Ir is now some twelve or fourteen yenrs ago that an attempt was made on the part of a few gentlemen in Shanghai to establish certain reforms in the matter of domestic service. The attempts then made dealt primarily with the matter of wages. The sum of five or six dollars a month for a coolie was considered too high, an objection that applied with even greater force to the wages paid to boys, which varied from seven to twelve dollars. It had been, or was thought to have been, discovered, that a Chinese domestic servant could very well support four dollars a month, supplemented, we suppose, by those perquisites which the Chinese look upon in the light of commissions, but which foreigners with greater bluntness call squeezes. But the movement failed, principally from want of proper combination on the part of foreigners; and our Chinese servants have been left ever since in the enjoyment of liberal pay, on which many of them have retired from service altogether and set themselves up in business on their own account.
The other direction in which an effort was made to systematise the employment of domestic servants was that of hiring. Many abuses had arisen out of the practice than in vogue of engaging a boy on the strength of a character' or letter of recommendation written by a former master. These valuable documents were often pnsaed on from one ingenuous candidate to another, a small premium being paid of course by the borrower to the lender for its use. It was therefore sought to establish a system of registration, the books of reference to be kept in a proper office under the supervision of a duly-qualified registrar. This attempt also failed, although if we remember rightly the scheme lad a semi-official air about it which promised well for its respectability and efficiency. Tudeed the whole scheme fell through after a very few weeks of trial, and things lave gone on bretly smoothly over since in the old grooves, There is however one direction in which some measures by or behalf of the public will become necessary ere long. Dur. itis the Inst few years, a oleas has sprung up in Shanghai and the other open ports of Chivia which is rapidly assuming large and powerfal proportions. Wo refer to the young Chivese, who, whether frore having been to Europe and America, or from having been educated in mission schools, are able to spank and write English with fluency. 'These' young mou are already an important factor in the commercial life of the Far East, and great things are expected of them. Of many—tho large majority, we beliove—it is difficult to speak too Highly. They are clever, well-educat. ed, well-behaved, smart, industrious fellows, and in many instances have proved themselves of the highest value both to their foreign and Chinese employers. But there are exceptions, and these form a very great danger to the community. Active, shrewd, and good-looking, very often writing an excellent hand, and with many other enpacities of great value in an office, they tell a plausible tale, make a pleasing impression, and not unfrequently secure posts of responsibility in foreign businesses. It may be mouths before the eyes of their om-ployers are opened to the trae villainy of the treasures' on the possession of which they have been pluming them. selves. Maw of these men have turned out the most arrant scamps, and the delinquency which is at last discovered proves perhaps to be only one in a long sories of systematic malpractices which have up till then remained undetected. It is serious enough when private firms are thus victimised, bat far worse when public bodies are found to have such mon in their employ. There is no more valuable member of the commercial or industrial community of Shanghai than an English or American educated Chinese, so long as he is as honest as he is able—for able they most of them are; but no more pernicious element exists in Ching, if, to their ability, these young men fail to add rectitude. Their opportunities for doing mischief are tenfold more numerous than those enjoyed by an ordinary Chinese or on ordinary European, They play upon the con. fidence reposed in them by their foreign employers, while they prey upon the inexperience of their less sophisticated fellow-countrymen, They are up to all the sharp tricks they may lave learnt abroad, and supplement these by the ingenious exploits which Bret Harte has immortalized as being characteristic of the son of Han in his original or native state. Woe are throwing no discredit upon the English-speaking Chinese as a class, for we bee lieve them to be in many respects a great boon to the community. But it is our duty to warn the public againat
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.