July 1.
The very heartiest response has been made to the suggestion that Shanghai should show its appreciation of what the Durhams and Gloucesters have done for us since the critical days of February, and we are certain that they will rousing send-off when they leave on Monday. That we regret their departure goes without saying, but we all hope that they will carry with them pleasant recollections of the hospitality of Shanghai. We are afraid that they cannot hope to have a similarly good opinion of our weather, for it will be remembered that they arrived here in a downpour of rain which continued day after day, and the accommodation for them had had to be hastily improvised. The Durhams found lets at the Race Club and the Gloucesters at the Waterworks. station in Kiaochow Road, and as could be imagined there was mud everywhere.
'Yet one never' heard a single complaint: in fact officers and men were loud in their praise of what had been done in the way of securing accommodation in the short time at disposal. Since these early days matters, have, of course, improved out of all recognition, but nevertheless there have been days on the boundary, with Shanghai weather at its worst, when the spirit of the troops who swore horribly in Flanders cannot have been altogether absent.
These battalions take with them the full knowledge that on the part of residents here there is no question but that they and_ their fellows in other units were the means of saving the Settlement.
One contributor in our columns has stated that it was only "by the grace of God and the foresight of the British; Government" that Shanghai wa evidence 01 with which the arrival of thes men was greeted. One need only recall the frantic enthusiasm with which their march from transport to billets wa greeted, It was not only because it was years since many: British subjects here had seen. troops of their own nationality marching—always an inspiriting sight—but it was likewise the: knowledge that, no matter how: events might in the coming days. develop, here was a sure safeguard for the integrity of the Settlement.
It is just as well at the present juncture to recall the change of policy of the Communists after the arrival of these troops in Shanghai. Their time-table, long before drawn up, was wrecked by the presence of the Shanghai Defence Force, and with one or two notable exceptions, a change in policy wi yht into operation. The military was exchanged for the weapon, and various interesting devices to besiege Shanghai were suggested. One was a blockade of all vegetable produce from the surrounding' country coming to Shanghai, but this was too crude and never came to fruition. Since then, however, ways and means have been devised to suck the lifeblood slowly from the Settlement. and to-day people Shanghai are fully alive to the serious position in which they' stand. The Navy and Army did their part in the defence of the Settlement admirably, and probably the British Government is
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.