This Spitting It he had the authority, any walker along the Bund these days might be able to collect a quite substantial sum in' fines. towards" the Shanghai Municipal Councits deft, and thereby free the authorities of the threat of another financial headache next yest. This is in regard {o. the byedaw which proposed. to. regulate spitting. Those who introduced the bye-law lad in'mind doublies the fright(ul effects upon hearth which might follow the continuation this unpleasant practice among the people who fre the most pro life and the most numerous of any. in the word. They may have forgotten, However, that. before the lave—an ass fu. de! mocratic countries, but something even stupider nothers—there must be a definition of siting before any action con be. taken," No°Shanghal Fesident will feel in any: doubt at all about the definition, once he has been. the. witness {0d spit'by one of his native brothers, But the few ie ko the emigrant from Missouri—it must be shown. There is, therefore, the extremely aimeuit question of whether person can be Prosecuted for spiting when he is siting on the ion outside the Honghong. and Shanghai Banke and doing no more than eating sun-tower Seeds and ejecting the shells from his' mouth, What, iso, is the penalty to be imposed upon the Chinese who buys a stick of sugar cane and chews it on the streets, spitting out the pith given be has finally extracted afl the sweetness but of ft? Are these people to. be Tegarded felons in the eyes of the Taw, or are they mere-people who have carried on 0 custom which 45 fo old that the historian of sugar-cane har forgotten. when It came into. existence? Quest tions on these lines were" addressed to" the SAM, and they replied that the decision. what twas a spit and what sas nek lay with the tunilpal Advocate, who was paid quite a good fnowgh" salary' in foreign currency. to. enable firn fo decide. When doubt was expressed that even. a" salary in foreign currency. did. not Guality'a person to decide upon so, intricate matter, the police merely replied that it was hone of their concern=they were employed to enforce the law an it was interpreted to, them fy those who were paid to Understand ff There ecm to be an increasing tendency on the part the municipal authorities to. adopt regula: fons which in themselves are ideal and. then to forget all about them, One regulation. which was passed when there wae alt the old agitation bout rickshaws wes tat riding duo in thea obleies was to be forbidden, In tell nade Inirable resolution, t has never been enforced Anyone who walks the streets today can see scores of couples riding duo in rickshaws with the full. consent of the rickshaw puller, The lime of the permanent omelets of the Counc 12 valuable, as the ratepayer who has to pay for knows. And if therefore seems not unreasonable tovavk that it be spent in somewhat more Dra Aiabio. ways then devising bye-laws Which" 70 authority at the Council's daposat can. passbiy Action Over Rice The Shanghat Munlelpal Council has been slow in taking real action over the profited jin rice which hay been going on in Shangh the detriment of all. business houses and to the distinct menace to the preservation of law and order in the International Settlement. 'Their position has been a difficult one, it ts admitted, 'The proper government. of this international Jarea depends primarily upon the ce-operation fof the persons governed, and this, in, connec tion with the import of rice, the' settlement's primary food, hay not een forthcoming. For Jo long time there has been a succession of ac~ ensations in, the Chinese press against various Flee merchants, but this Journal has held its hand, because there has never been a shadow fof Drool to support these accusations and many of them may quite justly be regarded as tinged with the political desire to discredit the merchants mentioned, The situation is now dif. ferent. The Municipal Council has taken for granted the often expressed desire of the Chi-hose tice merchants to sell their produce at on equitable price. It hay arranged for the lmportation of a sume tent quantity of the grain to keep the. prices within reach. of the " average consumer, That tae" organization of such thing has cost the Municipal Council a considerable amount in thought and money can be taken for granted, and the effort should have been received by those wholesalers who have een protesting their inability to arrange for cheaper rice, with the welcome it deserved. Instead of which, what has happened? The rice wholesalers have refused to ce-operate with the Counett in tts effort to ameliorate the conditions fof the working class in Shanghai, and the Coun. felt has tigen forced to go over their heads and appoint two foreign rms to, aet ay distribu. {ors at the gealn directly to the retail shops. Ils as yet too early to judge how this scheme with work, tt ts an unfortunate fact that povrer~ {ur interests have for Tong been involved In the food trade in Shanghai, and these Interests have up fo now shown no consideration for the gene feral welfare-of the community, and' they may Yet possess eumclent Influence' to hamper the Councit's scheme in a number of ways. Now 19 the time, however, for the Council to. take vigorous action. It" is possible to. buy Saigon Hee in Hongkong, with the permission' of the government of that colony, at tess than a quar~ ier of the price being asked in Shanghai, it the most recent prices quoted in Hongkong papers fare to be. believed. It 1s therefore' scandalous {that Shanghai rice importers should be allowed to continue to mult the public in the way they"
wwe been doing, It may be some time before the blame for this profiteering in Shanghai can properly assessed, But that it will eventually Brought home to the guilty parties 1s inevit-fable. "When the Council. manages to "narrow down ite inquiries to the point dat it can Publizy the names of the gully partes, it be hoped that it will not be deterred by any considerations of libel or defamation, but that it'witt come out courageously with the nam of "those. to. whom Shanghai sat present Me Jdebied to a large extent for the extraordinary high cost of living prevailing.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.