Committee concludes its activities with the presentation of this second brief report, The Sub-Committee's Interim Report, it will be remembered, dealt solely with the matter of increased licence fees, for the reasons, first, that licence fees afforded a field within which the Council and the Ratepayers had unquestioned powers by virtue of the clear provisions of the Byelaws and, secondly, it was regarded as urgent to provide additional funds from the beginning of the financial year 1941, In its initial survey of all of the sources of revenue available to the Municipality, it was noted that the taxable sources at present utilized by the Council did not go beyond Land Tax, House and Advertisement Rates, Licence and other Fees, Wharfage Dues, and Public, Utility Royalties.
Sub-Committee's investigations substantiated the fact that the historic cal and traditional interpretation of the Council's powers of taxation under the provisions of the Land Regulations had resulted in those powers being limited in practice exclusively to these sources The Sub-Committee did not feel itself competent to examine further into or in any way question the long-established interpretation of the Land Regulations in this regard, nor has it had an opportunity to subject this established interpretation to a serum tiny for the purpose of ascertaining-its legal validity, The Sub-Committee considers that the Council should not be content to regard itself as irrevocably committed to past practice and usage, however long established, but should re-examine the powers of taxation conferred upon the ratepayers by the Land Regulations and Byelaws in the light of the present urgent needs for widening the fields of taxation in the interests of the—Municipality's finances, With regard to Licence Fees, the Sub-Committee had time at its disposal sufficient only to review the Schedule of Fees actually levied, It was aware that certain licensable oe. cupations—admittedly a very few—for which the licensing Byelaws make express provision, have not for reasons of policy in fact been subjected to the Council's licensing control. Moreover, the Sub-Committee took cognisance' of the fact that the Council has in practice limited itself to licensing only those trades and occupations that are specifically enumerated in the Byelaws, and has regarded itself as being precluded in its own right from adding to the trades and occupations prescribed as licensable, The Sub-Committee considers that re-examination should be made of the existing policies whereunder certain trades and occupations whose license ing is provided for are in fact not licensed, and that the provisions of the licensing Byelaws should be reviewed with a view to the initiating of measures to increase the range of licensable, and therefore taxable, trades and occupations, Having regard to the great importance to the Settlement's welfare of finding new sources of taxation, and therefore of investigating the needs as to the Council's powers and scope of taxation and licensing referred to in this report, the Sources of Revenue Sub-Committee considers that the Economy Committee should recommend to the Council the setting up forthwith of a standing Sub-Committee of the Finance Committee of the Council to investigate and report upon these matters, Revenue Office (Finance Dept.) The functions of the Revenue Office are varied and complex, Part of the work is financial, involving the collection of municipal revenue, the assessment of premises for rating purposes, and licensing; whilst other duties are of a non-financial nature connected with the Voting List, Election of Councillors, and Ratepayers' Meetings.
A complete reorganization of the Revenue Office commenced in 1932 on its transfer from the Secretariat to the Finance Department, The main features of this reorganization were completed prior to the 1937 hostili ties, Two major changes in organization have, however, been introduced curing the past year, namely, the opening of Sub-Offices to decentralize revenue collections, and the replacement of Foreign Assistant Inspectors by Chinese Supervisors, Under the decentralizing process, nine Sub-Offices have been opened, one in each collection area, and substantial savings have thus been effected both in working time and locomotion expenses.
Eleven Chinese Supervisors have been engaged to fill a similar number of posts previously occupied by Foreign Assistant Inspectors.
Both of these changes have produced satisfactory results, The cost of collection has been lowered from 3,26 per cent, in 1931 fo 255 per cent. in 1940.
Our Sub-Committee has examined the present organization of the Revenue Office and is satisfied that its functions are performed in an efficient and economical manner, A movement has been started by the "Chinese American Daily News," a leading Chinese daily published in Shanghai. to ask local Chinese to sign their names in a telegram to be sent to Mr. Winston Churchill, the wartime leader of Great Britain, to pay their respect to him and the British military and people, and to give them spiritual support in their fight against aggression, the same aim which China is said to be reaching. The drafted telegram appears in the' paper's editorial columns and yesterday the name-signing movement spread among many groups of Chinese in foreign areas here.
Those Chinese who are in favour of the movement are asked to sign their names on clean sheets of Chinese paper with Chinese brush pens. These will be pasted together by a special artistic process as the Chinese go with all their valuable paintings end other works of fine art, and then bound into a book form together with the telegram. AN these will then be sent by the paper to the British government direct. it is stated.
The gist of the telegram. the exact wording of which may stil be changed by readers, will give expressions of admiration and sympathy. It will recall the once somewhat strained relations between the two countries when the appeasement policy was followed by London, but will point out that the fact that during her fight against Germany, Great Britain can continue helping China should command gratitude from all Chinese.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.