SPECULATIVE WAVE IN JAPAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13453, 1 June 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

SPECULATIVE WAVE IN JAPAN.

S> i' "The 'get-rich-quick' fever has seized Ja-ij pan, and unless the nation sobers down b speculative crises-will become as common in Tokio as they are in New York." jl Such is the opinion of a city merchant jl who lias just returned to London from a" business tour in the East. i l "I was amazed at the amount of specula- J, tion which is new indulged in by all classes \ in the principal cities," he told a press i representative. ( "The Stock Exchange in Tokio, which, unlike ours in London, is open to the public, is frequently the scene of great excite- . ment, and bucket-shops of the worst description abound both in the capital and in other cities. The Produce and Rice Exchanges are other centres of feyerish gambling. Some day a Japanese Leiter will make J i corner in rice. ' "I learned that the companies and syndi-: cates floated during the twelve months end- j* ing in January last represented the aston-' ishing total capital of 110 million pounds, ji "Many of these companies were of the soundest description, but Japanese coin-ji pany promoters, whose numbers are grow-!, ing rapidly, have been responsible for seve-ji ral rotten concerns. ] "In land and house property, too, there is much speculation. In Northern Japan,,v more especially, property has in many cases a trebled in value. "Happily, Japanese women do not specu-jf late, and take little interest in business h affairs. The railways, owned by the State, a afford no opportunities for speculation, ami the tramways in Tokio are shortly to boo municipalised. * [c "The sober-minded statesmen of Japan! believe that the present fever is a passing js phase, due to the groat wave of prosperity « which is passing over the nation, and to the v elation consequent on her victories." ! '