The correspondence which we publish in another column relative to certain requests made by the French Municipal Council for a number of things to be done by, the Compagnie Francaise de Tramways et d'Eclairage Electriques throws a striking light upon the situation between the two parties in the present controversy. If M. Laforest's letter means anything it surely means that little or nothing can be done in the matter of extending the service which the company controls, without the express sanction of the head office situated in Paris. Such a state of affairs is impossible. Apart from the incorrectness of the principle that the development of a district should be controlled in this manner by people who are not on the spot, there is the fact that the destinies of the Concession are in the hands of men to whom even, apparently, the minutia of management have to be referred. It is not fair to the Council whose programmes must be limited by what the company chooses to do, and it is not fair to the residents in the Concession, who have every right to expect an efficient service elastic enough to meet their needs. Some years ago there was talk of selling the electricity undertaking of the International Settlement to a company. Judging from the experience through which the French Concession is now going, ratepayers in the International Settlement may find occasion for congratulation that they did not fetlow an example which has not proved one of the happiest.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.