A Wise Decision The decision of the committee of the Central British War Fund (Shanghai) to remit £500 to the Navy League in answer (0 an appeal for unds for comforts for officers and men in HM. Navy, as a mark of Shanghai's appreciation the wallantey of the complement of the aUxilll= lary cruiser Rawalpindi, is most heartily to be welcomed. The vessel was well known here, ud itis believed that amongst those who took German battle= jer Tives, were Royal Naval Reserve executive elficers, and the vessel's engineers. There can be not the slight-fest doubt that the committee's decision will be feat, present tee fanned into open. rebel to which the All with the hope that it will come sooner rather than later. The present, however, time to indulge in premature' optimism. The Jeadly effzet of the blockade has yet to be felt to the utmost, and when that happens will be the time to count upon A real weakening of the German morale.
Those Wicked Finns!
The thoroughly well-disciplined Soviet Press now endeavouring to Justify the invasion of Finland with the usual atrocity "stories. The correspondent of the "Iavestia™ reported that water used for drinking purposes had been poisoned because there were "strange looking bubbles" in it. What would be the use of poisoning wells, ete, which by now have been Frozen up, when supply of good clean water necessary is available by merely melting snow, it Another is dificult to. under st example of Finnish perfidy is that ambushes are Jentiful and Soviet soldiers cannot even walk tone to the back of the front lines without suffering the penalty. The fault seems to be that f Soviet forces, who obviously, if this story is true, have failed to clean up their rear as they press forward. The same correspondent writes.
the large mumber of mines posted everywhere by the Finns. The Soviet's dear friends, ihe rmans, have not been above using that little wheeze" already in the present war, but that, Jof course, does not do away with the Russian feeling that itis very. wrong of the Finns to [do the same thing. The third alleged atrocity story Is to the effect that the Finns captured Soviet scout and cruelly tortured him in. the jeourse of questioning. How could the Soviet rest possibly know this, unless the Finns were foolish as to allow the scout to escape after-Wards? It is not the habit of any country to permit prisoners of war to escape once they. Ihave been captured. "And all this despite the fact that the Soviet newspapers have - warned readers against the "atrocity yarns invented. by' the capitalist. press." That was obviously de-[signed to. offset the young Russian woman aviator, who, after having fusilladed civil in Helsinki from her aeroplane, crashed. " The first doses suggest that the Soviet propaganda Jorgan is just about as clumsy as its German opposite number, which distinguishes itself fa. vehemence which defeats its own object in the ears of neutral listeners, while it has alsoto_ be said that unless the Soviet propagandist can turn out something rather better than the Jabove samples he will be judged wholly lacking, in imagination, warmly endorsed, ax demonstrating the admira~ tion of Britons in Shanzhat for the heroic con-Jduct of the men in an unequal engagement. In this connection it is interesting to note that a special appeal for naval comforts will probably be issued after the receipt. of further details lot requirements from London, It is to be hoped that this policy of issuing special appeals. will be widely adopted, for it Is necessary every deserving war appeal should receive as much assistance as possible, and when the large number of objects for which funds were collected during the last war is remembered it seems desirable that every effort should be made to raise money by special appeal and that the receipts should be spread as widely possible. To a certain extent that ix already provided for by. the arrangement whereby. subscriber to the Central British War Funda nominate any special fund to which he desires his money' shall be allocated, the hon, treasurer iboing willing to do all in his power to see that such contributions reach their proper destination. The response to the appeal which is little Jmore than a month old hax been gratifying in tie extreme, but there are still "numbers. of Britons who do not appear to be doing their bit. Tt must be emphasized that with exchange as low as it is a special effort needs to be made to see that Shanghai sends as much home. as possible. It should be a point of honour for every Briton to see that his or her contribution, Ino matter how small it may be, reaches the reassurer, for there may be much to be pienly of this money Fequired befor Small Money th of paper jon in Shanghat on. Friday and a. similar Jamount is reported to have been printed for a at an early date. How far this will shortage in Shanghs Similar previous issues and the. situation has become worse, not better, One of the safeguards attached 10 Friday's distribution was the fact that only banks and business houses were able to obtain the new issue. 'This measure Was adopted to prevent the money falling into the possession of the money exchange shops who, jin spite of explanations to the contrary. are largely responsible for the present situation. While' there is a profit as high as ten per cent. to be made on the exchange of small money it Jeannot be expected that the hundreds of small Jexchange and cigarette shops, who live on the Jdistribution of small money, to benefit by the opportunity" afforded. One of the mysteries of the currency problem in Shanghai the continued existence of these establishments which would not be permitted anywhere Jelse in the world. It represents one of lon established "rackets" in. country where even Jeurrenes, which is supposed to represent. the fonly. unassailable commodity, is subject. jo commission which acts as a clriment to" free fireulation. Other reasons advanced for the shortage of fact that districts ax payment for purchases for country. products, and that when the time comes. for purchases from Shansha th ably: x0. meantime, many. companies, espe% transport companies, have created. their Jcurreneies in. the form of paper coupons, Hvouchers. metallic disks and other things which, naturally, are negotiable only through the company concerned and the currency system there-Tore. is growing' more and more complicated, [Another unfortunate factor is that the issue of per coupons or vouchers may assist the com= pany itself to operate but it is another charge Jon the community. because there is bound to be Jo" margin of loss and destruction irrecoverable bythe general public, On this score, there will Ibe no severe erilicism of the companies involved because they are ying to meet the situation land continue business ty temporizing swith existing conditions, but it aces seem that some~ thing more definite and effective should be done for "Salve™ the problem, "which is affecting the tower lenses, of Chinere pullers in parti, who ud hemscivesvietime ea. widows system restricted currency. circulation Rice Profiteering The authorities of Shangha'x two foreign Jareas" have acted not a minute too soon. to check the exorbitant price tendency which rice, the staple food of Shanghat's millions, "has reached oF to which limit it hax been. mani lated, Most people wonder why something was mot done earlier instead of allowing a situation to deteriorate to. such an. extent that only the good temper of Shanghai's Chinese population should prove the safeguard against disorder. The joint proclamation of the Inter= national Settlement and the French Concession flays down in no uncertain terms. the oficial opinion of the causes of the present impossible prices of rice, although attempts are being made other quarters to prove that political factors, bbevond the economic factors governing. the ordinary law' of supply and demand, are to blame for the unparalleled situation existing In Shanghai. 1¢ there is any criticism to be made lof the joint proclamation it is that in addition to threatening storm measures against profiteers fand Thoaiders a maximum price limit should Ihave been set beyond which no increase would be allowed. This was done by Mayor Fu Siao-len in extra-Seitlement territory and it operated for some time in direct contrast to prices. in the "foreign areas. Tu. Tientsin, the French found it expedient and possible restviet and control prices and an extension lof this attitude to Shanghai should wot be with out point or possibility. In regard to tice, the to the Shanghai Munieipat Council constant stocks and the nse "owing to the perishable nature of rice storage, ought to be sivan serious considera up to the present, has. be theoretic stage, the practical pects being left for examination, but it does suazest a method of solution which would bree [vent the stispicious maviket developments which late frequently recurring in Shanghai, 'The Couneit's previous rie. transactions have not proved of tremendous public beneht but have flea produced a sizable' prot.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.