"Between 1872 and 1098 the Council made no serious attempt to col-Jeet a tax on "fan-tan' land, although it. put, on record that it was legally entitled to levy it and would en-Acavour to collect it.... The reason why the Council did "not collect a tox on fan-tan' land between 1872 and 1938 was not because it was not Jegally entitled to tax such land, but fon account of the following reasons: 1, the diMoulties in ascertaining the owners of fan-tan' Jand, due to lack of proper registration, 'This dieulty has been exemplified by the evidence offered by the plaints, The Megat practice of cutting fangtans' Titre' to. segisoe transfers have created further confusion; and 2, cause in the early days of the Settle ment, most of the unregistered land was wholly agricultural and not con sidered worth while taxing, as the "The Shanghai Municipal Couneit not a municipal corporation in the strict Tegal sense, Tt is a voluntary. association composed of. citizens of many different nationalities who have combined together for the enjoyment {ncommon in an orderly manner, of certain privileges which were accord fed to them by agreements made by their respective governments and the Government of China. Among these privileges was the right of municipal Control over a certain portion of the treaty port of Shanghal.... Since the association is a voluntary one, just as residence within the area so con-{rolled is voluntary, and since there fg no common body of law which can applied to all members of the association, it must follow that the association' cannot maintain its exist-fence unless it appeals to the inherent fand innate right of sell-preservation, to enforce recognition by all parti=
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.