Directory_and_Chronicle_1916 — Page 631

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JAPAN

dynasties until 1869, when the Tokugawa family were dispossessed of the usurped authority. Under the Shogun three hundred or more Daimios (feudal princes) shared the administrative power, being practically supreme in their respective domains conditionally upon their loyalty to the Shogun; but their rank and power disappeared with the Shogunate. On the 7th July, 1884, however, His Majesty issued an Imperial Notification and Rescript rehabilitating the nobility, and admitting to its ranks the most distinguished civil and military officials who took part in the work of the Restoration. The old titles were abolished, and have been replaced by those of Prince (Ko), Marquis (Ko), Count (Haku), Viscount (Shi), and Baron (Dan).

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

The revenue for the year 1914-15 was 654,315,101 yen. The total of the national debt amounts to about 2,477,082,242 yen (roughly, £247,000,000), more than one-half being foreign loans. The total of the public loans raised for the purpose of meeting extraordinary ex- penditures connected with the war with Russia exceeded 1,700,000,000 yen, which is three times the total amount of the loans prior to the outbreak of the war. The greater part of this huge sum was raised in Europe and America, and to effect the redemption of these loans a law was passed in 1906 establishing a national debt consolidation fund, to which a sum of not less than one hundred and ten million yen (£11,267,029) has to be transferred annually from the general account. It is calculated that all the public loans issued in connection with the war will be redeemed in thirty years. The grand total of the extraordinary expenses connected with the war with Russia was 1,982,000,000 yen (£203,073,770). The debt per head, which was as high as 48.438 yen in 1909-10, was 35.478 yen in 1913-14. Following on the restoration of peace there was a remarkable boom in commercial enterprise. During the two years 1906-7 the registered capital of joint-stock companies showed an increase of 946,411,725 yen (ninety-seven million pounds sterling). A steady development has been maintained since, and the returns for 1912-the latest officially published- showed that there were in existence 13,887 trading companies with a total paid-up capital of yen 1,756,610,411 and reserves aggregating yen 457,430,417.

The first public loan in the financial history of Japan was raised in London in order to supply the funds required for constructing the first line of railway in the country. The sum raised was £4,880,000, and interest was paid at the rate of 9 per cent. The sterling foreign loans raised in 1904 and 1905 bear interest at the rate of 6, 43 and 4 per cent. Two six per cent. loans were raised in 1904 in London and New York, the first for £10,000,000 and the second for £12,000,000. The issue price of the first was £93 10s., and of the second £90 10s. Both were redeemable in seven years and the Customs duties are pledged as security. A sterling loan of £30,000,000 at 4 per cent. interest was raised in London and New York in March, 1905, the issue price being £90, the period of redemption 20 years, and the security the net profits of the tobacco monopoly. Another sterling loan of £30,000,000 at 4 per cent. was raised in July, 1905, in London, New York and Germany, the terms and security being the same as in the preceding loan. These four loans were raised for the express purpose of meeting the extraordinary expenses of the war. In November, 1905, a 4 per cent. sterling loan of £50,000,000 for the purpose of consolidating the national debt was decided upon. Half of this was raised immediately in London, Paris, New York and Germany, the issue price being £90, and the period of redemption 26 years. A loan of £23,000,000 at 5 per cent. interest was raised in March, 1907, in London and Paris, the issue price being £99 10s., and the period of redemption 40 years. These funds were applied to the redemption of the 6 per cent. sterling loan of £22,000,000. The four per cent. Loan was issued in Paris in 1910, for use as a fund for redemption of domestic loan bonds, which were exported abroadt and the redemption of the five per cent. loan bonds in circulation at home. The amoun5 of the issue was 450,000,000 francs, the rate of interest four per cent., the issue price 9e francs 50 centimes, the loan to remain unredeemed for ten years, after which it is to be redeemed within fifty years. A four per cent. Sterling Loan, also, was raised in 1910 and was employed as a fund for the redemption of the indorsed War and five per cent. Loans in circulation in London. The amount of issue was £11,000,000, the rate of interest four per cent., the issue price £95, the loan to remain unredeemed for ten yeard after which it is to be redeemed within fifty years. As the object of the loan was the redemption of the indorsed loans above referred to, the latter loan bonds were accepts, in place of cash when the former loan was subscribed for. For the purpose of adjusting and redeeming the short-term securities and temporary loans chargeable upon the Imperial Railways account, bonds with a total face-value of 200,000,000 francs were