Directory_and_Chronicle_1903 — Page 685

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SHANGHAI

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 arrange-

ments.

The Council of the French Settlements, Shanghai, voted in 1902 the amount of 90,000 Taels for the building of a street tramway-line from the Place de l'Est via the French Bund and the Rue de Consulat to the French Camp. The Purrey automotor system will be adopted. The line, which will be built first, is 38 kilometres long. It is estimated that the rails of a single track will cost 28,000 Taels, the laying down, etc., 11,000 Taels. Four cars with 24 seats each will cost 30,000 Taels, and for other expenses 16,000 Taels are provided. The Shanghai tramways concession is to be for 21 years, the tenderers paying a royalty of £150 per year per mile of double track and £100 per year per mile of single track. They propose to lay at once about 9 miles of double and 8 miles of single track. The overhead trolley system is to be adopted, and the cost of construction, including powerhouse and plant, is estimated at £320,000. Single-deck cars accommodating 6 first-class and 40 second-class passengers are to be used, with fares for a course of about 13 miles of 6 cents first and 23 cents second-class. The routes are not yet definitely decided, but it is proposed to lay lines to Yangtsepoo Creek, to the Bubbling Well, and for a crosstown inner loop, and these routes are to be in working order within two years.

INSTITUTIONS

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 11, Light Horse 45, Artillery 69, "A" Company 119, "B" Company 76, German Company 64, Customs Company 74, Japanese Company 59, Reserve Companies 118, Medical Staff 18, total of all ranks 653. There are also a General Service Company, 164 strong, for non-combatant duties, and a smill Company of Scouts, who find their own uniform and mounts. 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 and Naval Companies since disbanded. The annual inspection was made in 1902 by Colonel the Hon. R. H. Bertie, c.B., 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 102 and consists of four Engine and one Hook and Ladder Companies. It attended 81 fires in 1901. 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 six 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. branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, with the nucleus of a Museum, a Masonic Club, & Sailors' Home, a Polytechnic Institution for Chinese, a Seamen's Library and Museum, a Wind Instrument Band of thirty men, 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 meetings in May and November, a Country Club on the Bubbling Well Road, Parsee, Portuguese, and Customs Clubs, also Pony Paper Hunt, Cricket, Rifle, Yacht, Baseball, Racquet, Golf, Skating, Football, Swimming and various other Clubs, Philharmonic and Choral Societies, English and French Amateur Dramatic

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