June 8.
it can be said that the Rickshaw Control Board has brought forth a very small mouse as the result of its first labours, it has to be admitted that the picture of the proposed new rickshaw presents a portrait of a very engaging creature, and, indeed, Quite @ nice little mouse' after all.
appearance in flocks on the streets ut Shanghai will add to the Baiety of the scene. In colour it will emulate the Council's scarlet Tunners who are not now so conspicuous, since the increase in the use of the motor car has banished the greater part of their raison autre. Its general form will be vastly superior, indeed "almost genteel, except, perhaps, that the colour will be 'a little jond. But what of that? There will be chromium plated wheels, metal mudguards in black, comfortable springing, a hood of' black canvas, and an apron of similar hue, 0 that when the whole colour scheme comes to be considered the new vehicle, it it is ever allowed to assume its proposed form, will Tesemble more the ordinary ladybird, than the mouse with which this article so infelicitously commenced. And, what is more, the populace of Shanghai will now await with bated breath an expected enouncement as to the uniform the rickshaw coolies will be required to wear. If it is permitted to hazard a suggestion they might be attired in suits of Lincoln green to offset the red and transform the streets from scenes of a little mild gaiety into thoroughfares of chromatic uproar. All this is to the good! If the whole of Shanghai's residents are to be obliged to secure dark glasses as a protection for their eyes against the riot of colour which apparently the city is ultimately to. present, who shall cavil? The opticians, oculists and optometrists most' certainly will not, while, taking a broader view, the flip that will be thus given to trade may have the effect of lifting the city out of its present depression. and launching it on to paths of progress towards that other boom for which there is at the present /moment such a crying demand.
But pleasantries aside, this sort of thing will not do. The chair man's speech at the annual general meeting of ratepayers created the impression that the council was, perhaps, not so enthusiastic for all the reforms, which the Commission proposed, as it should be, and that in the long run not so much will be done for the rlekshaw puller as the report indicated was necessary. "Observers were uneasy then, and this latest pro Rouncement' will do nothing. to Jalay that uneasiness. It is not unfair to state that the manner i which "the issues raised by the Massey Report have been handled both parties to the dispute which it engendered is not unlike ndivieual combats which can be een in the streets when two thoroughly enraged dis-put ants commit "mayhem on the Sunoflending air. The rickshaw owners are full " of all sorts of ideas about providing, at some time or other, institutions designed ameliorate to. some degree' the conditions under which the coolies five. The Rickshaw Control Board seems to have decided that the best method to approach the solution of the whole question is to give the cooties nice new rickshaws to pull about, possibly thereby infculeating in them a pride in their work, and a consequent placid acceptance of the appalling conditions under which they ply their trade. Neither of them seems at alt willing to tackle the real pro blem, the only problem with which right-thinking "persons in this International' Settlement need. to be concerned, namely, the termina tion of the evils which the Massey Report described in such telling lenns, the provision of means whereby the rickshaw coolie shall be able to earn a decent Living, Janda removal of the abuses which have grown up in the business and fs a result of which the faces. of these almost. inarticulate people fare ground in the dust. That the real issue, That is the only fsstue with which those concerned for the rickshaw coolie "desire to the Rickshaw Control Board come to grips, Ut the authorities ever had the mass of public opinion behind riem on any question it is over this matter of the rickshaw pulling industry. But the support they have has its disadvantages. Tt has been emphasized repeatedly" since the matter became a burning ques tion that, not only' are the public land the press behind the authori ties in this matter, but that they insist on the major portion of the suggested reforms being carried nto effect. "Agitation on this score will not be allowed to rest, and the ornate suggestions concerning a new type of rickshaw are more likely to arouse feelings exasperation, than any degree of complacence' with the present state Jot affairs. Without undue cynicism it is suggested that the Rickshaw Control Board has performed that delightful contrariety which terms locally applicable" may described with astonishing truth putting the rieshaw before the coolie. The first reform must conern the puller. It 1s_neceesary that the terms on which he rents his vehicle shall be reduced 80 that he may retain a fair' proportion of his daly earnings. It then becomes a question of how Improvements can be effected in the ridchaw commensurate with the new return which owners will be allowed to obtain on. their Properly, Putting the rickshaw before the coolie opens up. an opportunity for the owners of which it is to be presumed they will not be slow to take advantage, If they are at all adroit, they will jsceept the Control Board's specific tion for the new rickshaw. They will then resist efforts. to reduce hiring charges on the ground that the new vehicle has involved sich a capital outlay that they must be allowed to secure an adequate return on their money. The justice of that claim it will be by no means easy to refute, and it certain that the hiring charges which the Mastey Report suggest-jed should be enforced would be incapable of application, What oes it matter to the user of the rickshaw whether the back of the vehicle is square or round, or whether the wheels listen in the sun in all the glory of chromium plating, or in sombre paint, so long as he reaches his destination cleanliness and. comfort? Clean upholstery, sound efficient hoods and aprons are all that it necessary together with adequate protection of the coolie himself against the vagaries of this. climate. Proper maintenance. of the rickshaws, When once they have been thoroughly cleaned up, is all that necessary in this direction, and all of this is subsidiary to the care which has to be taken of the coolies' "interests. "Consequently. this latest pronunciamento of the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.