JAPANESE SELLING SHIPS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14285, 30 April 1917, Page 7

JAPANESE SELLING SHIPS.

A Washington message/dated March 3, states that Japan, m 1916, for the first time .m history, appeared m the* market ; as a seller of ships, though it hai been a large buyer for* many years, according' to a dispatch from'- ConsulGeneral Sydmore, at Yokohama. In tlie last year many vessels have been sold to foreigners at large profits, while some of the foreign vessels also have been bought. In the first two years- of the present v*ar Japan began buying ships and sold' very few. The .tonnage sold m 1913 was only 1851 j, -'in'. 1914, none ; amd m 1915 it was 6245."' In i 916,. however, Japan sold 74,000 tons. In 1913 Japan bpught 204,060 tons; m 1914, 96,---000 tons; and last year bii't 34,000 tons. ' Under Government subsidies, the NCpJ pon Puson Kaisha has decided to start ita line by way of Cape Town to South America, which meairis sharp rivalry with other lines for thie , trade of Argentina and Brazil. In oohnectrion with this South American line, a contract has been made with various immigration companies to; carry Japanese immigrants to South Africa and to South America beginning the /coming* year, and ot a minimum of 20,000 a year. ;