5
4
to form a valuable nucleus, and there is, for instance, a flourishing population of Dale descent in Tamburi district to-day. Certain of the fishing stations, which still remained in the hands of private monopolies, imported labour, and there were, in addition, a few independent immigrants. Thus, though there were numbers of settlers who could not stand the hardships entailed by the new life, or who could not make their way without Government aid--so that there was a constant stream back to the mainland still the population increased steadily, if not rapidly, under the Kaitakushi.
In 1869 it was 58,467, and in 1881 it was 240,391.
The task of improving communications was, of course, one of the most urgent for the Kaitakushi. They assembled a small fleet of steam and sailing vessels, which carried goods and passengers from the mainland and around the coast (though they came near defeating their object by exorbitant freights) and the building of the European type of sailing vessel was encouraged. On land, they built the main road between Sapporo and Hakodate, and various other roads, and established a system of posting stations in sparsely-populated districts. Letter post was established in 1872, and the first lines of telegraph erected in 1874, between Matsumae and Hakodate, and Otarn and Sapporo. Lumber was cut, saw-mills erected, and a start made with farming on American lines, including the raising of cattle and horses.
With the abolition of the Kaitakushi, an administrative system was adopted which placed the Hokkaido in the control of a special bureau in the Department of Agriculture and Commerce: with the idea of assimilating the system to that of the mainland it was divided into three prefectures, and an attempt made to apply the ordinary methods of local government. This experiment speedily proved a failure, chiefly through lack of a centralised authority in the island, and from Meiji 19 (1886), the Hokkaido was placed under the control of a governor, and the prefectural system abolished. This mode of government, with certain modifications, is that ot present in force.
Details of the work of the Hokkaido Government can be obtained from the accounts of separate undertakings which follow. In a general way it is sufficient to say that they, like their predecessors, made efforts to encourage immigration and to promote agriculture and commerce; but the Central Government, since the experiment of the Kaitakushi, seems to have paid no consistent attention to the Hokkaido, or, at any rate, to have felt that other enterprises were more urgent than the settlement of this island. It is a territory which does not offer easy and quick returns, but requires labour and money for its development, Funds have In 1901 a Ten Years' Development Scheme was passed, under always been short. which the National Treasury was to contribute, spread over that period, 31,500,000 yen (7,100,000 for administration, 19,7500,000 for colonisation work, and the remainder as a contribution towards local expenditure). At the same time a system of local government was introduced, and an elective council for the island, with some control over finances and taxation, established. This fairly promising scheme was upset on its financial side by the need for retrenchment following the Russo-Japanese war, and, in general, had a bad effect in checking progress in the Hokkaido, Again, in 1910, a new Development Scheme was introduced. This was on a still larger scale. Strictly local expenditure was put on an independent footing, to be met by local taxation, while works properly belonging to development and not to local government were placed in the hands of the Government of the island. A complete programme of colonisation and development was drawn up. It comprised :-
1. Immigration, assistance to immigrants, survey, improvement and allocation of
settlers' lands.
2. Assistance to agriculture and fisheries, through instructors, experimental
stations, &c.
3. Building of roads and bridges.
4. Riparian works.
5. Land development.
6. Harbour works.
The Central Government was to supply funds to a maximum amount of 70,000,000 yen, spread over a period of 15 years. But here, again, financial conditions have interfered, as may be seen from the following comparison of proposed and actual expenditure under this scheme :—
Expenditure.
Actual.
Year.
Proposed.
Yen.
2,500,000
Yen. 2,353,136
3,300,000
2,654,520
4,200,000
2,808,173
5,000,000
2,880,575
5,000,000
2,705,200
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914 (estimate)
Partly owing to political conflict in Tokyo, by which budget after budget has been thrown out, but also, it would appear, owing to the fact that the Central Govern- ment is not interested in the Hokkaido, this second scheme appears to have come to a standstill.
Under circumstances like these, it is hard to forecast the future lines of develop- ment of the island. Some guidance may be found in the study of the present conditions, as shown in the notes and statistics which follow,
(Details of the finances of the Hokkialo are given in an appendix.)
1. Immigration.
The chief measure of the progress and prosperity of the territory is, no doubt, the volume of immigration. The following statistics show the movements of population in recent years. Close examination proves them to be inaccurate as absolute figures, but they give a tolerably correct idea of relative increase.
1872
1877
1887
1897
1907
1912
(a.) POPULATION of the Hokkaido, Five Decades, 1872-1912.
Year.
Ainu.
Total.
Japanese.
95,921
15,275
111,196
160,130
16,949
183,075
304,156
16.962
321,118
769,239
16,972
786,211
1,372,364
17,715
1,720,880
18,219
1,890,079 1,739,099
(b.) VOLUME of Immigration, 1903–12.
Year.
Immigrants.
Emigrants.*
Net Increase thereby.*
Net Increase
all Causex.
Total Population.
1908..
44,942
8,738
36,204
31,440
1,077,280
1904..
50,111
9,027
41,084
57,389
1,124,660
1905..
58,224
10,395
47,829
67,725
1,192,394
1906..
66,793
10,092
56,701
96,757
1,289,151
1907..
79,787
13,457
65,280
100,028
1,390,079
1908..
60,578
15,578
65,000
57,889
1,447,968
1909..
68,848
13.799
50,049
89,120
1,537,897
1910..
58,905
13,925
44,980
73,148
1,610,545
1911..
61,577
13.729
47,854
57,048
1,667,593
1912..
61,156
13,963
47,198
71,506
1,739,099
* Including only such immigrants as entered the Hokkaido under the authority's (ie., Immigration Bureau's) protection, and not including independent settlers.
The immigration authority keeps track of all protected immigrants, so that the figures in the third column of Table (b) gives a minimuma of settlers who have not been able to establish themselves successfully, and been obliged to return to the mainland.
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