W — 19 — 



this approximation, and in the well-founded recognition that for the further 

 progress of the country and facilitation of intercourse, a safe port is a 

 prime necessity, the long-projected building of a harbour at Valparaiso 

 has at last been taken in hand. The execution of this gigantic project, 

 which will swallow up many millions of money, has been entrusted to 

 the well-known firm of Pearson in London, the name of which is a sure 

 guarantee of the creation of a really practical and broadly-planned work. 

 The rate of exchange has lately been remarkably stable and will presumably 

 remain firm unless politics, which have already wrought so much injury 

 to the country, should again bring forth results calculated to shatter public 

 confidence. This was within a hair's breadth of happening last May, 

 when the Government was again projecting the issue of 30 million dollars 

 of paper-money, a scheme which was fortunately not carried out. In the 

 meantime there is a constant succession of ministerial changes, and the 

 country, which requires a strong and energetic personality at the head 

 of affairs, is being ruled by a President who, in the opinion of his own 

 countrymen, shows little interest in progress and generally tries to effect 

 economies in the wrong place. 



As a result of unsatisfactory harvests in 1910 and 1911 Japan has 

 suffered this year from quite abnormally high prices of food-stuffs. Rice 

 in particular, the principal food of the people, reached a price never 

 before known, and still remains so dear as to affect very seriously the 

 purchasing power of the nation. It must be admitted that the Government, 

 by reducing the duty upon imported rice and by a rigid control of the 

 rice-exchanges, has made energetic attempts to bring the prices down. 

 Its success, however, has been slight, and numerous classes of the 

 population are in a distressed condition. This precarious state of affairs, 

 however, has been alleviated by the fact that most fortunately the crops 

 this year are likely to be excellent all along the line. It is true that the 

 most important crop of all, rice, is not yet safely garnered, but a bountiful 

 result is, so to speak, already casting its shadow. The importance of this 

 crop for the whole economic life of the country is shown, for example, 

 by the fact that Japan has been compelled, in the first seven months of 

 this year, to import from 25 to 30 million yen's worth of foreign rice, a 

 figure which, of course, is much less in years of good harvests. The 

 f silk-crop is likewise satisfactory this year, and the mining-industry, being 

 an important producer of copper, is profiting by the high prices of that 

 metal in the world's markets. 



Although Japanese industry, in some of its branches, has gained 

 greatly as a result of the new protective tariff, its home-market has 

 naturally been restricted owing to the dearth, and the export of its 

 products to China, its principal foreign outlet, has suffered in consequence 

 of the disorders in that country. This is also the reason why the Japanese 

 imports of those articles which are of particular interest to us, have shown 



2* 



