Oct. 27, As Shanghai_plods along with bucolic air, astonishing for so highly sophisticated an. urban maze, it appears to the detached observer to take so many of its excellences for granted, This does credit. to Shanghai's modesty. It sometimes does definite injustice to certain origanisations which, although of Shanghai, exist primarily to help Shanghai to plod or, even, to dash ahead. The various Coun-collected by divers methods minister local government here—to the youngest in Greater Shanghai let a bow be made. come in for their fair share of criticism and a very small modicum of approval. Perhaps that is right and proper. them human" may be the motto lof the Shanghai citizen, so he, Jor she, refuses to be party to purchase of many bouquets at the numerous flower shops for despatch to the registered a dresses of the City Fathers, The fear lest those worthies should be suddenly compelled to invade hat shops for larger headwear-to use the technical term—is evidently active, So, the Shanghai Muniefpal "Council, to take nor body as_an example re of receiving demons:
of affection—it and after it has relinquished office. That approval does not mean appreciation of its labours, but is really the means of keeping within bounds the self-esteem of the Council in To those who recall the enthusiasm generated last Spring by the thought that new blood" was being injected into the [Council it is curious to find how tepid is the regard for the re-Jjuvenated body in question after [six months working. Yet, if the position were rightly viewed, it Would be admitted that Mr. A. Bell, Mr. H. E. Arnhold and their colleagues have put in an enormous amount of devoted work and have displayed qualities of statesmanship and diplo-fully worthy of the Coun: cil's very respectable traditions. But the Council can be left more lor less to look after itself, For over a year, its Information Department, under the direction of journalist and citizen esteemed by all who know him, has undoubtedly rendered valuable service to the public and to the press which isthe humble, if [sometimes volatile, servant that public. To that result Mr. George Burton-Sayer's Japanese and Chinese colleagues have leficiently contributed.
Unpossessed of the Council's advantages, there are other organisations which deserve well of Shanghai but have been going through a very difficult time and rendering service to the accompaniment of more kicks than half pence. It would be interesting to know how often the utility companies receive pleasantly composed letters of appreciation fand how often they are made aware, either through the press or by the more direct method communication to their address, lof a public belief in their inveterate inefficiency, rapacity and disregard of Shanghai's convenience. It is noteworthy that, when, as has happened on Imore than one occasion during the past year, a utility company jis faced by a crisis, in which it thas to resist dangerously sub-ver sive doctrines in the general interest of the community, the tendency is to take the oppor tunity for making captious criti-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.