SHANGHAI
739
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 1920 the roads maintained by the Council measured 144 miles, and the footways 115 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 spacious and delightful promenade. The trees planted some years ago having now attained a good height, and a munber of imposing buildings having been completed, the English and French Bunds form a magnificent boulevard. The widening of the Bund was commenced in 1920 and is to be continued from Peking Road to the Garden Bridge, cutting off 35 feet of the Public Garden, which will be replaced by a corresponding reclamation along the river front.
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 five to six miles in length. Building activity of late years may be described as remarkable and unparalleled in the history of the port. The number of new buildings erected in 1914 totalled 8,824, in 1915 6,892, in 1916 6,767, in 1917 3,926, in 1918 2,968, in 1919 3,131, and in 1920 3,500, the estimated cost of these last being nearly eleven million taels. They included mills, godowns, shops, offices and Chinese and foreign residential premises. During the last three or four years several big granite and concrete offices of a type hitherto unknown locally, and as nearly approach- ing the "sky-scraper" variety as the subsoil would permit, have been erected. Extensive rebuilding is taking place on the Bund, where structures of 5, 6 and 7 storeys are taking the place of the old buildings, prominent amongst these being the premises of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, N. C. Daily News, Chartered Bank, Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., and the Glen Line. It is reported that a huge up-to- date hotel, 14 storeys high, is to be erected on the Bubbling Well Road opposite the Race Course. In the western district dwelling-houses of the better-class have sprung up like mushrooms.
A small but well laid-out and admirably 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 opened 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. A large extent of ground near Jessfield has been converted into a decorative park and botanical garden.
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 now furnishes a continuous supply of filtered water at moderate rates, and so successful has it been that the original capital has been more than doubled. 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 thoroughfares 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 Municipality has an excellent electric light service, and the native Bund is lighted by a Chinese Electric Light Company.
Shanghai can boast of many 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 till 1862, when it gave way to a building professedly only temporary. On the 16th May 1866, accordingly,