One of the miter blessings of th' British" Broadcasting Corporation's ow special aerial for the listener in the Par Eust arises from the attention which the announcers pay to the weather. So, in putting up with the present heat''in Shanghai it is possi~ ble to learn of the sufferings of peopl In England and to sympathize accord ingly, On Monday night the "heat wave" aiMicting London was deseribed by the announcer in heartrending terms. It was, he declared, so "'sloomy and sticky", Its effects were appalling. Stalwarts on the tennis courts lost their verve; poor things they could hardly be blamed with the thermometer at such giddy heights, 'The voice of the informan broke as he conveyed this picture of sweltering London. 'The listener re~ ceived the impression of a metropolis, stricken by the uneasy sleeplessness of a stifing hot night, the head scorched by a burning' pillow and, Rerhaps, the very sheep which passed igh' gates in its sleep-searching brain, already roasted to mutton. Un fortunately the deep emotion of th poignant tale prevented the sympathetic Shanghailander from know-Ing exactly what the temperature was, 'The mulled voice murmured some Agure in accents wild, It may have been eighty or even eighty-five. 'Still that was enough. It was plain' that London was in torment and the Shanghailander gave the fire another poke, tucked himself into the blanketed bed and before dropping off into a peaceful slumber gave suitable sigh of compassion for London's desperate lot. is thrown by the latest annual report of St. Luke's Hospital. Appropriately enough the report avoids the use of the word "employer" and describes the delinquents as "owners" of apprentices whom the Hospital treats on, iis "free days". The cost of these "free days" to the institution is $4031445 for the year. Most of the Patients so treated were tie apprentices, who became sick Wwere Injured in' the' Shenghai indus Wilt pay anything for these hus boys, Blonty' more it the Iie Zelows dle It would seem that some institution should be opened to treat these owners. They are very very sick men, being afflicted with a disease which would obviously be diagnosed callosity. A. surgical operation is clearly needed by them, but it should not be performed by a'surgeon or in hospital. They should be committed to the tender care of some failed apprentice to the butcher's trade fand their affliction should be forcibly Femoved by him in some really uns comfortable hovel without any benefit of chloroform. The Community Church has done a fine thing in deciding to support an industrial caseworker from September next. That official of investigation will, no doubt, get into touch with St, Luke's and See that those distressful sufferers from callosity are suitably treated. No doubt the suggestion tentatively outlined above can hardly be applied by anyone who is not armed with the Gilbertian recipe for making the punishment ft the crime and the Community Church Caseworker will Proceed on less spectacular but, it is to be hoped, on effectively remedial lines. Apart from humanitarian considerations, which naturally seem remote to 'a victim of callosity, ho pitals here are in sulliciently dire straits without having to bear unaided burdens accruing directly from trade risks, Judiclous educative pressure on these monsters of cruelly may serve the double purpose of making life happier for their poor little slaves and of providing the hospital with much-needed funds.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.