Mar. 28.
Winter's snow has helped to heighten the public discontent over the extra-Settlement road issue, The effect of the heavy falls of snow on the roads, especially in the outer regions of the Settlement, has been to hasten the need for the attention of the road-repairer. The Public Works Department has therefore been plunged into yet another of those controversies, in which the disputation of the legal mind has obstructed the practical desire of the engineer to maintain a road fit for the purposes of its original construction. Happily commonsense and good temper have been displayed, although the public, not unnaturally, have been restive over the serious inconvenience to which they have been exposed. Motor-car springs cannot be bumped and ed without detriment to the equality of their owners. It is satisfactory to learn' that, today, the Public Works Department hopes to get on with the job of repairing certain of its roads in the disputed area owing to an agreement arrived at between the Council's representatives and the Chinese authorities. It is understood that the negotiations have been handled on both sides in the right spirit, It is hoped that nothing will occur to impair it and thus hinder the work of the road-menders, If a similar readiness for reasonable compromise be further forthcoming, the settlement of other irritate
croachment is not improbable at {ng problems of alleged arly date. The Council is often criticized for having but the vaguest idea of its own Policy in this matter of the extra settlement roads. The criticism is understandable for the very delicacy of the issue makes a frequent exposition of Policy undesirable, not dangerous. The "North-China Daily News" has from time to time, refrained from pointed comment on certain incidents, simply because it is convinced that the resources of negotiation should be explored to the full and that nothing is more harmful than precipitate criticism in uch circumstances, Now that a definite agreement none specific aspect of the ssue—and that the most urgent merely the setting up of a|—has been reached, a dispasbureau for working out itinertionate review of. the problem ies: it means also tha adop-|can be attempted. It is plain tion of a general policy calculated to smooth the tourist's path. There should be the provision of reliable information regarding the safety of routes, the control of those vane services on which a tourist must rely but which can be so irritatingly clogged by unnecessary exactions, unbridled custom and personal waywardness, The conditions cannot be created in the twinkling of an ey Tt is safe to say, however, th if a beginning is' made with the important centres, such as Peking, Canton, Hangchow and Shanghai, the advantages ae: erning therefrom may so impress themselves on the people of other less-favoured districts that an atmosphere conducive to extended operations may be gradually created, The suggestion that independent bodies im Shanghai should take this subject in hand seems at least worthy of attention. It might not be impossible for Shanghai itself to enter the exhibition field; plans in that regard have been' mooted on more than one occasion. Activities focussed on the arrangement of an exhibition would naturally lend themselves, in the event, to the establishment of permanent orgganizations for the encouragement of tourist trafic. This has been the experience of most other countries. The movement [must naturally come from China, but there is ud reason why the that, in the event, the question of rating and policing of the extra-Settlement roads will have to be determined—to the satisfaction of both parties, Until the Council is in possession of Mr. Justice Feetham's Report "it is unlikely to be able to formulate a policy on which final agreement can be reached. That does not prevent the conduct of informal conversations or the consideration of such proposals which may be made from the Chinese authorities, Even so it is understood that, on the Chinese side, no authentic or specific proposals have been presented but there have, fortunately, been discussions which may be said to have reduced or minimized the points of friction. This agreement over the repair of roads affords an excellent example. In Saturday's "North-China Daily News" another aspect of the problem was dealt with by a semi-official statement from the Bureau of Public Safety. The experiences of foreign motorists, held up on extra-Settlement roads, led to inquiry on the instructions issued to the' Chinese police in that regard. From the statement made it will have been noted that the Chinese authorities have duly sensed the uneasiness caused by certain methods adopted by their subordinates. Their issue of further exhortations to courtesy shows, in itself, that they con-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.