Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/606

The postal receipts and expenses, which had followed an annual progression almost constant, and parallel with the increase in correspondence, rose in 1898 to 21,039,343 francs for the former, and 18,178,250 for the latter. During the first fifteen years of the establishment of the postal service, the receipts were generally insufficient to cover the expenses of the work necessary to the development and improvement of the service, but since 1886 the contrary effect was produced, and the receipts have constantly surpassed the expenses, and in 1897 they exceeded the expenses by more than 4,700,000 francs.

The first establishment of the telegraph in Japan dates from 1869. The Japanese Government engaged the services of English engineers in 1868, and in 1869 opened to public service the first line between Tokyo and Yokohama. The authorities made every effort to develop it, but, the economic and commercial situation of the country being little advanced, it was not yet understood how to utilize fully this instrument of modern civilization. The telegraphic communications of the State and of the public were so limited that they hardly sufficed to occupy the daily services of the telegraph operators, and thus the service was not regularly maintained.

The telegraph system began to be better organized after the establishment of the Telegraphic Correspondence Regulation in 1873 and the promulgation of the Telegraph Law of 1874. At the time of the insurrection in the south-west in 1877 (known as the Satsuma Rebellion), the Government was more than ever impressed with the necessity of the prompt development of telegraph-lines. It was during this civil war that the principal lines of the Isle of Kyushyu were connected with those of Japan proper, and that new lines in the Isle of Shikoku were constructed.

In 1878 the Government celebrated the fête of the inauguration of the telegraph, and all the telegraph-offices were officially opened, not only for international service, but also for interior service. However, Japan did not definitely enter the International Telegraph Union till 1879.

Desirous of possessing so useful a mode of communication, the people of localities not supplied demanded the prompt establishment of telegraphic bureaus. The Government, in consideration of this desire, authorized the Administration in 1881 to open telegraphic service where demanded, and offered to defray part of the expenses of first installation. Demands pouring in from all sides, the Administration decided to study