Congratulations are due to certain distinguished and esteemed citizens of Shanghai on their achievement in making the passage from Tsingtao in termination of a holiday prolonged beyond their deliberate intention, to Shanghai in destroyers of the United States of America's Some of them at least arrived with the look of the sea upon them and their nautical roll was not entirely attributable to their impatient stamping on the Tsingtao esplanade as they waited for some response to their signals of devotion to duty in distress. They must, however, be made aware of the fact that the device of using 2 warship as an emergent means of transport was not first employed by them. Major J. T. Ford, Controller of the Shanghai Municipal Council arrived here a full week before they did having travelled all the way from Weihaiwei in one of His Majesty's ships of war. Major Ford's assumption of his duties last week was welcomed in Administration Building and his colleagues greatly appreciated the spirit which induced a former infantry officer to entrust his person to the tender mercies of the senior service. There is a story that the trip cost Major Ford five dollars but whether that circumstance is a tribute to the rigidity with which he controls the Council's finances or an indication of a_ profiteering spirit learnt by the Royal Navy in Hongkong, the official bulletin of the Council does not condescend to explain,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.