china's petrified sun-rays 47 



quantity of coal. Even in the North, clothes are principally 

 relied on for conserving warmth, but much efficiency and 

 comfort is doubtless lost by undue loss of bodily heat. Con- 

 sidering the great plain and its border ranges and including 

 the lower Yangtze Valley, we may say that China cannot go 

 ahead on Western lines until she produces and uses some 

 ten times as much coal as at present. Then things will begin 

 to happen. In the meantime, however, the Chinese author- 

 ities, gentry and merchants not unnaturally fear that the 

 admission of a preponderant share of foreign capital into> coal 

 mining will also' mean loss of political control. Already in 

 this way they have mortgaged the larger parts of their 

 interests in the principal developed collieries to foreigners 

 and, although the effective surplus value which can be 

 obtained by Chinese purchasers of the outport still remains 

 appreciable, there is an unavoidable tendency for much of the 

 real benefit of the enterprises to be reaped by the foreigner. 

 In addition to this opposition to foreign investment, however, 

 the Chinese are following a general policy which is, for the 

 time being, arresting development. First of all, there are 

 the taxes, $0.30 per mow of concession per annum plus ten 

 per cent, of the local value of the output (in actual fact 

 5% is supposed to be levied in Honan, and $0.05 per ton in 

 Chihli, and 15% in Kirin). Secondly, there are the likin 

 charges amounting, according to Mr. Liang Chi-chao, to 

 from 6 — 10%, but reputed to be much more in many cases, 

 as well as causing much extra expense by delaying the 

 transportation. Thirdly, there are irregular charges made 

 by officials at the mines and along the transport routes. 

 Fourthly, the methods of transport are inefficient and ex- 

 pensive. Lastly and by no means least the merchants 

 themselves, on the principle of maximum immediate profit, 

 hold the prices up to as near the standard set by foreign ccal 

 as possible. As a result the purely Chinese mines remain 

 in an undeveloped condition and cannot afford to> get advice 

 and instal pumping plant and hoisting machinery which 

 would enable them to get the cumulative benefits which 

 accrue from large output. 



Another factor in the situation is the fact that most of 

 the mines are situated away from the main traffic routes and 

 are therefore much affected by bad transport and also> by 

 social disturbances, particularly when the coal is in transit. 



To illustrate the actual state of affairs, it may be 

 remarked that while during the fourth year of the Great War, 

 Shanghai was paying over $20.00 per ton for coal, there were 

 many mines within 300 miles of Shanghai where the cost of 

 the coal at the pit's mouth was certainly well under $5.00 



