Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/638

1. The administrative system, for which General Kodama is at present responsible, has since 1898 answered all requirements, and has given satisfaction to a population which is composed of many elements inclined by nature to be more or less antagonistic to one another.

2. The sanitation question. Since the Chinese had paid no attention whatever to such matters, the death-rate was very high at the time when the island became Japanese property. Steps were at once taken to remedy the defective drainage of he towns, to supply pure drinking-water by boring artesian wells and establishing waterworks, and to reduce the number of mosquitoes and other noxious insects, which previously were serious plagues. Hospitals were indispensable to the fulfilment of this scheme, and no fewer than eleven of these institutions were established.

3. The cadastre, upon which the land-tax is collected, was established, and is being pushed forward, and its effects, as exhibited by a largely enhanced revenue from this source, are already plainly visible, though the work is necessarily one which demands time for its complete accomplishment.

4. The educational measures adopted are far-reaching, and are certain to be effective.

5. The public works, comprising telegraphs, lighthouses, railways, and the improvement of the accommodation for shipping at various ports, are all receiving their due share of consideration.

6. The banking affairs and monetary system of the colony have been placed upon a satisfactory footing.

The customs and habits of the inhabitants of Formosa differ very considerably from those of Japan, and thus it was impossible to immediately introduce the legal system of the latter country without important modifications. The first step of the Government was to restore order, and suppress the rebellious element by the constitution of a military administration, and the second was to protect and encourage the peaceful population. There has been much discussion as to whether the Constitution promulgated in Japan in 1889 should not have been adopted in Formosa at the moment of annexation. The Constitution does not mention any territorial limits within which it is to be carried out. Many argue that the legal system of the mother-country must necessarily be extended to newly-acquired territory unless the sovereign ruler