510 



JAPAN. 



and station and train men are natives. Acci- 

 dents very rarely occur, and the property is 

 never wantonly destroyed by the people. The 

 foreign staff of engineers, constructors, and 

 foremen number 16, all British. The average 

 speed of trains is 18 miles an hour. Most of 

 the work of survey and construction is now 

 done by the graduates of the College of Engi- 

 neering in Tokio and by natives educated abroad. 



* Native company, employs no foreigners ; heavy outlay 

 still required for bridges, etc. 



t Branch line around Tokio to connect Yokohama with 

 the north to Takasaki and Awomori. 



%. Over the Nakasendo road. Bonds for 115,000.000 have 

 been issued by the Government to build it Twenty-six 

 miles now open. 



Contemplated. Surveys made and partly finished. 



Finances. The debt and assets, as reported 

 in the estimates of the Minister of Finance, 

 June 5, 1884, are: 



Foreign debt at 7 per cent, interest $8,015,400 00 



Decrease from 1884 460.672 00 



Total of domestic and foreign debt 826,962,156 50 



ASSETS. 



Reservefunds $45,971,585 88 



Loans to Government 28.005,025 85 



Eeserve fund for famine 2,412,754 48 



JReserve fund tor special use 1,048,118 87 



Paper money in circulation (now, Jan. 1, 

 18S6,atpar) $89,909,23000 



Commerce. The social condition of the mer- 

 chant has vastly improved since the revolution 

 of 1868, which modernized the entire nation. 

 Many of the forms of organized commercial 

 enterprise so common in Christendom were 

 unknown in old Japan, but the methods and 

 procedure of modern science applied to trade 

 have been cultivated by native traders and 

 capitalists, as the following statistics show : 

 Commercial companies in Japan now number 

 3,338, with a capital of $51,402,069, distribut- 

 ed as follows: 275 agricultural industries, with 

 $2,541,187; 968 commercial and manufactur- 

 ing enterprises, with $13,155,887; 814 trans- 

 port agencies, with $5,135,829 ; 1,045 loan 

 agencies, with $16,388,689 ; 135 private banks, 

 with $12,235,464; 35 savings-banks, with 

 $556,762 ; 13 fishery companies, with $91,650 ; 

 8 mining companies, with $285,940 ; 2 insur- 

 ance companies, with $700,000 ; 43 miscella- 

 neous, with $310,661. 



The Board of Revenue furnishes statistics 

 for the trade of 1884, which was done by 652 

 steamers of 734,243 tons and 450 sailing-ves- 



sels entering from and 656 steamers of 738,145 

 tons and 492 sailing-vessels clearing to foreign 

 countries. Of the total value of goods shipped 

 in merchant-vessels entering from or clearing 

 to foreign ports, amounting to $60,585,036.42, 

 the sum of $34,503,928.11 was carried under 

 the British, $11,124,011.18 under the United 

 States, $8,263,626.86 under the Japanese, $6,- 

 598,055.43 under the French, and $2,592,125.- 

 48 under the German flag. Exports by Japan- 

 ese merchants amounted to $5,125,459.77, and 

 imports to $2,282,913.62. The former were 

 chiefly rice, silk, and coal, the latter mainly 

 machinery, beans and peas; hides, cotton, blan- 

 kets, woolens, timber, arms and ammunition, 

 and steamers. General exports included grain 

 and provisions, $5,410,195.17; silk, $13,281,- 

 629.35 ; tea, $5,819,695.30 ; artistic products, 

 $2,381,677.18. General imports included bev- 

 erages and provisions, $318,137.84; books, 

 $272,348.03 ; clocks and machinery, $845,854,- 

 41; drugs, paints, etc., $1,142,733.50; metals 

 and manufactures, $1,551,290.67 ; oil and wax, 

 $1,836,561.50; sugar and molasses, $5,475,-, 

 095.07; textiles, $12,564,989,320; wines and 

 liquors, $306,224.44. Great Britain imported 

 $12,755,426.27, and exported $3,811,312.61; 

 and the United States imported $2,448,850.- 

 28, and exported $13,107,232.85 worth of 

 goods. The trade with China nearly balanced, 

 amounting in gross to $413,070,218.80. Of bul- 

 lion, $5,005,072 was exported and $5,611,758 

 was imported. The foreign trade of Japan in 

 1869 was $12,908,978 and $20,783,633, and in 

 1884, $33,016,430 and $28,821,027 in exports 

 and imports respectively, the volume of trade 

 in 1882 being the largest since 1868. 



EXPORTS. 



By Japanese ' $5.125,459 77 



By foreigners 26,728,892 00 



For ships 1 use 1,208,050 26 



$33,061,902 08 

 IMPORTS. 



By Government $1.986.711 47 



By Japanese 2,282,918 62 



By foreigners 25,357,156 67 



$29,626,781 76 



Notable Events. In general politics the year 

 1885 was marked by the ratification of the 

 treaty with China, May 7 ; the drafting of the 

 civil code, Sept. 16; the amalgamation of t 

 two competing Japanese steamship companies, 

 Oct. 1 ; the reception by the Mikado, Oct. 12, 

 of Bishop Osouf as the Papal legate ; the gar- 

 risoning of Tsushima against possible Russian 



