The following table shows the development of the clearing-house business in the two largest centres:—
| First Half-Year of | Total of Checks and Bills Cleared. | |
|---|---|---|
| Tōkyō Yen. | Ōsaka. Yen. | |
| 1895 | 131,600,000 | 34,500,000 |
| 1896 | 184,800,000 | 65,700,000 |
| 1897 | 250,300,000 | 72,200,000 |
| 1898 | 383,400,000 | 97,300,000 |
| 1899 | 433,800,000 | 161,600,000 |
| 1900 | 675,400,000 | 255,500,000 |
| 1901 | 565,000,000 | 263,700,000 |
| 1902 | 614,700,000 | 298,700,000 |
| 1903 | 756,100,000 | 395,900,000 |
| 1908 (whole year) | 2,962,973,000 | 1,418,941,000 |
| 1910 (whole year) | 3,841,380,000 | 2,028,605,000 |
Ship-Building in Japan[203]
Recent orders which have been placed in the hands of the Nagasaki Dockyard and Engine Works and the Kawasaki Dockyard Company, Limited, by the Nippon Yūsen Kaisha and the Ōsaka Shōsen Kaisha, serve to remind the resident of the rapid development of the ship-building industry in this country, while at the same time affording evidence of the growth of the country’s mercantile marine. The order placed with the first-named yard is for four large steamers of 6,000, 5,400, 2,500, and 1,900 tons, respectively, the largest vessels being intended for the Japan Mail Steamship Company’s European and Australian lines. Nor is the Ōsaka Shōsen Kaisha in a different position. This enterprising company also has found it necessary to order new vessels, and has found it economical to order them in Japan instead of from abroad. The fact is worthy of note, for it is the first time in the history of the country that orders for eight ocean-going steamers have been in hand at one time. This may, we trust, be held to indicate that the shipping and ship-building industries are in a healthy and prosperous state.
The contrast between the condition of the local ship-building trade now and that of a few years back is a striking one. Perhaps the first real impetus given to private ship-building here was due to the enterprise of the late Mr. E. C. Kirby, at whose yard at Onohama—the plant of which was subsequently removed to Kure—one large cruiser and several smaller gunboats and steamers were successfully launched. Since then, the yards at Kawasaki, Ōsaka, Ishikawajima, Uraga, and Nagasaki have taken up the work vigorously, and demonstrated beyond possibility of cavil their ability to turn out ocean-going craft, and large river steamers of the highest standard. With the productions of Ōsaka and Kōbe ship-building establishments trading regularly on the Yangtze, and 6,000-ton liners from the Nagasaki Shipbuilding Engine Works, making record voyages between Seattle and the Orient, and others running regularly between home ports and London, there is no longer room for surprise in viewing Japan-built steamers. There is no doubt that with the opening up of additional lines in the China and Japan seas, sufficient work for local ship-builders will be forthcoming for some years to come, and it is therefore unlikely that they will enter into serious competition in the near future with ship-building yards in Shanghai, Hongkong, and Singapore. The home demand seems likely to engage their activities for some years yet, though the presence of a 700-ton steamer for the Shanghai customs on the stocks at Kawasaki may be held to belie the prediction.... Although Japanese ship-builders may have quite enough to do in the near future to meet the home demand, a young rival has entered the lists against the great ship-building concerns of the West; and this in itself is no small credit to the nation, which is already able to plume itself upon having accomplished more in a generation than any other people in Asia or in the South Seas, and as much, relatively, as the American and English peoples whose homes are on the Pacific slope.
The Ōsaka Exhibition[204]
Considering that as recently as 1873 Japan had no such institution as a factory, and knew nothing whatever of iron foundries or machine shops, the Japanese-made machinery display at the exhibition at Ōsaka was astonishing. There we found silk-weaving and mat-making machines, electrical motors and generators, gas and oil engines, locomotives, electrical fittings, tools, beltings, match-making machine, lemonade-making machine, distilling machine, fire-brigade appliances, rice-cleaning machines, huge steam navvy, oil tanks, soap-making machines, printing machines, massive hoisting engine, tea-refining machinery, heavy mining machinery, and many other smaller machines, all of Japanese manufacture, admirably made and efficient.
In general manufactures the empire made a good showing. Straw braid; shibori, a beautiful stuff, making pretty dress material; woollen serges and woven silks, particularly a delicate fabric of mixed silk and cotton (the output of this fabric exceeding $1,500,000 per annum); cheap and good cotton blankets, Japanese towels, artistic designs in tiles and roofing materials, drainpipes, fireproof bricks. In drinkables, also of home manufacture, there was beer by the carload; sake, the famous native drink, enough to quench the thirst of an army.
One of the best exhibits was in clocks; some of them very handsome and very cheap, made by one or other of the twelve Japanese clock companies. The porcelain exhibition was good, consisting of beautiful vases, artistic porcelain trays, basins, teacups, etc. The exhibit of Japanese-made shoes was quite creditable. Other native manufactures exhibited were bamboo furniture, whatnots, over-mantels, fire screens, shell buttons, paper lanterns, fine silken rugs, shawls, paper, camphor, oils, soap, all kinds of sauces and relishes, silks of every hue and description, silk lace, gold and silver thread, linen, duck, tent cloths, ivory work, bronzes, lacquer and silver work, surgical instruments, pianos, organs, and other musical instruments, bicycles, gymnastic and athletic goods, microscopes, cameras, barometers, and almost every kind of educational apparatus.
The natural products of the country were exhibited to good advantage. Rice, tobacco (manufactured and un-manufactured), silkworms, various varieties of silk cocoons, tea, huge oranges, sugar, furs, woods, pearls, coral, fish (dried and salted). Mushrooms were a special exhibit of one prefecture, tea of another, and so on. The whole section of the agricultural experiment station was complete and admirable in every way.