The "Sin Wan Pao" printed a few days ago the following report:
"In accordance with the resolution at the Ratepayers' Meeting held on April 7, the Shanghai Municipal Council has ordered all' tobacco and exchange shops to put up grilles over their counters and has notified them of the times at which they are to open-and close their shops.
"Immediately on receipt of these instructions a meeting of their guild was held and a representative _was lected who saw the Council, explaining that as no such rule was enforced in the French Concession it should be cancelled in the International Settlement. The chairman took consideration in this matter and they (the exchange shopkeepers) may" erect grilles at their option.
"But some, under pretext that they had been unjustly classified by the Council, have not paid their tax. Their guild has now found out that there are 19 shops which have not paid and these have been ordered to pay at once, and if their shops are wrongly classified the guild will appoint another representative to meet the 8. M. Council in the matter.
"Tt has now been found out that there are 1,900 tobacco and exchange shops of all classes in the Tuternational Settlement and a sum of over Tis, 32,000 could be collected by the Council per There appears to be some misunderstanding on the part of the "Sin Wan Pao" in this matter, for the duty of putting up grilles is imnosed upon these shans by a condition in their licences. Tt was nointed out to a representative of this paper yesterday, that even a lie, so long as it was firmly fixed in place, would meet the requirements of the condition. while it would be every bit as effective as many of the ornate brass structures to be found in some shops. In any event the requirement is for the benefit of the shopkeepers themselves as a protection against robbery:
It is true that a number of shops, rather more than the number stated above, failed to pay their taxes on the first visit of the collectors. but there nothing to show that anything in the nature of an organized opposition to the tax is being engineered. It is expected that most of these taxes will be paid when the collectors make their next visit, but if such is not the case the ordinary pro: cesses of law will in all probability be employed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.