To the Editor of the "Norra-Cama (Dairy News."
Sir,—The undersigned members of the Committee of the Shanghai Civie League will much appreciate the publicity of your columns for a definite statement of our attitude towards the Bund Improvement scheme as_ it affects the Public Garden, This attitude, we believe, reflects the views generally held by the members of the League and those who signed the petition to the Council to delay the proposed encroacnment on the Garden and is well expressed in our letter to the Chairman of the Council of the 27th instant forwarding a further 123 signatures to the petition in which we stated as follow:
"We hold that the Council was not justified in tampering with the property of the Ratepayers, especially dedicated for their use as a Public Garden, on the mandate of less than 100 ratepayers, the majority of whom were almost certainly unaware that they were authorizing them to do so. Had the Budget been issued in time for a more careful analysis of its contents, and had there been an opportunity for a public discussion of the matter before the Ratepayers' Meeting, it is quite possible that with a better knowledge of the technical considerations involved, public opinion would have endorsed the Council's recommendation, and there would have been no occasion for the criticism which has subsequently developed. This incident confirms the Committee in their view that it would be in the best interests of both Council and Ratepayers if the latter were taken more fully into the confidence of the former before committing the Ratepayers to a course of action on debatable issues of unusual importance them, "As matters now stand, we respectfully suggest that before proceeding with the work as it affects the Public Garden, this part of the Bund Improvement Scheme should be endorsed by a majority of ratepayers at a meeting called by the Council specially to discuss the matter. On a clear issue, if an endorsement of the Council's proposal is obtained, it will meet, we think, all reasonable criticism."
We believe that the demand for greater publicity when important administrative measures are being considered is increasingly insistent and cannot be indefinitely denied. The Ratepayers of Shanghai are certainly quite as capable of expressing a collective opinion on civic affairs as any community elsewhere but heretofore the opportunity for doing so has been greatly restricted and the necessity for it has not been so widely recognized as it is to-day. It is to facilitate the expression of public opinion on civic affairs that the Association of Ratepayers has been formed known as the Civic League. Already it represents a no inconsiderable and constantly increasing body of effective public opinion and_ its members are probably unanimous in endorsing the demand for greater publicity.
The policy of the League is to encourage rational unprejudiced and constructive criticism tending to ensure efficiency of administration with due regard to reasonjable economy. Its objects as stated in its constitution are as follows:—
(1) To promote interest in, and study and discussion of municipal matters of importance to residents in Shanghai, (2) To provide an avenue through which may be expressed the views and needs of those who by virtue of their interest in the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.