· 6 ·
the dollar is responsible for increases
ranging from 30% to 70%.
128
18.
In Appendixes "B1", "B2" and "B3" are set out
three examples showing the monthly quantity and cost
of food consumed by a Chinese Government servant whose
salary is less than $100 per month. These also show
the sharp rise in prices since the fall of the dollar
in November, 1935.
19.
The average increases in the cost of living
referred to in paragraph 17 relate mainly to the period
of six months prior to December, 1935, and do not include
any period when the average value of the dollar was
over 2s/4d or when its purchasing power during the year
1935 was at its maximum.
20. In Appendix "C" your Petitioners present a
typical example of the monthly expenses of a Junior
Clerical Staff servant of Class III, which may be des-
cribed as the middle or half way grade.
21. At the foot of Appendix "C" a table shows the
net income of the Civil Servant who furnished the parti-
culars of expenditure set out above, and it will be ob-
served that his net income before the levy, namely,
$212.00 per month is insufficient to meet the ordinary
monthly expenditure with its recent increases. It is
admitted that some of the expenses set out will not
fall evenly in each month but, generally speaking, it is clear that a Civil Servant of the class referred to, unless he is unmarried or has a very small family, had already been left with very little margin, if any, before
the
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