Feb. 4.
THE meeting of the members of the China & Japan War Savings Association on Tuesday saw a period put to a branch of war activities in which truly remarkable results were obtained. Whatever may have happened prior to 1916 with regard to local subscriptions to the Empire's war loans, etc., it is clear that at the best it was sporadic, lacked organization and was not represented by figures commensurate with the importance of the British community in the Far East. Not that Britons out here were lacking in patriotism, but that there was no means of encouraging continuous and sustained effort in the direction of lending money to help with the struggle through which the Empire was passing. In 1916 Mr. E. TF'. Goodale suggested the formation of a war savings association and it is almost entirely due to his efforts that so great a success was achieved, his and the valuable services of Mr. H. M. Mann. It was not an easy matter. At that time the return on money invested in War loans was not sufficiently attractive to those who could save in Shanghai, while exchange had yet to boom. It was indeed fortunate that those responsible for the scheme had an important factor upon which to rely—the patriotism of the Briton out East. A patriotism that recognized the ability to subscribe as a privilege was the Association's best assistant in those days and, that it existed, is evidenced by the early success which attended Mr. Goodale's project.
Nor were subscriptions Exchequer Bonds the only witness of the community's faith in the Empire and its cause. There were, besides Messrs. Goodale and Mann a substantial number of ready helpers. The clerical staff, which finally were dealing with the accounts of over 3,600 subscribers, gave their services free. Others worked as propa-gaudists, and indeed although these assisted in reducing expenses, necessarily entailed in a work of this magnitude, to an irreducible minimum, what outlay had to be made was guaranteed by a few public-spirited individuals. Shanghai's example was followed in other ports of China, Hankow soon fell into.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.