An extra tax imposed on the carriage of goods from Pootang to Shanghai caused some trouble on Christmas Eve. It appears that the Pootung Magistrate, in order to raise funds to defray the cost of road construction, "increased the ferry rate from five to twenty cash, without having given any previous notice to the ie. Consequently fa large amount of produce intended for the City and Settlements was delayed and an indignant crowd of natives went to the famén. No explanation, satisfactory to the crowd, was obtained and in the first heat of its anger the mob demolished two houses that were the property of the Magistrate. The Magistrate's people feared a serious attack and remained within the inner precincts of the yamen, but the crowd dispersed without causing any loss of life. - It was then reported that the rioters had seized forty rifles; and the French Police, fearing that some demonstration would be made on this side of the river, tarned out a strong patrol next day upon the "foreshore of the French Bund. The S. M. P. kept a few men on observation duty, also along The Bund, but no further demonstration was made. It is reported that the increased rate was subsequently rescinded by the Pootung Magistrate and no more trouble occurred.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.