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both finance and economy, so as to successfully bring about results aimed at by the post-bellum measures. Before, however, these suggestions of mine were carried into execution, in August of 1895, 1 felt it my duty to tender my resignation; but my successor in office, Viscount Watanabe, largely shared my views, and proposed, in the ninth session of the Imperial Diet, measures for the improvement and extension of public organizations for transportation, communication, and monetary circulation. These measures being adopted by the Diet, it must be said that the first important step was taken in a general way in the great work of post-bellum financial and economical rearrangements.

In September of 1896 I was again appointed Minister of Finance, and I immediately took steps to bring about the adoption of the gold standard, through the enactment of the Coinage Law—a scheme which had been a long time in maturing—and I succeeded further in bringing about the setting up of a special comptabilité for Formosa, thus making it independent of the General Account of the Government, as well as the adoption of measures for the second period of military and naval programme expansion—these measures all forming parts of the scheme for adjusting the post-bellum financial affairs.

A remarkable state of affairs produced through the impetus given by the late victorious war was the sudden uprising of industrial enterprises of all kinds; so that, in the matter of shipping and navigation, for instance, such great and rapid strides were made by the nation that the amount of navigation subsidy paid by the Government to private companies had to be at once increased from 1,000,000 yen to 5,000,000 yen. One of the results of this sudden industrial expansion was the rise of prices and wages, which necessarily helped to increase the deficit in the State revenue; added to this, the cost of administration of Formosa came to grow more and more heavy. All these things combined to create a deficit of some 21,000,000 yen in the Budget of 1898, notwithstanding the fact that the greatest economy was practised in certain lines of expenditure, and that in the matter of revenue the rates of the saké tax and some other Excise duties were increased. Now, it seemed to me that in these circumstances no half-measures would suffice, and that, unless some thorough-going steps were taken to make good this deficit, it was clear as daylight that a great disorder of national finance would be the result. I could only think of an increase of land tax as surely calculated to lay firm financial foundations. For this reason, although the measure was very unpopular and difficult to carry through, I had a scheme of increased land tax drawn up. I felt somewhat encouraged to do so, since, on account of the adoption of the gold standard