JAPANESE AFFAIRS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3467, 24 August 1920, Page 21

JAPANESE AFFAIRS.

(By Cable.) TOKIO, August 15. It is announced that 400 persons were drowned as the' result of recent floods in Saghalien..;; ■y ■ •'■•■• "■" The police are closely guarding Prince Yamagata, owing to letters threatening his life as the result of his participation' in politics. August 18. Shipping circles complain that the influence of Japanese merchantmen in tha South Seas has. declined owing to the resumption of operations by foreign shipping companies, particularly British and Butch. It is pointed out that the only Japanese concern now maintaining ai regular service there is subsidised by tha Government. August 19. Representatives of all the shipping lines operating from Japanese ports, who have been holding a conference at Yokohama, have decided that the standard freight rate for Pacific'Ocean traffic shall be 20 per cent, higher than at present. '; FEKING, August 18. _ It is reported that the Japanese military authorities at Nikolaievsk (on the left bank of the Amur River) have announced that all Russian fisheries on ■ the estuary of the Amur have been taken _ under Japanese control. Russians desiring to lease the fisheries must comply with the Japanese regulations. HONOLULU, August 18. : According to a despatch from Tokia the Japanese Government -is considering the withdrawal of her troops from Saga halien Island, due "partly to the American protest as to the doubtful legality of the occupation, and partly to the heavy financial cost of the maintenance of occupations TOKIO, August 19.

The 1920 Military Budget, especially as regards naval appropriation, which amounts to 465 millions yen, is larger than that of 1919. Approximately half the Japanese revenue will be devoted to armaments. It is pointed out that this represents an extraordinary increase, since only 18 per cent, of revenue was devoted to arrna* ments in 1913. It is obvious that Japan will push her eight-year naval programme to completion with all expedition. NEW YORK, August 19.

The "New York Times Korea correspondent states that despatches from Korea report the discovery of a plot against the United States Congressmen visiting the Far East, It is said that the plot was arranged in order to create ill-feeling between Japan and the United States* Numerous Koreans have been arrested.'