Council that an effort will be made to investigate the cost of living for non-Oriental foreigners will undoubtedly be welcomed, even if it appears to come somewhat lcte in the day, and when the dollar has been deprived of its former rotund proportions. One of the difficulties which employers have Seen faced with, and particularly those with head offices in places other than Shanghai, has been the absence of authoritative data upon which to estimate the effect of exchange movements, etc., upon the spending capacity of their employees. The "North-China Daily News" has on occasion sought to produce reviews of the situation in this respect, but, it must be confessed, not tos completely, owing to the absence of adequate facilities for securing the necessary information. With the assistance of the residents of Shanghai, it ought to be possible in the course of a comparatively short while to obtain sufficient data, which will enable a better economic picture to be presented than has been available up to the present. It will be necessary for householders to ce-operate, and send in records of their expenditure in order that monthly comparisons can be made, and i: is obvious that the larger the number which assists the more complete will be the information which it will be possible to give to the public. An index figure as to the cost of living should prove of inestimable to employers here in Shanghai, and elsewhere in seeking to maintain an equitable ratio between wages, and tne cost of living, and while it is not suggested that any great injustices have been done it the past, the availability of such information should preclude the possibility of any such thing happening in the future.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.