Sept. 29.
APTER several years of hard-fought negotiation we seem now to be in a position to congratulate ourselves that at length the relations between the Shanghai Waterworks Ca. and the Municipal Council are to be placed on a satisfactory and amicable footing. The preliminary agreement between these bodies was signed just before noon yesterday, and as published to-day in 'a special edition of the Municipal Gazette it gives an idea of how very complicated have been the matters which have occupied the attention of the two bodies. We need not go back over the tangled course of events which have led up to this preliminary agreement—which, of course, has to be confirmed by the Waterworks l|shareholders—but, in dealing pose them to the fierce light of world publ ity is strongly in-ar ined.
What would happen to that noble army of up country correspondents of the "North-China Dail News" who so fe expose the terrible conditions that hold in so many parts of the land, if the rights of exfraterritoriality were withdrawn and they were exposed to the vengeance of the officials whose evil deeds they have made so widely known, one shudders to think. Yet these people are doing China a real service, for they are show the world to ing on in the readily be understood, important precedents have been established from the many cases with which the Court has had to deal and new practices have come into gue. It is the business xf the! joint commission to select from this mass of material whatever it shall be best to preserve and consolidate for the use of the, Court; and while this work must necessarily take several months, the joint commission is actually jat work upon it and, as with the exchange of notes, with good prospect of satisfactory results.
Looking at the whole question of rendition and the progress int evi real state of affairs is known and yr, and it is only when the that has been and will, we may believe, still further be made to understood by the Powers that] help can be given.
What is necessary is that the Chinese authorities ould make up their minds that it is no longer of any, fuse burying their heads in the:
4 sound agreement, one or two cardinal points must be borne in mind. In the first place, rendition must be effected: the claim for it by the Chinese is as rea sonable as any attempt at resist with its salient facts, it may be pointed out that there can be no question of the control of Shanghai's essential water supply by any body of shareholders, some fof whom live at a distance, that the perfectly proper interests of these shareholders have been safeguarded and that the consumer will be looked after by suitable Municipal ce-operation with the Waterworks Company. Incidentally it is only a pr liminary agreement, and the intention is that it should be ad-Jjusted where necessary in the amicable spirit in which it has been drawn up. To reach it, jeoncession have been made on either side, and as a result of these it is now felt that the future relations between Council and Waterworks can be considered on a very satisfactory footing, For instance as a result.of the recent discussions the Counefl
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.