To relieve landlords from tosses conseauen upon. the protracted c= Cupntion. of hele premises. by. ¥e= tanees, the Council Took steps, "%0 fatist tne parent refugee orsantzations renting Tand sites suitable for the rection of matshed. camps to. which fefagees in buildings could be transferred, For this purpose a Refugee Gump Transtor Committe was set Sider the Chairmanship of Brig-Gen. EH, Machaghten, entes psc with Nir. G. B. Mitchell, member of Coun-1 participating AL the beginning of the ye mimper of 'Fetugee. camps. ud fpection by the Public Health Depart-tent approximated 190, aecommodating over' 00000 refugees, "AN the time Stiyriting the number of camps under Sich inspection had Feduced tslf to Rround 70, housing. somewhere over 50000 refugees, "The thanks of the community are dye tothe various. organizations hich undertook the work of controll= ing' the "rtugee camps and of Pete: membership of the Supplies and Fuel Sub-Committees atthe close lof the year comprised Sir Robe Calder-Marshall, xx (Chairms 'Messrs. A. Eveleigh, L. W. Hutton, Handley-Derry and' Departmental re presentatives. The Committees kept touch throughout the year with the situation as regards food and fuel. The. coal" situation was. surveyed monthly and measures were taken to Jensure that imports would. be made. The movement and export from. the Settlement of rice and flour jsllowed only: under a system of permits, Special permission was granted to Jexport small quantities of rice to Kulangsu and Tsingtao. Towards the Jend of November, resumption of ex~ port of rice on a strictly Timited scale was sanctioned. The reserve supplies Yemained ample and native rice arrived in satisfactory quantities from The Rice Joint Administrative Committee, consisting of Sir Robert Calder-Marshall, xan, Mr. R. G. Mac Donald (who Joined the Committee Jduring Mr. V. St. J. Killery's temper tary absence from Shanghai), the Tre For and Controller and a represent tive from the French Municipal Administration, maintained a close watch Jon the local rice situation and advised the Council as to the disposal of the Feserve stock of rice purchased by the Council during the crisis of 1937
'A number of foreign residents in the "Hungjao. District, west of the Settlement boundary." returned _to their homes, but the district remained under the control of the Japanese. forces throughout the year. On ocea~ sions guerilla fighting took place and Jduring one encounter a young for-feigner' was killed Curfew remained in force from 1230 am, (0.5 am. until the end of sar but after July 19 all persons In' motor-cars were allowed to pass during curfew hours, the right to stop Jand search any -motor-ear and its being "Feserved by the In view of possible disturbances on the frst anniversary' of the oulbre Jof Hostiities (August 13) the §.1 {was placed on a "Precautionary"
Jon August 8." The Council later cor veyed its thanks to the Settlement Defence Forees, the S.V.C. and Russian Detachment, the Police Re gulars and Specials, and the Fire Brigade "for the most efficient and effective services rendered during the Jed which resulted in a Aight between the Russian guard and the internees. Reinforcements were sent to the camp guard but before peace was restored several members of the "Lone Battalion" had been seriously injured. Boltles, stones, etc, were thrown at {the Guard. four of whom were slight:
injured, Three of the Chinese soldiers died Inter in hospital from their wounds and in October the JCouneil on. humanitarian " grounds Jaranted the sum of $1,000 to the de-Jpendents of each of the three men, the total sum of $8,000 being sent 6 the Chinese Ratepayers' Association for distribution. The oticers of the battalion, who were removed from the Jcamp soon after August 11, were per= mitted to return on October 7.
From the health point of view, the most serious problem during the year was. the cholera epidemic which, breaking out in Bay, rapidly reached Jextremely serious proportions. The Health Department worked under. great difficulty owing to the abnormal feonditions. Additional hospitals. were hastily provided. The peak incidence lof the epidemic was reached in August but thereafter the number of cases! fell rapidly. Although comparison smith previous outbreaks was rendered impossible by the vastly allered con-Jditions, it was unquestionably "the largest' epidemic in' the Settlement since 1919. Full particulars are given in the report of the Commissioner of Public Health.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.