Police protection was accorded the Standard Oil Company here dari the strike some time ago, and the manager of the company called upon the Mayor to return thanks and to offer whatever payment might be due for such protection. 'The! Mayor, however, declined to accept, Dat took occasion to point out the' anomalous position of foreigners in the Municipality. He subsequently broached the matter to the British and. other Americans, and the former led the way in conceding to the Muniefpality the right to levy! assessments upon their premises equitable basis. The Chinese here: are in jubilation over this friendly attitude and it can be truthfully stated that there has never been such a pro-British atmosphere in these parts ax at the present Foreigners in Chinese territory have usually refused to pay taxes to the Chinese authorities on account of the very unstable conditions prevailing in the interior as well asthe very unsatisfactory manner in which these taxes are levied. Cases have occurred fre-lutly where some charlatan in temporary control of n district has collected taxes several terms in advance, making himeelf searce shortly afterwards in face of the appearance of & more powerful adventurer, This latter in turn would collect the taxes anew, and so on. In Swatow, however, conditions: more or Jess normal have prevailed for game time now, and the British and Americans here, out of pare good will and in order to show the 80 long as the Chinese authori are in a position to grant them decent protection, foreigners would not object to meet reasonable taxa tion, have made a good beginning.
Mr. Chen Kuo-chu has replaced My, Hunn Kai-san as Mayor Swatow and the new Mayor has signalized his arrival by abolishing. two departments, namely the Educa tion and that of Public Welfare. He prives the impression of being a business like official, anxious to work for the welfare of the community.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.