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Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 141, 4 March 1918, Page 4

An instance of how fortunes aro being made in Japan as the result of the war was given by a visitor to Auckland from that country, Mr. T. Herlihy. Eeferring to Mr. Asauo, now the largest shipbuilder in the Far East, he said that he was a poor uneducated boy when he first arrived in Yokohama. He managed to get employment as an ordinary labourer, in discharging vessels. About 20 years ago Mr. Asano secured the necessary money and built three small steamers, which he ran to San Francisco. From that start he had gono on, until now ho owned the largest lines of steamers in Japan, and since tho war he had become one of the most wealthy men in tho country.' Mr. Herlihy _aid he knew of another man who, before tho war, worked for £6 a month. He rotired last year with a fortune of £4,000,000, acquired inside two years. There were several other Japanese almost as rich, all of whom had made thoir money out of shipping, by buying and selling. Last year, however, tho Japaneso Government stepped in, and prohibited the salo of ships to any foreign nation, without its authority.