JAPANESE CRISIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15567, 26 March 1914, Page 7

JAPANESE CRISIS.

MINISTRY RESIGNS. RIG LOSS TO THE' NAVY. By Tel«srn;ih Press Association Copyright. Tokio, March 24. Parliament lias been suddenly prorogued, and the Cabinet has resigned The navy loses £6,500,000, as the former Budget automatically become* operative.

CHARGES OF CORRUPTION. Hie tail of the Japanese Ministry has been threatening for the past two months "•wine to the 'iiitcry raised in connection with the charges of naval corruption. Several officers were arrested in January on the ground that they had been receiving bribes from the German firm of Scnuckert and Siemens. Hard upon this came the arrest of the Tokio corresponden" of Renter's Agency and of the manager of Siemens and Schuckert. In consequence ol 'he disclosures made in the. course, of the investigation, the authorities inspected the accounts and cheques of the banks with which the firm or their employees transacted business. According to the journal Kokuinin, the organ of the Uikken Doshikai, one of the combined Opposition parties, one bank alone produced 160 cheques paid during the last six yearn which it is alleged were drawn for payments to naval officers. These cheques represented a total of 80,000 yen (£BOOOI- The matter was taken up "by the Diet, and a motion of want of condence in tho Government was narrowly defeated. Dnring the discussion, several of the members came to blows. As the result of the scandal the Japanese navy has been humiliated in the eyes of the people, while the stock markets last week w.-re practically stagnant. The difficulties of the Government were further increased by the fact, that the Upper House was implacably hostile to the Ministry.