Shanghai, Jan, 29.
HILE the merchants and lesser lights of the Chinese populace here have been celebrat 1g Chinese New Year with the trad tional gaiety and festivity during the past few days, life has followed an unbroken humdrum trend at the beggar camps where the less fortunate of the city were spending a cheerless holiday. A visit made yesterday to one of the camps managed by the Salvation Army, the refuge at the intersection of Singapore and Hart Roads, found 1,053 destitutes regaling themselves with four ounces of pork, the favourite Chinese meat, which have been added to their daily meagre fare of rice and soup.
Although situated ina locality where squalor and drabness thrive, the camp was immaculately clean Little seemed to have been left undone to provide the necessary food pud. shelter to keep body and soul together, Despite the occurrence of the Spring Festival, life was con~ Linuing ite normal course at the camp where a number of wails were ale {ending classes while the children of many other Chinese outside were Tuxurlating in the happy surround-ngs of home, with all the pleasures and joys attending the annual Chinese New Year festivities in a Chinese household.
"Mantao" or Chinese bread was the only other luxury doled out to the Inmates of the camp which reminded them of the arrival of the great annual holiday. The indigents were housed in twenty huts which, inelud-Ing the school and office of the camp and playground, occupy an acreage of fifteen mow of land, 'A Contented Lot Five hundred and ninety-eight of the indigents were men, 241 women, 153 boys and Gl girls, who were housed separately in "the twenty houses provided for them, which were devoid of all furniture except single and double-decked bamboo beds and blankets made of coarse material. In a hut occupied by. the aged and infirm, the Inmates were een warming themselves by lying bed, rolled in their blankets.
Interrogated, many of the inmates expressed their gratitude for the shelter provided for them and apeared to be quite contented with their cheerless lot. A score of the men were huddled together outside the office of the camp, while others held converse in small groups and appeared greatly amused over the arrival of a visitor.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.