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JAPAN BY THE JAPANESE

war with China, and the arsenal covers upwards of a hundred acres of ground. It manufactures naval guns and projectiles of all sizes up to 12 inches, as well as gun-mountings. The principal shops of the arsenal are pattern and carpenter shops, steel and brass foundries, forging shops—the largest hydraulic press being of 4,000 tons—boring, turning, and finishing shops, tempering and shrinking pits, gun-mounting shops, machine shops, projectile and cartridge-case shops, torpedo and submarine mine shops, laboratories, stores, proving butts, etc. A plant for making armour plate is now being erected, comprising several open-hearth furnaces, gas-producers, forges containing a 10,000-ton hydraulic press and rollers, etc., machine shops, cementation house, drawing rooms, stores, etc.

Personnel.

For the fiscal year ending 1902 the numbers of officers and men voted for the Imperial Japanese navy were as follows:

Officers, 2,294; warrant officers, 1,057; petty officers and seamen, etc., 39,821.

Officers and men in the reserve in 1902 numbered:

Officers of the naval reserve, 170; warrant officers, 108; petty officers and men, 6,343.

The officers of the Imperial navy are divided into two classes—the executive naval officers and the officers, the latter ranking the same as executive naval officers.

The executive naval officers are Admirals, Captains, Commanders, Lieutenants, Sub-lieutenants, midshipmen, naval cadets, gunners, and boatswains.

The officers holding the relative ranks are engineers, medical officers, paymasters, ordnance engineers, naval constructors, hydrographical engineers, carpenters, and bandmasters.

Marine infantry and artillery were also organized at first, but have been abolished since 1876.

Executive Officers.

In the Imperial Japanese navy the naval cadets are appointed by competitive examination, which is open to the sons of all Japanese subjects. The entrance examination is held, at present, in nineteen of the principal towns of the country, under the supervision of the superintendent of the Naval College. The number of cadetships available for the year having been previously gazetted by the Minister of the Marine, applications are made to the superintendent of the Naval College through the local authorities within the specified limit of time. A candidate must not be under sixteen or over twenty years of

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