Oct. 26.
There seems to be an impression in the Administration Building that criticisms of the Shanghai Muni cipal Council's reticence, as developed in this column, have depreciated in advance the work of the special committee appointed to make important recommends~ tions on economies in the staffing: arrangements of the Council and have suggested that the Council is lacking in sound financial advice during the absence of the Controller on leave which is partly to be oc~ cupied in making certain official Inquiries overseas. No such inten tion was entertained; nor is it believed that lay opinion has been misled in that respect. There is a strong conviction that the Coun-ell has done well to appoint its economy committee and the only; surprise is that the newly-affirmed faith in a policy of giving "the greatest possible publicity to Council affairs" is not robust enough to permit disclosure of the personnel of the Committee and its terms of reference—points which the public, ready as always give the Council credit for good intentions, is specially interested. As for the advice given on tne, financial position by the Acting Controller there was never any doubt of its competence or value. In these columns, not so long ago, special attention was drawn to the seriousness of the budgetary prospects as outlined by that high officer. What was intended was to illustrate to the Council the neod for public explanation of its actions. It appears that it recently invited the Controller to continue in office and its invitation was accepted with, the stipulation that he should be Immediately given home leave, in spite of the fact that he had been home on leave frequently in the ast four years—one of the excursions being taken at his own expense. There is no desire to criticize the Council or the Cou troller on that point, but merely to, indicate yet another outlet for publicity. There is nothing sactosanct about such an arrangement: it does not demand breathless retrenchment will assess the value of every department and every appointment. It would like to know whether in making certain special posts the Council's predecessors have suMelently covered their successors in the provision of means: for terminating tenure. The ama: ing silence observed over the resignation of the late Secretary and the apparently well-substantiated reports of the terms governing that resignation have aroused serious doubts. In view of the arguments used to justify the abolition of tiw artillery branches of the S.V.C., the public cannot understand why the cost of the Corps has been 30) heavily inflated by the appointment of more staff officers. If the Corps' usefulness as a defender of Shang-silence from reverent worshippers. at the Council's shrine. It is purely a matter of business and com-nonsense. Rosa Dartle would certainly ask for information; there is no reason why the Shanghai lander should not follow—he: example. For it thus appears th: when the Council has its back to the budget wall, it finds it necessary. to avoid the obvious economy of, allowing the Controller to retire at the contractual period, even at the cost of giving him leave at what is alleeed to be a supremely critical Juncture in its financial affairs. doubt the deputy taking the absent Controlics's place in advising tie Council is fully capable of discharging those functions; yet the ratepayer not unreasonably asks would imagine that such comments arise from hostility to any of the personages concerned. Criticism 1s bound to evoke heartburning but It must be fearless in finding expression and the Council has to! Fealize that far closer interest is taken by the public to-day in municipal affairs than at any time in the Settlement's history. striking Ilustration is afforded by the treatment accorded: ten years ago to a high official whose conduct in handling what was known as the May 30 incident brought about his suspension without prejudice." A subsequent independent judicial inquiry, in examining the events in question and apportioning responsibility, acquitted him of blame by majority vote and he was reinstated. The next day he submitted his vesignation which ithe Council accepted. The resultant financial arrangements gave him a substanti superannuation payment the amount of which could not be extricated and identified from the accounts and a pension ut £1,500 per annum of which the ratepayers are now regularly reminded by {ts prominence in the (we-paged schedule of pensions in the Council's annual report, it being the only item of more than four figures in the dollar statement of those pensions. So far as can be judged from the published reporis—the Charman of that day can confirm this—the Council's action met with no sort of protest. Indeed the 'Chairman at the succeeding ratepayers' meeting found it unnecessary to refer explicitly to the financial effects of the arrangement, in spite of the fact that it awarded to the official concerned @ pension fifty per cent. in excess of that accorded to an offer of the highest paid overseas service in the world after full term of pensionable service—the Indian Civil Service. No doubt political circumstances at the _moment blurred this prosaic comparison. Nevertheless it is clear that the docility or patient tolerance of oficial reticence. Moreover that experience should teach him that the expediency of 1936 may become the bugbear of 1946. Nor is it irrelevant to point out that the Report of the Economy Committee of 1929—signed by Mr. R, Calder-Marshall. Mr. Ranald G.
MeDonald, Mr. Hans Tiefenbaches Brig-Genl. E. B. Macnaghten and Mr. C. L. Seitz—made the following recommendation:
In the event of pensions being: granted to retiring employees, this 'Committee are of the opinion that the granting of such pensions should be subject to ratification by the Ratepayers at the next adjacent meeting after the pension has been provisionally granted, and that in. order to obtain such' ratification a special resolution regarding the pensied it is desired to grant should be" placed before the meeting by the Council, instead of the same being included as an ordinary item in the Budget as has been the practice in the past.
Apparently this proposal was net found practicable but it 1s pre-pesterous that the Council in the Present less negligent state of public opinion should take the Me that complete secrecy on such a matter is desirable.
It is of course suggested that a question at the next ratepayers' meeting would unseal the coy. lips of authority. To that thers is the objection that such questions in the past have been subjected to certain vicissitudes and have therefore failed to elicit information.
Even more weighly is the plain fact] that the annual elections will have passed before that meeting takes place and the question would tend to become academic. The Council is said to be surprised at the sudden attention pald to this issue of its relations with the former Scéretary. The obvious retort is that the engaging frankness with which it. revealed the tenor of: the valedictory function and its speeches has whetted the public's subject to independent audit by an_ overriding official authority. Whether the powers which in Great Britain are exercised by the Ministry of Health could be in some way entrusted to the Court of Consuls it might be well for ratepayers to consider. Probably the Consuls would not thank anyone for the suggestion. There is reason, why it should be enler~ tained, s0 long as the Council is prepared fully to take the ratepayers into its confidence and, in homely language, put all its cards on the table,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.