Year by year the cost of living in Shanghai increases. The limited num ber of foreign dwellings enables lund-lents to ask excessive prices for their houses; and the majority of the retail stores ask as many dollars for an article it would cost shillings at home. Despite the increase in th then limited means, and especially he who is paid in xte finds the necessaries of even the practice of n Teaves him but " small healthy competition the supply of the necessaries of Li any attempt, therefore, to break down a monopoly, o to supply indispensable articles at) reasonable prices than those we have hitherto been accustomed, assured of a general welcome. For this reas public interest attaches to the Oriental Tee Company, Ld, whose advent has teen responsible for such a sensational fall in the price of machine-made ice. For the past three year consumers have had to pay two cents pound; now machine-made ice can be obtained for half " cent a pound. The Company is registered under the Hongk ances, ain the capital was privately subscribed by twenty-eight shareholders, There are distributing debts in the Settlement, but the works are situate in Thorne Road, on the borders of the Sawginkiang. On Thur~ slay the Ist inst, at the invitation of the Managing Director, Mr. H.R. Hearson, represent of this paper went lover the works. The manufactory is reached by a bad road, which cannot be repaired until the Chinese, whose property abuts on, it, have agreed upon the boundary line, The works fare housed in a large new building, conveniently situated, both for shipping, it into the Settlement by carts and barrows. On the ground floor are the delivery room, offices, engine and boil There are two large water work the pumping machi it-ppunp. and ammonia compressor. Water is pumped from the reek for purposes that will appear hereafter, There are indicators on the wall of the engine-room which show the press tire of air and ammonia, respectively. Under 1 conditions a pressure of 130 iven te the ammonia, which ascends, in the form of gas, to a room above. Here it passes through a series of coils, aver, which constant stream of creek water flows. This condenses it to a liquid form, and it is then carried by pipes into the lange chamber where the ice inv made. Down the centre lof this chamber there is a regular network of pipes and stop-cocks, mose of which are covered with snow. Tht entire floor ix emnposed of deep. bat narrow tanks, each of which is provided with a wooden cover. Between these tanks wre hollow plates, to which the ammonia ix admitted under pres sure. Then it is allowed to expand slowly, producing the intense cold that freevex the water in the tanks, Whew ne of the covers ix removed the water Jow is seen to be in a state of tur-due to an injection which prevents: the ive from assuming & showy or opaque appearance. Before the water (Waterworks water of ito the tanks it is compressed alrewly passed' through the freezing plates, Each tank ims a capacity of about 1,200 Ib. of ice, which is betwee thirty and hours making. [ron prongs wre xnsper each tank, and round these the ice forms, so that it can easily be removed by travelling overhead crane. The latter is provided with a weighing machine, and as each block ix removed its weight ix recoiled. The ice ix sawn up and placed on slides, down which it finds its way to the delivery room, or the wharf, as the case may be. The works have a capacity of thirty-five to fifty tons a day, when they are in full swing, but if the machinery ix stopped, at Toast a day is occupied in cooling the Origi nal from
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.