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railway properties, and other prohibitions on foreigners as regards mining, etc. There is no doubt that these measures will be brought forward in Parliament by those interested.

But even until these barriers are removed, there exist means whereby satisfactory arrangements can be offered to foreign capitalists. The need of money can be met by their subscribing to the debentures of the Industrial Bank of Japan (Nippon Kogyo Ginko), or by their making the bank an intermediary or guarantee of various undertakings. This bank was established by the Government for such purposes, and by standing between the capitalist on one side and industrial undertakings on the other, it is able to give satisfaction to both, by affording safe investment, or by giving guarantees to the former, and by supplying useful capital to the latter after strict investigation and discrimination.

In fact, this bank has already proved to be a useful channel for the introduction of foreign capital, by buying 50,000,000 yen bonds from the Imperial Japanese Government, and re-selling them to a London Syndicate formed in October, 1902.

The population of the empire is estimated at 44,805,937 for the year 1900, and of the total 22,608,150 are males. The rate of increase is extraordinary, because, numbering 35,929,023 in 1880, the population rose to 40,453,461 in 1890.

The central portions are the most densely populated, and are under the obligation of sending out emigrants, not only to Formosa and Hokkaido, but to Corea, China, Hawaii, and districts on the Pacific Coast of America. The total number of emigrants in 1890 amounted to 123,971.

To accommodate this ever-increasing population, Japan has two islands—Hokkaido on the north, and the newly-acquired Formosa on the south. The former is very thinly. populated, and gives ample room for emigrants from the main island. Though it lies far to the north, it is well fitted for agriculture, fishery, and mining, and is developing steadily, though somewhat slowly. Formosa, on the contrary, is thickly populated, it being calculated for 1899 that there were 2,758,161 people, including 33,120 Japanese. But, being rich in agricultural and mineral resources, and much of it still remaining to be explored, it is capable of receiving emigrants from the home country.

This may perhaps be a fit place to dwell a little upon the colonial system of Japan as carried into practice in Formosa, the only Colony of the empire in the strict sense of the term.

Formosa is placed in charge of a Governor-General, who has