Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/441

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COMMERCE AND INDUSTRIES

401

Navigation in Japan began to develop about 1884 or 1885, but until the war in 1895 it did not make any considerable progress. In 1890 there were only 1,450 vessels constructed after the European pattern, the tonnage of which was 145,692 tons. But since the promulgation of the Navigation Encouragement Subsidy Law and Shipbuilding Encouragement Subsidy Law of March, 1896, the work has developed remarkably. New lines to Europe, America, and Australia have been founded. Thus we find that in 1901 Japan owned 5,415 vessels of the Western pattern, the tonnage of which was 919,968 tons.

Number and Tonnage of Mercantile Vessels of Foreign Style

(As Standing at the End of December of the Respective Years).

Year.	Number of Vessels.			Tonnage.
Year.	Steam Vessels.	Sailing Vessels.	Total.	Steam Vessels.	Sailing Vessels.	Total.
1890	1,586	0,865	1,451	093,812	051,880	145,692
1891	1,607	0,835	1,442	095,588	050,137	145,725
1892	1,642	0,779	1,421	102,301	046,031	148,332
1893	1,680	0,749	1,429	110,205	044,967	155,172
1894	1,740	0,722	1,467	169,414	043,511	212,925

1895	1,827	0,702	1,529	341,369	044,794	386,163
1896	1,899	0,644	1,543	373,588	044,055	417,643
1897	1,032	0,715	1,747	438,779	048,130	486,909
1898	1,130	1,914	3,044	477,430	170,894	648,324
1899	1,221	3,322	4,543	510,007	286,923	796,930
1900	1,329	3,850	5,179	543,365	320,571	863,936
1901	1,395	4,020	5,415	583,532	336,436	919,968

Foreign Trade.^[1]

Since the Restoration the foreign trade of Japan has made wonderful strides. In 1877 the total trade with foreign countries—exports and imports—amounted to only 50,000,000 yen, but in 1890 the amount had risen to 138,330,000 yen. Ten years later, in 1900, it went up again to 491,690,000 yen,

↑ Detailed tables of Exports and Imports are given in Appendix H.

[1] Detailed tables of Exports and Imports are given in Appendix H.

[1]