Directory_and_Chronicle_1902 — Page 731

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SHANGHAI

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 tie- beams of roof, a massively timbered gallery crossing one end. The floor is of teak laid on steel joists and concrete. The open timbered roof is ceiled under the purlins almost up to the apex, with ribbed panels. The windows are of cathedral glass and the joinery and dado in this room are of polished teak. It is heated by large American stoves, and special attention has been given to the ventilation. Adjoining this Hall are other large rooms used for public meetings, a Volunteers' Club and other purposes. The buildings are lighted throughout by incandescent 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 have been built from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr. C. Mayne, C.E., the Municipal Engineer, and Mr. F. M. Gratton, F.R.I.B.A., of the firm of Morrison and Gratton of Shanghai, as joint architects and engineers. A New Mixed Court, an imposing structure, was pleted in 1899, and took the place of the disreputable building formerly used. A monu- inent to the memory of Mr. Å. 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 crected in 1890. A bronze monument in memory of the heroic death 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, 1898. The principal buildings on the French Concession are the Municipal Hall and the Consulate. 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.

INSTITUTIONS

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Among the institutions of the place may be mentioned the Volunteer Defence Force, under the command of Major Donald Mackenzie, with Major Brodie A. Clarke as second in command. It consists of Staff 9, Light Horse 16, Artillery 53, "A" Com- panies 114, "B" Company 70, German Company 64, Naval Company 44, Customs Com- pany 68, Japanese Company 69, Reserve Companies 152, Medical Staff 25, total of all ranks 714. There are also a General Service Company, 164 strong, for non-combatant duties, and a small Company of Scouts, who find their own uniform

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These numbers are exclusive of the Band. Originally formed in 1861 the Volunteer Force gradually went to decay, until the fear of attack after the Mas- sacre at Tientsin in 1870 caused its revival with considerable vigour. It again dwindled in numbers, but the last re-organisation under Major Holliday proved successful and in 1900. during the China crisis, the membership of 300 was more than trebled and included an American Company since disbanded. The annual inspection was made in 1901 by Colonel The O'Gorman, D.A.A.G., of the Hongkong Garrison, and the Corps was awarded high praise. The infantry is armed with the Lee-Metford rifle. A separate Company of Volunteers under the order of the French Consul-General was formed in May, 1897. The Fire Brigade, which is entirely volunteer with a paid departmental Engineer, has a strength of 83 and consists of four Engine and one Hook and Ladder Companies. It attended 65 fires in 1900. It is pronounced to be one of the most efficient volunteer brigades in the world. There is now a Public Health Laboratory at which bacteriological investigations and chemical analyses are carried out, vaccine lymph prepared, and the Pasteur treatment of rabies undertaken. The Municipal Nursing Home has existed for five years and given much satisfaction and the Victoria Nursing Home has now been completed. There is a Hospital for foreigners, the building for which, although only completed in 1877, is already found inadequate and several additions have been made. There are also several Hospitals for natives and three Municipal Hospitals for infectious diseases. The other public institutions may be enumerated as, a Subscription Library containing about 20,000 volumes, a branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, with the

the nucleus of રીપ Museum, a Masonic Club, a Sailors' Home, a Polytechnic Institution for Chinese, a Seamen's Library and Museum, a Wind Instrument Band, paid by the Municipality, which gives concerts in the Public Gardens every day during the summer months, a Race Club, possessing a course of a mile and a quarter, and which holds race

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