We are glad to learn from the minutes of the meeting of the Municipal Council published in another colum that the council have taken into consideration the conversion of the piece of waste land on the north of this Settlement and south of the Soochow Creek known as Ince's Foreshore, into a supplementary Public Garden. The idea that the Chinese were a dull, matter-of-fact, people with no sentiment for the picturesque and beautiful and no appreciation of nature, has now died out; it always had a very slight foundation, and must have been formed on a very superficial acquaintance with their character. They enjoy flowers and nature! beauties of landscape fully as much as the average Westerner; and being packed all day their little shops in narrow streets, each shop having at least three times as many shopmen in it as a similar esta: blishment would have in the West, they dearly appreciate having an open space to which they can resort when the day's work is over. Ince's Foreshore is a barren enough piece of ground at. the present moment; its outlook is to the north, and its water frontage is on a narrow and crowded creek, instead of on the wide, open river; but if the Garden Committee undertakes, as it is hoped, the work of transforming it, people have only to go and see what has been done with the little bit of ground in what is known as the Reserve Garden, to be sure that ina few months this barren foreshore will be turned into a picturesque and dianning garden.
The long and costly struggle which resulted in this foreshore being saved from being covered with Chinese houses was paid for by the funds contributed by Chinese and foreigners, and it seems therefore just that as the Public Garden is reserved for foreigners, some of their money too should be spent on preparing this foreshore primarily for Chinese use. We say seems, because our own view is that this is a concession to the Chi+ nese, and not something they can claim of right. It cannot be too carefully borne in wind, when suggestions are made that the Chinese residents in the Settlements being taxed ought to vote, and have equal privileges with foreign: ers in other ways, that these Settlements were set apart for foreigners, and that it was never contemplated that any Chinese, except the actual employes of the foreigners, should be allowed to reside in them. The Chinese in the Settlements are here on sufferance, and on condition of conforming strictly to the Land Regulations and contributing their share to any general assessments
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.