One small matter that came before the Council the other day created. somewhat of a sensation.
One of the members asked for a jmonth's leave of absence to re-
517 cuperate his health—in Shanghai. The request waa greeted with loud laughter, for about three-quarters of the members of the Council are natives of Shanghai, and have lived there most of their lives. The idea of recuperating in Shanghai in the depths of August—stirred their inmost souls, and all they would do for the would-be recuperafor was to give him a fortnight's leave, or. just sufficient to get him to Shanghai and back without sotting a foot on shore.
A Mistake that was Copied.
In occasionally considering the idiosyncracies of the—Chinese Press, one is apt to overlook the foreign newspaper. are These sometimes fearfully and wonderfully compiled. "Zo Journal de Pekin" the other day contained an interesting article on the rebuilding of Hankow, in which it was explained how the Dollar loan had been abandoned through the opposition of property owners, who are themselves building on their own sites. The result is that the grand scheme for the scientific reconstruction of the city has been dropped. There is only left the economical plan of building three perpendicular and three horizontal streets," the former of which doubtless will be inexpensive to maintain—but difficult to keep up.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.