When the different Municipal authorities here resolved to make changes in road nomenclature it not, only perturbed people but caused grave foreboding to many. Today we can see, possibly, some of the occasion for such fears, Avenue Joffre being the case in point. While many a one, the ricsha, coolie in particular, sticks to the old Chinese title of Paochang Loo (Pau) Brunat's -hong name), am ever increasing number call it Joffee Loo, Joffee being by no means a bad interpretation of the name of the victor of the First Battle of the Marne. So far so good, but now comes to China another notable of the European struggle with name very similar, to wit Joffe (pronounced Yoffe, we believe). What our fear is that at some future date the earnest Chinese student of history may want to know whether Joffee Loo is so called in honour of the man who showed the Germans that their ideas about the higher tactics were wrong or of the man who arranged a separate peace between Germany and Red Russia and is now the Soviet emissary. The case is not so far fetched as it may seem, for when Siccawei Road was changed into Avenue Haig one inquirer met with a surprising answer on asking his houseboy who Haig might be. Without hesitation the boy replied that he was a very No. 1 Mix Court Judge, while later he learned that Foch was an English merchant of great wealth.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.