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secret cultivation and smuggling of leaves were not entirely prevented. For this and other reasons it became necessary to introduce further amendments into the monopoly system.

The chief points of the newly-revised Law of the Leaf Tobacco Monopoly, which came into force on the 29th of April, are as follows:

Every cultivator of tobacco should receive permission of the Government.

The cultivators are obliged to cultivate tobacco according to the methods and processes prescribed by the Government.

The harvest quantity and the number of leaves shall be investigated and estimated by the Government; but if the cultivator is dissatisfied with such estimate, objection may be made at once.

When such objection is made, two or more appraisers shall be selected, and after hearing their opinions the point at issue shall be decided by the Government.

When a cultivator, without sufficient reasons, fails to deliver to the monopoly office the quantity or number of leaves officially estimated, he shall be required to pay an amount of money corresponding to the value of the deficient quantity or number of leaves.

Leaves may be sold to exporters by the Government at special prices, but such leaves shall be put in the custody of the Government until their actual exportation.

The manufacturers’ guild, which every manufacturer is required to join, shall be established according to law.

The system thus amended is now in force, and brief as is the period of its operation, its working has been very successful. At first there were sixty-one Leaf Tobacco Monopoly Offices, but afterwards, instead of them, there were established a Central Bureau and its forty-three branch offices, the former in Tokyo, and the latter at different important places throughout the country.

Herewith are given some statistics concerning tobacco since 1894:

(The loss in 1897 was owing to the fact that it was the first year in which the law was carried out in practice.)