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now supplying the country with home-made goods. The Jiji recently 

 published a report on the new industries of Western Japan which has 

 been prepared by one of the high officials of the Ministry of Finance. 

 According to this report the most noteworthy effects of the Tariff are to 

 be observed in the glass-, nail-, zinc- and celluloid industries. The foun- 

 dation of the Asahi glass works at Amagasaki near Osaka, of the nailworks 

 of Kishimoto, of the galvanised zinc company at Osaka and of the celluloid 

 works at Sakai, must be regarded as the immediate results of the Customs 

 Tariff. The glass works mentioned above are said to produce monthly 

 10000 cases, thereby already covering 20 p. c. of the annual consumption 

 of glass in the country. As up to the present the works are said to be 

 doing a very profitable trade indeed, and as the glass produced there is 

 reputed to be in no wise inferior to the foreign article, a further extension 

 of this industry appears to be desirable. The same might be said of the 

 nail works. The new works at Kishimoto are stated to have an annual 

 output of 6000 tons of nails, the older works (Yasuda's) of 14000 tons, 

 and the 20 000 tons which represent the combined output of the two works 

 already equal two-thirds of the total quantity of nails imported from France. 

 The establishment of the zinc refinery at Osaka has almost put an 

 end to the practice of sending Japanese zinc ore abroad and then 

 reimporting it in the purified state as spelter; 1200 tons, equal to two-thirds 

 of the annual imports, can now be manufactured in Japan. The annual 

 consumption of celluloid in Japan is estimated at about 1000 000 lbs., and 

 the two celluloid works at Sakai and Abosbi, taken jointly, already pro- 

 duce more than this quantity. Another result of the import tariff is said 

 to be that the great English soap firm of Lever Brothers have established 

 their own works in Western Japan". 



The reports from China are a little more favourable, but some time 

 must still elapse before the new regime can offer sufficient security for 

 the peaceful and healthy economic development of the country. Important 

 factors towards the realisation of this object are the prospective European 

 loan as well as the sanction by the Government of a great national scheme 

 for railway extension. It is also rumoured that a project is now before the 

 Government of the Republic for throwing open the whole of China to foreign 

 enterprise and for granting foreigners the right of domicile. These reforms 

 I would mean important progress, and German industry will be well advised 

 to take steps in good time to secure its share of supplying the certain 

 future requirements of this rich country, which is thus preparing to throw 

 itself open to the world. 



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