One signing himself "Progressive" had a very interesting letter in our correspondence columns yesterday fon the subject of street names, and ut in a protest against the use of the word "road" which we have in connection with practically all our thoroughfares. He wants it to be Nanking Street and not Nanking Road and so on. But should we be right in this? Tt will require a sinologue, probably, to give the answer, but there is at least' one consideration against change. Take any Chinese thoroughfare in the Native City, and find out what is called a street—the Street of Bene-valence, for instance. The writer admits that he has not been there for years, but in the days when he spent odd hours roaming in such places, it would certainly have been impossible to get a broker's trap safely through its straitness. Doubtless, then, a street in China is the sort of place where there is not room to swing a cat, and when tone comes to the spacious (by comparison) thoroughfares of the Settlement, they are properly roads in the Chinese mind. And we have no doubt that this was in their mind when Nanking Road became the Malo (Horse Road) in_ popular parlance, and Kiukiang, Hankow, Foochow. Roads, ete., the Second, Third and Fourth Horse Roads all roads be it noted. With reference to another point our correspondent's letter, "Sing Ping Street" the only street in Shanghai to-day? There used to be two others, Market Street and Old China Street, both obscure places in Hongkew, but, perhaps, they have disappeared in the course of the road widenings of an energetic Public Works Department, "Progressive", however, might do worse than inquire about them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.