In an effort to save their establishments from being completely obliterated by the increasing cost of coal, representatives of Shanghai's 600 hot-water shops are conducting negotiations with the Kailan Mining Administration with a view to obtaining fuel direct from that company, Many shops which supply boiled water, a vital necessity to the city's poorer classes, have already closed their doors because the cheap sale of coal balls has been postponed, and the terrific cost of coal puts that commodity beyond reach, The mining company, according to Chinese reports, have found it difficult to supply the hot water shops as they are bound by contract to supply retail coal dealers, who in turn manufacture coal balls for sale to the poor.
Chinese housewives, who depend on the hot-water shops for their daily supply of water for drinking and cooking purposes, find themselves threatened with a shortage of that precious liquid and the suspension of business has aroused the immediate attention of Chinese civic leaders, As a result of former negotiations the shops were able to purchase coal for less than $100 a ton, but each shop was allowed to buy only one ton. Normally each shop consumes between five and seven tons of coal a month, and with 600 such shops in the city they require over 3,000 tons of coal monthly to carry on business, In addition to the plight of the hot-water shop owners, the price of fuel has also forced many Chinese laundryman out of business, as they zre unable to heat water to wash clothes.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.