Saturday, July 2
The determination of the rice shop keepers to strike against the licensing scheme was carried into effect on Friday. Of the 450 shops in the Settlement, it is estimated that about 60 per cent. closed their doors, and of those who rsmained technically "open," few did business and none had any visible stock of rice, though transactions of a semi-public character were observed to take place.
There were no signs of disorder, or even undue public excitement. Business people and firms of contractors have taken the precaution of laying in stocks for their em ployees, and many private families have also provided for the emergency. The difficulties of the sit-nation will begin to manifest themselves when the poorer classes are directly affected.
It is known that there are large stocks of rice in the French Concession, Chapei and Nantao, and the situation may possibly turn on the attitude taken by dealers and shopkeepers in these districts.
Chapei dealers in particular do not appear very anxious to join their disgruntled brethren, perhaps for the excellent reason that while the Settlement shops are closed, trade in their district will boom very considerably. This contingency has of course been foreseen by some astute dealers, who will no doubt be quite content to maintain neutrality ro long as they are able to gather in enhanced profits.
Still Goes On But No Disorder Monday, July 4.
Up to noon.on Sunday, the closing of rice shops in the Settlement had not been attended with serious, or even unusual, incident. In spite of a variety of apprehensions to the contrary, the people appeared to accept the situation with complete composure, whilst the rice shop assistant appeared tu be enjoying the extra holiday for which the calendar does not provide, some of them improving the shining hour by indulging in a little gamble.
The fact that two days of the strike have passed without _incident is of course explained by the ease with which rice may be obtained, or could be obtained up to Sunday, in the French Concession and on Chinese territory. Thousands of purchasers, principally women, crossed the' border throughout the day and brought back supplies.
Whilst it is impossible to forecast what action the shopkeepers on the Chinese side will take, obviously they will be serving their own interests by carrying on business, which is now extremely lucrative. They themselves would be the first to suffer seriously should their doors be closed, since they alone hold stocks of rice and therefore their shops would be the first to receive attention from a crowd too hungry to be scrupulous in the matter of obtaining food.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.