Tientsin, June 21. reliably reported that the meeting of, the loose Consular Body which was*held this morning to con sider the situation arising out of the closing of the local House was fruitless, due to the difference of opinions among the representatives of the foreign countries.
Both Japanese and Bri sentatives are said to have proposed that the various Consulates carry on the Customs during the closure Jot the Custom House, withthe assistance and ce-operation of various shipping firms as well as of the Customs brokers.
On the other hand, the American land French Consuls are reported to thave expressed their opposition to such an improvised measure, saying. that inasmuch as the local Custom House has declared itself closed {thereby making Tientsin a free port, steamers should be left to enter Jand leave the port freely and cargoes should be freely cleared. There is no necessity for the foreign conus, they contend, to take the Ons-toms duties themselves in the present, cireumstiances—Rengo.
'Tientsin Consuls' Decision Tientsin, June 23.
It is understood that at a further ering of the Consular Body this; mouning, it was decided to recom mend the respective Legations to recognize the taking over of the Tientsin Customs as a fait accompli.
Meanwhile the Customs today appeared to be working at full blast, though their methods were necessarily most slipshod with a large aniny of newly engaged Chinese and a number of foreign supervisors styled "emergency officers.'
Mr. Lenox Simpson say "the worst is over," and he expresses the hope tat within a week he will the command of a fairly cient staff, including a number of Germans, ex-Customs officials who were formerly dismissed for purely political reasons. It is understood that good pay and inducements are being offered to all applicants for positions, ald Customs staff, with the exception of a number of Chinese tide-waiters, continue to follow the Inspector General's instructions and have nct reported for work—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.