aba rarest Te, Cnioe Ok ady, am. ing lether Shani ut, 2 Tela heat Othe "Saas Hoo stean torr thence "a as of Sat Shanghai, June 2, Mone Davcicur, "Is It Wise Municipal Advocate's Pay To the Editor of the "Nowmu-Cuixa Dany News"
Sin,~Your leading article in a reent issue of the "North-China Daily Nows" entitled "Is It Wise?" will meet with general approval of everybody in Shanghai, Chinese and. foreigners unbelievable that in these days of financial. stress which "alMicg the whole of Shanghai. with the exception of a few privileged individuals, Mr. R. T, Bryan Jr, Municipal Advoe should have exacted a tremendo salary equivalent to nearly $140,000 8 year and that he is to be paid on US. dollar basis!
As you state very clearly, there ie reason why employees of the local Municipal staff should be paid in any. ether currency than local Chinese dollars, with due allowance to the resent high cost of living. If such, 8 ridiculous practice—for the sake of legal adviser!—should be generalized, there is no reason why the Japanese employees should not be ald in yens, the Indian staff in Tupees, the British in pounds, the Russians in God knows what kind of ccurreney and so forth, There is in Shanghai a number highly-qualified lawyers.
With a long and wide range of legal experience, who consider that in the resent circumstances an annual net income of $00,000 is quite sufficient to enable them fo live comfortably {Pre until the present crisis has passed. Such is the amount, and not a cent more, that any official in the position of Mr. R. T. Bryan should be. expected to can. The amount wh has been allocated to him constituter a deliberate insult to the Shanghai Population and if the matter was brought before the Court of Consuls which is the right of any tax-Payer—the decision granting such an exorbitant allowance would be at Toast cut in half.
There has been quite a lot of eri-Aicism from "certain quarters" to show that the Municipal funds have been squandered, and comparisons, which are not always "odious," have been made with the salaries paid elsewhere. This latest example of overpaying officials of the SMC. gives rise to much criticism and constitutes a very dangerous policy. at a time when the greatest caution '85 well as almost economy should be Practised.
Furthermore, the fact that the judges of the Local District Court are Paid not more than Chinese $200 oF $200 a month, while the Police Ad-Voeate gets nearly $12,000, is too pre. osterous for words!
Lex. Shanghai, June 3,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.