Great excitement and anxiety prevail in Chinese circles at the rapidly soaring price of rice these days-Contrary to everybody's expecta. tions that the price would fall, rice has now risen from six or seven dollars to nine.
Those who will suffer most, should a rice famine occur, will be the the labourers and poor people who are as frantic as ever over the prices They have petitioned the officials asking them to enact laws prohibiting profiteering. About 50 of them even went so far as to march to the front of the City magistrate's yamen, where they knelt. down and, burning candles and incense, began to pray to that official for cheaper rice.
Many assert that Kiangsu rice is being exported to other places, mostly, however, to Japan where it is said a rice famine prevails at. the present time.
In view of this claim the members of the rice guild met on Tuesday and passed three resolutions, namfly:—To ask the officials to prohibit the export of rice 2. To ask the Military and Civil Governors of this province to set aside a certain amount of money with which to purchase Kiangsi and Hunan rice; 3. To ask that the 50 cents tax for permission to sell rice be polished: and 4. To anoint commissioners to investigate the alleged export of rice.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.