Ar a meeting of Consuls held Inst week a series of amendments on the Harbour Regulations proposed by the Harbour Muster were considered and disposed of. All were approved with the exception of one to Regulation No, 14, regarding the portion of the harbour in which ships Inden with kerosene oil may be berthed and discharged, That Regulation is to the following effect: "Ve with kerosene oil or petroleum on bourd as cargo shall be berthed on the Puotung side of the 9th Section of the Harbour and must remain there artil all such enrgo has been discharged." The alteration whish the Harbone Master proposed should be undo in this wae, tu allow ketose: Indon vessels to berth opposite to No. 3 Section and to discharge into godowns in that Section, Everyone who take a glance at the opposite side of the river will see that to allow kerosene oil to be lauded in Section 8 us wollasin thecontiguous Section would not inorense the risk of danger to the Settlem As @ matter of fact, kerosene oil had been stored fur years in the godowns in Section 8, and nu one had felt nor had any authority ever interfered with the practice, But the majority of the Consuls Lave now decided that the Harbour Regulation No, 14 must remain as at present. We understand that one of the chief reasons which led the Consuls to this conclusion was, that if they now permitted oil-laden vessels opposite to No. 8 section, they might by and by be asked to allow them to berth opposite sections nearer the Settlements. Supposing the Consuls were after. wards asked to approve further changes in the Harbour Regulations in thnt direction, would it not be best, would it not be expected of a fair-minded deliberative body that it should determine each application of the kind on ite merits, having the public interest alone in view, rather than by now laying down a hard and fast rale? In a port like thie, with every prospect of an ex. tended trade, to lessen or even Lo limit the facilities for berthing ships is certain to be detrimental to business, Thes facilities ought to be increased where-ever merchaute desire that they should be, and the public interests would not thereby be endangered. There would bea general outcry if Chinese officials acted og the Consols Foreign Powers acted at their meeting Inst week; and the body knee farnished a weapon to the abstractives in the North and elsewhere, which we shall be surprised if they do not use. It is of congee known that conflict Wharf Companies have been actively at work among the Consular body, and it is said that the vote of Inst week was partly arrived at out of cousiderntion for one of our local companies, Wo are persuaded that this was not the case, and that the Consuls refused to sanction the proposal of the Har. hour Master solely on public grounds, That they made a mistake has no dunbt already been perceived by some of them. In a place of the importance the charges on bu more places there are in which euch an inflammable article as kerosene ai! conn be safely dealt wilh, the greater fucitity there will be in working that branch of our trade; and it cannot be doniod that competition lessens charges and the cost of carrying on busines: Nobody over dreamt of there being any danger to us in kerusone being stored in "Shaw's godowns" before the meotug of Consuls resolved to refaso to sanction the proposal of the Harbour Master, The or the want of information, which led them tu the course they have taken, mast have hada vorystrongeffyotin their judgments to prevent them perceiving tt they have opened up questions the settlement of which may very groutly affect the authority of their body. It will cor-tainly be a matter of regret if the result of the notion of the Consuls last week should be to circuwscribe the authority which upon the whole they have satisfactorily exercised. But that may come to pres, The Con. suls of the Powers whose subjects have the groutest commercial inter. ests Lore cannot view with any satisfaction the fact that the Consuls of Austria, Sweden and Norway, Sp and those other ual which ha ecaroely any trade, or none at all, hardly a resident of their nationality beyond those attached to their Consulates, shall have the same voting power at 8 meeting of Consuls us the representatives of Grent Britain, the United States, France, and Germuny. It is an outrage on the fitness of things that it should be so, and dangerous to the conimon interest (hat the votes of the Consuls of coun! which have only a political interest Shanghai, if they Lave any interest at all, should count the same as the vote of the Consul of Great Britain or the United States. That these Consuls should exercise their power cannot fail to lessen the weight which the decisioria of the whole body should carry with the Chinese officials, In the sear 1884 only one Austrian and one Swedish sailing vessel, and no steamer under either ting, were entered at the Custom House, and the trade of these nations cannot have been very different in 1885. But besides limiting the trading capabilities of the port, by refusing their sanction to the Harbour Master's propose!, the Consuls have done what may bring about a with drawal of the privilege which has long been given to allow kerosene-Inden vessels to berth and discharge at Tangkadoo. They have done so for many years, aud.uo one has felt any alarm for the safely of the shipping which they passed through. Yet the safely of the shipping about No, 8 Section was we understand used as an argument to in. duce the Consuls to refuse to sanction the Harbour Master's proposal. The safety of the shipping or of the Settle. ments would be no more endangered by allowing, vessels with kerosene cargoes to berth on the Hongkew side, opposite No. 8 Srotion, than it was endangered lust month when the Zmma T. Crowell, an American ship, passed Uhrough the lnrbour to discharge hee oil cargo at Tangkadoo—where she now is—ns dezous or bundieds of vessels nye done before, here is no danger in either case, The Consuls have placed themselves in what we nny mildly call an awkward position, and the sooner they get themselves out of it the better.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.