special issue of the " Municipal Gazette" published yesterday contained the new Plague By-laws as amended in accordance with the instractions of the Special Meeting of Ratepayers. The Chairman of that Meeting has given effect to the amendment in the following manner—first, by means of ten strokes of the pen, then by writing in five places the word " plague," and in two other places the words any person suffering from ing suffered from eld that these pclenal are sufficiently obvious to have been incorporated in the amendment by the mover; snd on general principles and in view of the fact that there has been some discussion regarding the Meeting's "right" to delegate its powers," we are justified in expressing regret that the amendment was not given proper shape at the Meeting. As things were the Chairman saved the Meeting from itself, and amendments are to be loosely worded and so passed, the wildest flight of the imagination will bardly find soy grave constitutional principle involved ip ing to the Chairman the task of making ten strokes of the pen and writing in eighteen words. It is trae, as was hinted in our calamus on Taes-day, that the amendment as worded left it uncertain whether one important By-law, could be saved which the good sense of the Meeti it it bad been asked, woul! have retained. Bat it has been duly incorporated in the amended By-laws and no actual harm has been done. The By- will come up for discussion before the Consular Body after the statutory lapse of ten days and we may hope to find them wit boat undue delay declared the law of the settleimeat There will remain the matter of their enforcement; bat by that time it ie be hoped that a modus operandi will cived by the Ma rom yesterday's "Gazatto" it will have been noticed that both the Taotai and the Mixed Court Magistrate profess themeelvea in xymmpathy with the sis of the foreign community io regard to plague, while objecting t" the wholesale application of rigorous measures to all infectious disessos. At the same time we have the letter of the members of the Shanghai Guilds and others, amounting to" solemn pledge to ce-operate with the Manicipal authorities in the enforcement of plague regulations. The Chinese, both official and non-official sections, therefore, must be held to the letter and spirit of their pledges; snd it will be necessary for all those who ap-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.