Precisely at noon on Saturday the well-named Victoria came up to the P. and O. jetty, bringing back from the Coptic from Hongkong the chafnpions of Shanghai. At the mast-head floated the flag.of the Shanghai Cricket Club with that of the Hongkong Cricket Club below it; the Straits team, we understand, did not run to a flag. Before the tender was made fast, three ringing cheers and a tiger were given by the large crowd on the pontoon and the lawn adjoining, and the greetings of the victors by their friends and admirers were hearty and prolonged. On Saturday night some sixty of their friends entertained the team at dinner at the Shanghai Club, the veteran cricketer Avovt 3.30 on Friday morning the fre jalarin was, rung for a blaze" inthe Woochang Road, in a tailor's shop. he Brigade lost no time in appearing upon the scene and quickly got to work wich several lengths of hose. Number 93, where the fire originated, and two other houses, one on each side, were totally destroyed. One house was partly destroyed by fire and water. Messrs, Ward, Probst & Ca. are agents for the property, which was insured for Tls. 2,500 in the Royal Insurance Ca. The contents of the houses were uninsured. The cause of fire is as yet unknown.
At nine o'clock on Monday night a fre broke out in the French Concession, in a field, or yard, directly opposite the Old Cen: etery, between Cemetery Road and the new Sicawei Road. At first the Hongkew alarm sounded three bells and the alarm in the English Settlement four bells, and in consequence most of the Fire Companies were searching in vain for a fire in the vicinity of the Nanking Road. When the Brigade did arrive on the scene the whole field was ina blaze. tart of the field was apparently used as a piggery and the remainder for storing straw and bamboos. The Deluge Company were there first and, there being no hydrants, got their engine to work by a pond near the Sicawei Road. They laid one stream on, and the French Company, who arrived shortly afterwards with their engine, had two streams on, There were several bull ings on the east side of the field, of which some were dwelling-houses and' the rest used for storing straw. Fortunately the wind was blowing in a westerly direction, and with one stream playing on the flames from the roofs of these buildings there was very little danger of their catching fire. There was no water for the other Companies, but they did useful work in clearing parts of the field of the unburnt straw and wood. The majority of the pigs were rosetied, but one was so badly burnt that it was kindness to kill it. The wood and straw were smouldering until a very late hour, but the amount of damage dono could only have been small.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.