Tsingtao, which ove reaches in a Sh ae oth sao ae tne hata Tals emo to Waiage lego a ateaml iner lo Sg est theands at rlleteoocert lover 16,000 Japanese residents, min Jot whom, in view of recent political events elsewhere, now regret that Japan ever relinquished her hold fon Tsingtao, has not been without. effect in stimulating the Chinese authorities to make and keep it a niodel city. But quite apart, from such considerations "Tsingtao has undoubtedly been fortunate in having had a good administration luring recent years, and in having an" able such as Admiral Shen Hung-lich fat ite head. The admiral, a blue? sailor-man of about fifty years of lage, a native of Hupeh, dressed in an' unpretentious. Chung Shan uniform of blue serge, informed me that he had served in the British Navy during the Great War. At the present, time, however, he. ino longer Admiral of the" North-Eastern " Squadron' which sailed away to the South after the attempt on, his life last year, and confines himself to his duties of Mayor of Tsingtao, or more correct ly, governor of the whole aren contained within the limits of th former German, "Kiaochow Gobi This is still a "Special Area" and administratively does not betong 40 the' province of Shantung; and. the otherwise all-powerful chairman of the province, Han Fucehu, exert Me control over the port. Still the 'Kamiral wisely takes fon. good terms with his Preighbour. His position "is w d ficate one, as though not an_actual appointee' of the Nanking. Govern-Iment—he, is a "leftover" from the former 'Chang Hsueh-liang. regime jhe is considered officially asa direct' "representative of. that Government. Certainly no. better man feould have been found; some overzealous member of the Kuomin-fang would "have offended the Shantung Chairman, whilst a. nominee of the latter would have been 'n permanent challenge to the Central "Government. There are other peculiarities about the 'Tsing tao. administration. "Although—n0- finally' a municipality, there "is ino" municipal council, nor fs the administration a municipal, one four sense of the "word, " Admiral Shen' being in' setual fact the autocratic governor" of his little Territory from which be draws his own. revenues, Here again the position is unique, in "that one Fouee of revenue, the Harbour fees, are collected by a special Hax-our Office which, unlike other ports of China, is not under control of the Maritime Customs, but is an office of the Tsingtao niunieipality. This arrangement too comes down from the days of the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.