Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/621

In Formosa the Imperial Government has carried out the general line of policy laid down in 1896, and most of the projects then advanced are now accomplished facts. A due commercial appreciation of the geographical situation of the island as a basis of action towards South China and the Southern Seas was recognised already in 1896. It was thought expedient to consider the following proposals: (1) The development of the administrative organization; (2) the enlargement of the police force; (3) general sanitation and the opium question; (4) the improvement of shipping facilities; and (5) railway construction, road-making, and harbour works.

To accomplish these projects the following steps were necessary, and in 1896 the necessary recommendations were made to the authorities in Tokyo.

To further enlarge the administrative organization, the first thing to be done was to increase the number of prefectures, and thus to reduce the area of administration to smaller divisions; and, secondly, to establish a system of lower or detailed administration so that the utmost possible care might be taken of the welfare of the people. According to the existing form of government, the whole island was divided into three prefectures and one island office. The prefectures were also subdivided into twelve district offices. Formosa has an area larger than that of Kyushyu (one of the five principal islands of the Japanese Empire), and a population of over 3,000,000. Means of communication were as yet in a state of imperfection, and the manners and customs of the people varied greatly from those of ours. Besides these difficulties that lay in the way of governing the island, there was, more-