Tue Taotai of Shanghai has once or twice shown a laudable interest in the affairs of his nationals residing within the foreign Settlements which it would be well were he to extend to those who bye the good fortune to' be'placed under his more personal administration, His last essay on this question has been in connection with the subject of tramways, the introduction of which in the Settlements he opines would crowd the thoroughfares, and would be an innovation in China, With regard to the first, we take it that those who have most experience of the condition of the thoroughfares are the best competent to judge, and they have decided that tramways are advisable. We fai! to seo the.object of the Taotai ex cathedra statement. The Taotai is uotsoconstantafrequenter of our streets that his opinion can be taken as of nich value on a subject of overcrowding, and as for his countrymen who do reside within the boundary; we believe that universally their opinion is favourable. In fact, the chief objection to the scheme of tramways seemed to be the foolish idea of some foreigners that their introduction would favour the native to the discomfort of the foreign element in the population, and that thereby in some mauner or other their residence in Shanghai would be made more uncomfortable or less profitable than previously. Wo have never countenaneed ti w of affairs, Chinese or foreigners living within this Settlement have, we believe, " common interest in their good order and pros rity; and class legislation, a legislation owed ly for one interest or the other, mast only in the long ran seriously injure or break down the system of Manicipal government which tad up to this prevailed, The Tootal urges that tramways are an innovation in China, So doubtless they are, but 6o is every thing the Taotai can look upon in the foreign Settlements. The foreign Settlements of Shanghai, we may suggest to the Taotai, are themselves an innovation, Nowhere else in the Tength and breadth of the land doe resembling a Municipal orga exist, The result has shown how beneficial may be the innovation.
400, we may suggest an innovation; so are jinn carriages, sewers, sanitary precautions, paid Police, wharves and jet afoamers, gas lighting, telegraphs, and, we may add, the Mixed Court itself. The rudiments of -a fire brigade, exist in many Chinese cities, but nowhere except under the fostering hands of Manicipal institutions have they become really effectual. Even the humble wheelbarrow cannot ply within the Taotai's peculiar jurisdiction, the city of Shanghai, where the thoroughfares are too narrow to permit the padaage of this, the humblest of vehicles, We omit to mention. the many places of amusement permitted for His Hxcellency's lieges within the Settlements, and which are carried on without creating disorder or excitement because the Taotai may possibly. have moral _objecti to theatres and suchlike, Ib. is, however, a act
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.