Feb. 1.
Many years seem to have passed away since the annual report of the Shanghai Recreation Fund Trustees appeared to call for any special comment. Happy is the country that has no history. There has been little variety in the steady work of ministering to the needs of outdoor sport, and it is mainly to this fact that, though by no means lost sight of, the Fund has attracted little more than passing notice. Many people are quite in the dark as to its origin, its history, and the powers possessed by its Trustees. It is seen that their Race Course Property stands in their books at Tls. 31,000 only, but there is every reason to believe that the next official assessors appointed by the Municipal Council will return a value for the site approx-mating to something like Tls. 5,000,000. This may be cited in passing as a typical example of the benefits of prevision. When in 1860 the first steps were taken to form a Committee for the purpose of acquiring land for the use of sport, of cricket especially, the subscribers of the first $5,000 little thought, perhaps, of the greater value and the greater good that was to come of their unselfish effort.
We cannot enter upon the history of the Fund. Is it not already written in the books of the chronicles of Shanghai games? We may, however, remark in passing how successful the Trustees have been in securing for their Board one after another for more than half century the very cream of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.