§ DR. TANNERI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether there is any foundation for the report that the rise of silver prices of produce has been steadily increasing for the past few years in China and notably in the district and port of Shanghai, and whether the low rate of exchange so long ruling is raising the prices of local produce?
MR. CURZONHer Majesty's Consul at Shanghai, in his Report for 1895, which has just been issued, states that the low rate of exchange so long ruling is gradually having the effect of raising the prices of local produce. But exchange has been steadier in 1895 than it has been for a long time. At the beginning of the year the rate opened at about 2s. 8½d. per tael; by May 1st it had risen to 3s., and continued at about that point during the remainder of the year.