Sept. 25. live in. Yesterday the cen: figures for that administra: area showed a total increase in the population during the past year amounting to 19,000 and therein no less than 1,500 foreigners were included." It does not necessarily follow that there has been a shrinkage in_ the Population of the International [Settlement or in the hosts which dwell in Greater Shanghai. Nor are births entirely responsible for the increase. Disregarding comparisons, which, as Mrs. Malaprop shrewdly observed, are vs odorous, it were better to conclude that the French Concession hax charms which con-inno to attract aspirants. to shelter under its banyan tree. The British community, for Jexample, places about a 8 f its total Shanghai population 'him the French Concession, regardlosx of the fact that' the International Settlement is 80 often looked upon as age sively British in its outlook. And the variety of nationalities who find the amenities of La Belle France suitable to their require ments ix noteworthy. "It has been said that. if the barbed wire defences with which the French authorities can instantly girdle their Concession in time of stress, were made secure at some early hour in the morning. the business life, the municipal administration and the intelleetual energy of the Internation Settlement, of Greater Shanghai and, even, of the Government of ina would be paralysed. Japan, indeed, might be the saviour of the situation for only severe clannishness di cernible in Hongkew would pro-luce a coherent corps of think ers, traders, bankers and officials save the other two Shanghais from inanition. This does. not imply belief in the doctrine that the French Concession provides meretricious amusements. until the wee sma' hours for the allurement and eventual capture of respected neighbours. simply means that, as the figures quoted show, residence—law-abiding. respectable, even humdrum—' residence—in the French Concession is a privilege eagerly sought by Shanghailanders of all nations.
Inno disloyalty to or dislparagement of the International Settlement is this popularity The Settlement authorities, in many respects, stand to their neighbours as elder brothers: they can safely be allowed to receive the hi bricks and other symbols of affectionate criticism which it seems good, in the eyes of public opinion, to heave at them. The French' Concession, meanwhile, Pursues the even tenor of its It demurely wonders how that some of the fiercest gives a hue wink to Siccawe nods pleasantly to the mysterious dwellings (where the political fate of Nanking is occasionally discussed) and frankly telts its big neighbour that the world—particularly the Shanghai world atrociously censorious. The fierce light beating on the International throne in Kiangse Road
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.