Japan by the Japanese/Chapter 30.1

In Formosa the Imperial Government has carried out the general line of policy laid down in 1896, and most of the projects then advanced are now accomplished facts. A due commercial appreciation of the geographical situation of the island as a basis of action towards South China and the Southern Seas was recognised already in 1896. It was thought expedient to consider the following proposals: (1) The development of the administrative organization; (2) the enlargement of the police force; (3) general sanitation and the opium question; (4) the improvement of shipping facilities; and (5) railway construction, road-making, and harbour works.

To accomplish these projects the following steps were necessary, and in 1896 the necessary recommendations were made to the authorities in Tokyo.

To further enlarge the administrative organization, the first thing to be done was to increase the number of prefectures, and thus to reduce the area of administration to smaller divisions; and, secondly, to establish a system of lower or detailed administration so that the utmost possible care might be taken of the welfare of the people. According to the existing form of government, the whole island was divided into three prefectures and one island office. The prefectures were also subdivided into twelve district offices. Formosa has an area larger than that of Kyushyu (one of the five principal islands of the Japanese Empire), and a population of over 3,000,000. Means of communication were as yet in a state of imperfection, and the manners and customs of the people varied greatly from those of ours. Besides these difficulties that lay in the way of governing the island, there was, ​moreover, the fact that the prefectural offices practically exercised no control over the district offices, the latter being put under the necessity of asking orders from the former, but denied facilities of operation. The administrative divisions of the island then in existence, having hastily been copied from those existing under the Chinese régime, under the pressing need of establishing a military form of government after the cession in 1895, had not been made the subject of thorough examination to see if they would best meet the requirements of the situation. In order, therefore, to establish a satisfactory system of administration, it was found advisable to increase the number of prefectures by four, the number of the island offices and of the district offices remaining as before. As the result of the new arrangement, the whole island was divided into seven prefectures and one island office, with the twelve district offices under them. Under this arrangement the larger prefectures then possessed an area of over 4,000,000 square ri, and contained more than 600,000 inhabitants, and the smaller an area of over 2,000,000 square ri, and more than 300,000 inhabitants. In area and population each was more than equal to the smaller Fu or Ken of the mainland.

As for the lower administrative system, the project was to establish more than seventy executive offices throughout the whole island to conduct public affairs within these small administrative divisions, and from each town or village of the division to elect a representative of the inhabitants to assist in the due performance of public functions. The Formosan administrative divisions were re-established solely in accordance with these views, but were subsequently reduced. It may appear that there was some weakness in the idea. The truth is, however, that at that early period of Japanese possession it was thought that the thorough recognition and respect by the natives of the high and august attributes of our gracious Sovereign was the first and paramount object to be attained by the new Government, and that a broad executive mechanism would best answer this purpose. When things came to assume their normal condition in the island, it was found that the extensive system as it then was would do more harm than good to the islanders.

The extension of the police force was an object of paramount importance in the government of Formosa. So also was the implanting in the minds of the people a high regard for the virtues of His Majesty the Emperor, as well as to secure a thorough appreciation by them of the goodwill and sincerity of our Government, and this could not better be attained than by extending the administrative police force of the island. In 1896 there were 2,000 gendarmes and 1,200 policemen under ​the control of the Governor-General. But gendarmes are by nature detailed for the preservation of civil order, and can hardly exert themselves in anything that concerns the general welfare of a community. Thus, there were but few police available to be distributed throughout the island. With this insignificant force it was necessary to guard against the secret landing of unruly Chinese, and to take preventive measures against the smuggling of opium and other articles constantly practised along the whole coast of the island facing the Chinese Sea. Naturally, it was necessary to call for the action of the garrison troops every time a riot occurred. It was clearly seen that it should be made the duty of both gendarmes and the policemen to guard against these emergencies, and for this purpose it was requisite that their number should be increased by 2,300 and 1,500 respectively, thus making up a force of 3,500 each.

It certainly was one of the prime duties of the Japanese Government to take necessary measures for the sanitary well-being of the island. The most difficult subject of opium-smoking, which actually involves questions of public peace, was forced upon the authorities. Measures relating to the prevention of epidemics—the drinking water and sewerage improvement—were decided novelties in Formosa. The health and even life of the natives are entirely exposed to the dangers appertaining to the climatic conditions of the land. Hence it was felt that to provide for the safety of their lives and for the enjoyment of sound health was the way to secure their attachment and devotion to the Imperial Government. There was also the necessity of encouraging immigration from Japan, for which the sanitary improvement of the island was a preliminary and necessary step.

As to the question of opium-smoking, some insisted upon its immediate prohibition, while others were in favour of the gradual extinction of that baleful custom. With Formosans it is a habit indulged in for generations, and in it is their only relish and refreshment. If a stop were put to this sole enjoyment of theirs, a reaction of a grave nature was inevitable; and should their resentment and enmity have exhibited themselves in a practical manner, the management of all public affairs in the island would have been seriously affected. With a view to gradually and eventually putting an end to this habit, the Government decided that it would organize for this special branch of sanitation a complex and effective executive mechanism. The very importance of the measures demanded that they should be conducted on a much larger scale than the business of a petty department of the Civil Affairs Bureau. The establishment of an independent sanitary bureau was ​imperative in order to secure the carrying out of those measures with the best possible results. Later, by means of the creation of the Opium Monopoly, steps were taken towards the stamping out of the vice.

The state of communication in 1896 between Japan and Formosa did not meet the growing necessities, much less the needs of developing the resources of the island. The Formosan Government, by allowing an annual grant of 60,000 yen to the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, first opened two lines of steamship service between Kobe and Kelung, one of them touching at Bakan, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa, and Tayeyama, and the other at Oshima and Okinawa. But the vessels plying were only three in number, of a little over 1,000 tons each, and running the distance only thrice a month. They were only aided by a few vessels chartered by the Government, which, besides running on Government services, were employed for the conveyance of ordinary passengers and cargoes. It was purposed to establish the following lines by the grant of due subsidies from the next fiscal year:

(a) Kobe to Kelung, via Ujina, Moji, Nagasaki, and Misum.

(b) Kobe to Kelung, via Kagoshima, Oshima, Okinawa, and Tayeyama.

(c) The direct service between Kobe and Kelung.

(d) Coasting service.

(e) Tamsui—South China line—from Tamsui to Anping, Taku, Hong Kong, Swatow, Amoy, and Foochow.

In the interior of Formosa natives live in detached isolated groups, having little or no communication with their neighbours. The whole island, viewed from the point of communication, may well be compared to a human body with choked arteries. Under these circumstances, an effective, thorough administration is more than we can hope for. The question of road-making and railway construction demanded the immediate attention of the Government. The railway system in Formosa as originally designed may be divided into four sections: (1) from Kelung to Takow, through Taipeh, Taichu, Tainan, etc., along the western coast; (2) from Kelung to Giran; (3) from Takow to Taito; (4) from Taito to Giran, along the eastern coast. Of these, the first line was, of course, the most urgent and important. Our railway corps was first engaged in the work of reconstructing the existing line between Kelung and Taipeh, which was built and used by the Chinese, and it was not long before it was put in working order. As to the lines south of Taipeh, it was estimated that the cost of construction would reach at least 18,000,000 yen. But the completion of a comprehensive programme of railway construction, it was felt, would provide Formosa with a splendid means of ​communication. Railways become the mainspring of industrial advancement, an efficient military defence, and a good administration. No time, therefore, was lost in pushing on the building of those lines to completion. It was hoped that it would be possible to construct some of the necessary railway-lines with private capital; but it was found impossible to arrange this, even by offering substantial subsidies, and the work had to be undertaken by the Government, special sums of money being raised by loans.

The road-making in the island was at once commenced, and has proceeded steadily ever since. Highways along the railway lines that run lengthwise through the island were projected.

Formosa abounds in ports and harbours, which are, however, only available for small craft. For sea-going ships of any considerable dimensions, almost all of them hardly afford anchorage. Hence, the formation of good harbours was one of the enterprises that claimed the immediate attention of the Government. Both Kelung and Takow were surveyed with a view to forming plans for the improvement of those harbours. The former port constitutes an important intermediate station on the line of communication with Japan, while the latter forms the basis of communication with the South Chinese ports.

The improvements of railways, roads, and harbours were necessarily accompanied by an outlay of no small sum from the State Treasury, but the future development of Formosa, as well as the advancement of our national power, were felt to more than justify the Government in defraying the requisite expenditure.