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after having been declared fit for service by the army veterinary surgeons, were distributed where required. Not finding this satisfactory, the Horse Supply Office was established, under control of the Minister of War. This department attends to the purchase and rearing of colts, their distribution, and their accumulation for military uses. For this purpose there is a general office at Tokyo, with seven scattered branch offices, and supplied with nearly 150,000 acres of pasture and farm land for grazing and for growing and collecting stores.

The arsenals, two in number, situated at Tokyo and Osaka, come under control of the Military Arms and Ammunition Office, and undertake to repair and manufacture arms and ammunition. Powder factories are maintained at Meguro, Itabash, and Iwahana.

Since 1891 the Tokyo arsenal employed 2,160,805 people, of whom 96,325 were women, while the Osaka arsenal, during the same period, employed 1,499,557 people, of whom 37,641 were women.

During 1902 the woollen works at Senju, conducted for the manufacture of army supplies and controlled by the Minister of War, gave employment to 318,126 hands, of whom 173,745 were women.