Several matters of importance were discussed at the annual meeting of the Shanghai Ratepayers Association held on Wednesday at the Royal Asiatic Society's Hall. Mr. A. J. Hughes presided over a moderate attendance, The principal matter discussed was that of the admission of representatives of the Press to the ordinary meetings of the Municipal Council, and the following resolution was proposed by the Chairman "That in the opinion of thig meeting, it is desirable that representatives of the press should be admitted to full meetings of the Municipal Council, subject to withdrawal at the request of the Chairman only when matters relating to land purchases or involving political issues are to be discussed, and that the Committee of the Ratepayers' Association be and is hereby requested to prepare a resolution embodying the opinion expressed in this resolution to be submitted at the forthcoming annual meeting of ratepayers.""
In moving the resolution, Mr. Hughes said that the impression was steadily growing that the lack of interest in municipal affairs by the ratepayers in the past had in a large measure been responsible for the many very serious problems with which this Settlement was confronted to-day. After having had the matter under consideration for a long time the Committee had come to the conclusion that in the best interests of the general body of ratepayers the Council should take those whom they represented more fully into their confidence, and as an effective means to this end they were of opinion that here in Shanghai, as almost universally the case elsewhere, the press should be admitted to Council meetings. As matters stood at present, the electors could not but continue to be very ill-informed on matters on which they should be well posted. The Municipal Gazette, of course, was practically useless for this purpose. If, for example, the public had been aware of the discussions leading to the decision to increase the school fees, much misunderstanding might have been avoided.
Rarepayers' Meetine a Farce, In most instances, as matters now were, nothing publicly was known as to the general policy of the administration or actions contemplated until it was too late for the bar of public opinion to be heard or effective. Only once a year was an official meeting of ratepayers held, and as a deliberative assembly it was necessarily more or less a farce. Information that should be gradually imparted and assimilated during the whole year was admistered in one dose at a meeting of a few hours' duration, while the proceedings were necessarily cut and dried and a full and free discussion impossible. For those and other reasons there was ample justification for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.