Occasion has also b: en taken by the Press to refer to the hes burden which so small a Colony as Hongkong has to bear in the way o official salaries and pensions, The The question of the compulsory pasteurization of milk has again come to the fore in consequence of the Government's decision to. hold in abeyance its previous resolve to legislate along these lines. Reasons given for the deferment of the sep are the fact that a special investigation into the subject, so far as the United Kingdom is concerned, is taking place at Home, and that the British-owned Dairy Farm, the biggest suppliers in Hongkong, is now selling no unpasteurized milk.
It was intended, following the recent outbreak of infantile dysentery, which took a heavy toll of young European lives, to bring pasteurization into effect next year, a step which was strongly advised by Dr. A. A. Wellington, Director of Medical Services, who gave emphasis to the need by citing the case of Toronto, here compulsory pasteurization is in force. "If it be necessary," said Dr.
Wellington, "to safeguard the purity of milk in Toronto by compulsory steurization, it is many times more cessary in Hongkong."
The fact that, in spite of this advice, the Government has now deded to wait the results of the United Kingdom inquiry before definitely mposing its own law has been the subject to caustic comment, both editorially and in the correspondence columns of the Press. Conditions in England and in Hongkong are, it is said, not comparable except by the widest stretch of an elastic mind—
"some such elasticity," to use the words of one journal, "as enables the Government to make up its mind cne day and change it the next." It is conceded that small Chinese dairy s would find it difficult to meet the of modern pasteurization plants, but the stand is taken that so long as these dairies are able to operate e present basis—one writer e has never seen such poor-class dairy animals or such crude dairy arrangements as are to be found n these establishments—so long will the public be exposed to the danger of another major outbreak of dysentery. former now total about $11,000,000 yearly, while pensions absorb more than two millions and are being added to every year. Thus, fully half of the Colony's revenue is swallowed up in these two items, while Military Contributions to the Imperial Government amount to a further four millions per annum. Apart from liberal salaries, civil servants can retire on substan! al pensions the age of 50 year while among the which they enjoy are re-partly furnished, at seven per cent. of their salaries, contrasted with from 20 to 30 per cent. paid by the average resident of the Colony. Moreover, extra taxation has been imposed to meet the Gover salary bill ough ci vants adm their proporbear tion of this increased taxation, they have compensating advantages which the ordinary resident does It is recalled, also, that the committee which recently enquired into the finances of the Hongkóng University (on which the Government wa" represented) approved continuation of the ten per cent, reduction to which the staff is subject. Apparen! ly what is sauce for the University goose is not sauce for the Government gander.
The general feeling of the public is that Government servants are too numerous and are overlaid, resulting in the cost of administration being far heavier than the Colony can be reasonably expected to bear. General reaction may be summed up in the comment of one newspaper whic! remarked: "The community does not wish to deny the Civil Service fair, leven comfortable, conditions; but i! wants the Government to appreciate more fully that the taxpayer also has his problems, specially as taxation is indirect—and it wants the problems of both parties merged, that being the essence of government for the people."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.