2nd June. for the Council 'o piece to publish was obviously the proper course us they. did yesterday mo ning the tender for tramways of Messrs, Bruce Peebles & Ca., with the relevant correspondence. By this publication the ratepayers are put into poss¢s-ion of most valuable information to assist them in deciding on their course of action at the meeting to be held on Tuesday next, and the Council is put in a much better position vis-A-vis the public. There has been an im-Bas been. felt hopeless to openly session fur some time that, while it
change the decision of the ratepayers in favour of tramways, there has been a strong undercurrent of opposition which has succeeded in postpone ing their actual construction year after year; and there was a vague suspicion afloat that this calling of another special meeting was another effort of the supposed undercurrent, The documents published yesterday morning will dissipate this suspicion, but they will not entirely acquit the Council of yielding perhaps rather weakly to the promoters of the special meeting, with the result tat, whatever the issue of the meeting, the actual construction of tramways is again postponed more or less.
Alter some correspondence with the agents of Messrs. Bruce Peebles Ca, Ld., whose tender the Council found the most acceptable, and after the virtual acceptance by the tenderers of the modifications and new! conditions proposed by the Council, the Acting Secretary wrote on the! 25th of May to the agents of Bruce Peebles & Ca.: "I am to inform you that the Council at its meeting of the 17th instant authorised the Special Committee to make a firm offer of the concession to Messrs. Bruce Peebles & Cv." The Council therefore had virtually accepted this tender on the 17th ult. but for a whole w ok nothing was said apparently to the successful tenderer, and this letter of the 25th was im answer to a letter fiom the agents of Bruce Peebles & Ca. of the 24th, asking that the decision of the Council should be officially communicated. So far so good. The Council had asked for t-riders for a tramway service, had received and considered them, and finally accepted the tender of. Bruce Peebles & Ca., all this being in strict accordance with the wishes of the ratepayers This obviously should have closed the preliminaries; but the council, weakly as it seems to us, allowed a big red herring to be drawn across the scent, for they go on to say in their letter of the 25th ult.:."On the following day the Council received an intimation that a special meeting of ratepayers was about to be convened for the discussion of a proposal to sell the Municipal Electricity Department in conjunction with the tramway concession. Ata special meeting of the Council it was thereupon decided to take no further step in the negotiations with Messr-. Bruce Peebles & C>, until after the ratepayers' meeting."
In calling for tenders there was suggestion from the Council that un offer for the purchase of their electricity department would he considered, so that it seems to us thet the Council should h-ye adhered to their decision of the 17th and treated the offer to purchase the department as an entirely distinct matter; and that Bruce Peeb'es & Ca. have a right to feel some dissatisfaction, For ourselves, we agree with Mr. Darwent and others tha' the sale would be a great mistake. The department has, owing to some incompetence in the past, given a great deal of trouble, and it has not been able to keep with the rapidly growing demande of ree of Mr. Aldridge, it is Shanghai. Under the very able
speedily being brought into a fully satisfactory evndition, and with a comparatively slight further expenditure, its capacity will be adequate to supply all the demands for light and power in the Settlements, and the current for the tramways, from which a Lirge steady income is assured. The offer of 1} million fuels for the departm: nt looks a vei liberal one, seeing that the bool value is only half that amount. But in the first p'ace, the book value is far below its real value, and no one would offer 1} million taels for it if ho did not think he could make a profit on that outlay. It is suggested that a camp riy could run it more economicilly than the municipality; but this is a fallacy. A company means board of directors who would be just as much dependent on_ their manager as the Cuuncil is, and there is no reason to assume that they would have a better manager than the Council has, Shanghai continues to grow so fast that while 1}. million taels looks a large sum now, it will look very much smaller five years hence; and we hold to the principle that the lighting of the Settlements should be a municipal, not a private undertaking. If, however, the ratepayers should decide to sell, which we do not believe they. will, Bruce Peebles & Ca, as the successful tenderers for tramways, should have an opportuni: y to bid, if they wish to, or the suggestion of the: r agents should be adopted, that, in the even: of the d-partment being sold, the agreement to supply Bruce Peebles & Ca, with curren' for the tramw.ys shuld be made une of the liabilities to be taken over by the purchaser.
We understand that the Council, as a holy, is not in favour of th" sale of ths dep tment, and we trust that in this it will be supporsed by the ratepayers on Tucaday next.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.