Manager of the Banque de l'Indo-Chine. agreement, especially the clauses under which Germany lately ap-
To-day. Tuesday, January 17, 1939, commencing at 2.30 p.m.
Will now be necessary at the next Ratepayers Meeting—some new and startling Budget "appropriation".
In view of the brief period remaining before this next meeting, would it be possible for you to publish during the coming week unofficial estimates of the total sum involved and specific instances of representative amounts to be handed out, in this wholesale gushing forth of Council funds 1f this could be supplemented by forecasts of the probable sources of Council revenue that must be jacked-up to provide the necessary funds, I am sure a majority of the business interests in the city would be more than apprecia there precedent, applicable under present conditions, for these increases? I am informed that the pay increases in the leading firms represented by the members of the Staff Committee, by comparison, would provide a fitting theme for comic opera, so I ask you, what, in sober truth, can be assumed to be the alibi or justification for this drunken sailor policy in disbursing ratepayers' money during the present emergency?
Rosert L. STEWART.
Shanghai, Jan. 15.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.