With that providential intervention which has influenced historical events and helped to get England out of a nasty hole in the fourth Test, rain has at last fallen in England in oppreciable quantities and has broken the drought, Although the precise quantity is not known it does seem to have relieved the pressure of water shortage at a time when the country facing the most serious internal problem in decades. It was recently Feported by the Metropolitan Water Board that the flow at Teddington weir had decreased to arnly 256,000,000 gallons a day compelling the Board to draw on its reserves to the extent of 100,000,000 gallons a day to mee the needs of London in spite of gree voluntary restriction. In some cities in the north, where rain seems to have fallen more heavily, the known resources were being measured by days, Manchester having only 78 days' supply a month ago. Other cities have fared better but the rural distelets have been worst hit. Owing to the small areas of administration the rural district councils have restricted financial resources which prevent them embarking on big reservoir schemes and the weakness of the rural water supplies has been vividly revealed by the prolonged drought, Undouptedly, the lesson drawn from the present distress is a nationally coordinatea scheme of water supply and the conservation of resources with a view to better distribution instead of the existing localized schemes which meet the needs of larger cities but Teave the poorer areas parched,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.