The formal announcement that a special meeting of ratepayers is to be called with a view. to rectifying the vote cast on Wednesday against the two extra Chinese Councillors can hardly' ave surprised even those who had not already heard that such 'a meeting was in view. Reflection has not rade Wednesday's deci ron more agreeable to thos: disliked it at the time, and it fe probable that not a few who were ut first carried away the excitement of the moment have revised their opinion. The vote can hardly be taken as representing Shanghai's considered opinion, Only 252 ratepayers were present out of six or seven times that number who might have been; and of course not all of them voted against the resolution. In these circumstances and in view of the undeniable gravity of the situation created, sober-minded men in the foreign community gave themselves without delay to the question of repairing the mischief It may frankly be said that in this matter the British took the lead and to their efforts and, it should justly be added, to th moderating influence of Mr. Vu Yach pally "due that the Chinese, who were deep-and not unnaturally affronted by the vote, have been content to await the outcome without undue excitement.
The situation is one which the utmost importance to and without allowing ourselves to be igritated by details that have no real bearing on the issue. For example, annoyance is readily ed by. the Chinese Ratepayers' assertion that the foreign voters had no right to re-Ject the two extra Councillors.
Tt would be waste of time and temper to demonstrate the wecuracy of this statement, For everything the Chinese may say which irritates the foreigner. they would no doubt counter with something that had irritate ed them, That sort of cou troversy leads to nothing but ill temper. Now we do not wt the "North China News" can be accused of beings lukewarm where the best. interests of Shanghai are at stake. We have fought hard and shall resist insidious operation ithout designed to under ers as the government of Tut_we do not think inclusion of two mors ese Councillors is wed among the things caleulated to weaken the Coun ind 80 far from the re-of these men being 1 to strengthen the Foreign holt it may very easily have exactly the opposite result. It will not improve our relationships with Chinese, official or private, and it will bring us no encouragement from for~ eign Governments.
One circumstance may here be mentioned which, though per~ haps not generally considered, has a direct bearing on the present juncture. A few days as readers will recall, there was a demonstration outside the British Consulate in Nanking. with false reports of British guards having fired upon the mob at the International Export more serious matter than the telegrams allowed to be seen, and was undoubtedly a determined attempt of the Communists to hit at Gen Kai-shek through and to embroil him with them.
The Government acted promptly and the riot was suppressed, a3 were the subsequent efforts of the Communists to make trouble these events the interests of the Government and of Shanghai as against the Communists are identical. It is obviously all against the advantage of the International Settlement to give the Communists an excuse for staging an "incident," in which foreigners, instead of being, as it were, a means to an end in the Red plots, became the principal object of attack, could no doubt defeat them; but at what ultimate cost to the Settlement's prosperity, readers can imagine for themselves, The fact must be faced that changes in the constitution of Shanghai will come, The Western Governments have made no secret of their general intentions in this respect, and we ourselves have implicitly accept ed it in retaining Judge Feetham to devise some scheme which will satisfy Chinese wishes while safeguarding Chinese and foreign interests in the Settlement. With this prospect ahead, it must be obvious that wisdom lies in cultivating friendly ro~ lationships with the Chinese business community of Shanghai and in making them feel that they have a vested interest i its" administration mous lines. Local autonomy is a cardinal principle of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Will, which is the proclaimed standard of all Nation alist plans of development. That fact is of great importance for us in Shanghai as we look to the future, but its value depends upon the effectiveness with which we can assist in training Chinese in the requisite knowledge of municipal adminis tration and in making them feel that their interests are identical and that 3 them as such. In this connection the system of election "of Chinese representatives for Council ser-ice by means of an electoral college, formed of delegates from the Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese Ratepayers' Association and the Street Uni worth attention. It contains the germ of machinery which may have important results in time to come; it ix u distinct safe-elect demagogues; the actual serv' exe on the Council and on subcommittees, there hax been no cause to complain of the men sent up.
What has been written will not be popular with all, The foreign comm ity of Shanghai ¢|have hud and are having, "a bad time"; they have been unfairly represented abroad; and they have a feeling that their destinies are being settled over their heads without fair consideration for themselves or for slaring facts which are evident enough. In such circumstances the temptation to hit back is almost irresistible. Unfortunately there are times when in hitting back we merely hit of ourselves. Since the fact of changes impending has been accepted, the obvious course to ensure as far as possible that they shall take place gradually and for the preservation of all that is best in the administeation of Shanghai and we believe that that path was entered upon when first Chinese were invited to sit on the Council. We are quite prepared to be called pusilanimous. We merely ask readers to think" over the whole situation calmly and without heat; and we are confident that their reply will be in keeping. with their habitual good judgment. suis San whi A fron has been sent to the xtinistty of Justice by the Shangh Chinese Bar Association, asking heuer foreign lavers intending: to practise at the Special District Court and the Second Branch Provineial High Court should join the local Chinese Bar Association,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.