"The Mines Near Lincheng The Chinese Economic Bulletin publishes the following interesting note on Shantung Coal The coal mines of the Chung Hsing Coa] Mining Company are between Tenghsien and Yihsien, Shantung province, and cover an area of 370 square li. They are about 60 li from the Lincheng railway station, from which a branch line to Tsaochuang has been built. Both the administrative and the engineering departments of the mines are under Chinese experts.
Coal mining in_ this region dates back to the Ming dynasty (1368-1643), when the local inhabitants worked the coal pits in the neighbourhood. The Chung Hsing Company owes its origin to the late Li Hung-chang, who in 1880 organized a bureau with a capital of Ts. 20,000. In 1908 the old bureau was reorganized into the present company, with a capital of Ts. 800,000 financed by private persons. In 1921 the company's capital was increased to $5,000,000 and in the following year new shares amounting to $5,000,000 were issued, making the. total capital $10,000,000.
Increase in capital enabled the company to expand its working capacity. At present the company turns out about 2,000 tons of coal a day. The output is expected to increase to 4,000 tons daily when the work of sinking '-a new shaft is completed. The following figures show the coal turned out by the company and that sold during the past 11 years:
Year Output in Tons Sales in Tons 1912 109.000 114,000 1913 212,000 248,000 igl¢ 254, 290,000 1915, 253,000 299.000 1916 331,000 324,000 1917 428,000 396,000 1918 518,000 434,000 1919 570.000 521,000 1920 695,000 629,000 1921 668,000 640,000 1922 750,000 800,000 The company employs about 2,000 miners, of whom some come from Tongshan, though most are natives of the locality. The miners are paid by. the hour. They are allowed to decide for themselves "how long they work each day which is generally between eight and -twelve hours. The company has-two well-equipped hospitals for its miners.
The bulk of the output is consumed in the lower Yangtze and the Grand Canal zones. The company has 12 branch offices and sales agencies at different com-marcia] centres in the country. At present the company's yearly profit is estimated at $2,000,000. The company is planning to establish a cement works to utilize by-products.
To protect its property from robbers, the company has_organized a battalion of soldiers and a force of 200 mining police.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.