The annual meeting of the Tientein Landrenters was held under the presiden-ey of Consul-General Hopkins in Gordon Hall on January Bist. There. were present Messrs. R. A. Cousins, E. Cousins, W. W. Dickinson, J. M. Dickinson, Vetting, Fisher, Heyl, Irwin, Isennedy, Mackay, McLeish, Morting,' Schell, Southcott, Tames Si a Wy 5 xeprescuting in all some 31 votes.
The purely formal business was quickly dispatched, when Mr. E. Cousins, the Chairman of the outgoing Council, very briefly reviewed the history of the year and referred to the outlook. "He deprecated lengthy reference to most of the matters in hand, as the printed reports in the possession of the Landrenters 50 fully explained matters, Although they had not yet recovered perfect autonomy in the presence of the military occupation, yet they were rubbing along in comparative comfort, and they were happily able to give a good account of their stewardship and modestly to claim some success for their administration. Vast expense for the remaking of their roads was immi ent and imperative, but he advised the i coming Council to go wai the matter. Their claim on the Chinese Government, would enable them to meet the expense of one reconstruction; but if their military friends again used up the roads and ré- fused to help to pay for them, they would be in a parlous state. The Concessions had outgrown their constitution and rovision of the Land Regulations was a crying need, if only to increase the number of Councillors to nine. The work was now so great that a Council of five could not do it. The Landrenters should also steadily aim at complete amalgamation of the two British Concessions, as the present system involved a sheer waste of time and infinitely tedious worry. The only difficulty lay in the difference in land tenure of the two Concessions, but. this offered no insuperable difficulty. The two Messrs. Dickinson before the accounts were passed referred to the extraordinarily successful budget presented, and objected to the extreme modesty of Mr. Cousins in not accentuating this feature of the years work. Ordinary Revenue was Tls. 53,000, while ordinary expense was Tls. 35,000, thus leaving a fine balance of Tls. 18,000, a sum equal to their entire revenue only 2 few years ago. The sudden rise in_ricsha licenses from Tls. 5,000 to Tls. 15,000 was the chief cause of the financial boom. The accounts were passed.
Mooring fees for the coming year were fixed at 4! dollar cents a ton. Steamers of 1,000 tons and under are to pay a bund rent of Tls. 30; those over this tonnage Tis: 35. The Land-tax was fixed
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.