Sicily once more figures in the cable newß of the week ia au undesirable light. There ia reported to be widespread starva tion on that populous island; 350,000 is given as the number of Socialists there, and there seems, therefore, to bs good ground for the fear of revolution that is said to have seized upon the authorities* English papers by the last mail throw some light upon the subject. The Daily lieivs correspondent, some seven weeks ago, described the social conditioss o£ Sicily as excoedingly dangerous, adding that though the leaders of tha people waie described as Socialists, the masses were " simply people whc work Very hard and desire nofe to starve.'* There is the whole rationale of European Socialism in a single brief phrase ! An agitation that haa for some time been going on among the Sicilian xninei'3 hag perhaps a more immediate connection with the trouble now reported to be imminent. A congress of miner 3 mat some weeks ago and passed resolutions calling for the collective ownership oO mines, the eighb hours system and & minimum wage equal to ten shillings a week! Finally the Congress gave tha following plain intimation to the authorities :•—" We have at present limited ourselves to demanding some trifling ameliorations. If, by the end of the year, we shcnid have obtained nothing, we shall move in another manner." The end of the yt ar is at baud j the authorities presumably have not moved, and the miners sro doubtleFa expected to be aB good as their word.
