Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/269

 twentieth of everything above, if at sea; the corresponding figures in the case of a river being one-twentieth and one-thirtieth, respectively.  —When cargo had been jettisoned, a full report of the facts had to be made to the officials at the first port of call, who then examined the remaining cargo and sealed it, pending delivery to its consignees. Severe penalties restrained fraudulent jettison, and when a deserted ship drifted ashore, the local officials were required to retain the hull and cargo for half a year in order to give the owner time to prefer a claim. Alienation of cargo involved heavy punishment, and for the offence of selling a vessel and her cargo under pretence of wreck, the master and officers were beheaded; the crew scourged and branded on the face. Collusion between a village headman and a ship-master to simulate unavoidable jettison of cargo which had been fraudulently sold, constituted a capital crime; the receiver of the stolen goods was also liable to decapitation, and a confederate exposed himself to transportation or expulsion from his village.  —An attempt made in 1842 to fix the maximum limit of interest at fifteen per cent, failed completely. It checked the circulation of money, and borrowers themselves sought to evade it.  —This is the figure confidently stated in a despatch addressed by the British Representative in Yedo to his Government in 1860.  —Japan's fishing industry is doubtless capable of great development. She has 17,602 miles of coast, and 270,000 families devoted to fishing, or more than fifteen families to each mile. They employ 330,706 boats and 1,194,408 nets, representing a capital of about three millions sterling, and the total value of the annual catch is put at five millions sterling, though ten millions would probably be nearer the truth. The fishermen are sturdy, courageous fellows, but their methods are primitive and virtually no improvements have yet been introduced.  —It was at one time supposed that Japan possessed great mineral wealth, but the question remains uncertain. The output of the various mines increases steadily, it is true, but its total annual value does not exceed three millions sterling. 