On Saturday afternoon, the Volunteers mustered at the Central Police Compound as a preliminary to their Annual Inspection on the Race Course by an officer from Hongkong, in this case Major Chater of the 9ist Regiment. The muster included Light Horse, under the command of Captain Hough;'53 Artillery—out of a total of 63, of whom 6 were sick and 4 absent on leave—commanded by Captain Brodie Clarke nd_ 124 Infantry, commanded by Captains Dudgeon, No. 1 Ca., Bright No. 2, and Boyd Bredon No. 3; the Band under Chev. Vela mustered 26 strong, the whole, with Major Morrison, Surgeon Major Henderson, Surgeon Milles and the Sergeant Major, making afore of 224 all told.
After the Volunteers had fallen in, Major Chater minutely inspected the men's accoutrements and saw them put through a few manoeuvres, and after the companies had been equalised, the whole marched out of the Foochow Ruad gate to Kiangse Road, then to Nanking Road and on to the Race Course. The men presented a very good appearance and their marching was also goud. Arrived at the Race Course, they found the ground in a very unsatisfactory condition owing to the late rain, but they soon took up their positions and were inspected by the Major, They marched past exceedingly well, considering the state of the ground and went through a number of manquvres which lasted till past 5 o'clock, Then a bit of a sham fight was indulged in, When all this was over, the men were drawn up to hear what Major Chater had to say about them, He said that from what he had heard of the Shanghai Volunteers, be had formed a certain idea of the standard their efficiency. He was glad to say that since he had seen them, he had found that they had gone beyond that standard. He had had an opportunity of seeing them for the past ten days or ssu before the Parade, and was much pleased with them. He said that the Volunteers had other duties to attend to, so that they could not attend regularly at'drill, and so allowances must be uude for Unom, but he was glad to sly he could informs General Cameron that they quite came up to, in fact, exceeded the ttaudard lie, Blajor Chater, had, from what he had previously heard and seen in the reports, expected to find the Vulunteors had reached, especially as they had only one month in the year to drill in, with an voet, ional turn-nit at other tines, He then spoke to the Light Horse und said he admired the quiet way Captain Hough gave is orders, and the quiet way the work was by the men. They were few in number ich ut first thought might be considered detracting from their usefulness; but they were all goud horsemen, and knew the country well, so that they would prove very useful.
With the Infantry he was well He hud noticed that there were a few imperfections and he would put them down on paper, and hoped that next year wse imperfections would be remedied, company and battalion drills were very vod. He Said the Artillery men drove very well and he was pleased with them, not so much with the pres it what he lad aeon of th 4 ground was not in such bad condition as at present, and they had much improved since he saw them the first time.
Major Morrison, on behalf of himself and Volunteers, thanked Mnjor Chater for the attention he had given to the Volunteers since he cane unto Shanghai, He admitted imperfections and suid he was sure teers would do all they could to remedy them. before the Inspection next year. He referred to the standing ord the effect that in case of atid distri only "efficient"
Volunteers would called out. dant of the Volunteers, on behalf of himself and the Council, thanked Major Chater for his kindness in inspecting the Force, and the Volunteers for their having attained such a high state of efficiency. After this, three cheers were given for Major Chater, Major Morrison and Mr. Macgregor. The Volunteers then returned to the Police Compound and were dismissed.
On Sunday morning, the Annual Church Parade took place at' the Cathedral, and there was a very fair muster. The Light Horse mustered 14; the Artillery 30, and the Infantry about 60. The whole marched off from the Bund, the Volunteers bringing up the rear of a column consisting of them selves, the Town Band, the band belonging to the Constance and some hundred and twenty sailors and marines from that ship,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.