Major J. 'T. Ford Over the week-end Major and Mrs. J. Ford lett. Shanghai on' the. retirement of the former from the position of Treasurer and Controller to the Shanghai Municipal Council Major Ford became head of the Finance department in 1924 when his predecessor was seconded for certain special duties, and it was not Until 1928 that he officially became head of the Department, He entered" the service. of the Municipal Council in 1908, s0 that he has seen approximately thirty years work for the munielpality, during which time, and especially later years he has carried out several teicate atid important negotiations on behalf of the Council, and has been responsible for the of the International Settlement in a manner which has consistently earned the greatest possible esteem. There have been times when he has been humorously accused of producing much wanted rabbits out the council's financial hat, and the manner in which he managed to overcome some of the Gimeulties did at times. seem to border on the miraculous. Of the value of his services to the community there cannot be the sughest possible doubt, and there are those who know= ing his work, and his capability. will" realize what an excellent servant to the Municipal Council Major Ford has been. An interesting comparison, showing the manner in which the of the Treasurer and Controller has. grown Ford's service with the Council, the chairman's speech at the last annual meeting of ratepayers. In_ 1929, when he officially assumed office the budget of income' and expenditure, ordinary and extraordinary: amounted to $28,000,000, The corres-Ponding figure for this year is no less a sum than $82,500,000, and the fact that he has been able to cope with the astonishing changes during the past ten. years is adequate tribute 10 the capacity of the man Shanghai is. losing. Both he and Mrs, Ford will receive the best wishes of the community for a long and happy retirement, and possibly. the hope that one of these days they will seize the opportunity of revisiting the port which owes such a great deal to his ability, Trips on the River Summer days are here again and stutly nights will soon add to the unpleasantness of existence in Shanghai, but the prospects of getting out to the wide, open spaces, on tand or water and gulp a fresh lungstuil of cool, fresh air fire as United as they have ever been. Nearly two years have elapsed since the outbreak of the hostilities and the extension of Japanese control to this area, and there has been tittle Felaxation of political and. other rest although the war front is somewhere betw Hankow and Tehang. While references blockades are being made to other areas China, "Shanghai has been subjected to an annoying and debilitating form of blockade fever since the hostilities started. One of the principal iMustrations, of this is found in the Virtual inability to eave the restricted confines of the two foreign areas here by land for by sea. The Shanghai Yacht Club has sumed its activities on the Whangpoo, and a few foreigners enjoy pleasant week-ends. on their houseboats or in their cottages on Battery Creek, but the Whangpoo, once the Jung of fens of thousands of pleasure-seekers on. hot nights, is virtually a closed river." Envious recollections will swing back to the time when for a dollar or so the city-dweller could board tone of the ferries and take a trip to Woosuny enjoying the Ureezes and fir sweeping up from the Yangtze with opportunity fora walk across. the where a fow wayside inns run by Russians and Chinese added "enjoyment to the trip. This nowadays is denied and Woosuns fed in by military necessity that nobody able to get n Some of the former City Government ferries' are maintaining, unde for andi indulge more in ea)
than passenger trample. "People with private launches and motor boats are able to joy the river trip priv lesser-moneyed people of summer relaxation. that efforts ar out that this will Ue for nese residents only and therefore another outlet is blocked. It looks as if Shanghai people this summer sill again have to sit at home an think. swered it would be contrary 10 the Japan and, though the Jo of honour to do, s0, appear 10 the fact, of honour 1 no poly. If it is contr sacrifice the also is it contrary British ideals, and if that ix the issue which has to be decided they need not be surprised if the most stubborn resistance is offered to this contemplated procedure. Nevertheless, tthe Jap: malice 10 the last hour of act." It fs to be hoped,—thoush there is little enough to support such hope at-the moment,—that this will indeed be the case. If Anglo-Japanese relations are de= teriorating as they undoubtedly appear 10 it is entirely due to the conduct of the Japanese. The British have done nothing China since the outbreak of hostilities which they are not entitled to do, indeed they have done less than other nations whose reasons for not assisting China are more found. in their adherence, or the of at least one to the Anti-Comintern Pact.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.