March 6, 1909.1
J
A NEW APPOINTMENT.
Applications for the appointment of Assistant Secretary and Superintendent of Police were read and considered.
POLICE REPORT.
"3
The Superintendent of Police reported that the Mixed ourt has been closed "under the seal for the last fortnight, opening again on the 10th instant, and so no cases had been heard.
SHIPPING NOTES.
The M.M, steamer Sydney homeward bound from China, met with another misfortune on the 13th ult. when between Singapore and Colombo one of the huge joists connecting the main shaft gave way and she was taken in tow by a Clan liner when off Hambantota and brought to Galle. The vessel on the previous two days had encountered very heavy weather, but it was perfectly calm when the accident occurred. The necessary repairs were expected to take seven days.
On her last voyage from Hongkong, the homeward M.M. mail steamer Polynesien, in going up the river to Saigon, ran down and sank an Annamite junk.
The Tokyo Kisen Kaisha is reported to have
CHÍNA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT,
CORRESPONDENCE.
THE TOKYO TRAMWAYS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE
DAILY PRESS.")]
HONGKONG
SIR,-Your Tokyo correspondent, under date of January 2nd, discussed the much-vexed question of the Tokyo tramways in a sense unfavourable to the citizens and Press of Japan's somewhat favourable to the company and very metropolis. There is, however, another side to the question, which in justice to what is perhaps the most progressive Press in the world should be put before your readers.
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It will thus be seen that the capital expendi. ture per mile on the Tokyo tramways is nearly equal to that of the London County Council tramways, while it very materially exceeds the average expenditure per mile on English, American and Canadian tramways. I have no statistics as to the capital expenditure per mile on other London tramways, but
Sir 68
Clifton Robinson calculates United tramways at £13,000 (130,000yen) the cost of construction on the London
per mile double track, on this basis
etc. 22,750,000 yen. Part of this 22,750,000 the 100 miles of line in Tokyo should have? oost 6,500,000 yen and the cars, power house,
yen was, however, expended in part payment for the widening of the streets in Tokyo, and it is a question how far this has affected the capital expenditure.
obvious that with such a large capital outlay the In whatever way the large expenditure per mile has been incurred. however, it remains
company cannot expect to pay a large dividend without a disproportionate increase in the fare, to
object. The present fare is 4 sen (roughly a which method of remedying the financial affairs of the company the citizens of Tokyo rightly
penny), to which an extra sen must be added for transit tax. By allowances for return and contends that the amount it receives from each workmen's and students' tickets the company
decided to resume the South American service practically for an increased revenue to enable it / passenger is reduced to 34 sen.
from April next by order of the Communications Department at Tokyo. The service will be regularly made six times a year. Manzanillo and another Mexican port have been added to the former ports of call.
The T.K.K. steamer Chiyo-maru, on her return
voyage from San Francisco exchanged wireless messages with a station on the Japanese coast when she was 1,100 miles off on the night
of the 13th ult.
*
* *
It is reported in the latest Japan papers received that the N.Y.K. steamer Kasuga-maru (3819 tons), from Kobe, went aground at 4.80 a.m., on the 15th ult. about 5 miles off Moji. The Fushiki-maru and other vessels immedi- ately proceeded to the scene. A later report says that the Kasuga entered Moji in tow of a tugboat at 2 p.m. She seems to have sustained no particular damage.
One of the Japanese Banks in Kobe is seeking an order of Court for the sale by public auction of a Japanese steamer of 1,280 tons named the Taiyeki Maru, registered in the name of Mrs.
Sato Mine, of Kobe. The Bank have a mort-
gage on the steamer for yen 37,000, but one of the local papers states that there is a second mort- gage on the steamer for 15,000 yen, and the steamer is also mortgaged to Messrs. Carlowitz and Co.. for yen 30,000 as third security. The total of these mortgages is yen 82,000, while the value of the steamer is estimated at $46,000.
An announcement recently appeared in the Nachrichten a Hamburg daily newspaper, that the Royal Dutch Steamship Co. intended starting, in July next, a service direct to Fremantle, Western Australia, and then via Port Adelaide and Java, to Manila, China and Japan. The representative of the Company in Sydney, however, has received a cable from Amsterdam stating that the board of directors has definitely decided to abandon the proposal.
*
Your correspondent refers to the extensions unprofitable until the population increases, and now being carried out, which, he states. will be
have one effect unless the fare is raised. argues that "this heavy capital outlay can only The one effect, presumably, is a decrease in the dividend, although decrease. To the present capital expended only a nominal
will have to be added the capital expended on the extensions, and with no extra revenue from these extensions, the dividend, calculated on the increased capital expended, will not be as high as at present. Thus the company's (demand is to cover the loss caused by certain suburban ex- tensions. If its charter compels the company to to make these extensions, as your correspondent states, why has the company never attempted to obtain an alteration in the charter which would release it from the obligation of constructing lines which cannot pay? Taking correspondent's reason for the increase of the fare as correct, is it very unnatural for the citizens of Tokyo to object to a proposal which taxes a large number for the benefit of the few persons to whom the extensions of the tramway are of value ?
The strike of the launch hands at Manila has had a sequel in the arrest of Dominador Gomez on charges of threats against the local shipping firms. The charges are the outgrowth of the Castle Bros.-Wolf and Sons strike in which Doctor Gomez took a prominent and self- imposed part, ordering the launch hands of the firm on a strike, following the walk-out of the bodega hands of Messrs. Castle Bros.-Wolf and Sons. Doctor Gomez, in a circular sent to all the shipping firms informed them of his painful duty" to extend the strike to the firms addressed in case any aid was given to Messrs. Castle Bros. Wolf and . ons. Messrs. Warner, Barnes and Company, who were among those favoured with a copy of the pronunciamento, decided to call a halt to the doughty doctor's pernicious agitation by invoking the criminal law and the charges mentioned were the result.
64
your
Your correspondent states that three old companies were amalgamated with a subscribed capital of 60,000,000 yen." It may be pointed out, however, that the latest dividends declared were based on a capital of 43,500,000 yen. Thus, the last balance sheet showed 870,000 yen set apart for dividends for the half year, which was stated to be at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum, The sum of 43,500,000 yen may therefore be taken as the paid up capital of the company. The point is of some importance because undoubtedly the whole cause of the trouble lies in the time the municipalisation proposal mentioned immense capital expenditure per mile. At the the company was paying dividends on a capital by your correspondent was made a year ago of 35,250,000 yen and was stated by one authority to have six million yen in hand. From this it may be concluded that the company has in hand or has expended since that time the sum of 14,250,000 yen, or sufficient, as will be shown later, to construct over 100 miles of double track and 2000 miles of single track, more than the whole length of the extensions which are to
be added in the course of the next seven years.
As to the average distance travelled by each passenger observation I should say it was about 5 miles, there are reliable statistics, but from personal which would give an average of a little under a fare in London? Here is what Sir Clifton sen (one farthing) a mile. What is the average Robinson says of the London United Tram- ways, in which he is interested:-
On the London United
We are
running daily upwards of 60 workmen's cars, and on an average carry the passengers by thes, cars over 5 miles for 1d., or less than a farthing a mile, though in some cases the latter can fare over the whole system for an ordinary travel three miles for a penny, while the average Passenger works out at less than a halfpenny a
mile.
standard of wages and living it seems reasonable Taking into account the difference in the that the citizens of Tokyo should pay half the amount paid by the citizens of London. Again, in American cities the uniform fare for any in Japanese money. The ordinary passenger on distance is 5 cents gold, corresponding to 10 sen the Tokyo tramways pays exactly half this amount, when the transit tax is included, and, America, this also seems reasonable. considering the high standard of wages in
charge on the Tokyo tramways was 3 sen, the It has to be remembered that the original amount being raised to 4 sen on the petition of the company. This addition of one sen was thought at the time sufficient to put the company in a satisfactory position. It now for a further increase. appears to have been a prelude to an application
the enormous capital expenditure incurred by
To sum up, the whole trouble has arisen from
the
company.
There satisfactory explanation of how this charge was may or may not be a incurred, but the contention of the citizens of Tokyo seems fair-that the company should not recoup itself at their expense for mismanagement in which they were not concerned. The best paying 4 per cent., the rate of the last dividend course seems to be for the company to go on paid, until such time as the extensions bring in an increased revenue Yours, etc.,
TOKYO.
At the time of the municipalisation proposal the company had expended on the lines, deducting the six million yen said to be in hand, the sum of 29,250,000 yen. The length of single track was then stated by the Mayor of Tokyo to be 90 miles, but as the estimate seems a low one, it will be fairer to take the total at 100 miles single track, which gives a Considering the lower cost of labour in Japan capital expenditure per mile of 292,500 yen. it might not unreasonably be expected to find the capital expenditure per mile lower in this country than in the West, but an examination of the U. S. Court for China, accompanied by Mrs. Mr. Rufus Hildreth Thayer, the Judge of the statistics shows this not to be the case. the Congress held at the Franco-British Ex. T.K.K.S. Chiyo Maru. He was met by Mr. C.A. At Thayer, arrived at Shanghai last week by the hibition in London last year Sir Clifton Denby, U. S. Consul-General, Mr. W.R.Dorsey, Robinson, the tramway expert, gave some statis- Deputy Consul-General, and Mr. A. Bassett, tics as to the capital expenditure per mile District-Attorney. A large gathering of it appears that the capital expenditure per mile President, and the Committee of the American on tramways in different countries. From these Americans, including Mr. Murray Warner, of single track on English tramways amounts Association, assembled upon the jetty to meet to £16,648 (about 166,480 yen); in the United the new Judge. It is understood that the States to £20,000 (200,000 yen); and in Canada American Association is planning some kind of County Council tramways, which have the to £14.287 (142,870 yen). Even the London entertainment to the new Judge, but the final largest capital expenditure of any tramways in
arrangements were not made until it was known the world, only show an expenditure of £30,000 For the present Mr. and Mrs, Thayer will stay whether he was accompanied by Mrs. Thayer. (300,000 yen) per mile.
at the Palace Hotel,
!
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