Tomorrow and Thursday being probably the two most important days in the history of the International Settlement it is important that the main issue involved in this year's municipal election shall be kept in mind. The one great question which will be answered as a result of the poll will be when ther the ratepayers will consent to such an increased Japanese representation on the Municipal Council as will in effect give them complete control, or whether, at least for another year, the status quo shall be maintained. That is the only real question with which the ratepayers are concerned, and the responsibility for giving the correct answer lies entirely with them. It is unfortunate that these elections will have degenerated into a struggle between communities, between what may be roughly termed the Anglo-American on the one hand and the Japanese on the other, with a substantial number of neutral communities who may have a deciding vote in the matter. That state óf affairs is wholly undesirable, but as it exists it will have to be faced fairly and squarely, with the hope that after all the shouting and tumult dies down it will be possible to accept the verdict of the ratepayers without any remnant of bad feeling which would do so much harm to the peaceful administration of this international city. 1t is essential that the status quo with regard to national representation on the Municipal Council shall be maintained, if only because itis imperative that the future constitution of the Council is a matter more for amicable negotiation than for battle by numbers at the polls, and there is always the possibility that if a respite is thus gained outstanding questions may be settled in a friendly manner, but a very grave danger of the reverse, should existing arrangements be so rudely upset as it is apparently desired in some quarters. It has again to be emphasized that the Japanese are perfectly within their rights in doing what they have done, and there can be no valid criticism of their action on that score.
The intervention of Mr. Ranald McDonald as an independent candidate constitutes in itself a threat to the position of the officially accepted British candidates, as likely to bring about a split vote which the straw vote was designed to prevent, and it has to be remembered that every British or American vote given to him is just so much more advantage to the Japanese candidates. It is only by a unanimous vote by the British and American voters that retention of the status quo can be ensured. There are undoubtedly those who believe that the record of the Council in the past has been so bad that a change is desirable no matter who may secure the predominating position. There are those who lightly accuse the Municipal Council of extravagance, people who criticized the Council for the economies it sought to effect in the early part of 1937, and who now criticize it because of the unfortunate position in which it finds itself through no fault of its own whatever. They would be exceedingly ill-advised if they were to follow the advice of the extremists who would argue that to throw out the "old gang" and hand the administration over to new people would be the best possible way of reforming the administration. But the claim that the administration needs reforming cannot be justified. Taking a dispassionate view of the whole matter it is astonishing, consider-jug all that Shanghai has gone through during the past three years that the Municipal Council has done as well as it has. Living in a partial state of siege, with the whole of the economic life of the port badly disrupted it is a welcome and astonishing fact that the International Settlement has come through so well. That has been largely due to the wise and efficient administration which has been carried on by the Municipal Council, and it can with justice be claimed that to make any radical change at the present time would be to run the risks of damage to the future of the port which might prove very serious indeed. A complete departure from the occidental principles upon which the International Settlement has been administered through almost the century of its existence and the substitution therefor of a new and entirely different point of view, is not something which should be done in the present circumstances.
But even if the critics of the Municipal Council were correct in their allegations of extravagance and inefficiency, which it is contended they are not, the times demand that at any rate for the moment such action which those critics believe to be necessary should be postponed. A common front of the occidentals is required in the matter lest the Settlement should lose its internationality so far as its administration is concerned. The attempt to bring about a split in the Anglo-American vote should be fought to the utmost. The interests of the occidental community demands that the officially selected candidates should be returned to office, and that two Japanese as heretofore should also be elected. It must be apparent that if the British and American official candidates were returned, and also Mr. McDonald, that would amount to a reduction of the Japanese representation on the Council by fifty per cent. That is just as undesirable as a reduction in the number of seats held by the British and Americans or the loss of one of them to Mr. McDonald whose success in this matter will amount to a reverse to British and American communities. Here is the reason for urging upon voters that their best interests are served by plumping for the British and American selected candidates, voting for no one else but those seven. The Japanese can be expected to poll almost the whole of their votes in support of their own candidates. Occidental voters would be well advised to endeavour to turn out in equal strength to vote in defence of their own interests, for the seriousness of the challenge which the Japanese have issued by putting forward five candidates is such that no reasonable man can afford to ignore. Those interests can best be protected by ensuring that the seven selected candidates shall receive the whole of the British and American votes, and as many of other nationals as possible.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.