1 am authorized to state that these conversations have resulted in an agreement. This agreement is, of {eourse, entirely informal and requ the consent of other interested Powers. None the less, the foet that such fan agreement had' been reached was considered sufficient to justify the Council in requesting the Senior Consul to postpone once again the holding of the forthcoming election.
The Consular representatives of the three Powers mentioned have authorized mo to state that they have agreed among themselves to rec: mend to their colleagues and the Chinese Government that for 9 Himited period the Council should consist of four Chinese. three Japan ese, three British, three Americans and one German member together with two members of other nationalities. Tt is confidently hoped that his ogreement will receive public Those responsible for the adminis tration of the Settlement today are faced with problems of pressing im= portance, I'refer in particular to the eeessily of raising revenue to meet the rising cost of living and commodities and to the problem of assist Ing the provision of essential food= stuffs for the population of the elly. To meet those problems. there is needed the cooperation and goodwill of responsible persons of al! nation= alities.
To Broaden Government Basis, Furthermore, it must have been apparent to all who have taken an intelligent interest in the affairs of the Settlement that the time has gone by when a city of this size can pro erly he governed by a ratepayers' meeting which has to be held in the open-air and is attended by thousands of ratepayers of different nationali-tos and different languages. A procedure bared on the parish meeting of a small English township is not adapted to one of the largest cities of the world with a cosmopolitan population, As T have said above, efforts have been made by the Consular reprosentatives of the three Powers, with the largest interests in the Seitlement, in an endeavour to effect an fequilible adjustment of the Muni cipal constitution which will ring about an easier atmosphere and, as result, make easier the handling of the above problems. The present time is not quite opportune for a permanent solution of Shanghat's prob-Jems. Tt has. none the less, been felt that if the Settlement is to survive and ils administration to continue, some effort should be made (0 devise Shanghai, Apr. 7.
An agreement has been reached among Consular representatives of Britain, Japan. and the United States en a pian altering representation on the Shanghai Municipal, Council, providing for a temporary revised composition of the Council, the Japanese Consulate-General "announced last evening.
Stressing that the plan was only a "temporary expedient" the announcement said it did not necessarily represent a fundamental solution of Settlement administration problems.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.