Oct, 16, The Shanghai Municipal Council continues to tread the path to economy. Faced with a serious financial situation, the Council is evidently determined to do all that is possible for balancing its budget, In such circumstances criticism should walk warily. Most people have their own special ideas on the, way in which expenses may be cut) down; seldom are they free from repossession in favour of protect~ ing one particular activity, It was} quite mendaciously but wittily said of the late Lord Inchcape that, in reviewing India's finances for retrenchment purposes, he felt bound to take a strong stand on the principle that first-class steamship passages should be secured to the officers of the Government. Of the latest victims of the Council's retrenchment axe, one is not properly so described for was never intended that the Rickshaw Board should be a permanent. part of the Council's administrative machinery, as the oficial announcement notes. 'The Board has done' its work which has taken more time than was expected owing to unforeseen difficulties. The resumption of the Police Department's: responsibility for the general. supervision and control of the, rickshaw traffic is clearly indicated. No doubt the Council will see that) the principles, well established by. the Board, will continue to be' observed by the Police and that every effort will be made to prevent a return to the bad old ways which, on the admission of Pol nesses before the Massey Committee, marred the licensing system, before the Council initiated the forms under the auspices of the Rickshaw Board. Over 2,000 model rickshaws have now been placed upon the streets; the hire charges, have been twice lowered. Although it would be wrong to claim that the rickshaw traffic is free from serious] abuses, the Board may be fairly said have gone as far as it could well be expected to go in carrying out the reform programme. The Police should do the rest.
The abolition of the Press Information Office is an authentic retrenchment operation. What in normal times might be regarded as an essential part of the Council's machinery, fs evidently held in the The saving of $48,000 may be small but the cumulative effect of the axe's strokes has to be taken into account. Press criticism must necessarily be difMdent for the Reason hinted at above. Yet "it would be doing the Council no service to conceal apprehensions aroused by a retrograde step. There is general agreement that Mr. G. Burton Sayer, the Press In~ formation Officer has discharged his duties admirably. Although It long been obvious that neither the Council as a whole nor a section of the general public appreciated the significance of his appointment, he himself, in his relations with' the Press and with the various departments of the Council, has been fully alive to the responsibilities of his position. "It was not his fault that, soon after his appointment, political considerations prompted the infla~ tion of his department by the addition of Japanese and Chinese assistants. The attention drawn to the annual cost of his department may be said to be directly due to that development and although this Journal does not agree that even that total was unduly large, it is fair to say that the scheme'in its original dimensions might not have invited the application of the axe. Mr, Burton Sayer—happily restored to health—returned from leave on the day of the Council's decision which, presumably, was taken therefore without ' previous reference to him—an omission not calculated, in the special cireum~ stances, to support the view that the relevant material for forming a fully-equipped conclusion was available to the Council, Nevertheless it is dim cult to resist the Inference that the Press Information Office is a luxury in the pre-valling stringency, for otherwise opposition to retrenchment plans might be generally stimulated and the Council so placed in an im= possible quandary, This journal ventures" however to put certain considerations on record for the guidance of the Council when more spacious days return, The official announcement gives welcome assurance that the abolition does not imply diminution of the Council's desire to afford the fullest information to the public through the Press. It is doubtful whether this guarantee can be fulfilled. By appointing as Infor-motion OMcer a than of recognized standing in his profession, the Council ensured proper guidance to its officials on the ethics of press publicity and an independent and authoritative Maison with the news~ papers and other journalistic agencies. In Great Britain's time of economic stress, it was expected that the various departments might shed their information officers and rely on their own officialdom for contacts with the Press, These expectations were not justified. Indeed the Government found desirable to strengthen its understanding with the public by expand ing the information machinery, 60. much so that, of late, British practice has been inclined' to follow the more progressive American line by appointing Public Relations Officers to whose purely press functions is added the duty of direct communication with the public, Pro~ portion must be observed and it may be contended that the Municipal Council has insufficient administrative scope to justify such elaborate publicity. Recalling crlticism of the: Council's alleged coyness in revealing the salient facts of municipal administration, this contention may find chal engers. Stil, such has been the difficulty of educating both the wit|Couneil and the public in this matter, that the fiercest critics of the Press Information Office have often been the very assailants of the Council's "hush hush' proclivities. The Office has been much appreciated by the newspapers who have had reason to be grateful to Mr. Burton Sayer and his staff for valuable and untiring assistance. Since, therefore, retrenchment the paramount need of the moment, it seems best regretfully to accept the Couneit's decision. In so doing it is impossible to avoid recording apprehension much in the sare spirit as moved the Plekwiekian chemist, after unsuccessfully urging his exemption from jury service, to inform the obdurate Judge that murder would result from the consequent desertion of his dispensary reproduction prohibited without permission.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.