'rhe dispute about the famine in Iceland affords a remark-
able example of the difficulty, not to say the impossibility, of obtaining accurate facts about the condition of any place. It has been reported, apparently with the full consent of all Danish officials, that the Icelanders are starving ; and a Mansion-House Relief Committee on Wednesday despatched 23,000 worth of provisions and fodder for their relief. On Thursday, however, Mr. C. E. Paterson declares, in the Times, that his brother, the British Consul for Iceland, had received no information indicating distress; and, that he himself, in a tour round the island just ended, observed no indication of it. Not a whisper reached him of starvation, the animals said to be Perishing were in good condition, and the hay crop, said to have failed, was visibly an excellent one. On the other hand, the Deputy. Governor of Iceland, in a letter of September 14th, states that the north of the island is specially in need of relief, and the British Minister in Copenhagen believes in the distress. We presume the truth is that distress existed, that it was i severe n isolated places, and that the hay harvest, which has only just been gathered, has been large enough to relieve the anim. ala. previously starved. The instant response to the com- plaints illustrates the curiously strong friendliness always felt in this country for the Icelanders, who are far better known to 'educated Englishmen than our own Hebrideans. •
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