Page 2 Advertisements Column 3

Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4814, 11 March 1918, Page 2

An instance of how fortunes are being made in Japan, as the result ot the war, was given by a visitor to Auckland from that country, Mr 1. Herlihy. Referring to Air Asano, now the largest ship-builder in the Far East, he said that he was a poor uneducated boy when ho first arrived in Yokohama. He managed to get employment as an ordinary laborer in discharging vessels. About 20 years ago Air Asano secured the necessary money and built three small steamers, which he ran to San Francisco. From that start he had gone on, until now he owned the largest lines of steamers in Japan, and since the war he had become ono_ of the wealthiest men in the country. Mr Herlihy said he know of another man who before the wai, worked for £6 a month. He retired last year with .a fortune of £4,000,000 acquired inside two vears. There were several other Japanese almost as rich, all of whom had made their money out ot shipping by buying and selling. Last year, liowever ; the Japanese Government stepped in, and prohibited the sale of ships to .any foreign nation, without its authority.