April 24.
Fresh minds, like fresh pastures, help to widen the outlook and correct dyspepsia. There should be plenty of freshness available in treatment of the Outside Roads question as it once more makes its appearance above the surface of Shanghai's political mere. On all sides there are new faces: Mr. C. E.
Gauss, the American Consul General, as one of the important figures in the background, may perhaps claim that his newness been mitigated, for his British and Japanese colleagues count their acting assumption of charge in' weeks and days, as it were. There is a not so new Senior Consul in the experienced Mr. N. Aall of Norway. In the Shanghai Municipal Council a new Chairman and new Vice-Chairman have just taken office accompanied by five brand-new colleagues. 'There is a new. but Acting Mayor of the City Gov. ernment of Shanghai; he happens: to be an old friend, none other than. Mr. O. K. Yui, who, with Mr. Sterl~ ing Fessenden, can boast a seven years' close acquaintance with all the facets of the Outside Roads.
Perhaps Major J. T. Ford, for the Secretary of the Council, Mr. God~ frey Philips, is another comparative newcomer, is the only other officio: who can match experience with Mr. Fessenden. The old hands may ruefully note, with calm refusal to] be surprised, the present hitch in discussions with the murmur!
"change and delay in all around 2". Remembering their sovenyears' apprenticeship, Mr. Fessenden and Mr. Yui may' break into dirge:
"If seven maids with seven mops Swept it for a half a year, you suppose" the Walrus said "That they could get it clear? doubt it", said the Carpenter, And shed'a bitter tear.
Meanwhile the Red Kings snore and Oysters find the pleasure of 3 walk "along the briny beach perilously like that of being taken for a ride.
Delay may imply that other as-societe of change: decay. That is the danger against which the Council wants to be protected, although procrastination, unpalatable to hard-headed Utility Com-. panies, has led to partial solutions: which may or may not give useful leads but certainly have removed from the Council's armoury well-defined weapons of defence. The situation, as the result of evidence of keen debate within the Couneit chamber and reports of a firm "take it or leave it" attitude in Kiangwan, is described as delicate. It is to be hoped that this does not suggest the contemplation of presenting, pistols to heads. That is a dangerous device, not exclusively for the heads, as human nature has an annoying habit of being stubborn when asked to submit to fairs accomplish, even in their franker guise of downright threats. For this delay' over the solution of the Outside Roads problem blame cannot. be fairly east solely on one or other parly. "At various times the nationality of the delinquent—it delinquency be the mark of eaution—has changed. It would be a thousand pities if the "atmosphere lost. the Spirit of give-and-take and negotia tion degenerated into an emulative display of bludgeons. Nor is irrelevant to observe that the offer of concessions should not be rashly {interpreted "as emanating from sense of weakness. The exact con= trary may apply; the inevitable awakening may' therefore attended by discomfort. Perhaps the advent of fresh minds in surves the situation is therefore no bad thing. Another new factor har been imported by. the forthright comments from Tokyo, During the historieseptennium the negotiations over the Outside. Reads. problem have been discreetly wrapped in the. cotton-wool of semisscerecy From time to time the negotiator® have. lifed heir voices" loudly enough for more than mere eaves-Sroppers (o learn things. Occasion ally progress or deadlock has boon reported. Of the former the Te~ marks of the then Chairman. (Mr.
HE. Ammhold) at the last. Rate payers' Meeting afford an example:
Negotiations on the question of the collection of the Special Rate on properties located" on the. Exira-Betloment Roads aving recently been resumed: between representatives of the Council and the Shang: hal. City "Government, a tentative Agreement between the representa tives "was, initialed. yesterday, You dovbiess have seen from this morning's press, which agreement Fequires the ratifeation of the in coming Counci, It appears, there fore, that. there is" an excell Prospect of an early solution of the Whale ExtrasSettlement Ronde problem.
It is sad to think that the hopes so recently held out to the Ratepayers have already been dimmed.
Fresh minds coming to the problem will agree that it should be discussed without acrimony. They wil," perhaps, perceive that past reticence, " however, suitable 10 has former needs, can now be abandon ed. The. plain unvarnished tale with the cards on the table is best faletlated to achieve results, "In the light of comments here and echoes abroad it should be possible for the public to be seized of the relevant facts of situation which admittedly is "delicate" and has a most important. bearing on. the Settlement's status and administration. No good. willie. done. by overcalling the hand of any party'
the discussions. The fresh rind vill grasp that point readily, just as} itwill atone see that the process of cating the cake and having tis out-Side the scope of ordinary digestive action. The basic need fs to ensure that the ground gained in cementing Sino-Foreign relations should not be abandoned ina desperate Attempt to ignore the logical consequences of changes which, despite the recurrent deadlocks, have gradually asserted themselves. The marked improvement in the administration of the City "Government, the growth of a greater. sense of security in the Extra-Settlement and Chinese-controtied areas," the teneral development of what Tokyo falls "a-new concept" in relations with China, import factors. which, Feassuring from certain. points of view, inevitably connote acceptance of what would once have been regarded—and still may be regarded by many, by no means obscurant, observers—as serious risks, On th other side duc note should be taken for foreign determination to. couple that "new concept" with a strict yard-stick in assessing Chinese: Fesponsibility. Calling bluifs is not a unilateral privilege. 'The Chinese} Ratepayers' Association has just unburdened its soul for the second, time of asking within the last few days. The performance is not impressive, particularly when it demands an "inspection of the accounts: of the Shanghai Municipal Council the one municipal organization 0 the Trinity which, ever since its inception, has published duly-audited accounts available to public examination. Chinese Ratepayers might ask themselves if this kind of fustian can be taken seriously when the finances of the City Government remain both to them, to the inhabitam's of the area primarily concerned and to the general public a sealed book—for aught known, an. un-audited one at that. The Association's outraged sensibility at the notion that the Council, in making grants-in-aid to Chinese schools, should have the temerity to show interest in those schools' accounts: assumes a quaint naivety in that light. As for the Association's demand for the direct enfranchisement of the Chinese Ratepayers it is pertinent to inquire whether that privilege obtains in any Chinese municipal area—whether indeed the indirect representation originating from the special vote of the Foreign Ratepayers is not far in advance of any electoral function conceded to Chinese residents in Chinese cities. These considerations deserve:
Proper attention, but, whatever change be contemplated, Un element of delay should be' stead fastly discouraged. Otherwise the scope for decay widens,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.