EUROPE'S SAD CHRISTMAS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5551, 24 February 1886, Page 1

EUROPE'S SAD CHRISTMAS.

• (American Paper.) London, Deo. 26.— 1 f the ghost of the Christmas of the present day could have taken Columbia over the expanse of the Old World last night, she would have realised as never before the full measure of her own miraculously blessed condition among the nations of the earth. Here in Europe one's heart aches at the abounding misery which the season's affected merriment illuminates. The Buffering among the poor of London, which is always great, is now said to be unprecedented, and the usual efforts at a Christmas alleviation seem to have been paralysed by the immensity of the task, for comparatively little organised charity has been reported. Any day j during the past fortnight one could see thousands of faint and ragged wretches j prowling outside the wharves, each ready to fight the other in order to be one of a score who wero admitted to a day's work for 40 cents if a ship happened to come in. Everywhere business is reported to be worse than it was a year ago. It is said that not a single Christmas publication has yielded a profit. At the London docks less than one-half the quantity of wine has been taken out of bond that was taken j out la9t year. More tangible luxuries j Buffer in the same way. When it was stated a year ago that the British shipbuilding industries were off half a million tons, it seemed that the worst showing had pa96ed; but the report now is likely to show another diminution, and one nearly j as great. This is a sample of all industries, while the farmers' prices have reached a starvation point. And yet the cost of the I necessaries of life is greater than it was then, owing to the grievottt condition of the middlemen, whom the long credit Bystem forces to plunder cash purchas" 1 " 3 * i While the price of cattle is almrv* nalved, I butchers' meat is as hio* «*s ever, and the Kent farmers ar<» combining to do their own kill"»£» in order to get rid of the I hufichers altogether. The budget, too, will j show a large decrease in receipts, despite ! tho increased taxation. j Across the Channel the same threnody ' is chanted everywhere. From Paris, of course, one expects to hear nothing but lamentations, but the fierce prolongation of the political wrangle into holiday week, I and tho grave uncertainty of the near future, seem to have t made the busineEg stagnation worse than ever. Copenhagen j is sullen and gloomy under a despotic j martial law, with threats of revolution in ! the air. Italy has a Christmas present : in the form of news that King John of Abyssinia is about to declare war on account of the Massowah affair, which means many added millions to the tax burden. Vienna is in a truly doleful frame of mind, with cholera at Trieate, riots in Croatia, and both a heavy financial damage caused by the collapse of her principal debtor, Servia, and a national humiliation at the loss of her Balkan prestige. The mail reports show that the condition ot the starving and freezing soldiers of the two wretched little principalities is utterly appalling. Perhaps it has had no parallel since Arnold's march to Quebec. Prince Alexander has already lo3t twico as many men by death, exposure, and disease as in battle. It is only the wolves who have had a merry Christmas in the Balkans this year.