32 PKOGBESS IN OTHEK COUNTRIES 



difficulty. The islands themselves provided no efficient 

 labour, and strenuous efforts were necessary to import 

 suitable labour. Emigrants were brought in from a 

 great variety of countries, and the labour of the planta- 

 tions is now predominantly Japanese and Philippino. 

 The labourers earn over Rs.3 a day, and the sugar com- 

 panies make effective arrangements for their housing, 

 water supply, fuel, medical attendance and schools. 

 This system of concentrating masses of alien labour 

 on the plantations may not be an ideal one from the 

 social point of view, but the economic success which 

 has been obtained is a standing monument of what 

 may be done to overcome natural difficulties, and the 

 results achieved in building up the large and profitable 

 industry in the course of half a century are most 

 remarkable. 



Formosa. — Japan acquired Formosa only in 1894, 

 and with characteristic resolution, immediately set to 

 work to evolve order out of chaos. Having succeeded 

 in that task she turned to the economic regeneration 

 of the island. The Japanese introduced a system of 

 land tenure very similar to that of the Bombay Presi- 

 dency, and opened up the country by roads and rail- 

 ways. But they did not stop there. By every means 

 at their disposal they attracted capital and enterprise 

 to the task of agricultural development, and especially 

 to the development of the sugar industry. Compara- 

 tively little progress took place until 1902, in which 

 year a sugar bureau was established in Formosa, and 

 the Government determined to tackle the problem in 



