The Passport System and Disability of Foreigners.
There is hope that these important considerations may lead ere long to a modification of the stringent passport regulations, and of the disability attaching to the alien tenure of real estate, hindering as it must do the permanent investment of capital.
Proportion of External Trade with several Foreign Countries.
5.—Foreign countries shared or divided in 1890 the external trade of Japan in the following proportions:—
| (a) Great Britain, | 32·0 | million | dollars. |
| (b) British Colonial Empire, | 27·0 | " | " |
| Total British Flag, | 59,000,000. dols. | ||
| (c) United States, | 26·0 | million | dollars. |
| (d) China, | 14·8 | " | " |
| (e) France, | 14·0 | " | " |
| (f) German, | 9·0 | " | " |
| (g) Corea (adjacent), | 5·6 | " | " |
| (h) Belgium, | 1·0 | " | " |
| All other countries less than one million dollars each, and aggregating, | 9·4 | " | " |
Purchases by Japan of British Goods.
6.—The purchases by Japan from the British Empire exceeded 41 million dollars (say 6,750,000l.), of which 26½ millions worth were obtained from the United Kingdom.
Unfortunately, however, a not inconsiderable proportion of the imports credited to Great Britain, are stated to have been of German, Belgian, or other foreign make, and although obtained through English houses, the advantage to the artisan community at home was thereby materially reduced.
False Marking.