Aprit 15.
The Foreign Ratepayers had a blunt question put to them at the annual meeting yesterday. It ws the most important point in MIN 1H. E. Arnhold's speech, apart from his welcome announcement on the prospect of an agreement on the Outside Roads problem. In effect Mr. Ammhold—making what, for the present, must be his last bow as! Chairman of the Council—asked whether the International Settlement was to be allowed to decline from its present state of stagnation toa definite and slippery descent to complete ineptitude, or whether the Ratepayers were' prepared to shoulder the burden of restarting, progressive development and main taining the Settlement's administra tion on the basis of modern conceptions of the economic, social and political responsibilities of municipal government. Mr. Arnhold emphasized that the reversion to the 16 per cent. rate was essential to give the Council barely - adequate! means of carrying on its curtailed ities and. that, as even the Chinese Ratepayers" Association has. admitted, the Settlement would still' be more lightly rated than any other} large modern city. Apprehensive attention to the retrenchment operations of the last three years has brought to notice the disabi of the administration in meeting: urgent requirements in the Public! Works, Public Health and Education' Departments in which the Council's response to the civic needs of the Settlement find especial scope. That process of marking time cannot be indefinitely continued without serious effects on the reputation of the Settlement, to say nothing of the general welfare of its i habitants.
No-one denies the merit of observing sound canons of finance and, consequently, secking to avoid deficits, but if the Council could only take courage and expound to a by no means unintelligent public: the significance of some of the prohibitions now confronting its constructive departments, it surely. would have been provided with a felling answer to some of the fantastic accusations of extrava~ gence lately levelled against it. is highly satisfactory that "Mr. Arnhold has been abi, on behalf of the outgoing Council to speak plainly on the subject. Foreign critics were thus directly addressed. They might take good note. Specious pleas for economy have been freely made with but the faintest appreciation of the consequences. The Settlement in the: past has been held up to admiration as a good example of municipal government, Despite the heavy strain imposed by the present temporary stagnation, that reputation holds. Compluceney cannot be allowed to purr at that thought. Ominous signs of change are discernible, The other day the report of the Housing Committee rightly held up to admiration the experimental scheme of the City Government in tackling the housing. problem. Rip van Winkles on the, Bund may rub their eyes but there undoubtedly was the "Model" Settlement being invited (o admire the superior organization of the once despised neighbour muni cipality. A fine new hospital and health centre came recently into view as the contribution of the same City Government o the public health administration of ils area, Meanwhile the Council is finding it necessary to cut down the staffs of its hospitals whose efficiency has. sadly suffered in late years, The process of deterioration acquires: momentum unless checks are: promptly applied, and the arrival at a stale of lamentable incapacity will not be delayed. In Education the Council has been impelled to call for a report—not really to. improve the educational system, modestly endowed us it already is, but to discover some means to enable the Ratepayers to shirk their: ordinary responsibilities in that im= portant department, It is revealed that, so desperate Is the search for ing, a boy's school is al= Towed to come into existence without any decent provision for the recreation, physical culture or pupils. "Again, let the)
driver oF bus-what the streets ike if their present tendency to bumpiness induced by retrenchment of the grant for repairs receives no correction.
These are just a few random examples of the straits to which the Council has already been driven, Will the—Ratepayers—oreign or Chinese—benefit if the! advantages which previously Ka Selllement preference ind bus to be thi short-sighted orities indulging the parrot ery of economy'? it not perfectly clear that the wh {ling down of the Council's ability assessed here outside, is as indic as that other its Jegal and constitution Indeed it is more dangerous, puts the Ratepayers and the Council in the unenviable position of being accessories 0 their own condemnation. Once it be accepted that the Settlement is effetely run and me ciently administered the ease for continuance of ils present status is! immeasurably weakened. In due course—dates matter not for the purpose of the argument—the Set-Hlement will be re{urned to Chinese control in some fortn or other. it profit anyone that its state at that time should be so parlous that it is welcome as a gift neither to the giver nor to the recipient? The offer of the Chinese. Ratepayers' Association to ce-operate with the Foreign Ratepayers is worthy of sympathetic considera~ ion. If it can be turned to account by "effecting a strong economic partnership Jealous for the municipal reputation of the Settlement it prove to be a valuable guarantee of future progress. The ise which the Chinese have at rt cannot be furthered by any ey which diminishes the civie tegrity of the Settlement, an portant member of the Shang= hai Trinity. The Council has often been told by angry critics that it should be asked to govern or get onl. Mr. Arnhold has effectively turned the tables, Ile tells the Ratepayers that they must face the same issue in another form: they must. finance the Council properly for abandon their citizenship; they have to choose between adequate rating and ratting,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.