A reader has drawn attention to a matter ich it is believed could easily be corrected, and that is the manner in which Jessfield Park is littered with chewed sugar cane. Hawkers plying on Vu Yuen Road in proximity to the Park sell to large numbers of Chinese who visit it lengths of the comestible, upon which young China chews with great enjoyment, spitting the exhausted fibre on to the ground no matter where he may happen to be. In general the Chinese have a great deal to learn with regard to deportment in public parks, and behaviour with regard to the manner in which they litter them up compares most unfavourably with that of the Japanese whose great love of natural beauty leads to much more orderly conduct. The parks in Japan are models not only in the way they are maintained by the authorities, but by the manner in which Japanese visitors to them comport themselves. The result is a spick-and-spanness which never fails to draw favourable comment from foreigners. Last Sunday according to the reader in question the lawns and footpaths in Jessfield Park were strewn with chewed gobbets of sugar cane, in addition to other litter, and to many this is just as oblectionable as ordinary expectoration. It is in all probability just as unhygienic. Whether it is possible to restrain hawkers from selling the cane in proximity to the entrances to the Park is open to some doubt, but there can be none regarding the desirability of having a sufficient number of keepers on duty to catch offenders and put them outside. If that were done, it would only be a short time when it would be borne in on Chinese that it is necessary to have respect for the comfort of other users of the Parks. With the limits put upon. the free movement of residents of Shanghai Jessfeld Park is ing more used now than ever before. That in itself presents additional difficulties, but nevertheless it is felt that special efforts should be made to keep this open space, not only the thing of beauty which it is, but also the joy for ever which it most certainly should be.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.