The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-03
From the Pan Mall Gazette.

Country.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.
They are emlnently law-abiding. Theirs
are only two policemen in the whole coun-
Try, and of these the one is too old and
delicate to go out in bad weather. willis
the other finds time in which to writs
novels. Their procedure for dealing with
criminals is quaint, to say the least Of IT
Supposing a man is to be arrested, in
stead Of sending some one to arrest him,
Icelandic magistrates dispatch to him
little note calling upon him to deliveH
! himself up to them at the prison door by
a given date. And, oddly enough, the
man, as a rule, obeys the summons, all
though sometimes instead OF doing so, he
writes-or sends a messenger-to explain
that he really cannot go to prison Just
then, as he has other work on hand. In
this case, unless his crime be of an I'M
usually startling nature, an arrangement
liz entered into between the magistrates
and himself by which he is allowed to
go into seclusion at the time that suits
MIN best.
The Icelanders pride themselves, and
with reason, on their humanity with
which they treat their poor They never
send their old pauper folk, except the
houses or institutions of any kind, but
they receive them into their own homes
as visitors. Once a year the authorities
draw up a list of the Inhabitants who are
wealthy enough TO contribute to the sup
port Of the poor; then, instead of caIlina
upon them to pay poor rate. they allot
to them a certain number of old men or
women whom they must provide with
board and lodging. The amount of wealth
q man possesses determines alike the
number of poor he must entertain and the
length Of time for which he must entertain
them He need not necessarily, although
he generally does, receive them into his
own house, but may pay for their being
received elsewhere. If he does so, how
ever, ne is sim responsible for their wei.
fare, and Is bound to see that they are
all well cared for and kindly treated. Ana
woe be to him should he neglect his duty
in this respect; the whole community
would rise up against him in righteous in
dignation.
Most Of the Icelanders live entirely on
fish, mutton. beef and rye bread, as al
most everything else has to be import-
ed, and is, therefore, to dear for the
working classes to buy. 1t is only the
comparatively wealthy who can afford to
drink anything but milk or water; even
coffee is regarded as a luxury, to say
nothing of wine or spirits. Their clothes
are made Of ''vadmal' a sort of rough
tAJtA WONth Dt manu- lDOuLS. lHCIG is not
single railway in the country, and the
roads are only what we should call bride
paths. Until last year only fourteen
mails a year left the island, but now the
number has been increased by seven. and
a proposal has recently been made to con-
meet the island with the rest of the world
by meaps of telegraph cable. According
to the report, 1t is only within the last
few years that money has been in gem
eral use In the island, before that time ali
trade being carried on by barter. Quite
recently a new departure has been MADE
by the formation of cooperative socie-
ties the farmers and fishermen in the va
rious districts combining to send their
sheep, ponies wool, fish, etc, abroad for
sale on commission and in return buying
Wholesale quantities of provisions ana
foreign goods which the societies divide
among their members. It is only since
1885 that there has been such a thing az
q regularly organized bank ia Iceland