London, July 10.
The shortage of rice and coal in Shanghai was the subject of questions in the House of Commons last night, Replying to Major-General Sir Alfred Knox, Conservative member for the Wycombe division of Buckinghamshire, the Foreign Secretary, Mr, Anthony Eden, said supplies of rice for the poor of the International Settlement was primarily a matter for the Municipal Council to take up with the Japanese authorities, Asked if he knew that prices of rice had risen 700 per cent, Mr. Eden said he knew that the situation was serious.
Replying to Sir John Wardlaw-'Milne, Conservative member for the Kidderminster division of Worcestershire, Mr, Eden said there had been some shortage of shipping in Far Eastern waters, resulting in dificult ties for the Shanghai Power Company to maintain its coal stocks, However, he understood the company bad succeeded in chartering a number of neutral vessels and was ij in regard to others—
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.