It is high time that the foreigners whose names and hong flags are freely used in the management of these launch lines should take measures to have better supervision given to the management, and especially to the behaviour lof the crews on the lines they ro-present, otherwise their good name and the reputation of foreign merchants generally will suffer and foreign trade will be much injured. Many of the employees of thee launch lines are disreputable rowdies who bully and insult the public, and who defy the officials in utter disregard of all decency, and all because they presume on foreign protection. Not long since some employees of the Taichang line publicly insulted the magistrate of Ts'ingkiangp'u, and such an intolerable nuisance has the behaviour of these men become, that the iously thinking of banishing all the steamer offices from the city limits, and allowing the launches to approach only within a mile of the city. Strict instructions given to the local managers and to laodah to employ only decent boatmen, and to keep them in control, and in' case of misbehave summarily discharge the offenders, we result in a vast improvement and would no doubt increase the profits of these lines. Only a few days ago a disgraceful fight occurred at the northern suburb of this city between the employees of rival lines, both using the same foreigner's name ind flag. In this fight pistols were used several persons wore injured. The magistrate and prefect when appealed to were timid about managing the case because the culprits were under foreign protection. In his remarks on the case, the magistrate is reported to have said "You both fly the same flag and use the same foreigner's name, and 80 really to be one Company. You ought surely to be able to live in peace and each seek his own trade without resorting to such lawless measures as these."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.