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limits in their separate directions of the Foreign Settlements. The land for a new road from Sicawei to Jessfield was acquired in 1905. Several other roads have been proposed, but although foreigners are prepared to pay high prices for the land the opposition of the officials has hitherto prevented their construction. Now, however, by the granting of the extension of the Settlements the Municipal Council has the right to build and police roads in certain adjacent districts. In 1913 the roads maintained by the Council measured 136 miles. At the time the Taipings approached Shanghai, some roads for the passage of artillery were made by the British military authorities at the expense of the Chinese Government, one of them extending for seventeen miles into the country; but, excepting those close to the Settlement, they have now been turned into ploughed fields. The foreshore in front of the Settlement has been reclaimed, raised, turfed, and planted with shrubs, and forms a delightful and spacious promenade. The trees planted some years ago having now attained a good height, and several more imposing buildings having been completed, the English and French Bunds form as magnificent a boulevard as any in the East.
Many foreign houses, some with several mow of garden ground, have been, and more are still being, erected near the outside roads, especially on the Bubbling Well, Sicawei, and Sinza Roads, which are the main outlets from the settlement, and from which most of the other roads branch off. These roads are planted with trees on both sides, forming fine avenues of about five miles in length. Building activity in 1914 may be described as remarkable and unparalleled in the history of the port. During the first three months of the year alone 2,394 houses were under construction. The number of buildings in process of construction in 1914 totalled approximately 10,000. This included mills, godowns, shops, offices and Chin se aud foreign residential premises. A small but well laid-out and admir- ably kept Public Garden was formed about 1868 on land recovered from the river in front of the British Consulate. It has been considerably extended in area by reclaiming the foreshore, and a further extension of five and a half mow by diverting the Soochow Creek was completed in 1905. A general Public Garden, intended for Chinese, eight mow in extent, by the bank of the Soochow Creek, was op ned in December, 1890. A Park measuring 364 ft. by 216 ft. is laid out in Hongkew. The Public Recreation Ground has also been thoroughly drained, turfed and laid out, in spaces not devoted to sport, with flower-beds.
Immense sums have been wasted in various attempts to drain the Settlements, principally from the want of skilled direction; but the great difficulties in this matter arising from the low-lying and level nature of the ground have now been fairly overcome, though very much work of this nature has still to be undertaken in the recently-acquired area. The Settlements are well provided with telephonic fire alarms. The desire of the Municipal Councils to keep the monopoly in their own hands retarded for many years the inauguration of waterworks, but a public company is now established, which furnishes a continuous supply of filtered water at moderate rates, and so successful has it been that the capital was doubled and it is now proposed to further increase it. A separate system of waterworks for the French Concession has been inaugurated, and Chinese waterworks, to supply the native city, were completed in September, 1899. The electric light was introduced in 1882, and are lamps are erected on all the principal thorough- fares and wharves. In 1893 the Municipality purchased the property and business of the Electric Company, but the administration of the Electric Light Department has not given entire satisfaction. The French Municipali y has an excellent electric light service, and th› native Bund is lighted by a Chinese Electric Light Company.
Shanghai can boast of several fine buildings of various and varied styles of architecture. The first English church, built in 1847, did not long exist, for in 1850 the roof fell in. It was, however, patched up, and continued in use til! 1862, when it gave way to a building professedly only temporary. On the 16th May, 1866, accordingly, the foundation-stone was laid of a new building which was opened for public worship in August, 1869. Although at the time considered extravagantly large, the congregation has already outgrown the accommodation. It possesses a fine organ, and a full and highly-trained choir. It is Gothic of the thirteenth century, according to the practice of the day, 152 feet long, 58 feet wide, and 51 feet from the floor to the apex of the nave. The structure was not completed, however, until 1892, when the spire was erected, the cross being placed on the top on the 4th October of that year. It attains a total height of 16 feet and, like the body of the edifice, is built of red brick, with stone dressing. There is a Roman Catholic Church in the French Concession called St. Joseph's, built in 1862, and another in Hongkew known as the Church of the Sacred
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