Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/528

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JAPAN BY THE JAPANESE

If we distribute the sum equally among the existing companies, the ratio borne by each company is an average sum of 8,600,000 yen. According to the latest statistics, the number of private companies of all sorts of description in the whole empire amounts to 8,598, and the gross capital invested totals 779,000,000 yen. There are in all only forty odd railway companies in existence, while their total capital aggregates one-third of the whole sum invested in all companies in Japan.

In the Government railways a large portion of the original capital was derived from railway bonds, while a certain portion of the current capital necessary is obtained from the railway revenue. In the case of private companies, almost without exception the capital is formed by the issue of shares, debentures, or even by temporary loans.

The details of the latest source of railway capital for private companies are shown below:

By shares
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
192,811,305 yen.
By debentures
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
12,839,000 yen.
By loans
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
6,955,404 yen.
Other sources
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
7,103,723 yen.
Total
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
219,709,432 yen.

Regarding the capital as 100, the amount raised by shares is 88, by debentures 6, by loans 3, and the remaining 3 from other sources. The average cost of construction per mile up to the end of the thirty-fourth fiscal year was 75,422 yen. The average cost of construction per mile at the close of the thirty-fourth year of various railways is shown and compared in the following table:

Name of Railway. Average cost
per mile.
Nishinari
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
440,000 yen. [1]
Chuyo (Government), Eastern Section
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
265,000 yen.
Chuyo Shinononi Section
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
207,000 yen.
Kyoto
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
153,000 yen.
Kanan
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
030,000 yen.
Hokkaido Government Railway
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
034,000 yen.
Chyuyetsu
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
038,000 yen.
Nanao
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
041,000 yen.
Bisai
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
044,000 yen.
Sobu
…          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …          …
047,000 yen.
  1. This figure includes other expenses quite foreign to the construction cost and therefore it is impossible to use it for comparison with the others.