At the beginning of the year 1914， the residents of Shanghai hadno intimation of the storm brewing in Europe. Still less did they realizethat a war would be waged for four long years， which would affect thewhole world， politically， socially， and industrially.
Shanghai felt the great struggle in many ways， but it was amongthe few places where outwardly the direct influences of the war werebut little in evidence， and where life on the whole went on much in thesame way as if the peace of the nations had not been disturbed.
We must first review some of the events of the early part of theyear 1914.
Municipal Building
The final completion of the plans of the new Municipal Buildingand their exhibition to the public， and the laying of the corner stone ofthe S. V. C. Drill Hall on April 4th， were of civic importance.
Jubilees
The occurrence of certain jubilees during the year， such as thoseof the Shanghai Gas company， the Mixed Court， and the North-ChinaDaily News， witnessed to Shanghai"s advance in years， and moved someof the older residents to reminiscences regarding early days.
The completion of fifty years of service by the North-China DailyNews suggests a brief reference to the history foreign journalism inShanghai. The North-China Herald existed before the North-ChinaDaily News. Its first number came out on August 3rd， 185 0， and wasa folio sheet of four pages， and gave a list of the fifty-nine foreignresidents living in Shanghai at that time. The North-China Daily Newsappeared in 1864 ， and at first was intended to contain little morethan shipping and commercial news， but it gradually developed into anewspaper， the North-China Herald becoming the weekly edition.
Among the early editors who had much to do with making theDaily News the leading paper in the Far East， may be mentioned Mr. R.
S. Gundry， Mr. F. S. Balfour， and Mr. R. W. Little.
Other papers published at an early date， which had more thana transient existence， were the Shanghai Recorder and the ShanghaiMercury. The latter， which is still published， was issued first on April17th， 1879， and for a long time was the only evening paper.
Two Murders
In the early part of the year there were two ghastiy acts of crimewhich aroused the Settlement to the existence of a dangerous elementin its midst. The first was that of Mrs. Neumann on January 23rd， whowas murdered by Chinese robbers in a most brutal manner in her homein Hongkew， and the second was that of Mr. Z. F. How， Manager ofthe commercial Press， who was assassinated on Honan Road whilestepping into his car. Mr. How had been among the residents in Chapeiwho had asked for protection from the Shanghai Municipal Councilfor that district， during the turbulent period of the second revolution，and， in the opinion of some， this led to his death.
A Statue to Sir Robert HartThe official unveiling on The Bund of a statue in memory ofSir Robert Hart took place on Monday， May 23rd. The statue hasnow （1928） been moved to a more suitable location opposite thenew Customs Building. It is an excellent piece of work， and bears thefollowing inscription：“Sir Robert Hart， Bt. g. c. m. g.， 1835–1911. Inspector Generalof the Maritime Customs; Founder of the Chinese LighthouseService; Organizer and Administrator of the National Post Office;Trusted Councillor of the Chinese Government; True friend of theChinese people; Modest， patient， sagacious and resolute， he overcameformidable obstacles and accomplished a work of great beneficence forChina and the World.“A Great Municipal ImprovementAt last after many years of controversy， it was decided at theRatepayers‘ meeting held on June 11th to culvert the Yangkingpang，the creek between the International Settlement and the FrenchConcession. For many years the French authorities had advocateddoing away with this waterway， but the Council of the InternationalSettlement had been lukewarm， and had been inclined to dredgeit instead to dredge it instead of doing away with it entirely. It wasonly navigable at high tide， and as it was a receptacle for sewerage，was both unsightly and offensive. The Ratepayers voted a sum of Tls.
200，000 for the share of the International Settlement in culvertingit and turning it into a broad boulevard， the present Avenue EdwardVII. The work was completed in 1916， and furnished the Settlementswith another main artery of traffic running east and west， which to acertain extent has relieved the congestion on Nanking Road. This fineboulevard connects with Avenue Foch and the Great Western Road.
Another municipal improvement of a different nature， was therebuilding of the Hongkew Market in this same year.
Fall of Markham Road BridgeOn account of the dangerous condition of Markham Road Bridge，spanning the Soochow Creek， the Municipal Council in March closedit to vehicular traffic. A controversy arose in regard to its reconstructionbetween the Chinese authorities on the Chapei side and the Council.
The proposal was made by the Council to co-operate with the Chineseauthorities， each to pay half the cost of a new bridge. The Chinesewere not satisfied with this arrangement and began to make plans forundertaking the work by themselves， giving as a reason， the protectionof their sovereign rights. To this the Council replied， “that they wouldcall the attention of the Chinese authorities to the fact that the bridgewas the property of the Council， and that its repair by unauthorizedpersons will not be sanctioned.“The work of taking down the old structure was begun by theCouncil on June 28th， but during the course of the demolition the sagof the bridge increased， and the lower portion of the eastern girderssnapped， with the result that half of the bridge fell into the creek， andthree men were thrown into the water， one of whom was drowned.