With" commendable celerity the Special Zommittee of Exchange Adjustments and Sonuses, appointed by the Municipal Counzil to consider the matters raised by the Council's own adjustments of the pay of its employees has made its report, and the Council it its meeting on Saturday last very properly ledded to adopt it. In doing so it has acted wisely, for though it will be an uncomfortible fact for the ratepayers to face that the wages bill of the Council will have been in-teased by some $19,000 more than under ts own scheme,—standing now at an estimited figure of $720,600 per annum, instead of 3100,720,—the general impression to be gainsd from the report is that a greater degree f justice has been done throughout the service. That there was obvious discrimination was one of the main criticisms which was levelled against the Council's scheme, and "he Special Committee is to be congratulated apon devising a system whereby a more satisfactory degree of equity becomes appar-ut in the methods by which the municipal servants are remunerated. In its findings wid recommendations the Special Committee makes it quite clear that the Council had departed from the principles laid down in he Staff Economy Committee's report in elation to the exchange compensation allow-to heads of senior departments and the deputies to heads of senior departments and needs of junior departments. That report t concludes should have been adhered to, while at the same time the Council should eave lived up to any promises that it may wave made to its staff. In effect what the special Committee has done is this: it has aken some $111,000 which under the Coun-ils scheme would have gone to the heads of Departments and other seniors, and mak-ug it up to $130,000 has done better justice the remainder of the Class "A" employees. A glance at the figures relating to the proposed payment to heads of senior departments indicates that: the Special Committee aas resorted to something in the nature of a compromise which at the same time reaffirms he old principles under which the municipal service was paid. In the circumstances this appears to have been the wisest course to follow and should tend to allay much of the criticism which was levelled against the Council's scheme.
Complete adherence to principle, however, has not been effected for the Special Com-.nittee, with reference to the combined post x Secretary General and Secretary, which somes into being on July 1, 1939, expresses he opinion that considering the responsibiliies attaching to the post, and the qualifica-ions of the person holding it, the salary of £2,500 per annum is not excessive. Roughly speaking the Special Committee appears to have followed common sense lines in dealing with this very difficult question. It estimates "hat a Class "A" employee spends two-thirds 2f his or her salary in Shanghai, while the "remainder represents either savings or the proportion of normal gold commitments which er she might reasonably be expected to make er meet. On the two-thirds, a temporary bonus is granted to meet the extra cost of living, while with regard to the bal-arca exchange adjustment should make the employee whole so far as either commitments or savings are concerned. It seems in the circumstances the only fair method of meeting what it is to be hoped is merely a fempcrary difficulty, and, as it has nothing about it of the qualities of permanency, the burden which the ratepayer has to bear will vary with the exchange position. It can only be hoped that that will ultimately improve to such an extent that this seven lakhs addition to the salaries bill will eventually be wiped out. What is of the utmost importance to Shanghai, however, is that its municipal servants shall be paid in the currency of its revenue, That is the principle which should always be recognized, though in circumstances such as these adjustments when ther by exchange or by temporary bonuses are necessary if the service is to remain contented, and attractive to the type of person it is necessary to employ.
The Special Committee makes no finding as to tne ability of the Council to pay the extra sum their recommendations involve.
Judging from the figures representing actual income and expenditure for 1937, in which year the latter exceeded the former by some $3,500,000 it would seem that the Council will in all probability not have enough funds to meet the extra charge. The Special Committee does not say so, though it is possible that with increased actual revenue for 1938, and an expenditure which is not yet known the Council may be in a position to finance these temporary bonuses and exchange adjustments without appealing to the ratepayers. It is devoutly to be hoped that this is the case, for the present is most certainly not the time for such an appeal to be made. The Council need take no flattering unction to itself that, because the new scheme is a trifle more costly than its own, it is necessarily justified by the finding of the Special Committee. Indeed its critics have been completely vindicated in many of the strict tures which they passed upon it, more particularly by the reversion to old principles which ought never to have been departed from. It will probably by now have realized that much of the criticism which was voiced was aroused by the cryptic terms in which it announced its intentions in the notification of December 30. It was not until some days after publication that whispers became current as to what that notification involved, and public feeling was greatly exacerbated by the suspicion that the esoteric wording was designed. to keep the facts from the ratepayers. It is not suggested for one moment that this was in the minds of the Council, but it is as well that it should remember that the secrecy which shrouds much of its proceedings in itself engenders suspicion. In this connection it would be better if the Council adopted the policy of making public notifications in language understanded by the common people, and not something which needs a great deal of inside information to comprehend. There is one other point. Congratulations are due to the heads of departments and deputies concerned, who have voluntarily waived their undoubted rights with regard to notice concerning the changed conditions which the Special Committee's report brings about. By doing so they enable the Council to put the report into effect without delay. In view of the criticism which has been levelled against them, as ungenerous in some cases as it was ignorant, their gesture is one of very considerable loyalty, yet, nevertheless, to be expected of what is after all a fine body of men.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.