mortality experience is about 26 per Xent. tn;rhe,advanta<re of those who use no tTwo of the offices decline to pass a final verdict until they know to what extent alcohol is used.** i Surely facta like these abundantlv establish tie truriof the statement of Father Hays which- called in question. vw., that "life. Inaufn-nce societies found that total abstainers-bave 25 ner cent, hieher expectancy of life than the general public." -". •' -■' -■:■':' I liin;:-elc.. -■"'.^-•. ! '-. : THOMAS STETSON'. The May 2.