Huge Growth a Menace to Trafli Resort.of Bad Characters: Religious Aspect Gone The prostitution of "ole custom" to general commerce seems likely to prove disastrous to the future of the Chinese Basket Fair at Bubbling Well, an annual institution of ancient history—so ancient, in-fact, that its real origin is buried in oh:
Fow Shanghai housewives aé> unaware of the faiv's existence, and the bargains in basketware to be found atitin years past. But, {the fair has overgrown its strength and accommodation, Whereas in former years it compromised simply a few almost unostentatious booths on the pavements, at which the Jecuntry people from miles around sold the produce of their energy, baskets and wickerware, lately there has grown around the Bubbling Well a huge market at which anything for the household from a packet of pins to a four poster bed may be bought. Instead of a few small stalls there are now booths stretching several hundred yards down the Bubbling Well Road, well up into Great Western Road, up the Vu Yuen Rosd and down any alleyway and where room for a stall may be had. Thousand of Chinese throng the roa driving is a penang In addition, haggling over bargains has Jed to many quarrels, all sorts of loafers have been attracted to scene, and the police have been given a considerable amount of trouble, much more than at any other basket fair in the history of Shang-Consequently, we are informed that steps are likely to be taken either for the fair' discontinuance or for its removal elsewhere in future. Wednesday was the last day this year.
The way in which the character of the fair has changed is remarkable. In past years the selling has all been done by the country people, Jwho have taken advantage of it for 'a yearly pilgrimage to the old {Bubbling Well temple, where joss has been burned to gods of wealth and work, and blessings prayed for the next' year's efforts. Lately, However, there la more than a aus.
ion that the merchants—smaller Chinese merchants of the city-have been putting their goods on the market. This is borne out by the sight of wardrobes, Soochow bathtubs, travelling trunks, beds, tables land chairs exposed for sale, The Dagkets remain, of course, but they Jean hardly be said to predominate. And as the numbers of salesmon Jgrow, 0, proportionately, does the number of pilgrims to the temple Jdccrease. This is bad for the priests, Jand, presumably, for the people themselves, inasmuch as they are unable to spare time from nioney= making to pay to religion,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.