THE correspondence recently print ed under the heading of "The Case of Ma Teh-fong" in the Council's Minutes forcibly illustrates the frequently-forgotten tact that our local administration and the relation= which govern its varius component. parts, rest on no sure foundation of law or finality and that under such conditions it is only by luck and compromise that we avoid ser ons and frequent difficulties. We commend the correspondence in question to the attention of all those who take an active interest in local affairs because it is not only interesting but extremely instructive, There are probably not twenty people in Shang-bai who are entirely familiar with the origin and growth of the existing state of affairs; the fact is regrettable. because, in the absence of information amongst those chi-fly concerned, many misunderstandings have arisen in the past which perpetuate up t" the present day their undesirable results, The point to which attention is chiefly drawn by this correspondence lies in th- definite statement of the French Consul-Gener: that the Municipal Police Force of the French Set.lement is in no manner contro'le by the Frese Council, but is onder his own direc' orlers as Consul-General. Tu must people such a statement must appear at first sight absolutely incomprehensible, and it requires knowledge of the past history of the S-tlements to understand how it occurs that such statement should be made, Space does not permit us to deal in history; suffice it to say thst by Article XIII of thy Code de Réslements, provisionally approved by the Foreign Powers concerned for the alministration of the French Settlement in April 1868, the French Cunsul-General was charged "with everything which pertains to the maintenance of order and public safety" in that Settlement, and that the Police Force was placed exclusively under his orders. It has since frequently been pointed out, however, both at the time when these regulations were brought into operation, and on subsequent occasions, that many of the provisions of this Code and of the functions assumed thereunder, are directly opposed to the treaty rights of other nationalities resiling or owning property on the French Settlement, and it hay thereture been the general policy of French Consuls in the past so '0 exercise these functions as to let sleeping dogs lie. It may be within the recollection of our realers that at the time of the Ningpo Guild Riots, as also at the dal S-tlement Extension (1899), the British Government drew attention to certain uncon-stitutional action taken by the French authorities; it seems therefore reasonable to expect that if Monsieur Ratard should persist in his present line of action, and carry the same to its loziei conclusion, a dead-lock must sooner or Ixt-r occur, Whatever the state of affairs may have been in 1868, whatever rights the French Consul-General may have desired to claim under the authority of the Emperor Napoleon in the mud-fut of that date, it musi be obvious that with the vast interests involved to-day and the necessity for strict recognition of nationa' and treaty rights, the position which Monsieur Ratard now assumes cannot
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.