— 34 — 



old, and also that the experiments of growing camphor trees from roots 

 or slips have been a failure both in Formosa and in Japan. 



Owing to the serious reduction in price, the revenues of the Mono- 

 poly have fallen off greatly, and in Old Japan, where the average price of 

 production of the camphor during the past 3 years has been about 90 yen 

 per picul, the Monopoly has actually been working at a loss. But in For- 

 mosa also, although the cost prices there are lower (58 to 60 yen per 

 picul), it is doubtful whether, under the present conditions, the Monopoly 

 can cover its expenses, taking into account the very onerous exportation 

 and freight charges, as well as the costly military operations against the 

 savages which have been undertaken for the purpose of opening up new 

 camphor forests. 



Newspaper reports state that for the reasons above mentioned the 

 firm of Mitsui § Co. which, as is well known, at present controls the 

 marketing of the camphor Monopoly, advised the Japanese Government 

 some time ago to abolish the State Monopoly, because it would other- 

 wise be impossible to maintain the article against the competition of the 

 Chinese and the artificial products. It is, however, to be expected that 

 the Government, being loth to abandon a Monopoly which has been esta- 

 blished on a large scale and with a considerable staff, will for the pre- 

 sent concentrate its efforts upon continuing the struggle against the syn- 

 thetic camphor, even at a loss, at any rate so long as there are grounds 

 for hope that it can dictate prices which will make the manufacture of the 

 synthetic product unprofitable. That the Japanese Government assumes 

 for certain that this is the case at the present time, may be inferred from 

 the statement of the Director of the Monopoly Bureau that "natural cam- 

 phor was not threatened by any danger so long as no new manufacturing 

 processes were discovered which would make it possible to produce syn- 

 thetic camphor at a lower cost than the present". 



The table below shows the quantities of camphor exported during the 

 administrative year to the various countries of destination: — 



Exports from 



Formosa-Kelung Old Japan (Kobe) Formosa a. Japan 



Quantity: Value: Quantity: Value: Quantity: Value: 

 Picul Yen Picul Yen Picul Yen 



Germany. . . . 18 496 1674 340 6 389 545 574 24 885 2 219 923 



U. S. A 14 313 1064 279 10 081 824 646 24 394 1888 925 



France .... 10119 969349 6169 518516 16288 1487865 



U. Kingdom. . . 5 680 538 953 10 081 890 413 15 761 1429 366 



British India . . 1422 130 895 4 983 498 312 6 405 629 207 



Hong Kong . . . — — 996 108 066 996 108 066 



Total, including . 



other countries . 50 030 4 377 818 40 507 3 469 398 90 537 7 847 216 



It is to be noted that the above statistics, supplied by the Japanese 

 and Formosan Customs, for the first time represent approximately the 

 actual condition of things, inasmuch as the proportion of the exports sent 

 to Germany, the principal consumer of the product in question, appear 

 to have been accurately stated at 25000 piculs, representing a value of 

 2,2 million yens. In former years, when camphor snipped to Europe was 

 as a rule declared as for export to Hong Kong, the statistics referring to 

 the division of the exports were in the highest degree misleading. 



Another matter which merits attention is the pronounced increase in 

 the exports to France, which in the year under review took 16288 piculs, 



