POVERTY IN ITALY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 150, 17 March 1876, Page 12

POVERTY IN ITALY.

The misery of the poor in Italy at tue present time can scarcely be imagined. It is appalling. Thousands of peasants arc emigrating to America, and now inducements are held out to attract them to Australia, a rather wise plan since the climate of that country is much more suitable to the Italian temperament than the American. Besides it is pretty generally known now that America is by no means a good place for emigrants to go to, and they have been assured that there is almost as much difficulty in getting along in the new ■world as there is in the old. So the majority this year are either emigrating to South America or Australia, and an enterprising agent is endeavoring to persuade many that Palestine and Persia are countries ■which need colonization, and some few are thinking of going thither, anywhere, in short, out of Italy. The emigration mania, it should be remembered, is all the more remarkable, wh< 3 n we reflect that naturally the Italians object to travel, and rarely, if ever, leave their homes, "ft is the worst possible sign " said one of the ministers the other day, "and shows more clearly thnn almost anything else, how great the distress in Italy must be." In Sicily the condition of the peop'e is very deplorable, and is rendered still more so by the hordes of robbers and brigands, which infest that lovely bit luckless island. If we turn to another part of the country, we see the same thing. Milan in tho North has been the scene of some shocking cases of starvation and distress. Meantime the extravagance, love of display and materialistic tendencies of the rich, Cause the poor to look upon them with envy and hatred, and articles like the following, which appeared recently in the ' Pungalo ' of Milan, are common : v Last night the Scala was crowded, an opera box during the day sold for 15,000 francs. People pay from four to six thousand francs, for a box in the season, and the singers realise fortunes from their salary. And yet the people are starving and dare to complain ! " Expressions of popular feeling like these are calculated sooner or liter to make themselves felt in a terrible manner. There is nothing so awful, as we know by tho experience of the great revolution of '93, as the indignation of the people "when roused by misery to abhor and envy the luxury of the ostentatiously rich. Every one believes that before long, perhaps, not this year or the next, but be r ore long, we shall behold terrible things in Italy — much ruin and bloodshed. — ' Catholic .Review.'