Considerable interest has been aroused in local Chinese circles in the recent appeal of the Municipal Council to all sections of the community to ce-operate with its price investigation office to halt profiteering and combat the high cost of living.
Following the Council's request to the public to report all instances of exorbitant prices demanded by shopkeepers, local Chinese papers were almost unanimous in declaring that the Chinese would undoubtedly assist the Council in every way. They suggested that pillar-boxes be placed in conspicuous places in the Settlement to enable Chinese residents to post their reports and complaints.
Replying to this suggestion an official of the price investigation office stated that the installation of the pillarboxes would entail considerable expense and the employment of a special subordinate to collect all the complaints received. After stating that the Chinese response to the Council's appeal has been most gratifying and expressing his thanks to the "North-China Daily News" for giving prominence to the Council's appeal, the official pointed out that with the low cost of local postage prevailing, the most economical way would be for the public to post their complaints to the i vestigation office located in the Council's administration building.
Many Offenders Punished While it-was a most difficult task for the Municipal authorities to control effectively prices of all commodities, recent Municipal bye-laws prohibit shopkeepers and others from demanding excessively high prices for their goods. Since the bye-laws were passed, a number of prosecutions against shopkeepers have been brought in local Chinese courts, where in most cases the offenders have been convicted and punished.
The only effective weapon to combat the high cost of living, the official of the investig: m office declared, was the close ce-operation of the Council, the Press and the publi He explained that it was well-nigh impossible for the Council to keep track of all shops and individual cases of profiteering and urged the public to notify the Council in every case of over-charging. All complaints received so far have been thoroughly investigated.
The official reiterated what he said on a previous occasion, that it was one thing for people openly to denounce profiteers as rogues and scoundrels and quite another thing for the Council to do so without positive proofs, which only the public can furnish.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.