SHANGHAI.
301
Shanghai can boast of several fine buildings of various and varied styles of architecture. Trinity Cathedral, erected from a design by Sir Gilbert Scott, is one of the finest specimens of modern ecclesiastical architecture to be found out of Europe, but from want of funds the tower and spire, which is an essential part of the design, has not yet been built. There is a Roman Catholic Church in the French Concession and another, completed about two years ago, in Hongkew; also a Chapel belonging to the London Mission and one to the American Episcopalians, and a very pretty and prettily situated Seamen's Church at Pootung, bes des several Mission Chapels for natives. The Shanghai Club occupies an extensive and elaborate building at one end of the English Bund. It cost Tls. 120,000, and at that is said to have ruined three contractors. It has passed through a varied and peculiar history. There is a really fine Masonic Hall at the other end of the Bund. Amongst the other conspicuous buildings may be mentioned those occupied by the Oriental and Hong- kong and Shanghai Banking Corporations. There is a very fair Theatre, but it is as yet devoid of internal decoration. The members of the German (Concordia) lub have also a handsome little Theatre attached to their premises. The principal buildings on the French Concession are the Municipal Hall and the Consulate.
Among the institutions of the place may be mentioned the Volunteer Defence Force, consisting of Cavalry called "Mounted Rangers," Field Artillery and Rifle Brigade; the latter comprising three companies. Originally formed in 1861 it gradually went to decay, until the fear of attack after the Massacre at Tientsin in 1870 caused its revival with considerable vigour. It has now again unfortunately dwindled in numbers, but an effort is at present being made to reorganise it. The Volunteer Fire Brigade consists of seven Engine and two Hook and Ladder Com- panies. There is a Hospital for foreigners, the new and commodious building for which was completed early in 1877, and several for natives. The Temperance Society has a good hall and well furnished library, and having latterly been conducted on liberal principles is well supported by the community. The other public institutions may be enumerated as, a Subscription Library containing about 10,000 volumes, a branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, with the nucleus of a Museum, a Sailors' Home, a Polytechnic Institution for Chinese, a S amen's Library and Museum, a well sup- plied Gymnasium, a Wind Instrument Society, which gives a series of weekly concerts in the Public Gar lens during the summer months, a Race Club, possessing a course of a uile and a quarter, a Parsee and a Portuguese Club, also Pony Paper Hust, Foot Piper Hunt, Cricket, Rifle, Racket, and various other Clubs for recreation. The last named owns a building containing two splendid Courts, Bowling Green, Tennis Law, etc. There are ten or eleven Masonic bodies, with over 500 members. In 1876 a District Grand Lodge for North China was constitutel, with Shanghai as its head-quarters.
There are four Docks at Shanghai, the ne at Tunkadoo, opposite the city, having a length of 380 feet over all with a depth at spring tid s of 21 feet; the Old Dock at Hongkew is 374 feet long and 18 feet deep at springs. All steamers and most sailing vs now discharge and load at the various public and private wharves. The premises of the Associated Wharf Company has a frontage of about three-quarters of a mile. The Chinese have an Arsenal and shipbuilding establishment at Kaou Chung-mow, a short distance above the city. The Great Northern Telegraph Com- pany's Cable was laid to Shanghai in 1871, and there are now two lines of com- munication with Europe. The Eastern Extension Company has an agency for the receipt of messages. A railway constructed by a foreign Company was opened to Woosung in June, 1876 but after running for four months it was purchased and taken up by the Chinese Authorities. During the short time it was running the passenger traffic along more than covered the working expenses. In 1877 the property of the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, a foreign association owning the prin- cipal lines of steamers trading to the Yangtze and Northern ports, was bought by the Chinese Government, acting through the China Merchants' Steam Naviga- tion Company, for the sum of two million taels. The property then taken over