The rivers this year have been working great havoc on
the Continent. It is said that the warm weather melted the snows, which usually lie on the hills till spring, and the water swelled the unusual rainfall in the plains. At all events, the rivers in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Hungary have burst their banks. The Palatinate has been drowned, and there is devastation all along the course of the Rhine ; while the Danube has so deluged Hungary, that 10,000 persons are said, officially, to be in need of- immediate relief. The town of Raab, a place of 20,000 inhabitants, in particular, has just escaped the fate of Szegedin last year. Its most populous suburb is eight feet under water, and the houses have meltedin hundreds. The Emperor of Germany has given the Rhine folk £30,000, and all the Governments are voting relief ; but they shrink from digging the canals, which would carry off the over-spill of the rivers. What seems to be wanted is a plan by which the riverine dis- tricts could be lightly taxed, while the Governments offered moderate guarantees. Private enterprise is foiled, because, though you can charge a peasant for water, you cannot charge him for keeping it away. Negative advantages, however great, are not calculable in francs.
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