Shanghailanders by this time have decided to be very terse with the rain cloud department. During. the last few days preposterous efforts been made by the rain. gods to pretend that they were benefic cently attempting to. mi the heat. Clouds have gathered in, ap-Proved fashion, there has been lightning "with the attendant thunder even. Rain has fallen, The showers have been, like' the ccurate's Bi nite sharp." But they have possessed no stayin Power. They have left bel them merely an intense stickiness and steaminess to." aggravate the sufferings of an innocent populace groaning under the burden of several weeks' heat, If this is what the rain-cloud department considers a respectable joke, it had better revise its notions of humour. As these sentences staggered press a fierce thunderstorm. pro-Cceded. A stern refusal to acquit the department on that account must be maintained. There is no guarantee that the storm will more than lay the dust. So until this morning dawns and the proof that the heat is really over "has been afforded, censure on the rain authorities remains, a ace
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.