Tas appointment of a Committee to revise the Land Regulations, is an additional proof of the need for adopting some more careful system in drawing up public documents in Shanghai. The Recreation Fund, and the difficulties connected with it, have been trium-pliantly pointed to as the result of an attempt to put things in order before the advent of lawyers; but the same reasoning certainly cannot apply to the Regulations which, after a trial of a few years, were already found to be so badly drawn upas to need explanation themselves. We are not going to be hard on those on whom the task of drafting the present code devolved. Experience even of Acts of Parliament shows how first class lawyers can make blunder' that cause endless trouble and litigation, It is always complained that the patching which takes place in the course of Parliamentary discussion is one cause of these inaccuracies. A Bill clearly written at the outset is 50 altered by amendments and compromises, that it becomes contradictory and involved. The same explanation may be certainly given, of the indistinctness of the Land Regulations. They were altered and amended until they were a mere patchwork of the original draft, and should have been re-written from end to end before they were formally promulgated as Law. Indeed the main thing now wanted is re-writing—but re-writing by a first class hand. Experience has further shown deficiencies which it will-be the duty of the Committee to insert. And there exists, for their guidance, a mass of material which the members would do well to avail themselves of in forming @ draft of new Bye-laws. Since, the time of the Reform Bill of 1832, the matter of Municipal Corporations and their powers and duties has been the subject of many Acts. Not to speak of the Municipal Cor-parations Act, there are a number of special Acts relating to different towns. The Metropolitan Buildings Act, and the local Acts for the government of large towns, all more or less directly refer to subjects which the Municipal Regulations of Shanghai cannot well avoid. The Town Improvement Acts afford an instance of general powers, and how they may be exercised in towns not possessing the machinery of a Corporation and all its appurtenances; and the principle of these Acts might well afford many suggestions to the new Committee. Shanghai is of course in many respects a place per se, and in 80 far as it is, it will be necessary to effect modifications suitable to the locality and circumstances. Many powers are possessed by Corporations at home, which it would be advisable to introduce here, A readier system of effecting" modifications found necessary by expe-nonce is sadly needed, and also, we may add, a readier means of pute ting in practice Municipal regulations, There does not seem to be any reason why there should not be a Municipal Magistracy Court in Shanghai, Recorders attached to the Corpora. tions of many towns in England, try offences within the borough, and.a stipendiary magistrate for a like purpose in Shanghai would certainly save much labour in the varies Consulates, as well as secure a uniformity of procedure sadly needed. It is fair, besides, that the locality should undertake the necessary expenses for the repression of local crime, and this would go far to remove any plea for the imposition of such objectionable measures as compulsory registration, and the levying of irregular fees. Better means of assessing local taxes are also needed: Lo-colitics are often directly benefited by improvements of little moment to the general community, and the power of making those contribute most who gain most, would bea decided advantage. Private individuals, again, frequently stand in the way of public improvements, and back their resistance by the vagueness of the present code. The system of registration of land within the Settlements is by no means perfect, and suggestions for its amendment have been proposed, but have never yet been carried out. These are a few of the many points which will doubtless present themselves to the new Committee; and while we hope that its members will be more ative than those of the last, we would also express a wish that what they do will be determined by a knowledge of what has been done elsewhere, as well as by an intimate acquaintance with the local requirements of this place.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.