London, June 8.
Already the English public is very nervous as to the amount of fine weather we are likely to have this year. In fact, the Daily Mail? comes out to-day with practically a shriek, asking what the authorities are doing to prevent the danger of a water-shortage if we have another long drought.
London the authorities have already found it necessary to reduce the supply of water in some districts and in certain parts of the country, notably Devonshire and East Anglia. water is already so scarce that the villagers are living on the brink of a famine. We never succeeded during the winter in making up by' the rainfall for the water shortage of last sriramer. April alone stood out as a good rainfall month. Hitherto May and June in the south of England have proved record months for heat and absence of rainfall, and experts are predicting a continuance of the present conditions. The effects on all forms of vegetation are already obvious, and everybody is ceting shortly to receive notice that all watering of gardens is prohibited.
Of course the heat has its advantages. There was an exceptionally large exodus from London at the Whitsuntide, though the one novel feature was provided by motor traffic, which, unneeded in the Metropolis, carried trippers to the country. -As a result, many seaside resorts were overcrowded and people had to sleep on the beach, while large numbers found, late at night, that there were not enough vehicles to carry them home. Summer time undoubtedly helps holiday-making, but it is killing all forms of indoor amusements, and the returns of theatres and cinemas for Bank Holiday were almost the worst on record.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.