This, journal ts convinced that some misunderstanding "must underle the leter ened "or the Tefugees" appearing, in the tarespndance sume of) the ural trncunecment fag been made La the coal appears fo" oran from press bp riy. of the bodes, who may have had The money, of is receipt and i fy now slut esrerata fo which retogee charity the money tray have been' paid" over, The" movement avid among foe! Germans io collect funds for etugees resulted in the collection of 8 Sartore sum, all the more praiseworthy. confering the site of the community: snd twas ined over fo Bf. ©, fe Yul, on, the under-anding tat it shawld be expended. for the ened! et the people for whom ft was intended, this took place before the "Jecquinat Zone" vas contemplated, st was obviously not intended {or that excellent endeavour, and on Father the experience drawn from the addressing of Christmas cards in the last few days is any Guide, that Venerable old gentianan Santa Glaus must have a hard time during the night finding the homes of recipients in his annual tour. The recent hostilities, and the evacuation, resulted In such " large seatlering of the community that one's circle of friends has been @rastieally changed. Locally, the shifting partment house population made the question of Chrismas card addressing unusually difoult, especially when so many people are living with friends, while many others who one welcomed a' year ago are scattered all over the world as the fortunes of their former local residence dictated. Not that addressing Chri mas cards is an unpleasant task. There is a beautiful thought behind these decorated slips of cheer and the asperities of the year one Joften vanquished by this pleasant "yuletide custom, Fewer cards have been sent out this year owing to local circumstances and perhaps that is one of the reasons why mantleppleces will be less heavily loaded this morning. The other will be the difficulty in discovering that circle of friends, split by adversity. but without which Christmas loses most of its significance.
The Custom House at Shanghai will be closed from January 1 to January 3.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.