Settlement has therefore special reason to be interested in the annual report of Its smaller sister pleasantly perched on an insular} Paradise where the waves maintain the stimulating drum-like music from which Kulangsu gets its name.
The two International Sottlements compare thus in area and population: Kulangsu has about] 40,000 inhabitants (probably 300] foreigners among them) as against Shanghai's 1,000,000 and an area of approximately 1% sq. miles to Shanghai's 8% sq. miles. But hearts Just as pure and fair beat in the smaller Eden as in its elder and larger "Model". Nor are Kulang-'u's eight Councillors less assiduous in attention to their island duties than Shanghai's fourteen who sweat} and grunt under the weary load of this heavily piled conglomerate of conerete facts and abstract fallacies. Kulangsu is manned by a_ police force of about 120 strong and the Chief Police Omicer proudly affirms! that it is "adequate to cope with any ordinary situation". Lost the qualification implied should arouse] alarm he hastens to add The possibility that an extraordin" ary situation may develop inthe Seltlement, due to external influ fences and events, dace not warrant serious apprehension Here clearly is a hint of that} paradisiacal state to which the! Camel Rock lays claim. The Police Report reveals the adoption of what} is known as the Po Kah system. whereby the community is split up Into units of {en households the heads of which elect a supervisor who "carries out registration and maintains a running census of the groups under his control". Each, group of ten households has its own elected supervisor; the super= visors elect section managers who, in their turn elect an elder for their rea, there being ten areas in the Settlement. By these means the Census of the Settlement is kept} up-to-date and effective police control on economical lines is secured, thanks to the spirit of ce-operation which prevails. The Council careful to observe that this decentralization does not connote any surrender of its executive authority.
The problem of Pi-nu—"girls below the age of 21 years in a household who are not closely] related to the family by birth" being dealt with under the regul tions of the Ministry of the Interior. All such girls have to be registered, the certificate of registration bearing the Pienu's photograph, duplicate being filed with the Council. Gradually the abolition of the system within the settlement is to be secured. In the meantime! the Council "supervises the condi~ tions under which the Pi-nu girls ive with the object of checking] abuses. Where abuses exist and these Pi-nu (slave-girls) seek escape from Ill-treatment the Council is able to rely on the kindly, services of the Kulangsu Girls'
Refuge, founded by Mr. Khaw Chun Chao whose championship of these fo fail when tested' by earthly: oppressed victims of a bad custom] nobled by Peter the Great, and wha standards; their heavenly attributes has given relief to some and im- had bequeathed to his famous de-proved conditions for many others, The Refuge works on a defeat budget and Mr. Khaw gallantly] bears the burden. Miss Doris Arrowsmith is the Council's special representative on the Board of Slave Refuge and her report, besides paying a warm tribute to Mr. Khaw' philanthropy, shows how the institution maintains 100 girls, trains them in useful means of livelihood ind generally endeavours to make amends for the scurvy treatment hitherto received by them at the! hands of fate, Funds are low and Miss Arrowsmith not unreasonably considers $400 a month "much too low" to provide for the staffing] and running of an institution for! 100 girls, most of them at an age When nourishing food is a_ vital factor in the development of their physique, especially after the experiences from which the Refuge' Fescues them. She hopes that the public-spirited citizens of Tangsu will sec that Mr. Khaw's efforts are given better financial support in the future. Kulangsu, like Shanghai, cannot. escape the effects of depression, Although its crime record is light, the increase of prison committals during the last four years being mainly due to stricter enforcement of the antiopium regulations, the revenue has @ropped from $168 thousand and $152 thousand "in 1934 and 1935] respectively to $146 thousand in 1938. Expenditure has bravely been pruned to ft but rock-bottom has been reached. Nevertheless the budget for the' current year is based on a revenue estimate of $145 thousand giving an expected surplus of $43 thousand. This small margin has deterred the! Council from incurring outlay on much-needed reassessment of properties even though additional revenue might in the long run be! thereby ensured. Expert guidance was invoked. Mr. Kalgan Shih' of Shanghai was invited to report) fon reassessment. He proposed full and complete survey of all property at a cost of $10,000. The! project was deferred "until more satisfactory financial conditions could be recorded. The absence of {internal friction, the general good behaviour of its citizens and the progressive spirit of this Inter national Settlement justify the deduction that the municipal administration derives. considerable moral support from the beauty of the island domain in which it operates. So marked is the reason~ ableness of the atmosphere that such difMeult issues as the registration of medical practitioners, the suppression of opium smoking, the water supply—although too many resident still risk their lives drinking from surface wells—the maintenance of decorous bathing beaches and the provision of more public telephones, are _placidly solved without heat or inordinate delay. Even the climate appears behave itself. If Kulangsu isnot paradise Shanghai will agree that it Is a very worthy and coleurable imitation,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.