In reply Sir Herbert said:
It is with very mixed feelings that rise to return thanks for the very kind way in which you, Sir Robert, assisted by Mr. Woodhead and Mr. Arnhold have proposed my health and {for the manner in which you gentlemen have received the toast, "I feo! most deeply honoured at being the Guest tonight of three leading British 'Associations at Shanghai, namely the British Chamber of Commerce, the China Association and the British 'Residents' Association and the mem-Jory of this evening will long remain with me. It is close upon 42. years since Tarrived in Peking as a student Interpreter. In that time T have seen many changes and T am not at all sure that those changes have been for the better. Tam inclined to think. that the old times were more pleasant and easier than the present. 1 do not propose, to refer'in detail to politlal questions or to deal with commercial problems at any length, for T consider that it would take an extremely wise and far-seeing man to venture an opinion either upon cur-Fent oF future events in China. 1 do not feel Inclined to pose as that wise man and T'do not wish to fill the role either of an Isalsh or a Jeremiah, My duties vis-b-vis the local Bri [community during the past two years have been somewhat akin to the [combined functions of a doctor and nurse. As a doctor T arrived at! {the patient's bedside at perhaps the most critical period of a'serlous iilness from which It was feared he might not recover. As a nurse T have been engaged in furthering the patient's convalescence and endeal-Hvouring to prevent a relapse to the Hormer malady by warding off dangerous germs and other harmful influences. 'That he has already re-fevered a large measure of his! strength is due, not so much to any' professional skill of mine, as to an {Inherent vitality derived from his tor-Dears, and to his own courage, tent city and powers of recuperation, for which T have never felt greater' admiration than in these last two years.
Recuperative Powers, Shanghai's powers of recuperation had already been strikingly ox-amplified following the Sino-Japanese hostilities in this area in 1932. T was. not here at that time, but it is an eloquent commentary on the vitality this city, which British brains and enterprise have been so largely res ponsible for building up, that only five years after that catastrophe, we were heading for one of the biggest Business booms the British community here, as in other parts of China, has ever' known, But it was not to be, and the cataclysm which overwhelmed this city in August 1937 was of far greater violence than its predecessor of 1982. Nor was it confined to the Shanghai area. The tide of war swept slowly up. the Yangtze valley and gradually engulfed the rich produc-{ng areas on which this city is to 0 large extent dependent for its exports.
Today, the outlook is still obscure, but not by any means without hope. The effects of the European war on China and particularly on the posi tion of British trade in this country, have still to make themselves. fully fell, but it fs not unreasonable to hope that China, if only peace can be restored in the Far East, will share' in. the business prosperity which neutrals usually enjoy at times when their belligerent neighbours are devoting a large part of their productive capacity to the manufacture of weapons of war, and that by this. means she will go far to repair the ravages of the last two years.
My term of office as Consul-General Jat Shanghai has been the most in-Heresting, if not the most thrilling, of career and I am sure you can'all readily understand what an enormous Jaumber of varied and dificult ques {ions T have had to deal with during the last 27 months. T do not suppose {that the Consulate-General has ever been in such close touch with the [British commercial community before fand this state of affairs. is largely Jdue to the many" conferences and committees which have constantly been held both at the Consulate-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.