To the Baltor of the "Nownu-Cuina Darwy News"
Tone Further details as to the Conditions Service may "be obtained upon application to. the Council "Agents, Sm—Acrion's letter carries the discussion a good deal further and makes concrete proposals that are well worth examining T agree with him. and with you that one effective method of dealing with the housing problem in Shan hai' would be for the various di partments of the S. M, C. concerned {o collaborate in formulating a policy, have calculated the amount, for which the S.M.C. will have been committed when such a contract has run course, Disregarding the fact that the successful applicant will pay rates, will get free medical services fand other benetts, such as participa tion in Superannuation and Pension Fund, the cost will run to something reasonably near $48,000 over five years. Cost of passage out and home and cost of seven months holiday has teen calculated in this figure.
"The SM.C. must pay approximatel, 18 per cent. to borrow money, which in turn must be found by the rate payers. so that apart from the actual contract, the cost to the ratepayers Will fall very little short of $50,000.
In the old days when there was Little prospect of obtaining such men Teeally, there was, no doubt, every Justification for the procedure, Sut now with falling rents, and the gen-feral shrinking of Income going Into the coffers of the S- M. C. it seems elementary to state, that the seeking] of candidates for employment in the /SM.C., should not be resorted to road, until every channel has been explored locally to obtain suitable candidates. Possibly this has been Gone, in this instance, but 1 recall no similar requests for' applicants in the local prest and I venture to suggest that the services now required could be filled locally without aim fully. T further cannot see the necessity for the age limit being stipulated as under 30, Tt is well-known that certain local foreign Pharmacies are having a very hard time and it is not unlikely that some fof them would welcome the chance to either contract for the services, for relieve a foreign Pharmacist for this vacancy. This is apart from Jqualifed Pharmacists who may be unemployed. in Shanghai, in spite honourable records, This is not meant as criticism of the SM.C. but the time has come when facts must be faced and procedure must be controlled so as to be compatible with the mentality of the ratepayers es a body and the burden which they are carrying.
I know many of my business friends who have cut and paired their overheads until to-day their expenses are not the r'zhimare they were twelve mantis so, and the 'SAM.C, will do well to (oroyghly vestigate every possible means of re-[ducing expenditure, and I suggest that contracts of employment, end the salaries and benefits associat ed. with them should prove very fertile ground for reducing the costs of operating this settlement, Shanghai, Sept. 27. paso see tne vacancy has also been advertised in newspapers in Chine. the initiative aid doubt if any policy formulated by officials only would necessarily be satisfactory or successful, think in the first place it is the duty.of the residents who are me terested to give the Council a lead, fand would therefore put Actiow's sec~ and step first, that is, the formation of a group of Chinese and forelgne who "would discuss what could be done.
Judging from the response in your Correspondence Column to Mr. Peek's address 0 the Rotary Club one would assume that the subject is one in which very few people are interested, Tt this is the case, would not blame the Shanghai public, which fis just as publiesspirited os any ettler. Tt would be quite unfair to say that residents are satisfied with rousing conditions in Shanghai. They are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, they are indifferent and their indit= ference will remain until they are provided with information.
The Orst step, T would say, is to form such a group as ActioN's pro= poses, to ascertain the facts, inquire into" remedios, and publish their findings, It Is possible that such a group, call it Shanghat Welfare Association for Shanghai Residents' Association, 'oF what you like, would find that housing 1s so mixed up with other problems that it would have to @iscuss many other questions and would develop into a body interested in municipal affairs in general.
If it did, so much the better. There a very definite need for such a body in Shanghai, a community which is exceptionally ill-equipped with facili~ tes for the creation and expression of public opinion.
municipal but their recomzations that make an effort to study 'There are various national orgunimendation usually coloured by their national interests. 'There Is of course room for them' too, but I submit that there is a more urgent need for an international association independent of national or sectarian Interests.
What the members would gain by Joining such an association, other {than the satisfaction of having ti to do something to make life a little more tolerable for the underdog, I don't know, but they might get some fun when' the Annual Ratepayers Meeting comes along.
Domus. Shanghai, Sept. 25, Japan, Malaya and 1 ye depen, 3 I ts believed the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.