The letter to the Council from Mr, Edward Ezra and 20 other ratepayers has been a topic of general discussion. Everyone is naturally anxious that the activities of the Electricity Department and its immense utility to. the industrial development of Shanghai should not be cramped: And at the same time the difficulty of floating debentures owing to the higo price of silver, the tendency of ie Department to absorb all that the Council borrows and the consequent restriction of other necessary requirements make it imperative that the whole financial position should be carefully reviewed before the community commits itself further.
A Constructive Scare Neepep.
"It is not enough merely to eviticize," said Mr, Edward Ezra, in conversation with a representa tive of the "North-China Daily News." "That sort of thing merely ends in bickering and sore feel ing. Our letter is in no way whatever meant antagonistically to the Electricity Department or to crab' the fine work it is doing. Bui things have come to such a pass that ratepayers must take stock of the whole question of municipal finance and come to the aid of the Council with some definite scheme which will overcome this perpetual difficulty of floating debentures due to the height of exchange-"Tt cannot be overlooked," Mr. Ezra continued, "that money is going to the Department which is much required elsewhere. I do not for a moment question the Department's needs. But we must not forget the needs of general purposes.' For example, new bridges over the Soochow creek are badly wanted; and while we hav: bought the land for a girls' school in the western district we cannot afford to put up the building. Meanwhile, the community has but a very vague idea of where the electricity generated is going, of the contracts made by the Department with power consumers and of what the latter are returning to ratepayers for the undoubtedly great convenience afforded them by the Department, which is the ratepayers' property and which they borrow money, with inconvenience to themselves, in othe: directions, to support."
Power Oursipe tHe Serruemenr.
"What bout the supply of power to consumers outside the Settlement, Mr. Ezra?"
"That is one, of the chief points on which our letter was designe.
get information," was the reply. "I Know very well the importance of selling all the power possible, that the more you can sell, the cheaper the cost of production and the cheaper will be the cost to the ordinary householder of lighting his house. It might. therefore, be said, that it does not much matter where you sell power.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.