55o 
Editorial. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pliarm. 
I  November,  1899. 
authorities,  and  a  local  tax  of  $10  ou  each  picul  ( 133  pounds)  of  camphor  pro- 
duced. When  the  island  was  ceded  to  the  Japanese,  the  privileges  which 
foreigners  had  enjoyed  under  Chinese  rule,  of  having  these  camphor  estab- 
lishments in  the  interior,  seemed  likely  to  be  withdrawn  by  the  Japanese 
Government.  The  Chinese  treaty,  much  more  than  the  Japanese,  gives  free- 
dom of  travel  and  trade  to  the  foreigner  ;  and  if  the  limitations  imposed  by  our 
treaty  with  Japan  had  been  strictly  enforced  in  Formosa,  foreigners  would 
have  had  to  retire  to  the  treaty  ports.  They  would  have  been  debarred  from 
distilling  or  purchasing  camphor  in  the  interior,  and  they  would  have  suffered 
heavy  losses  in  abandoning  the  capital  already  sunk  there.  Considering  that 
the  present  treaty  had  only  two  more  years  to  run,  the  Japanese  Government 
has  consented  to  let  matters  remain  in  statu  quo  ;  and  when  under  the  new 
treaty,  foreigners  obtain  a  right  to  settle  anywhere  in  the  interior,  they  will  be 
able  to  distil  as  much  as  they  like.  But  there  is  also  a  probability  that  the 
preparation  of  camphor  will  be  made  a  Government  monopoly.  With  the 
Formosan  supply  under  its  control  the  Japanese  Government  could  almost 
secure  a  monopoly  of  the  camphor  trade,  for  Japan  and  Formosa  are  almost 
the  only  sources  of  supply  ;  and  advantage  may  be  taken  of  this  to  put 
Formosa's  finances  on  a  satisfactory  basis.  The  lands  where  the  camphor  trees 
grow  are  not  privately  owned,  as  is  the  best  portion  of  Formosa's  fertile  plains, 
so  the  Government  could  appropriate  the  camphor-producing  districts  without 
interfering  with  vested  interests. 
"The  following  further  information  is  given  in  the  Report  on  the  Trade  of 
Tainan  for  1897  (Foreign  Office  Annual,  2149,  pp.  5-6)  : 
"The  camphor  trade  has,  so  far  as  concerns  foreign  merchants  in  South 
Formosa,  almost  entirely  stopped,  owing,  among  other  causes,  to  the  disturbed 
state  of  the  country  and  the  difficulty  and  danger  of  sending  money  into  the 
camphor  districts.  The  roads  continued  throughout  the  year  to  be  infested 
with  armed  robbers,  who,  on  the  approach  of  the  military  or  police,  fled  to  the 
hills  (where  it  was,  apparently,  impossible  to  pursue  them),  only  to  reappear 
at  the  first  favorable  opportunity.  Robberies  became  of  such  frequent  occur- 
rence that  no  foreign  or  native  merchant  would  venture  to  send  money  into 
the  interior.  The  Japanese  authorities,  on  their  part,  did  not  see  their  way  to 
allow  the  tax  to  be  paid  in  the  treaty  port  on  arrival  of  the  camphor,  and  busi- 
ness was  consequently  brought  to  a  standstill. 
"In  the  raids  and  skirmishes,  too,  which  have  taken  place  in  the  camphor- 
producing  districts,  numbers  of  stills  have  been  destroyed.  Their  destruction 
was,  perhaps,  inevitable,  but  as  they  were  almost  entirely  erected  with  money 
advanced  or  loaned  by  foreign  merchants  in  South  Formosa,  the  losses  in- 
curred by  the  latter  have  been  very  considerable.  It  is  estimated  that  not  one- 
third  of  the  stills  in  existence  two  years  ago,  in  which  foreigners  in  South 
Formosa  are  interested,  are  now  available  for  camphor  production. 
"The  hope  expressed  by  Her  Majesty's  Consul  in  last  year's  report,  that  the 
camphor  trade  might  revive  and  assume/  large  proportions,  has  not  been  real- 
ized ;  in  fact,  far  from  this  being  the  case,  the  camphor  export  business,  as  far 
as  South  Formosa  is  concerned,  has  now  (April,  1898)  almost  stopped. 
"  These  remarks,  of  course,  apply  exclusively  to  the  export  of  camphor  by 
foreign  merchants  in  this  district  (South  Formosa)  who  have  in  the  past  in- 
vested considerable  sums  of  money  in  the  business.    The  production  of  cam- 
