Few to-day have the privilege of leaving the immediate environs of row upon row of buildinge along metalled roadway, and escaping the monotony, dust tha prime either by sea, river or motor transport. Even motorists have but from which to "choose and these. too are bounded by) monotonous Therefore for the growing majority of this city's rapidly tmereasing population, the parks and open spaces now in existence and in such splendid Trim, are so much part and pareer of the datly round of their lives, the thought aruly"occura how first the tea of making them took shape tu the care of early city fathers Seventy years ago the Public Garden off the Bund was the pioneer effort to tay apart grounds for recreation and in this, the frst of an interesting series, careful investigations inthe. flles" of the "North-China "Herald" and other offletal records of that, day, the story of original intentions and some droll Sldetights on the anxieties of the Local (thorities are reveal twas even recorded aga of tity years ago for dancing "nornpipes over newly planted futtp beds." Who th and whether they are here. tu the ity to-day, will not be easy to discover but many, both personally or tu the second generation, will recall much of their carly' associations with the port im the story' of its first ark, Few who drop into a seat in the, Public Gardens off the Bund, realise that this most handy spot to watch steamers set sail for far ports, and junks tack and turn, exercised the minds of Shanghailanders seventy years ago. In that era, hard to visualize with the architecture _of another century rearing itself as the back-ground of the Garden from the River side, the pleasant garden, with its two summer houses, its drinking fountain and refreshment pavilion its well-laid out flower-beds of real horticultural interest, and its 3,920 feet of paved pathways, was nothing more than an unsightly mud flat, There the yellow Whangpoo lapped against a Jow-lying shore-line, and few visionaries dreamed of making a beauty spot of the future.
was in 1064 that report for the year slated that Une being Wereatter extended, commended by the Municipal Eng-fineer, it is suggested that the reclaimed Jand in front of H. M. Consulate should be converted into a botanical garden accessible only to subscribers who contribute towards lis annual expenses." A year later, in December 1865, the sum of Tls. 4.780 having been received from "the sole remaining trustee, the proceeds of an investment of Tls. 10,000 orly mally given from the Riding Course Fund, have commenced the work and Mnting that by using the mud taken out of the Yang-king-pang Creek, the contract for completion of the Garden would not exceed by more than Tis, 1.800, the above sum, they have included the deficit in the budget, believing that the Land Renters will approve of spending this small sum to complete so Important a work."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.