Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/280

 Church. There were 29,805 endowed temples and shrines throughout the Empire, and their estates aggregated 354,481 acres, together with 1,750,000 bushels of rice (representing 2,500,000 yen). The Government resumed possession of all these lands and revenues at a total cost to the State of a little less than 2,500,000 yen, paid out in pensions spread over a period of fourteen years. The measure sounds like wholesale confiscation. But some extenuation is found in the fact that the temples and shrines held their lands and revenues under titles which, being derived from the feudal chiefs, depended for their validity on the maintenance of feudalism.  —This sum represents interest-bearing bonds issued in exchange for fiat notes, with the idea of reducing the volume of the latter. It was a tentative measure and proved of no value.  —Japan's fleet at the time of the war consisted of comparatively small vessels, the largest being three coast-defence ships of 4,278 tons. She captured from China an armour-clad of 7,335 tons,—the first line-of-battle ship in her navy. Her post-bellum fleet now includes six first-class battleships, ranging from 12,500 to 15,000 tons, approximately; six first-class cruisers of 9,200 tons; nine second-class cruisers, ranging from 3,700 to 4,800 tons; ten third-class cruisers, ranging from 3,300 tons, etc.  —Japan suffers severely from inundations. It has been estimated that the average annual loss from this source does not fall short of 19,000,000 yen. In 1887 an extensive scheme of riparian improvement was undertaken. It involved a total expenditure of 26,000,000 yen of which 6,000,000 had been expended when the war with China broke out.  —All Japan's domestic loans are now placed on a uniform basis. They carry five per cent interest, run for a period of five years without redemption, and are then redeemed within fifty years at latest. The Treasury has competence to expedite the operation of redemption according to financial convenience, but the sum expended on amortisation each year must receive the previous consent of the Diet. Within the limit of that sum redemption is effected either by purchasing the stock of the loans in the open market or by drawing lots to determine the bonds to be paid off. Perhaps a more suggestive idea may 