SHANGHAI
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feet, employed for the same purpose. A special and striking feature of the building is the handsome staircase entered from Nanking Road and leading to the Town Hall on the first floor. The walls and arches of this staircase are finished in clean red brick- work with stone dressings, the steps being of concrete with stone handrails and ballus- ters, and encaustic tile floors to halls and landings. The Town Hall is also used by the Shanghai Volunteers for drill purposes. It presents an imposing appearance, being 156 feet long, 80 wide, and 26 feet high to the tiebeams of the roof, a massively timbered gallery crossing one end. The floor is of teak laid on steel joists and concrete. The windows are of cathedral glass and the joinery and dado in this room are of polished teak. Adjoining this Hall are other large rooms used for public meetings, a Volunteers' Club and other purposes. The buildings are lighted throughout by incandes- cent electric lights, the Town Hall having six 300 candle-power incandescent lamps besides the numerous side lights. The whole of the buildings form an effective group, although the narrowness of the streets on the East and West sides considerably detracts from the possibility of obtaining a good view of the block. They took about eighteen months to erect and were built from the designs and under the superinten- dence of Mr C. Mayne, C.E., the Municipal Engineer, and Mr. F. M. Gratton, F.R.I.B.A., of the firm of Morrison & Gratton, of Shanghai, as joint architects and engineers. Towards the close of 1913 additional land at a cost of about Tls. 555,000 was purchased and plans were prepared and submitted to the President R.1.B.A. for a new block of Cen- tral Municipal Offices to occupy the whole of the site bounded by Hankow, Kiangse, Foochow and Honan Roads. The work of construction was commenced in March, 1915, the estimated cost of the entire scheme being Tls. 800,000. The main part of the building is on Hankow Road, overlooking the Cathedral compound. Being of massive construction, and with every detail carefully worked out with an eye to architectural beauty, and with a central ornamental tower reaching 150 feet above the ground, the new
new offices form an imposing pile. A new
new Mixed Court was completed in 1899. A monument to the memory of Mr. A. R. Margary, of the British Consular service, who was murdered by Chinese in Yunnan, was unveiled in June, 1880, and a statue of the late Sir Harry Parkes, British Minister to Peking, was erected in 1890.
A bronze monument in memory of the
crew of the German gunboat Iltis, lost in a typhoon off the coast of Shantung on 25th July, 1896, was erected on the Bund, at the end of the Peking road, in Dovember, 1898, but was broken down during the Armistice celebrations in 1918. A bronze statue by Mr. Henry Pegram, A.R A., of Sir Robert Hart, late Inspector General of Chinese Maritime Customs, subscribed for by the community, was erected on the Bund near the Customs House in 1913. The statue is nine feet in height and stands on a granite pedestal eight feet high, The principal buildings on the French Concession are the Municipal Hall and the Consulate. In 1914 the new building of the Cercle Sportif Francais was thrown open to the members of the club and their friends, the more humble pavilion having given place to a handsome two- storied edifice. A bronze statue of Admiral Protet, who was killed when directing an attack on Nan-yao on 17th May, 1862, stands in front of the Municipal Hall The Public Markets of the French Concession are large and well built and are perfect as regards sanitary arrangements. An efficient tram service is maintained in both Settlements.
INSTITUTIONS
Among the institutions of the place may be mentioned the Shanghai Volunteer Corps, composed of members of all nationalities, under the command of Col. R. Marr Johnson. It consists of 54 officers and 933 other ranks, made up as follow:-Staff 8, Light Horse 84, Artillery 74, Maxim Company 36, Engineer Company 29, "A" Company (British) 79, "B" Company (British) 43, Customs Company 37, American Company 123, Portuguese Company 69, Japanese Company 140, Chinese Company 118, Shanghai Scottish Company 73, Italian Company 28, Reserve 187, Maritime Company 34. These numbers are exclusive of the Medical Staff and the Band. On the declaration of war by China on Germany and Austria Hungary, the companies drawn from the subjects of those countries were disbanded. Originally formed in 1861, the Volunteer Force gradually went to decay, until the fear of attack after the massacre at Tientsin in 1870 caused its revival with considerable vigour. It again dwindled in numbers, but a re-organisation under the late Major Holliday proved successful, and in 1900, during the Boxer crisis, the membership of 300 was more than trebled and included a Naval Company, since disbanded. At the inspection made just before the war by Major General Kelly, C.B., the Corps was awarded high praise. The infantry is armed with the Lee-