JAPAN
318
JAPAN
regulated during the year, 11,651; expenses, 231,200
yen. Two commercial agencies have been founded,
one at Tokio, in 1896, the other at Osaka in 1901.
The number of adherents (banks, firms, etc.) is 1395
for the first; 1308 for the second. There are also four
large merchandise warehou.scs, two at Tokio, one at
Osaka, and one at Yokohama. Number of invention
patents issued in 1907, 3155; number of designs pat-
ented, 614; competitions, 262; objects exhibited, 310,-
362; contestants, 261,396; awards, 55,741; expenses,
149,924 yen.
Communication.^. — Roads. — Under the Tokugawa there were four chief roads (go-kaido) ; they went from Nihon-bashi (Bridge of Japan) to Yedo, and linked all the provinces with the capital of the shogun. These ancient roads are still in existence, but since the Restoration the roads have been divided into national, departmental, and parochial. The State defrays the expense of the construction and main- tenance of a national road, the departments that of the departmental roads, and the departments and towns, that of the parochial roads. All the chief towns of the prefec- tures, the cities, and villages are connected by roads, gener- ally in good condition, and suitable for carriages.
Rivers, Canals. — The rivers are numerous, but for the most part are only torrents, little suited to navigation; they are used chiefly for raft- ing. Numerous irrigation canals have been dug, some of which are reserved for the transportation of merchan- dise. The amount of the ex- pen.ses for means of communi- cation, roads, rivers, canals, highways of all kinds, con- struction or repair of bridges, harbours, bays, piers, dams, ponds, viaducts, in 1907, was 28,872,333 yen; 3,231,791 yen being borne by the State, the rest, 25,640,542 yen, bj» the local bodies. Damage caused by floods, 21,473,359; by ty- phoons, 303,622; by tidal waves, 80,867 yen.
Railroads. — In 1872, the first railroad line was begun by the Government, between Tokio and Yokohama, a distance of eighteen miles; in 1882, the length of the lines established was 114 miles. As early as 1883, companies were founded to exploit this industry; in 1906 the government lines had been extended by 1531 miles, those of the companies, 3252 miles. In the same year (1906), the Government decreed national ownership of the railways, since which time the lines of eighteen large private companies have been pur- chased, while twenty smaller companies have gone out of existence. On 31 March, 1909, the total length of the government lines was 4712 miles; that of inde- pendent companies, 446 miles. Lines at present in course of construction, 1037 miles. The railways have cost the State: old lines, 168,250,000 yen; purchased lines, 476,318,800 yen; lines building, 18,500,000 yen; in all, 663,068,800 yen. Receipts, 81,995,171 yen; expenses, 45,262,927 yen; net profit, 36,732,244 yen. Locomotives, 2074; passenger carriages, 5780; number of travellers, 143,260,792; tons of merchandise, 24,- 092,066. Railroad accidents, dead, 1664; injured, 2321 . In 1883, the net railway profit equalled 943,846; in 1H93, 5,073,929 yen.
Electric Car Companies. — Electric tramways ap-
peared in Japan in 1895. On 31 March, 1908, there
were eighteen companies. Two of these have not
made public their accounts. The statements of the
sixteen others are as follows: authorized capital, 77,-
824,673 yen ; paid-up capital, 47,200,665 yen ; length of
lines, 272 miles; numlier of cars, 1372; pas.sengers,
182,389,707; net profit, 4,130,593 yen. The chief
tramway company is in Tokio; passengers, 153,061,-
727; profits, 3,071,197 yen. Vehicles drawn by men:
(or passengers (jinricksha), 161,858; for merchandise,
1,488,494. Total of all vehicles in the country, 1,951,-
892. The chief transport company (Naikaku Tsuun
Kwaisha) in the interior of the country has trans-
ported 208,447,901 kwan; receipts, 6,188,277 yen.
Postal Service, Telegraph, and Telephones. — Postal
Service. — There was a postal
service under the shogun, but
it was defective, costly, and
slow. In 1872 the Government
adopted the system in use in
the United States. At first
established between Tokio,
Osaka, Kyoto, and Yokohama,
the next year it was extended
throughout the country. The
tax varied according to dis-
tance, l)ut later it was made
uniform. However, England
maintained its three .stations
at Yokohama, Nagasaki, and
Kobe until 1879. Since then
l)oth foreign and domestic
postal service is carried on by
Japanese. In 1908 there were
670 po.st-office stations; 55,197
post-boxes; postal employes,
35,409; postal articles received
and distributed within the
country, 1,377,635,468; sent
abroad, 25,792,382; received
from abroad, 24,552,407. In-
ternational money orders sent,
15,517; value, 563,251 yen. In-
ternational money orders re-
ceived, 148,742; value, 11,615,-
851 yen.
Telegraph . — As early as 1 869 the Government planned to adopt the telegraph. It did so in 1872. In 1879 Japan joined the International Telegraphic L'nion. At present a telegraphic network extends throughout the country and submarine cables connect Japan with all the great centres of tiie world. As early as 1900 experiments were made with a view to installing wireless telegraphy on all the warships, and at present all the ships are so provided. Communica- tions have also been established between Nagasaki and Kehm (Formosa). On 31 March, 1908, the length of telegraph lines was 8692 ri; length of wires, 38,249 ri; public stations, 2815; telegrams sent within the country, 26,113,174; abroad, 707,598; received from abroad, 873,639.
Telephone. — The telephone was brought to Japan in 1887, and in the same year all the government of- fices were thus connected. The telephone went into general use in 1 896. At present 66 towns are provided with telephonic connexions; 26 have an interurban connexion. Public stations, 421 ; length of telephone lines, 2100 ri; length of wires, 27,270 ri; subscribers, 75,229. The Government has the monopoly of tele- phones, and bears the expense of constructing and extending all the lines.
Merchant Marine and Navigation. — While the country was clo.sed to foreigners no Japanese could build or own a vessel capable of sailing the higli seas.
iMouR. Forged out of
