Relaying Tracks Like Running an Office; Months at the Job and Still Not Nearly Done An American started tt. Ho had been running out to Kiangwan and back several tines and felt annoyed at the state of North Szechuen Road Extension and he voiced his annoyance in the precise American way.
"The Tramway Company do this track-laying," he-said, "as if they were running an office. Nine to twelve, two hours off for tiffin, two to five. Fourth of July, King's Birthday, Bank Holidays, race days and all regular holidays recognized, They must have turned quite a lot of stones in this North Szechuen Road Extension in the last two months. Hagen will win @ lot more English; championships before they get, through."
All of which was quite sufficient to suggest that the Tramway Com-pay had again been going a little way beyond even itself, and indicated 4 tour of investigation, That 9 Minute Service A trip to the scene of action started unfavourably. On the assurance of a prominent tramway official—given only quite recently, when there complaint of poor evice—there ix a nine minute service on the Bubbling Well-Hongkew Park route, Subsequent reference! to official figures in a certain department of the S.M.C, showed that on Paper it is a great deal more frequent, The investigator delinrately missed one tram, in order to see what time would elapse, and weht the next one 26 minutes Jater! He secured hanging room in.
carrying nine over the authorize:
ber as announced in bold letters the ear, and watched the (vith some 200 lives in his} Is) gaily conversing with five casual acquaintances on the driving platform, One can imagine the scathing comments of a Judge or a Coroner in certain circumstances.
Of course, such bare-faced infractions of the Law' are the immediate concern of the police. We! modestly to claim to be, in part at ist, responsible for the police ing upon @ rule against overcrowding, such as exists and is enforced in every other large city in the world. The fact that the Police brought a ease and lost it, and that the Tramway Company lost case in which one of their foreign inspectors was summoned for assault because he attempted to prevent another human sardine being squeezed into the tin, makes no difference, It is preposterous to suggest that any individual or corporation can evade 4 perfectly reasonable law.
"Blass"
The journey continued. Further incidents were the rejection by a very dirtily-garbed conductor of three 20-cent pieces vouched for by very competent compradore, but nounced by the conductor as "blags": a remonstrance with two gentlemen who spat upon the floor} and became very indignant when it Was suggested that the notice inside the ear was supposed to be obeyed even by Chinese in the Foreign Settlenient (the conductor meanwhile being a highly amused but non-inter. fering spectator): and the stoppage of the car for five minutes whilst the driver—and his five casual acquaintances—held a five-minutes debate (apparently not friendly)—with 4 wheelbarrow coolie who would Have impeded the ear's progress had he been two yards nearer to its line of rumble,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.