Continved interest ig being' evinced in the refusal of the Chinese Yatepayers to meet the increased two! per cent. in the Municipal rates and, as usual, the Chinese paere are devoting much space to the subject.
At a meeting on Monday, at the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Mr. K. 8. Zee, general secretary of the Chamber, presides over a gathering of ratepayers anil mentioned that a deputation had called on the Council with a vi to arranging a settlement and that these men had been well received. IL-was hoped that there would be 2 compromise & an ently settle. ment of the vexed affair. However, more Chinese shopkeepers were being compelled to close their doors because of the picketing of their stores by the police anti the Commissioner of Foreign Affairs "had, been asked to lodge a vigorous Protest, Tt was decided to present the following demands:—1. That the Council be stopped from interfering arbitrarily with' shopkeepers and that the latter be: allowed to resume business forthwith; 2 'That the 'Commissioner of Foreign Affaits be' asked to request the Consular Body to form a Court of Consuls in which the Council may be ened; 3, That the Council should indemnity the Chinese shopkeepers who sustain losses through the Council's action in foreing them to suspend business; That 11 Chinese should be np-Pointed to serve on the Council within one month in proportion to! the amount of taxes paid; 5. That the Council be forbidden' to inter: fore with the working of the Shanghai Provisional Court by' acting without its sanction; and 6. That equal treatment should "be granted to all living inside and outside the Settlement,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.