Following their usual monthly meeting, the committee of the Royal Society of St. George, Shanghai Branch, entertained as their guest of honour at tiffin under the chairmanship of the acting President, Dean AES, Trivett, Lt.-Col. G. E. Swinton Me. officer commanding the 2nd Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment, at the Shanghai Club, yesterday.
The Dean, in. proposing the toast of the guest of the day, said that Lt.- Col. Swinton was à Somerset man, having been born in Bath. He had the distinction of having spent the whole of his army career in the regiment, a battalion of which he is now commanding, and informed his hearers that their guest was known amongst his soldiers as a "soldier's colonel" one whose main object was to look after the welfare of the men entrusted to his command. He thanked Lt.-Col. Swinton for the assistance which his battalion had given the Society on the occasion of the celebration of St. George's Day last year. especially at the annual service, and asked those present to drink to the health of their guest and the regiment he commanded.
It-Col Swinton, in reply, admitted that though he was born in Somerset, his connection with that county was a brief one, for he left it at a very early age. Most of his life had been spent in Surrey. The speaker referred to the fact that the regiment observed St. George's Day as the regimental day, because during their long history the two battalions had never met until one St, George's Day during the last war when they passed each other in the streets of Ypres. He paid tribute to the manner in which so many people in Shanghai did little things for the comforts of the troops, and spoke of thermos flasks of coffee, with perhaps nothing stronger in it, a "Kate and Sydney"—a steak and kidney pudding, to the uninitiated,—and newspapers being left.at the men's posts, all of which they greatly appreciated.
Amongst other amusing anecdotes which Lt.-Col. Swinton told was that when men of the East Surreys were busy building a post in the Western area, a lady one night at dinner informed him that her amah had told her that the East Surreys must be good men, because they were building the post almost as well as the Chinese could do it. He returned thanks for the honour done him, and through "him his regiment, in the invitation which had been extended toy to him, and promised that should the services of the battalion be required in the observance of St. George's Day this year, they would, if they were n here, be only too happy to assist.
The tiffin came to a close with the health of the acting-President proposed by Dr. E. G, Gauntlett, on the Occasion of the former's birthday.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.