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The last mentioned is the one which foreigners claimed to be exempt from paying, but the Japanese government claimed to have the authority to levy; the question has been submitted to arbitration, and is still sub judice. Under the new treaties Japan has the right to levy duties on imports, and thereby secures considerable revenue. In the list of articles exempt from duties we find books, maps, charts, bullion, coins, cotton, flax, hemp, jute, rice, wool, plants, trees, shrubs, etc.; and in the list of prohibited articles opium and adulterations are most prominent.^[1]

Inasmuch as the status of foreigners under Japanese law is a subject of growing practical importance, we make extracts from an address delivered by Dr. Masujima before the New York State Bar Association in January, 1903:—

"The cases in which foreigners are restricted in the enjoyment of private rights, are the ownership of land or Japanese ships, the right to work mines, to own shares in the Bank of Japan or the Yokohama Specie Bank, to be members or brokers of exchanges, to engage in emigration business, or to receive bounties for navigation or ship building. Any company must, in order to own Japanese ships, have its principal office in Japan, and all members in case of a Gōmei Kaisha, all unlimited liability members in case of either a Gōshi Kaisha or Kabushiki Gōshi Kaisha, and all directors in case of a limited company, must be Japanese subjects.