DAILY NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7702, 11 May 1903, Page 2

DAILY NOTES.

Good sense not having the via- prevailed in the beTOB.TAN tween the Victorian Gostrikb. vernment and the railway employees of that State, the latter struck at midnight on Friday. The effect of the strike waa at once apparent in Melbourne. The railway service on most of the, lines stopped altogether, and the Government's boast that at had made satisfactory arrangements for the working of the principal lines proved to lie without foundation. As a result' Melbourne is threatened by a mild famine. Its regular supplies of food have been cut off, and it i-3 forced to rely on the fortuitous augmentation of its present stores. Already the prices of foodstuffs have risen ,25 per cent, and no doubt until a temporary system of supplying the city has been arranged the cost of living will continue .to g*row. To the outsider the spectacle of a great city suffering from the pride and obstinacy, of a section of its inhabitants is inexpressibly aad.

The appeal for funds --.vutifying which the Christchurch the city. Beautifying Society insti-

tuted a few weeks ago is meeting with a satisfactory response. By this we do not desire that it should be' inferred that the so-

ciety has got all the money it needs] As far aa our recollection serves ns there was ne<ver a society depending for its reveivuio upon public subscriptions which could be induced to admit that its requirements had been fully satisfied. But the Beautifying Society has not done badly by its latest appeal, and what with the money it has collected and the public-spirited action of Mr Cockayne in handing over the contents of liis garden for the use of the society the work of- beautifying can now be continued more energetically than' ever. We wiah the members of the society well in thledr endeavours .to ihiprove the appearance of the city.

As earlier cable messages the ocean from Australia had indicatmails. Ed that there was every likelihood of the present Vancouver mail contract t^oing^ extended, the message published ors Friday to the effect that the contract "had been prolonged two yea,rs and the subsidy slightly increased, did not come as a surprise. This arrangement, if slightly disappointing to those people who looked far the immediate inauguration of an intercolonial All Red service, via Vancouver, in plaoe of the present San Francisco service, is satisfactory enough as far as it goes. But rt is to be hoped that it will be regarded as merely a temporaiy expedient. The two years for wbicb*>*the Commonwealth has extended the contract ought to-be looked upon as the outside limit of tbe existence of the present service. By the end of that time the Commonwealth and New Zealand ought to 'have entered into an. agreement which will give them the' long-looked-for all British line and dispense for ever with -the carriage of their mails in foreign steamers. |5

. The disappearance of the A DROUGHT drought from Australia has stout, revived the old story of a

\ prophesy made concerning it. In the year 1888, Mr C'narles Egeson, map compiler at' Sydney Observatory, pub_Vrb>'i~a book which crea. u*\ ____i____]_— ,

sensation afc the time as ifc dealt with the question of sun spots and droughts. He prophesied seven years' severe drought in Australia-, and ga.ve tho year 1902 as the mosfc severe. The main portion of Mr Egeson's prediction has been verified almost to the very letter.' The prophet however, did not live to witness the fulfilment of his forecast. Shortly afterwards ho was dismissed from office, and a few years' later died in a lunatic asylum. His friends maintained, and some of them contend to this day, that the reason for his dismissal was the outcry tliat his prediction had depreciated the values of sheep stauons.