The full significance of the, notification published in "the Municipal Gazett December 30 last was made quite plain by the report which appeared in these columns yesterday. A very handsome New Year's present has been given to certain sections of the municipal service, and it is to be. hoped that those members of the Staff Committee ind the Council responsible for passing this! change have behaved with the same generosity towards their own employees. That there should have been provision made for all municipal servants to meet the increased cost of living will be ge cepted as just and equity able, in view of the prevailing circumstances, but the other increases at such a time og this will require more than a little justifiea~ tion, What in effect has happened is that lun exchange' adjustment has. been effected, which in fact places Class "A" employees on what are practically sterling contracts, and the adjustment to meet a fall in exchange not lower than 7d.—why that figure should be uecepted at the present, time, when exchange Is considerably higher is' means clear,—inereases some salaries Ever since the publication of the notification there have been rumblings of discontent in the municipal service. On the face of it those best able to meet the increased cost of living out of their ordinary salaries have been given the biggest increases, while the smaller employee receives only' just about] enough to cover the extra cost of food. That this will be severely criticized may be taken for granted. The arrangement has no quality Of justice about it, and all the talk in the world of pivotal appointments about which Shanghai, tike the musie, appears to go round and round will not gloss over the fact that the Council has been behaving with a generosity which verges on prodigality. Indeed it will make the ordinary man in the street, enduring present hard times as best he can, wonder with what degree of a sense of responsibility the Municipal Council is handling the affairs of the ratepayers.
The general effect of these new provisions is that the men already drawing their salarjes in thousands of dollars will have them doubled in some cases, or increased by 66 er cent. in others, while the rest will have received a meagre 15 per cent, increase, which in effect does no more than restore the cuts which were effected just prior to the outbreak of the China Incident. It may. be readily believed that the old excuses about people having sterling commitments At home will be trotted out. But the senior municipal servants are not the only people Shanghai who are: so placed. People whose trade has been reduced to a minimum have still to poy their rates, and watch them being dissipated in a manner which must give them grave concern, What has happened is that these privileged officials are being given a wider margin for saving, for it is idle to contend that they were unable to live on the lesser sums given them before this new arrangement was made. No one will for one moment quibble with the statement that the offices involved are "such that the SAC. naturally had to engage men who by train~ ing, experience and ability were of the highest order, and who in commercial life would command salaries which compared very favourably with those paid by the municipality." Any officials who can por= suade a body of business men not only to wipe out the usual lag between the rite in the cost of living and salary increases but also to anticipate the future, as has been done by the adoption of the 7d. rate as the Immediate low, deserve everything they can ket. They are undoubtedly men of very considerable ability, and would in all probability by reason of their adroitness succeed In commanding those high salaries mentioned in the above passage. The cynic will doubtless add that they are men who missed their vocation by joining the municipal service and should have been able to do much better elsewhere. In any event valuable as their services admittedly are, the question must naturally arise as to whether Shanghai not likely to find them much too costly if adjustments such as these are every now and then to be made.
Nor does the matter stop there, In the absence of specific information itis to be assumed that these vas: ly-inezeased salaries Will entail similarly increased contributions to the superannuation fund, and if this is indeed the ease, these very fortunate officials will be able to sco their savings in this connection swell with wonderful rapidity, nother addition to the nice little bill which the ratepayers are being called upon to meet. Serious as this aspect of the matter is, there is even a graver one. 'That is to be found in the wide gulf which has now been created between the highest and lowest paid grades of the municipal service. Attempts which have been made' in the past to establish some equitable ratio between the salaries of the various grades of employees have been completely negatived. That may bbe confidently expected to breed discontent, of which rumours are already current. It is inevitable that this should be the case, for the impression is created that there has been discrimination exercised in favour of the already well paid, and against those whose "services have' not in the past secured such high remuneration. To throw a sop of 15 per cent. to one class of servant und bestow. upon another an emolument increased by 100 per cent. may mean a difference of mere $60 to one, and some thousands a month to another. If there is rhyme or reason to be found in such a proceeding, it must be of that type which characterized a very well-known tea party, attended by a celebrated hatter. The question. arises as to where this sort of thing is going to stop. Is it to be believed that with another fall in exchange, if unfortunately that comes about, another anticipatory low will be fixed? On the face of things this appears to be the case and the unhappy ratepayer is the one who will have to foot the bill. One thing is quite apparent. The interests of the people who have to find the money with which to administer the affairs this Settlement cannot have been very carefully considered, and while this reckless piece of generosity cannot be called a good piece of business, from a political point of view it is worse than a crime—it is a blunder.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.