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“...338,400 1,267,800 70,600
Cottonyarns 206,200 142,600 63,600
Glass ... ............ 309,100 1246,200 62,900
Sugar 2,049,500 2,020,700 28,800
Imports of raw cotton.—There has been a large falling-off in the
importations of raw cotton, both as regards quantity and value. The
three principal countries from whom Japan makes her purchases all
sent smaller amounts, but the Egyptian contribution continued to
rise, and advanced from 3,700 to 5,700 tons. This cotton appears to
be used chiefly by three mills (the Nippon, Fuji Gasu and Impsrial
Thread).
(a) Increase.
Articles. ! 1907. 1908. Increase.
£ £ £
Machinery ...... 2,827,600 3,498,600 671,000
Oils and waxes ... ...... 1,963,900 2,296,400 332,500
Manures ...... 3,966,600 4,211,200 244,600
Beans ......' 1,062,300 1,181,500 119,200
Cotton tissues ... ...... 1,786,400 i 1,827,200 40,800...”
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| 2 |
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“...although there was decrease on the whole, the British
share increased and was over 3,000,000 lbs. out of 3,896,000 lbs.
These tops are chiefly used by the mousseline-de-laine companies,
of which there are now five, who employ partly yarn spun by themselves
and partly imported yarn.
As regards yarn there has been an increase in quantity but a decline
in value. Germany still enjoys the preponderating share of this trade.
As regards other woollen textiles, the army woollen factory
and the large mills can satisfy the army requirements as far as
army cloth is concerned, while most of the cheap uniforms for
tramway officials and schoolboys are made from Japanese cloth,
but there will for a long time to come be a good demand for the
better qualities of woollen textiles. There does not seem to be the
same amount of organisation about the woollen and worsted industry
in Japan as is observable amongst the cotton spinners and manu-
facturers, and it is difficult to get accurate returns of what is...”
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“...continued
low throughout the year, although there has been a revival in the early
part of 1909.
The number of spinning companies at the end of December, 1908, was
35 with 1,358,000 working spindles, of which 1,310,000 were ring and
the balance mule.
The detailed statistics for the whole year have not been published
yet, but from the returns made by the Cotton Spinners' Association
for the first half of 1908 it would appear that there were 38* spinning
companies in Japan at that time, with 120 mills, the authorised capital
being 8,830,000?., of which 5,785,000?. was paid up.
The following figures for the three half years from January, 1907, to
June, 1908, may be of interest:—
Particulars of Cotton Spinning Industry in Japan for January-June,
1907, July-December, 1907, and January-June, 1908.
January-June, 1907. July-Decem- ber, 1907- January-June, 1908.
Number of companies ... 45 39 38
Daily average of working spin- dles— Ring Mule 1,404,341 56,809 1,412,022 42,866 1,368,872 47,929
Total...”
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“...Hong-Kong between them account for
more than 17,000 tons, but China has only taken a matter of 2,000 tons
as compared with 10,000 tons last year. Several of the small mines
have had to shut down, as they cannot continue working at a profit at
present prices, but the big mines are all in the hands of rich men who
can afford to wait.
Considerable trouble was caused at the Besshi mines by the neigh-
bouring farmers, who complained that their crops were ruined by the
poisonous fumes coming from the mills.
This pollution question is an old one in Japan, and has been the
source of many disturbances at Ashio, the largest copper mine in the
country.
Exports of rice (barley and rice crop figures).—The export of Japanese
rice was rather restricted owing to the high prices ruling throughout
the year, which ranged from the opening quotation of 14 -90 yen per
koku (1 yen = 2s. 0\d., and 1 koku = 4 -96 bushels) to 16 -84 yen in
September, falling to 13 -60 yen at the close of the year. A good deal
of...”
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