January 18.
Ara time when the relationships of Chinese and foreigners resident in China are passing through a phase of peculiar delicacy, every effort to arrive at a modus vivendi on co-operative lines deserves to be closely watched. For this reason we would call special attention to the loiter from out Chefoo correspondent which we publish to-day. As he there tells us, the recommendations framed at the special meeting of the Bist ultimo were duly adopted, with a few amendments, at the annual general meeting of January 19; and thus the General Purposes Committee passes away, giving place to an International Committee of six foreigners and six Chinese, who will henceforward take control of the Chefov district and surroundings, designated by the Chinese authorities as Section Six. The exact steps that led up to this important. change are not stated; but the past history of the port serves to throw some light on the considerations by which the foreign residents of Chefoo may have been prompted. As all who have visited Chefoo can attest, the upkeep of the well laid-out and lighted foreign quarter must have entailed a heavy burden on the General Services Committee, to say nothing of the voluntary contributions from foreign residents to which alone the Committee could look for revenue. In the absence of a definite settlement or concession, the time for obtaining which has certainly gone by, if it ever existed, it would be impossible to call upon Chinese residents for contributions without allowing them voice in the expenditare; and the fact that the relationships of Chinese and foreigners at Chefoo are hay pily smooth would suggest international management asa reasonable solution of the difficalty.
From the regulations adopted at the annual general meeting it is clear that the change has been made in no grudging spirit, and that the Chinese represontstives, elected by the guilds and merchants, will join their foreign colleagues on the most absolute equality. In the main the functions of the Committee will not differ materially from those of its predecessors. Sanitation, lighting, road and bridge making and repairing, the kind of work that falls in larger centres to a highways and byways committee, cover the bulk of its daties. For this parpose the Committee will reserve to itself full powers in matters of assessment and.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.