Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/545

In Japan the police system is essentially a part of the State organization. It has nothing to do with the communal corporations. The police force is organized in each prefecture under a universal regulation of the central Government, with local option of making some trifling modifications to suit the condition of the locality, such as the average amount of the salary of the policemen and the total number of such men.

The system in force in the prefecture of Tokyo, which comprises the city of Tokyo and some suburban guns (counties), forms an exception. The general control of the police forces belongs to the Minister of the Interior. In his ministry there is a special bureau for management of police affairs, with a director who acts under him. In prefectures the Governors have the control of police affairs, each in his prefecture being under the general control of the Minister of the Interior. In each prefectural government there is a division of officials, with a chief who takes charge of police affairs under the Governor.

The general expenditure of the police force is included in the prefectural Budget and defrayed out of the prefectural taxation. But part of it is subsidized by the central Government, and, besides the salaries of the officials and some small specific expenses, are also paid by the Treasury. The Budget is, of course, submitted for the consideration of the Prefectural Elective Assembly in each prefecture, and thus the local assemblies have a voice in determining the average amount of the salaries of the men and the number of men employed. The State subsidy is one-sixth part of the whole expenditure (modified Imperial Ordinance of 1888), and the number of the men is one for from three hundred to eight hundred of popula-