4th May.
Tue events of the last month have brought before as with more than nual force the deficiencies in the Land Regulations, but the presence of Sir Claude Macdonald will, we have no doubt, be taken advantage of by the Municipal Council to revive the interest of the Ministers in the revised Regulation', which were sent up to Peking sixteen years ago. 'I'he great difficulty in getting wow Regulations, the necessity for which we one can deny for a moment, is that all the Ministers of the 'I'reaty Powers as well as. the "Wsungli Yamen have to agree on them, and the opposition of one can block them. A yearsago it would have been almost hopeless to expect the Miuisters at Peking to agree on anything, but owing in a large measure to the Lonkomie and savoir faire of the present British Minister—whose appointment was severely criticised by some writers on Far Enstern affairs in London, but who has thoroughly justified his selection—there is aw almost perfect accord in the Diplomatic Body, and the success which has attended the recent attempt to get the British Settlement at Tientsin lurged shows that the ''sungli Yamen has relaxed the attitude of obstructiveness which it has heretofore so regularly assumed when asked even for some simple concession. There can be no objection of any real force to the revision of our Land Regulations on the part of any of the authorities at Peking. 'I'hat we have outgrown the existing ones is undeniable; there is nothing in the revived ones that were rent up to Peking sixteen years ago that can be objected to which cannot he modified or removed. One objection to the revision fifteen or ten years
whether the Chinese would not suggest ago was that it was doubtful then that the time for Concessions with extraterritoriality was drawing to a close, and they were inconsistent with the recognition of China as an equal by Western Powers, he events of the last three years have silenced this objection. Instead of the Concessions previously granted being resumed by the Chinese and taken under their control, we now see new Concessions granted at new ports with all the privileges of extraterritoriality, and old ones extended. It is doubtful indeed whether even the Shanghai Tsotsi would be entirely pleased at being told—if such a thing were possible—that lo was to administer Shanghai in future, and govern directly the five thousand or more foreigners it contains.
The principle then being granted that Shenghai must remain a foreign city on Chivese soil, it is obvious that its Constitution, which was: fairly adequate' to the: conditions" existing thirty years ago, must now be adapted to-our present and future needs. It is true that we manage to get along ina way with the present Regulations, fortified by the precedents and customs that have accumulated round them but we should get along much better with fuller Regulations recognising what Shanghai has become and is becoming and should escape a great deal of the friction which is now inevitable, bat might be thus easily prevented. It is too often objected to us that we must be careful how we do such and such a thing because it is not covered by the Land Regulations; and we have to rely on tolerance where we ought to have legality. As we said at first, we trust that Sir Claude Macdonald's attention while he is among us will be drawn to this very important matter, and we are sure that he will see that it is a matter which needs early and careful attention, We are glad to know that the Doyen of the Diplomatic Body, Col. Denby, takes a serious interest in the subject.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.