Hongkong, Feb. 7.
The preliminary report concerning the Government's operations in the rice market for a period of less' chan five months admits a loss of considerably over $2,000,000. The whole of the accounts have not been made up. When they are, it is anticipated that a loss of more than $3,000,000 will be shown.
There is a tendency, perhaps, to attribute the loss to the Government's participation in a trade which they did not understand, but this is scarcely fair. A good many local dealers doubtless made huge profits during the crisis, but the Government's task was to secure supplies, when such supplies were seance, in order to sell at a price within the means of the poorer classes of the community. Their object was to prevent distress and starvation and possibly riots and no one can carry on business with such altruistic motives and make a profit. It was realized, at the outset, that the vast to the Colony would be heavy. Whether it is heavier than it might have been had the situation been handled differently is a question upon which there is considerable difference of opinion.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.