Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1129

 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION

773

Of the total foreign ships entered, 1,020 of 1,971,895 tons were British ; 361 of 471,855 tons Oernian ; 70 of 12(J,824 tons American ; 26 of 56,119 tons French. Of the total shipping in 1895, 590 vessels of 827,937 tons entered Nagasaki ; 358 of 422,150 !;ons Yokohama ; 350 of 457,223 tons Kobe.

In 1897 the merchant navy of Japan consisted of 570 steamers of European type, of 227,841 tons ; 165 sailing vessels of European type, of 25,485 tons ; and 668 native craft above 50 tons, of 51,152 tons.

Internal Communications.

There are 4,481 miles of State roads and 15,362 miles of provincial roads.

Railways are of two classes — (1) State railways ; (2) railways owned by private companies, twenty-eight in number, three of them guaranteed a certain rate of interest by Government. The following table gives the railway statistics for 1896-97 : —

Stafe Railwiv^ : Railways owned by 1 cor a- ^ ' Private Companies, ibyo-y. 1896-97

Length in miles. Gross income, yen Expenditure, yen Goods carried, tons PassengervS, number.

631-62 1,873-50

8,273,652 12,873,432

3,815,663 5,565,452

1,276,658, 5,421,013

22,681,161 j 4-2,4-26,737

The following are postal statistics for four fiscal years. The income, ex penditure, and officers include those of the telegraph service : —

1 —

1893-94

1894-95 1895-96

1896-97 !

Letters and postcards Newspapers and periodicals.

. Books

1 Samples, &c

1 Registered packets .... Parcels

Total

' Income (yen)

'. Expenditure (yen) .... Officers

254,573,715

56,968,379

5,391,852

421,243

3,540,704

734,615

.302,311,129

80,415,390

5,257,376

484,634

4,049,933

1,206,849

356,141,242

78,962,299

5,917,775

683,923

4,679,471

1,686,977

403,818,612

86,801,875

6,617,114

898,190

5,223,891

2,737,138

321,630,508

393,725,311

448,071,087

506,096,820

6,487,088

5,087,047

14,209

8,-381,049

6,811,060

14,733

8,341,042

5,433,825

15,299

16,925

All open ports and other important cities and towns are connected with each other and with Europe by lines ot telegraph. In March, 1897, there were 11,720 miles of telegraph with 37,661 miles of wire, besides 387 miles of .submarine cable, with 1,481 miles of wire. The number of telegrams carried was 10,978,153 in the fiscal year 1896-97. There were 1,114 olfices in Japan,

In March, 1897, there were 528 miles of telephone (6,347 miles of wire), with 6 exchange offices, 25 calling offices, and 3, 232 subscribers.

Money and Credit.

The following table shows the amount of coinage i.ssned in the fi.scal years stated (ending 31.st March) : —