The purchase of Chinese rice in Japanese-occupied areas outside Shanghai is virtually under the control of the Japanese military an horities, according to a Chinese report.
Rice merchants wishing to buy rice from these districts will have to register with the Japanese and pay a registration fee of $500 in addition to a cash security of $10,000. Rice purchased by non-registered merchants is liable to confiscation by the Japanese, the same report says.
Merchants desirous to register with the Japanese often experience all kinds of difficulties. Registered merchants also find it difficult to transport rice to Shanghai as they have to pass through many barriers on the way.
Rice produced at Wusih costs $6.50 a picul and that at Tsingpu, $7 a picul. As the merchants are required to pay taxes to the so-called autonomous commissions on the way to Shanghai, the cost of Wusih or Tsing-pu products becomes about $10 per picul.
The daily consumption in Shanghai has increased from 6,000 piculs of rice to 10,000 piculs, according to the report. The stocks in Shanghai consist of 150000 piculs Chinese rice and 50000 piculs foreign rice at present. It is reported that large quantities of foreign rice are being imported.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.