NOTES FROM JAPAN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13543, 16 March 1906, Page 3

NOTES FROM JAPAN.

(Froii Oub Own Correspondent.)

YOKOHAMA, February 6. 'If you wish to cut a figure in the world," Lord Chesterfield once told his son, "you must, be prepared to spend money." Japan is finding this out nowadays. She lias forced herself into a very prominent position in tho eye of the sun, and is cutting no small figure jn the international galley; so accordingly she is finding the position rather a costly one to maintain. To fight a successful war is glorious, but the bills have to he paid some time or other, and when no whacking indemnity comes to lend substantial aid, as it did iu Germany's rase, in 1870. then the finding of the "needful" is very hard indeed. The Diet now in session in Tokio is tackling this knotty problem of ante-bellum finance, and rame of the legislators are not relishing their job at all. The Government proposes to devote the sum of 110 million yen annually to the amortisation of the Empire's foreign debts, and if it can get its way thes(i;'ilch!s will all be paid off in 30 ycare. But to carry out this scheme means the continuing of the extraordinary war taxes, originally voted as matters of urgency to last only as long as the war, and to cease when it ceased. But the Government finds it cannot repeal these (special taxes, and corjfcquently its opponents are lip in arms against the Budget, proposals. A very large section of the nation declares, and with reason, that tho special war taxes were drawn np and passed during the pressure of a great national crisis, and that now the time has come for them to be thoroughly revised. It therefore objects to the Diet passing a scheme which binds these taxes upon the country indefinitely. So far Ministers have been very frank in dteir explanations before the various parliamentary sub-committees which are discussing the Bvdgot. section by section, and at the virnc of writing the opinion seems to l>e that the Ministry will command 220 out of 379 votes in Lower House when tho whole Budget, comes to lie voted upon.

Apart from the extraordinary war lax question, other financial topics are being keenly discus.-ed in Parliament. The question of subsidies to steamship companies wa.i brought up on the 2nd inst. in a meeting of one of tho Budget subcommittees. Being asked by a member of the committee whether the time had not come to abolish the subsidy for the Nippon Yusen KaishaV Australian line, the Government delegate replied in the negative. He pointed out that the steamers on this route having for main purpose the carriage of passengers and mails, it was necessary- that they should he ship's of the highest grade, which meant increased expenditure. Thus the earnings an dexpenres on the JapaneseAustralian monthly service had been as follow: —

Earnings, Expenses. From October. 1900, to Yen. Yen. September 1901 .. 930,030 1,53(1.000 From October. ]901, t» September, 190-J . 090,000 1,G80,000 From October, 1002, to

September, 1903 .. 570.0 C J,Gf19,000 Tho service was suspended owing to (he war, and that it will have to be permanently suspended unless State aid is given is evident from the above figures. Hitherto the subsidy allowed to the Nippon Yusen Kaisha. by tho Treasury for the Australian line lias been 510,080 yen annually, but this is now to be reduced to 470,000 yon, and renewed for a period of five years. The delegate explained that the Government, of course, intended to cease, subsidising any lino which could be tuii successfully without such assistance. For that reason no more aid is to be given to the same company's Bombay steamers. He also slated that it had been decided to increase the services (o North China and to Shanghai, and to open new servic** to Taircn and to Korsakoff. Tho Governni'-'t further contemplates subsidising lines to the South Seas and to South America, but these arc to be things of tho future. Tbe subsidy to the Korsakoff service is to be 25,000 yen yearly and that to tbe Tairen service 150.000 yen, and both stuns will bo paid out of the extra l ordinary expenditures. Of great interest, too, is the question of Formosa. Japan came into possession of this lovely island after tho war with China iu 1894, "and for the first few years the new colony seemed doomed to disaster. A most undesirable class of ne'er-do-wells flocked to the island and brought disgrace on Japan's fair name by their misdeeds, and general low standard of morality. But gradually order was evolved out of chaos, and the island started upon a career of gradually increasing prosperity. Speaking before the Parliamentary Sub-committee entrusted with the woA of examining the estimates for Formosa. Br Goto Shimpei, chief of the Civil Administration, ma.de some statements which deserve notice. Ho said that eminent success was attending the Government's measures, and that no change of policy has been found necessary, unless, indeed, an increase of educational facilities might be classed as such. It was deemed desirable to extend education a 6 widely as possible, and to instruct the natives in the use of the Japanese language. The finances of the island were full of promise, but it wa« to be noted that the main sources of revenue increment were the four State monopolies—camphor, opium, salt, and tobacco. Consequently tho authorities propovd to devote further capital to the development of these industries, and it was anticipated that by such means the revenue, now standing at 25.000,000 yen, might easily _be raised to 30,000,000. As to the question put by a. member of tbe committee—namely, whether, when its income increased sufficiently, Formosa would pay the expenses of its own garrison troops, Dr Goto said that he could not speak with authority, but if he might be allowed to express his own personal views he would say that the garrison of Formosa, served two purposes: one Was the defence of the empire, the other the preservation of good order in Formosa itself. So far as the former object was concerned, it seemed just, and it certainly was in accordance with the colonial systems of all occidental powers that the State should bear the cost of maintaining a. garrison, in so far, at least, as sttch _ cost did not exceed what would be required for the support of the tame force at home. Anything over and above, the latter figure—namely, any outlay demanded by special circumstances existing in the island, should be defrayed from tbe Formosan exchequer. Concerning Formosa's trade with foreign countries and Japan, tho figures stood thus: —

1900. 1904. Trade with foreign Yen. Yen. countries .. .. 19.590.00 C 25.3.10,000 Trade with Japan ~ 5,530,00t 25,909,000 Formosa might roughly be divided into two sections—one. covering- some two-fifths of its area, was populated by about 3,000,1300 Chinese; the other,covering the remaining three-fifths, was peopled by 109,00 savage folk according to statistics, but probably the exact number did not exceed 50,000 or 60,000. These savages were divided into 20 tribes, whose languages were mutually unintelligible. Another division of the savage region might be made into north and south, the inhabitants of the north l>oing much more obstinate and fierce than those of the south. To employ troops against these peopl* was found to be very bad policy. The best plan was a system ci local police, who were disposed along a line of some 500 miles in extent. This line was gradually pushed forward, and its

steady advance, being regarded by the natives -as an encroachment upon their domain, provoked more or less resistance. Persuasion and force were botli employed, but tho success had not ken altogether such as could be hoped, though ultimately the lines would he drawn closer and closer. Simultaneously most strict measures had been adopted to prevent secret trade .with three savages, and they had thus been deprived of supplies of arms, ammunition, and salt. The railway was another instrument of civilisation, so that altogether success might, finally be looked for. This week Marquis Ito leaves Japan to take up his important post of Resident General iu Korea. Will he develop into a second I-ord Cromer and bring to the downtrodden Koreans blessings such as British administrators have showered on the. heads of the fellaheen of Egypt? That is the question, and time alono will answer it. Marquis Ito gave an outline of his future policy in the course of a speech which lie gave in Tokio last week at a dinner tendered to the leading journalists <,f the capital. The Marquis'slated that although the political conditions between Korea and Japan had Wn broadly defined by the Japan-Korea Convention, concluded on No-

veniher 17 of last year, much depended on tho actual working out, of the spirit which created the Convention. For instance, the business hitherto transacted between ths foreign consuls and the Korean local authorities had, by virtue of ths Convention, lieen transferred into the hands of the Japanese authorities. The procedure between the Japanese and the Korean local authorities in connection with nutters formerly transacted with the foreign consuls had yet to bo arranged. He thought it would lie necessary to make an arrangement witti the foreign Powers relative to such procedure, and he desired to discuss the matter with the Korean Government. Administrative reform in the Korean Government was a duty imposed upon Japan by the JapaneseKorean Convention. The political corruption of Korea was, however, so deep-rooted that it was by no means an easy task to

bring remedial measures into effect within

a short space of time. Superficial reforms, such as revision of the laws and regulations, were easy enough to accomplish, but such was, jn his opinion, not the way to attain the goal of administrative reform. He would, therefore, devote his best attention to the subject and carry out the reforms gradually, with a view to benefiting the Korean officials and the people. The poverty of the. Korean people wa6 too well' known to need any further comment. Something must be done to relieve them. In view of

Japan having undertaken the defence of the country, which itself involved a large amount, of expenditure, it would bo inadvisable to tax the people of Japan to meet further requirements in Korea. Ho would therefore endeavour to accelerate the financial resources of the Korean people, in order to enable them to bear the expenses incurred in working out their own development. Agricultural.improvements in Korea. would receive his (jjst attention, and public works and forestry business would Teceive due consideration in succession. With the rapid increase of the Japanese population, it, was naturally expected that a large influx of Japanese into Korea, would follow. The behaviour of a certain section of the Japanese residents toward the natives had so far not been free from reproach. Their over-bearing conduct had often compelled the natives to unwilling submission. Now that Korea bad to be protected by this country, misconduct of the above nature ! on the part of the Japanese residents would liave to be stopped. He would, of course, endeavour to protect the Japanese residents who were pursuing legitimate callings in Korea, but was determined to exercise a stringent control over Japanese residents of an undesirable description. Such arc Marquis Ito's intentions, and it. is profoundly to be desired that he will be able to realise them to the full. The task beforo him would stagger a less determined man. Already some of the leading Korean statesmen havo chosen that purely Oriental way of protesting against the inevitable—suicide. The latest is Mr Chons, one of tho most prominent Confucian scholars in {lie Little Kingdom. It appears that his original plan was to contrive the overthrow of the present Cabinet by which Hie Convention with Jipan was concluded, and. with that intention, he left his house, bidding good-bye to all his people and solemnly announcing his intention of sacrificing his life. His designs having become known to the Japanese police, however, he failed to accomplish anything in Seoul, and was finally sent back to hie native place, escorted by a Japanese const/ible. His wife, however (so the story runs), refused to give him admittance. She argued that after the steps lie bad publicly taken before quitting his residence he would bo eternally disgraced did ho tamely abandon his declared purpose. Accordingly bo repaired to a place, which is vaguely described as a house belonging to his ancestors, and there swallowed opium, leaving two documentsone a farewell to the people of Korea, the other addressed to his fellqw-literati. This second testamont is said to have, contained a declaration that death offered the only recourse for a true patriot at this juncture. Mr Chong is said to have possessed very great influence among the educated classes in Korea, and the testaments havo produced much commotion there. A vehemently-worded circular has been distributed by a section of tho " literati," their object l>eing to excite hostility to Japan, but it is believed in Tokio that the event will net lead to any very serious conse quences.

It is said to be the intention of the Japanese authorities to construct the Antung-Mukdcn line and its branches in Manohuria by means of military labour. There exists at present in Japan a battalion of military railway engineers. A battalion would evidently be too small a body to undertake such a work with any reasonable hope of concluding it, within the period of two years fixed by treaty. There will be a necessity, therefore, to add largely to this branch of the army's organisation if the above programme is to be carried out. Japanese papers do not say what dimen-

sions the force will take. but. it may be presumed that it will at least be raised to a regimental establishment. The temporary line already connecting Mukden with Antung was built by the army, but, of course, the services of large fatigue parties could be commanded so long as tho campaign lasted.

One lesson very strongly inculcated by the late war is the imperative necessity of rapidly constructing military railways and telegraphs. Where the front of the armies engaged extends to a distance of from 50 to 100 miles a manifest advantage will be with the general who can first provide .his troops with means of transport and communication. Such problems 'were of very secondary importance in the days when an extension of seven miles, as was the case in Wellington's lines at Torres Tedras, was deemed something extraordinary. But. Oyama fought with a front of 90' miles at Mukden,

lhreo ships forming the training squadron—namely, the Matsushima, Hashidate, and the Itsukushima—left Yokohama on the 25th of January for a cruise lasting until the 15th of August, a swace of 190 days. The squadron will visit Korea, the Chinese coast, Hongkong, Manila, Thursday Island, Townsrille, Melbourne, and Sydney on its outward voyage, and will return by Batavia, Singapore, and Formosa. This'will be the sscond visit paid by a Japanese training squadron to Australia, and it seems a pity that it did not include N'ew Zealand in its itinerary.

Prince Arthur of Connaiight, who is bringing (lie Order of the Carter to the Emperor of .lapan, is expected to reach Yokohama on the 17th of .February in H.M.S. Diadem. His Royal Highness will proceed at once to Tokio, where, according to the present programme, h e will remain a. week, the palace of Prince Arisugawa, at Kasumigaseki, being assigned for his use. On leaving Tokio he will visit Kagoshima, and will spend a short time there, lodging ia a palace of Prince Shimazu. Afterwards he returns home via Canada.

Some excitement ceeing to have lieen caused in London and elsewhere br a Renter's telegram despatched from Tokio announcing that at a meeting of one of tile Budget sub-committees on the 31st tilt, the Minister of Slate for War, General Terauchi, replying to a question propounded by Mr Oishi Masani, one of the Opposition, had stated that Japan had asked or would ask England to increase or reform her army. The editor ojtfjiie Tribune actuary telegraphed from Condon to General Terauohi direct for confirmation or otherwise, and the Minister of AA'ar 'very goodnaturedly replied that the report was groundless. The whole trouble arose through a reporter's mistake in 'transcribing his notes of a parliamentary sub-com-mittee meeting—a report which" ivas corrected next day. General Terauclii did not make the faintest allusion to such a topic as an increase of the British army or a reform of the British military system. He confined himself strictly to explaining that the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty would naturally be observed in 6 o far as concerned the armed dispositions requisite for the giving effect to it. So all's well that ends well. ' A. Bellaut Brows.