'Our municipal government ite different. We were required to take over several good sizal cities, surrounding two foreign governed cities, over which we have control and' which form sin arm into our territory, separating one art from the other, so that just fis we Inck administrative unity, s0 we lack geographical unity. We Found nothing but a poorly-paid Police department and a confusion financial administrations. We found no popular representation in the municipal administration and we hed no trained civil servants who had grown up in the municipal service. We were asked not only:
find a method of governing and Administering this area but upon our thouhlers was Inid the task of 20 conducting the munieipatity that in the shortest time possible our affairs should be so ordered that the territory under our control would compare favourably with the long established International and French Settlements, that the high politicd purpose of' the Chinese people of obtaining full sovereignty, which includes the return to China of both those territories, might be achieved, To many this task seemed me superable. For we were faced not only with administrative inexperifence but with o general political chaos in the country. On the one hand we knew. that ther foreigners who believed only solution to the Shanghai, pro-Uem lay in the expansion of the fettlement and. therefore in failure. On the other hand, we realized that, there were Chinese who Delieved that" only in a revolutionary taking back of the foreign concessions. could Chinete rational honour sind prestige Vindieated. They, therefore, looked askance upon our insistance on the prine doubts of the foreigner as to our ability to function municipally by Cstablishing organs of government which would compare favourably with their own, Lack of Trained Men We proceeded then very slowly. We hw first to bring into existence 1 body of men who could administer the various functions of a municipal government. With one or two exceptions we could find no men in China who had hed any practical experi-once in this particular field. was, therefore, necessary to allow for a period during which these men would acquaint themselves with sunicipad problems here and would Lecome capable of efficient ad stration, Our task then was to take old institutions and to modernise them we had to establish entirely new organs with which the common copie were unfainitiar but which eve essential to modern municipal government.
As important as it might been politically to give the oppos ance of flourishing institutions at the outset, it would have weakened the morale of our organizations and ed to disappointment en the part of the people had we undertaken more than we could have sczomplishsd successfully with the funds and men at our disporcl. We have, therefore, moved at a very slow pace and that we lih so much is im a large measure fne fo the enthusiasm and conseientiougness of the men who are serving.
this administration, The ground work for the administration of Chapet is already Jaid and therefore perhaps our most serious impediment has already been overcome.
The separation of Chapei from Nantao geographically is a hindance to the achievement of success.
Unless these two areas can be linked together the municipality will fat come time be faced with the problem of building an artificial tink Jsuch as 2 highway "between the Western districts of the Settlement which would prove expensive, econormically wasteful and politically unsatisfactory to both the Settlements our municipality. right and the wrong of road extension. We can rather formulate our; [proposals in simpler terms and then we should have, 2 greater prospec: lof success. The simplest statement of our formula i& perhaps this: That it could never have been the intention of any Chinese signatories to the Land Regulations that conces-signal roads should be so laid out that they separate Chinese" areas Jand that they prevent the establishment of efficient administration by the Chinese municipality.
If the Powers concerned realize The Mixed Court Agreement In a situation such as the Shang-Municipality finds itself the avoidance of political conflicts makes for increased efficiency, for the time end energy and expenditure which the reasonableness of this formula there can be no ground for failure] in the road negotiations, upon the successful determination of which'
Jdepends so much of the ultimate} success of the Chinese municipality] lof Shanghai.
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