Turning to European society, a regrettable change emerges, although a similar fate has befallen all growing cities. In old days, Shanghai society formed a single group. It was generous in its judgments but it had limitations. of conduct and a man had to prove himself to be the right sort before Shanghai would so regard. him, no matter what his intfoductions or Home reputation might be. Shanghai society was a great leveller and brought those persons down with a bump who put their value too high. It may be so still, but with so many groups it is hard to focus characteristics of this sort and it more often happens that Mammon becomes the King. For the rest Shanghai still is the young man's paradise,—the Peter Pan of cities—blending exercise, pleasure and work more easily than anywhere else. Lovers of Kipling will remember the respect that he had for Ganesh, the god of good luck in the things of daily life, and it is assuredly Ganesh that_the young of Shanghai worship. Life still is looked upon as a thing to enjoy and if there are any wrinkles in Shanghai it is very hard to find the The old hand is a_ good deal struck by the extension of the manvais quart @heure before dinner to what sometimes is a mau-vais trois quarts @heure. It is certainly a strain upon the resources of the most brilliant conver-nationalist and how the cook can manage to, avoid disaster with some of his dishes is a mystery. In the old days the wife of the Chief Justice enjoyed a monopoly of really bad unpunctuality. Nobody in the Consular compound ever dreamt of leaving his house for a dinner with ber until he had learnt through the Chinese underground - telegraph that "Mississy Hannen have begin coakum fish!''
Unhappily also, Shanghai has been as little able as other cities to avoid the tyranny of the telephone. It breaks into conversation, it breaks ruthlessly into business and meals, almost as badly as it does in New York, and it will bring its own gastric punishment to those who give way to it. The motor siren also enjoys a degree of licence which other cities, like London, have found it necessary to curb. Observation has shown that there is the widest. possible difference between the use of horn and siren by a white man and a native driver, the latter sounding it in a way that bids fair entirely to destroy its utility. The excuse given that the. Chinese would not otherwise get out of the way is disproved by the fact that even the domestic dog and fowl at Home have learnt wisdom, though no discourtesy to the Chinese is here intended. Flying, too, thas got to come.
To conclude, it is safe to pro-phossy that much now regarded as new will, in less than 23 years, be as antique as these reminiscences. Perhaps an old hand may be allowed to apply to Shanghai some Eighteenth Century lines:—
For all thy humours, whether grave or mellow, Thow'rt such a friendly, lively, gambling fellow.
So much of tears and smiles and thirst about you, There is no living with you or without you.
"His Majesty the King has appointed Major-General Sir John Fowler (of Hongkong) as Colonel dant, Royal Corps of Signals.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.