two large branches connecting each capital with the fruitful provinces of the west coast, minor branches to various points in the two metropolitan districts, and local lines in the islands of Kyūshū, Shikoku, and Yezo.
Notwithstanding the natural obstacles to be overcome and the destructive climate, the Japanese lines of railways have been cheaply built, because labour is cheap; and they already pay fairly well. In round numbers, the cost to government since 1872 of construction and equipment has been 125,000,000 yen. The profits on the railways, both government and private, have increased steadily year by year. The net profit to government for the financial year ending the 31st March, 1903, was 9,270,000 yen. The total number of passengers carried during the same period of twelve months over the government lines was 31,997,000; the total freight was 3,200,000 tons. On the private lines the passengers numbered 78,121,000, and the total freight was 12,987,000 tons. The proportion of the receipts percent on the government lines was as follows:—passenger receipts, 66.54 per cent; goods 31.83; miscellaneous, 1.63. The low proportion of goods receipts, which will surprise persons whose experience has been gained in England, India, or the United States, is easily explained by geographical conditions, Japan's immense coast-line and the lofty mountain-ranges that cut up the greater portion of the surface being reasons that dictate, and must continue to dictate, a preference for water-carriage over carriage by rail. The most formidable obstacle in the way of Japanese railway enterprise is that conflicting interests and local intrigues are apt to render the law of expropriation for public benefit little more than a dead letter. The extension of the Inland Sea Line (Sanyō Tetsudo) was long impeded by this cause, as capitalists could not afford to buy land at the preposterous price demanded by the owners. Perhaps, after all, an instinct of self-preservation sometimes guides these obstructionists. Experience on the Tokaidō, on the "Pilgrim Line" to Ise, on the way to Nikkō, everywhere in fact, has shown conclusively that though some of
