Farewell Presents of Interest and Value to Retiring Coast Inspector Members of the Marine Department of the Customs on Saturday aid their respects to Captain T. Eldridge, the Coast Inspector, who is retiring after 35 years' service and is shortly due to leave. for Home. As many representatives ay were able to attend assembled in the drawing office of the Coast Inspector's department to meet Cay tain Eldrige and express 1 esteem and best wishes, and to pr sent him with several handsome gifts, These included a wonderful Piece of Chinese embroidery, the work of many months, symbolically conveying the Chinese stati's good wishes for long life and happiness and, upon the reverse side, the names of the enrive staff.
The gifts of the foreign staff consisted of a beautiful old blackwood screen, with porcelain landscape Panels, and a piece of bronze of rear interest—a statue of Leu Tung-ling (or Li Chun-yang) one of the eight immortals, a finely wrought figure with the traditional sword slung across his back, It is recorded of this ancient—sage, who flourished about 755 A.D, that whilst magistrate of the district of Teh-hwa he encountered Han Chung-li among the recesses of the Lu Shan, from whom he learned the mystery of alchemy and the elixir of immortality. He was exposed to a series of temptations, ten in number, and having overcome them, was invested with a sword of supernatural pow-, er with which he traversed the ent/ re, slaying dragons and viding earth of divers means of evil for upwards of 400 years.
These gifts were accompanied by scroll bearing the names of the foreign staff,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.