Tae French Municipal Council have issued a rather bulky pamphlet, con taining a Report of their proceedings during 1869-70, and the Estimates for 187 The balk, however, is attained by incorporating reports of the Council meetings throughout the yenr; rather than by elaborate. comment on Municipal aMairo. The remarks of the Council in this respect area model of brevity. The net reits were Tls. 76,868, and the expenditure Tls. 74,661. The Council are able, therefore, to leave a working balance of Tls. 8,000 to their successors, instend of the Tls. 6,000 which they received. There has been an increase of Tls. 998 in the receipts from Chinese house tax, which is factory proof that the population is increasing; the bent tax, on the other hand, has fallen off is. 1,064—exemption having been accorded to a class of boats which iuvolyed much trouble in the collection. The results have, in other cases, nearly justified the estimates—the total revenue being Tis, 678 in excess of that anticipated. The experiment, tried in the Anglo-American settlement, of employing native constables, has been successfully followed; and the constitution of the force has been modified accordingly. It comprises, at present, 55 men besides the Superintendent; and the Council Fevle expected that the revenue for repose to maintain it at this standard. 1870-71 will reach Tls. 80,018, besides a balance of Tls. 8,274 brought forward from the past year. There are two new elements introduced, a tax on Chinese merchants, which is estimated to yield Tls. 5,000, and a tax on wheelbarrows which is estimated at Tle. 1,000. These additional receipts will permit a reduction in the Chair and Coolie tax, and the exemption from House tax of the poorer class of Chinese. A reduction is expected, on the other hand, in the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.