December
for rapid ex to Manila
hori
WO
1896.
cution The ironclad hastily sent |
which has opened singular entive observers,
s
n to the views of Japan in a future article. For the present we may smile a little, but let us maintain a prudent guard. These gay people may greatly astonish the world one day, and the daý may not be far distant
THE WOOLLEN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IN JAPAN.
*
In an article on the report of the trade of Japan for the first half of 1896, prepared by Mr. Hobart Hampden, of H.HM. Consular Service, the Japan Mail says:--
CHINA-OVERLAND TRADE REPORT
cotton and jute, then of cotton and hemp, and 1 form, a circumstance only within finally of cotton and wool. The material last [ of bare chance when the Chinese added promises to improve the quality of the tion had the sole control of mess manufacture greatly.byt
THE PRICE OF THE TELEGRAPH CONFENTION.
".
A few somewhat important details respecting the recent Telegraph Convention between the Cable Companies and the Imperial, Chinese Telegraph Administration have reached us, which are of interest to the public, but more especially to the Chamber of Commerce and the other bodies representing commercial interests in China and Hongkong, which have taken upon themselves the heat and burden of Mr. Hampden speaks of woollen manufac- the day in resisting the almost overwhelming tures also, but we doubt whether he does full forces now arrayed against the interest_of justice to the quiet yet steady progress which reasonable telegraphic rates from the Far that branch of enterprise is making in Japan. East. In the new arrangement by which all the It is true that woollen articles of apparel have hopes of the Chinese system of land-lines taking not yet been taken largely into wear by the advantage of their geographical position to Japanese, and probably many years will elapse force the hands of the Cable Companies in the before the demand for such goods becomes s0 matter of lowering rates, are abandoned for great as to attract much enterprise to their our time at least. Some concessions have been manufacture. At present, they are needed chiefly made by the Administration to the Cable Com- by wearers of foreign costume, and in the form panies, which at first sight are inexplicable, as of rugs, hose, and shawls. It is beyond question no quid pro quo is disclosed. Knowing what that the serges and tweeds now made in Japan we do of the Chinese character, of its native are thoroughly suited for clothing purposes, skill in driving a bargain, and of the adroitness and as for the rage and shawls they may be of Sheng Taotai, the chief manipulator of the said to have supplanted, or to be in process of wires, it is difficult to discover, unless it is supplanting, the imported article. Mr. Hamp something that can be readily stowed away den speaks of the Japanese manufactures being beyond the range of ordinary vision, where he "conspicuously wanting in excellence of can easily lay his hand upon it, what he has quality and durability." He is doubtless right gained by placing the entire Chinese telegraph in the main. The Japanese themselves are system at the mercy of the Cable Companies. sensible that they have not yet succeeded in Of one thing we may rest assured, that what- producing a thread equal to the English. But Fever Sheng has given away he has exacted the that can be a question of time only, and we fall price for it, no matter how the price is have to observe that durability is an advantage concealed or into whose pocket it may go. But with certain limits. The great majority of on the face of it, it is not easily discoverable, persons that buy rugs, shawls, and blankets in though the Chinese are not loth to assign a Japan do not care for an article that will ready explanation which is eminently in keep last more than four or five years. That de ing with what we know of the character of gree of durability suits their purpose well Sheng. Amongst other things the Cable Com- enough, and to get beyond it at an increased panies, who have hitherto paid an annual rental investment of capital is an idea having to the Chinese Administration for the use of little attraction for them. The blankets and the short line connecting Shanghai with rugs made from shoddy at the Shiba factory are Woosung, are now given the free use of that precisely the kind of thing that the lower or line, for a lump sum by which the yearly rental ders look for, and it must have struck every ob-is compounded at once. A question which will server that the imported red rug formerly seen here naturally arise is, who has got the advan- almost universally on the shoulders of jinrikisha tage of this composition? Is it the Adminis- men or over the knees of their fares, has been tration as a whole or some individual? We replaced by a striped article of much soberer hue, confess we are not in a position to reply, but the a home product. We do not suppose that Japan Chinese have no hesitation in furnishing an an- will ever have an Edward the Third to bring over, swer in favour of Sheng. It is quite true that Flemish weavers and fullers as instructors, nor the Cable Companies on the other hand concede yet a Charles the Second to order that every one the privilege to the Chinese Administration of shall be buried in a woollen shroud. Without the free use of the Hongkong-Kowloon cable, such official aid her woollen manufacturing in which at first sight would seem a sufficient set-off dustry has already reached the stage of assured against what has been given away in the North; success, and we venture to predict that one of but when we know that the Chinese lines are fur- the most important articles of import in this ther bound to hand over to the Cable Companies section, mousseline de laine (to-chirimen), will every message given in at inland telegraph soon find itself in sharp competition with a stations and addressed to places beyond China, Japanese rival. It is worth noting in this she virtually thereby transfers one of her most context that: German flannels bave entirely important sovereign rights, the control of her lost cast in Japan. Nobody will look at them communications, the precise value of the Cable now-a-days, and those that find a market are Companies' equivalent for the freedom of the said to be sold, for the most part, as British Shanghai-Woosung line is more apparent. We oods. Japanese woollens, too, benefit by rather fancy that the privilege of free transit adventitions aid of that kind in some cases. of Chinese messages over the short cable heard recently that one of the proprietors between Kowloon and Hongkong is confined the Senju Faotory, visiting a shop in Ginza, to Chinese Government, messages and mes- ffered articles that he had himself sages from the interior of China to Chinese in plied under contract, the salesman assur- Hongkong, for it is certain, according to our him solemnly that they were the information, that the Chinese have voluntarily est British goods. Mr. Hampden men- abandoned their connection with outside tele tions, we observe, that in connection with the graph systems and given up working their lines increased demand for army clothing necessitated to Helampo and Hunchun, joining the Russian expansion, a large order for wool system at these places. It is also pretty well r has been, placed with a Sydney firm. known that during the short time, the former curious fact that the Japanese have line was working it paid handsomely. It found it cheaper to purchase Austra-must, therefore, have taken a good deal to Lin Liverpool than to get it direct from the place of production. The cheapening of from Australia now that steamers of sen Kaisha have begun to ply ibtless cause a change. Mr. not notice, we observe, that nning to be largely used in the of the well known Sakar dansu tton only, these attractive car afterwards became a mixture of
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induce Sheng to give it up, but whatever the price and whoever got it, the un- disputed fact is that it has been paid in some form for the very valuable considera tion given by the Cable Companies in return for the apparent generosity of Sheng. On the other hand the public, who hand in mes- sages at the Chinese offices for transmission abroad may now be assured that they will reach their destination and in a recognizable
inland stations, and from the Cab the war between the Companies and
the Ad ministration was in progress.—China, Gazette.
THE QUESTION OF PATENT RIGHTS IN JAPAN
Tokyo, 7th December The Patent Bureau has come to the follow- ing decisions in regard to the patents applied for by German subjects:
1.No patent shall be granted for a German invention which has been already imitated in this country.
2.-No patent shall be granted for, even a new invention which has been palented in Ger- many, when such invention is already known to the public by newspaper or books.
3-After the Japanese Government has joined the International Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and Copy- right, free manufacture shall be allowed to the Japanese manufacturers, of new foreign patent goods, unless the protection of such patent has been applied for to the Japanese Government within seven months after such patent has been granted at home.
These resolutions are said to have been approved by the Minister President, the Minis- ters for Foreign Affairs and Agriculture and Commerce.Kobe Chronicle translation.
PROPOSED JAPANËSE VOLUNTEER FLEET CO.
Reserve officers of the Japanese Army and Navy propose to start a company for organising a volunteer fleet, with three cruisers, each of 6,000 tons and 20 knots in speed, and six cruisers, each of 3,000 tons and 17 knots in speed, besides fourteen iron or copper plated strong steamers, of more than 14 knots, and eight small steamers. In peace time these vessels are to be engaged in the ordinary carrying trade to America, Australia, China, Korea, and Formosa, avoiding competition with other ordinary shipping firms as much as possible. But in case of eventualities, the Company is to offer all its vessels to the State service, the cruisers undertaking the task of convoying transports or capturing the enemy's merchant vessels. The capital is to be 20,000,000 yen, divided into 400,000 shares of 50 yen each to be apportioned to patriotic subscribers. The head office is to be established in Kobe, with branches in Osaka, Tokyo, and Yokohama. The chief projector of the scheme is Major Takeda Nobuyasu (Kochman), who acted as Commissariat Inspector at Haiching, and was over China and Korea, during the Japan- China war. He early saw the necessity of such a. fleet, and was for some time making investi gations about the Russian volunteer fleet, and at last found an influential supporter in the person of Rear Admiral Isobe, who extended the scheme originally proposed and found many supporters among the Osaka and Tokyo capital- ists. An application for permission, to estab- lish the Company will be sent in to the authori ties before the end of the year. So says the Asahi, but it remains to be seen how the pro- jectors propose such a concern to be self-main- taining-Japan Gazette.
KOREA
Seoul, 30th November. Russia is gradually securing a firm foothold in the peninsula. A few weeks ago a number of Russian military officers arrived to drill the Korean army. Amongst these were ten non- commissioned officers (the number to be in- oressed in the near future), who occupy quarters within the enclosure of the new palace. These we believe are to act as a sort of bodyguard, fo the king, who will doubtless soon leave the Russian Legation and occupy the newly built palace in the foreign settlement of the capital.
have also received several concession which is the cutting. timber in t north and on Dagelet Island, off the east coast of Korea The correspondents of the papers are for once right in saying that there is widespread murmuring amongst the Kores ns on
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