Nov. 20, This morning the International Settlement of Shanghai should have greeted the dawn with the buoyancy of one to whose stature addition been made. Yesterday, until the publication of the Census figures, this Settlement the position of that unhappy class which just falls short of being in the millionaire grade, As everyone knows it is most depressing to be worth £999,099 or $099,099 and more, The extra unit lifts the value so immeasurably in the esteem of mankind. Millionaires are "copy,", they are sought for their opinions, their lives and deaths count in the scheme of things. People who cannot muster seven digits when confessing to the income-tax man imply do not count. Now the Settlement has entered the magic category of places with over 1,000,000 souls in their care, That is the net result of the Census for 1980 which gives the Chinese population of the Settlement as 971,397 and the Foreign population as 36,471. a total of 1,007,868 if the addition is correctly performed.
Jan Ridd on a famous occa was "very much obliged" but asked King James what "be 1 to do with it?" Perhaps Shanghai will be in the same bemused frame of mind, When there are only 900,000 people to look after the Settlement can pursue the even tenour of its way, gaily fitting from topic to topic, from bus to tram, from greyhounds to municipalized orchestras, from parks for amahs to parks for motor-cars without any very overwhelming sense of res ponsibility. it can even frivol on the subject of the Natural History Museum. It can lightly dismiss the perils of the road and the groans of the telephone users. But a million beaded Settlement has to bs careful. It is in the limelight.
That is the moral for Shanghai this morning. The natural feeling of pride which assails its citizens should mot be allowed to obscure the grave responsibilities. How can the narrow space between the Whangpoo and that indefinable streak which, for the sake of preserving this column from too solemn an aspect, will be called the Equator or Imaginary line, continue to bear the ever-increasing load of residents? Is it
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.