SHANGHAI
711
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, and completed in 1922, at a cost of one and three-quarter million Taels, the open- ing ceremony being performed by Mr. H. G. Simms, Chairman of the Municipal Council, on November 16th. The site of the whole administrative block is nearly 26 mow,in extent and the assessed value is approximately Tls. 1,600,000. 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
pile. offices form an imposing
A 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
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 November,.
was broken down
the during
Armistice celebrations 1898, but was 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 in the French Concession are the Municipal Hall and the Consulate.
new
in 1918.
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 e-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- Metford and the new short rifles. A separate Company of Volunteers, under the order of the French Consul-General, was formed in May, 1897. The Fire Brigade consisted until 1919 of 42 foreign volunteers under chief officer M. W. Pett with a paid depart- mental engineer, and a staff of 187 native assistants, and was pronounced to be one of the most efficient volunteer brigades in the world. In 1919, however, owing to a misunderstanding, the volunteer members tendered their resignations, which were accepted, and as from April the Brigade became a purely professional organisation. Owing to the increased number of fires an independent brigade for the French Settlement was formed in April, 1908. Stimulated by these examples, no doubt, the Shanghai native city fire-brigade was reorganised in 1920. A substantial new building on the Nantao Road was inaugurated as a fire-station in December, and modern engines and equipment were purchased by public subscription. There is a Public Health Laboratory at which bacteriological investigations and chemical analyses are