A large crowd of people gathered an hour and a half before Marshal Joffre appeared at 3.45 p.m. at the French park for the planting of the "tree of liberty," which is a species supposed to possess great longevity. A circle was formed around the mound by the Garde Municipal, by children of the French school and of the Municipal Boys School and by a large group of Chinese Boy Scouts from Tung Yih School. The band struck up "La Marsollaise" as Marshal Joffre appeared, after which the spectators shouted "Vive Joffre." Two school girls in Breton costume stood upon the mound. The ceremony, which consisted of the throwing of a spadeful of earth upon the roots of the tree, was over in a moment and Marshal Joffre in his car, followed by a long line of motor cars, proceeded to the French Municipal Chinese School at Avenuei Joffre and Boulevard de Montigny. Here there was a very brief ceremony when Marshal Joffre deposited the first stone in the foundation of the new annexe.
At_4.30 the party alli repaired to the French Municipal buildings where a reception was held and the records of the two ceremonies were signed by the Marshal and by members of the Council.
Seated on the platform near the Marshal were the consular body, members of the Shanghai Municipal Council, representatives of the national Chambers of Commerce, of the Customs and Postal services, Presidents of the various National Clubs, representatives of the French Missions, Chinese officials, and French naval officers.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.