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at the end of April, and proceeded with arrangements for the general meeting of the party to be held there. Although they were dislodged before the meeting took place, it was held in a smaller room in the same building and duly elected Mr. Nakajima as president. The legality of this election was at once repudiated by the "'orthodox group, who elected their own chief secretary, and on the advice of Dr. Suzuki nominated Mr. Kuhara, an elder of the party with a some- what dubious political record, as president, to which post he was duly installed at an "'orthodox party meeting on the 20th May. There the situation remained at the end of the month, the party having two elected presidents, and the Nakajima faction still occupying part of the party headquarters.
Visits of Colonial Governors-General.
commis-
184. During the month of May visits were paid to Tokyo by General Minami, Governor-General of Korea, and Admiral Kobayashi, Governor-General of Formosa. It is reported that new policies in Korea were decided on during General Minami's visit, both in regard to the development of the agriculture and industry of the country, which has acquired a special importance as the sariat base" for Japan's continental policy, and in regard to the treatment of Koreans in Korea and in Japan. It is said that a system of compulsory education is to be introduced into Korea as soon as possible, and that eventually conscription and suffrage will follow. It is also reported that it is planned to import large numbers of Korean labourers to cope with the growing shortage of labour here. Cn his arrival here on the 19th May Admiral Kobayashi gave a press interview in which he referred to the good effect that the incident was having on the morale of the Formosans, more than 9,500 of whom had already fought and worked for the army in China. He also said that the future of Formosa depended on the island's industrialisation. He said that the recently acquired Spratley Islands would be a good stepping-stone for Japan's southward development, but he considered that the recently mooted plan for the administrative combination of Formosa and the mandated islands under a Governor-General of the south would prove difficult of realisation owing to the immense distance which separates Formosa from the eastern end of the archipelago. He also expressed the opinion that Formosa should be developed as the first line of defence against the south and west, and the mandated islands as the first line of defence against the Pacific. This remark is interesting in connexion with the statement of General Koiso at the conference of prefectural Governors that the Government was taking appropriate measures for protection and guidance in the South Sea islands.
Plans for the Development of North Manchuria.
185. On the 15th May the Hsinking Government published details of a comprehensive plan for the development of the northern border districts of Manchuria which have hitherto been neglected on account of their remoteness. The project is expected to be completed in the main by 1941. The total expendi- ture involved will be some 1,000 million yuan. The scheme provides for new railways, roads,. postal facilities, telephone cables, radio towers and aerodromes, as well as for repairs and improvements to what already exists, for the develop- ment of water power supply, colonisation of uninhabited areas, rationalisation of labour supply, encouragement of agriculture by establishment of experimental stations, guilds, and commissions for the distribution of materials, strengthening of air defences, and provision of clubs and other social facilities.
Reorganisation of Municipalities of Dairen and Port Arthur.
186. The municipal government of these two cities has hitherto been not unlike that of a Japanese city, comprising an Assembly whose members, apart from four Chinese selected by the Kwantung Government, have been elected every four years by Japanese householders; the mayor was chosen every four years by the Assembly. Under the new system half the members of the Assembly are to be officially nominated, and the term of service is to be three years only. The mayor and vice-mayor (a new post) are to be Japanese Government officials appointed by the Japanese Ambassador at IIsinking. The mayor actually chosen has for the past four and a half years been Vice-Governor of two provinces in Manchuria, and his appointment illustrates the ease with which Japanese officials can be interchanged between Japan and the " independent" State of Manchukuo.
It is probable that the new Assembly's function will be merely to endorse the decisions of the executive authority headed by the mayor, but the staffing of the executive by permanent Government officials, which forms part of the reorganisa- tion, should bring some increase of efficiency. The change has been received with complete apathy by the inhabitants.
Trial of Japanese Communists.
187. The trial of twenty-two so-called Communists which began in September last year came to an end on the 8th May, when Mr. Toshi Futami was sentenced to death. Many of the twenty-one other defendants on trial with Mr. Futami since last September were shown leniency by the court in considera- tion of their avowed repentance. The judge refused to rule on the case against another of the group, who has been drafted into military service.
188. All twenty-two of the defendants, arrested late in 1935, were said to have been members of the extinct Japan Anarchist-Communist party. They were accused and convicted on various criminal charges, including larceny, attempted homicide, desertion of a corpse, possession of explosives and violation of the Peace Preservation Law.
189. It was said that they had sought to maintain a vestige of the party after it had been suppressed, by resorting to petty racketeering to obtain funds. Procurators handling the case demanded severe penalties for each of them, but the court took note of their penitent attitude and imposed milder sentences on virtually all but Mr. Futami, who was found more deeply implicated in the serious charges.
Expansion of Wireless Services.
190. It is reported in the vernacular press that the Communications Ministry have concluded negotiations with various countries for the inaugura- tion of direct wireless telephone or telegraph services. Communication by wire- less telegraph with Kalgan is expected to be opened by the end of June, and will be followed by services to Afghanistan, Peru and Belgium. Wireless telephone services with France, Peru, Brazil, Australia and Hong Kong are also to be inaugurated by the autumn. There is said to be a balance in Japan's favour of messages received over messages despatched of some 3 million words; in spite of this Japan pays annual fees amounting to 10 million yen, owing to the fact that she is obliged to make use of the network of submarine cables owned by Great Britain, France and the United States. The new expansion in Japan's direct wireless services is designed to remedy this handicap.
Foreign Misconception of Japan's Aims.
191. According to the Yomiuri the Japan Economic Federation are exercised at the reception being given to Japanese goods abroad, and at the attitude of western countries to Japan's economic expansion in Asia, and are proposing to set up a special committee for the correction of the misconceptions by foreign countries regarding Japan's programme. The paper understands that the committee's first business will be to start investigations on a large scale into the reasons for these misconceptions.
Improving the Policeman's Lot.
192.
The tendency of policemen and other underpaid minor officials to drift into munitions factories has already been referred to. During the first four months of this year more than 400 policemen resigned from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force, whereas the present output of the police training school is about 160 a year. It is said that the Metropolitan Police Board are greatly concerned at the effect of these defections on the morale of the force. and are doing their best to stop them; but the remaining policemen are said to be asking for better conditions of service. A plan has, however, been worked out by the board, by which certain "welfare measures' will take the place of increased salaries. Under this plan, subsidies of from 10 to 15 yen per child per annum are to be granted for the education of policemen's children, new houses with specially low rentals are to be built for the men, loans without interest are to be granted in cases of illness, arrangements are to be made to
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