Shanghai is now to have a rapid casualty ambulance service, plans have been made for' thei, Shanghai Fire Brigade to take over the existing Police ambulance, purchase four new chassis and' build bodies for them, and to operate] the fleet from the divisional Fire Stations, Through this new arrangement it will be possible for most parts of Shanighai to be reached by an am-balance within three or four minutes of the call being received, although it will take two or three minutes longer in the case of Wayside district, the Ichang Road mill area and outlying roads beyond the! Hangchow railway line. Wayside is quite a distance from: Hongkew or! Yangtszepoo Stations, and Ichang Road is a good run from either] Sinza or Bubbling Well.
'This vapid service will be main. tained in the same manner as is the! fire service, Shanghai Fire Brigade machines torn out probably faster! than any machines in the world, the first machine being out of the station' jas a rule well within 20 seconds the alarm bell being rung, and by making use of this organization a rapid turn-out is ensured for the new! ambulance service.
'The five divisional stations of the Shanghai Fire Brigade are Central, Sinza, Bubbling Well, Hongkew and }Yangiszepoo, and one ambulance the stationed at each of these One driver will be taken on the strength of the brigade for each' ambulance, spare drivers being avail-fable from the reserve at each station when the regular driver goes off The new ambulances, whose chassis: have already been bought and are of the latest Ford type, will have bodies built in the Brigade workshops at Hongkew Station and will be most up-to-date and probably on. somewhat original lines. Accommodation will be for four lying and four sitting patients, or two lying and eight sitting, or 12 sitting. The Jeentre portion éf the roof will be raised, allowing head room for; attendants, and also enabling a skylight and' ventilator to be fitted. Work has already commenced on the body of the first machine.
At present the Brigade has one rescue machine of its own for fire work, known as the Rescue Van. This, however, is not only an am-balance, for it carries special fre Jequipment such as acetylene torches for cutting metal, smoke helmets, gas masks and a pulmotor set, and will continue to be operated as at present. Last year this machine turned out to some six of seven mon-fire calls, for most of which an ordinary ambulance would have proved sufficient.
The new service will not, of course, ready for some time, as chassis Ihave to be delivered and bodies built, but due notice will be given when itis put into operation. It will have nothing to do with the transports infections or ordinary hot pital cases, but will be maintained fas a casualty service. Ambulances for infectious cases and for normal] movements of persons from. their homes to hospital or vice versa will continue under the management of the Public Health Department, and' the various hospitals which maintain their own ambulances. duty.
Additional classes in first-aid for offers and men have been arranged, ther instructors from the: Public Health' Department, "as although} there are already several qualified men in the Brigade, sufficient for the immediate need' of fire work, they are not enough for a public casualty service. By the time the fleet of ambulances' is. put into service thete.will-be.enough trained!
THe Waichisopu has. informed the National, Associated Chambers of Commerce that the rendition of China's inland and coastal navigation rights is one of the National Government's foreign policies, and that the revision of the Sino Japanese Treaty and other foreign treaties with China will be- based jon this: policy.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.