No coal is at present coming to Tientsin from Tongshan; at largely enhanced prices the stock of house coal was cleared off in a fow days, and the huge stacks of steam coal in Tangku are rapidly diminishing. The military occupation of Tongshan and the re-opening of the railway to that place should be at once undertaken. The coal at the pits and at Hsiikochuang, the end of the canal, would pro-ably Goop us going until the mines could get to work. If something like this is not Gone, then coal must be imported—cartied to one of the Neweastles of the Far Fast. Indeed some large contracts for Japanese coal have already been made.
The present, if the military authorities could only see it, is the time to promote many schemes of public benefit which the pettifogging policy of local mandarins opposed, or which the dense ignorance The Manchus at Peking would not allow to be undertaken. If begun now, their continuance could be embodied in the terms of peace.
Seven: cuttings to obviate the Peiho T can think of alfa
bends, absolute closure of useless creeks, broad roads through Tientsin city, a new road for a tramway between the the Settlement, uew bridges, a rail the Western Hills to brin; in the fine hard Peking coal, Peking Street improvement, Municipal water and light supply in both cities, and so on. Such an opportunity will never occur again, especially in city and' street improvement, as whole quarters are burned down.
The Deutsch-Asiatische Bank is in charge of the China Engineering and Mining Ca., for the simple reason that it has a lien on the plant.
CAPTAIN BAYLY, of the Aurora, has finally rejoined his ship, after a three months' sojourn ashore. He hats figured largely in the history of the port during that period, first as Officer in Command, and then as Provost-Marshal. It would be mere affectation and insincerity to pretend that Capt. Bayly's policy and personality have pleased everybody here; there are some amongst us whose idea of law is licence to do what seems right in our own judgment; these folk to a man hare been censorious on the straightforward sailor. There are others of different kidney who see below the surface, and who recognise honesty of purpose and a real kindness of heart beneath the big bow-wow eloquence of the quarter-deck autocrat, and these are truly grateful for fine service rendered and an indefatigable zeal for our best interests, viz:—the salyage_ of life and property. The gallant captain was sometimes too blunt an instrument to use in dissecting the very delicate anatomy of Tientsin's multi-nationalism, he was apt to treat questions that required fine discrimination as if they were plain-sailing matters of ship's discipline; but he always had the uncommon sense and rare courage to go back on his first decisions when he saw they were wrong. May his mighty shade never grow less, and may the First Lord of the Admiralty soon commend him for the coveted C.B., and give him speedy promotion! Ho loved not the Press, nor Pressmen, but that is easy to forgive.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.