161
σ
N
3
162
Enclosure in No. 1.
Translation of Memorandum re Customs Personnel, Chinese and Foreign, submitted to Nanking Government. (Confidential.)
MR. MAŽE, in the capacity of director, introduced a system into the Whangpoo Conservancy Board about eighteen months ago whereby Chinese employees became eligible for certain subordinate positions hitherto held by foreigners, and lately arrangements have been perfected to appoint a qualified Chinese assistant engineer, with a view to training him for the ultimate position, later on, of engineer-in-chief. The new system is working well and has fully justified Mr. Maze's expectations. The pay of Chinese employees has also been raised and their service conditions have been generally improved. Mr. Maze, however, has drawn the board's attention to one important factor in regard to pay-he pointed out that when revising seales of pay the board must not disregard the general rates at present obtaining in the various Chinese Government Departments. That is, the board should not increase the salaries of their employees above those of the corresponding type in the various Ministries, &c.
If the principles referred to above answer well and have proved suitable in the case of the Whangpoo Conservancy Board, such measures should be equally successful in the Customs. In the early days of the service, when the establishment was being developed and organised, it should be considered that it was not possible to find Western-educated Chinese to fill the higher positions in the service. In former times, for example, it was rare for Chinese to go abroad, and the returned student" class did not then exist. This being so, it necessarily followed that the higher positions in the Customs (a Chinese Department having large direct relations with foreigners who do not understand the Chinese language) were, and are, filled by foreigners. But these conditions are gradually changing, and the Customs' system must change with them and must move with the times. There are now many highly-educated Chinese to draw upon and no difficulty is experienced in securing qualified men for employment in the service. Mr. Maze realises that foreign loan agreements definitely stipulate that the existing system of Customs administration must remain unchanged during the currency of such loans, but this does not debar reorganisation of the conditions governing the employment of Chinese in the Customs. In Mr. Maze's opinion, such employees should be eligible for any post in the Revenue Department up to the rank of commissioner. Each Chinese employee has the inherent right as a Chinese citizen to feel that he can obtain, if qualified, the highest post in his grade. The service is a Chinese organisation and Chinese employees therein, if qualified, should not receive less favourable treatment in regard to advancement, &c., thau their foreigu colleagues. This premised, qualified Chinese assistants, clerks, writers and tide-waiters, &c., should be permitted to gain a footing on a higher plane. Until political conditions, &c., in China become more stable, however, and until political control over the whole of China is attained by the Nanking Government, Mr. Maze sees difficulties in regard to the proposal to appoint Chinese commissioners to take charge of certain treaty port custom- houses and thus be placed in positions of direct responsibility. There would be
grave danger at present, and perhaps even for many years to come, that Chinese in such positions would be coerced in regard to administrative affairs by military or other Chinese local authorities to the very serious detriment of Chinese revenue interests. For this reason Mr. Maze advises that it would be unwise to promote Chinese to such important posts. But there are many other positions, up to and including that of deputy commissioner, which could and should be filled by qualified Chinese--the fact that Chinese employees know that they are eligible for such posts, and are not being discriminated against merely because they are Chinese, will in itself improve the moral of the service and thus increase its efficiency. If you want to make a man useful you must tell him he is useful; and qualified Chinese in the Customs should, as stated elsewhere, be placed on an equal footing with their foreign colleagues in regard to promotion to responsible situations, &c.
The question of pay presents some difficulty. A prominent member of the Government recently remarked, "the Chinese Government should continue to employ qualified foreigners, should pay them well and make them work." Now, qualified foreigners will not travel half-way round the world, serve an alien Government, and live in comparative exile for the same pay as they could earn in their own countries. It follows, therefore, that foreigners, in the nature of things, get higher pay than Chinese, who are living in their own country and among their relatives and friends. This factor must not be lost sight of when determining scales of pay. Furthermore,
as mentioned above, the pay issued to Chinese in the Customs should bear a relation to the scales of pay of Chinese in other Chinese Government Departments. But Mr. Maze considers that the question of pay is in some respects less material than the question of dignity and self-respect. And for this reason he advocates the opening of the higher posts in the Customs for Chinese employees, thus giving Chinese more responsibility and more face." The aim should be to train up a Chinese staff which at some future date will be able to administer the whole Chinese Customs on efficient lines. Unless men are now given positions of responsibility and trained, how can they be expected in the future to be able to take up higher responsibilities? But Chinese should not be promoted to such positions of trust merely by seniority; they must be promoted by selection. In a large cosmopolitan service like the Customs, those filling the higher ranks whether Chinese or foreigners should be selected; this is the only way to secure efficiency. Of course, where two men are equally good the senior should get the preference, and the junior should not be promoted over the head of a senior unless he is the better qualified of the two. Mr. Maze has refrained from touching on service conditions in the Marine Department, but if requested to do so, he would submit recommendations for consideration.
In regard to the principles governing the employment of foreigners in the Customs, Mr. Maze is of opinion that efficiency would not suffer if fewer foreigners are employed, provided that they are in every respect fully qualified-and those not fully qualified or who are for various reasons not suitable should be permitted to retire; we must eliminate "dead wood!” He has already expressed the view that it is unwise to stop recruiting foreign tide-waiters for employment in the outdoor staff. The protection of the revenue is of paramount importance, and it seems to Mr. Maze that the revenue in the conditions now prevailing cannot be properly safeguarded unless the Customs staff (indoor, outdoor and marine) is partly foreign; this is, of course (apart from loan agreements) a domestic question for the Government to decide for themselves— Mr. Maze has been asked for his views, and he therefore expresses them freely. The Customs in the past have rendered useful service to China and the world, and, with both a Chinese and foreign staff, the service should continue to be useful as an organ for the conduct of foreign trade and the collection of revenue. But to be useful the staff must be contented as well as efficient, and in order to be contented must be justly treated.
Shanghai, May 30, 1928.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.