at Dinner cary eapocaibiites with have been placed on my shoulders and, avy. ilities wi ye with the full ce-operation of the people of Shanghai, Iam confident Ehat I shall succeed." So spoke General Yang. Buy the new Com: missioner of the Greater Shanghai Peace Preservation Force, at, Jdinner which he gave at the Eh nese Bankers' Club, 4 Hongkong Road, on Dee. 9.
Thanking his guests for their attendance, General Yang said that hho had been greatly honoured be-Jeause so many of his friends had jeondescended to accept his invitation, "I thought, when the post was offered to me, that I should not be capable of carrying out my Jduties efficiently. However, the Mayor urged me to accept and pro mised me all support and he further stated that I could rely on the ple of Shanghai in case 1 needed ip, s 1 assuredly shall. Since taking up my duties, I have received further assurances and, with your help, advice and ce-operation, I know T.cammot fail. I shall always. be mindful of the fact that my duty Twill be to preserve peace and I can assure you that I will carry out my duties to the best of my skill and ability and shall leave nothing un-dong, to preserve peace locally.
General Wu Te-chen said that, at the conclusion of the Sino-Japanese hostilities, he made 'a recommenda-ton to the Central authorities that instead of troops being stationed here, a peace Preservation Force should' be established and this recommendation was accepted. had, therefore, been made concur-eng Commissioner of this Force, but, as his civilian duties were so heavy, he felt that he could not jerry out the duties efficiently $0, with the approval. of the Central [Government, he appointed General Yang to the post, which was by, meats an unimportant, one, The decision of the Central authorities to maintain peace in this manner fin Shanghai might, said the Mayor, be considered a step towards dis trict autonomy, in order to attain self-government, the local populace needed proper "protection and, in order. to" have proper protection, they must. be able to protect them:
ives. The establishment of the Peace Preservation Force was a means by which the people would be fable to protect. themselves. "So fa", liwo regiments had been formed and, with the approval and the co-opera tion of the people, the Force would be strengthened whenever necessary.
The Chinese people (continued the Mayor) must realise th real strength lies within themselves ind, if they did not exert that strength, there was no salvation, no matter how much they talked. "We must ce-operate to make our gov~ fernment, local and Central, strong,"
Mayor said, "This is a task not ssily accomplished and it may take some years but we must remember that, marder to place China on rong. foundations, "we must work bhard, just as the European countries worked. The "European countries Wwere not built in a day and, need-Tess to. say, it will not be. possibi for China to rebuild herself in a day. We must be given time. Now that General Yang has taken over hig new duties, Tam sure that he will work hard for the people and T am' equally sure that the. people if" Shanghai will. ce-operate -with Lean promise you that I will generosity of the people of Shang-General Tai Chi spoke of, the hai and the fine support they hac always given him. He was sure that, it they gave the same support fang, the latter would culty' in performing his duties. As an instance of the support of the Shanghai people in mat. ters which they considered they wore working for right and justice, General Tai quoted the help and encouragement they had given to the 19th Route Army during the Sino-Japanese hostilities. "We know jwe were up against great odds. We realised that we were fighting against one of the world's leading powers. We knew that opposing us were the most modern of military Jequipments. We anticipated that, {try as we would, we could only hold Jout against the Japanese for a week fat the very outside. But we did not count on the support of the local people. With their help and their support, we were able not Jonly to carry' on for more than a month but we were able to amaze the entire world by the fine fight put up." presented by the Committee and Past Presidents of St, Patrick's Soviety of Shanghai.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.