London, £.c., 30th Dee., 1870.
Srr,—By the last mail I desired Mr. Thomas Hanbury of your place to inform you, for the information of the Council, that Messrs. G. C. Schwabe and A. Sykes, the owners of the ground at the northeast corner of the Nankin and Szechuen Roads, had consented to the application made by the Council for the cutting off of the corner, by which 18 square feet will be added to the width of the road at that point.
Thave now, on behalf of the owners, to wait upon you with a document intended to give effect to this arrangement, upon the signature of which, under the authority of the Council, Mr.' Hanbury will, at the owners' expense, at once effect the needful alteration.
With reference to the report of the Public Works Committee of the Municipal Council, as extracted in the North-China Herald of 8th November last, which has come to my knowledge since the dispatch of my letter by last mail, I desire to e: Jain that, under date of June last, Mr.
hanbury informed me that the change, now gladly agreed to by the owners, had been forcibly effected by persons in the employment of the Council, without any leave from the owners or occupiers of the ground. In reply to Mr. Hanbury's application for instructions, I answered, as I suppose most persons would have answered whose walls had been knocked down and whose boundary had been removed without leave given, that those who had knocked them down must build them up again, For this purpose it was necessary for mia, so the lessee of the ground, to act in the names of the owners, Messrs. Schwabe and Sykes; but these gentlemen, beyond leaving me free, in the maintenance of my own right as lessee, to resist what appeared tu me an unwarrantable proceeding, took no part in the matter, the whole responsibility for which rests with myself, I beg now to acknowledge the promptitude with which restitution was made at my requirement; and to add the expression of my regret at hearing that the public have for a length of time past suffered an inconvenience which the owners of the property would have gladly remedied, if applied to for that purpose.
I will thank you to bring this letter to the knowledge of the Council, and Lam, Sir, Your very obed. humble servant, (Sd.) Fuepericx Bower, To the Secretary, Municipal Council, Shanghai.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.