Ix the Times of the 10th of April_ appears the leading article in reference to Japanese finance, of which a sketch was sent us at the time by Reuter. The Times remarks that Japan works so ud steadily that her importance as a factor in the Far Eastern problem is apt to be overlooked. After the war with China, Japan "was not only compelled to forego a considerable part of the fruits of her victories, but she has had the mortification of seeing them nto the hands of a Power far more midable than China. There is perhaps no more striking proof of the political maturity to which Japan has attained than to the pride of a and self-confident nation. In the very flush of victory she recognised the weak points of her armour, and, instead of rashly taking up a challenge which, however unprovoked, she could not then afford without wasting time on useless recritnin tions over the past, applied herself forthwith to the task' of strengthening and completing her equi "And the article concludes In the meantime, if Japan is to go on with her programme, she must borrow. a sum of £25,000,000, and borrow it in the foreign market." The original desire and intention of the Japanese financiers was to rely on domes-tie Loans only. These, however, are no longer possible. Out of the £11,000,000 which o to have been issued between April, 18 April, 1899, only £5,000.000 has been,
was taken up by the public, the ba issued, and of this amount only £1 bought in by the Treasury out of the Chinese: indemnity." At first sight this episode docs not look encoura.ing to the foreign vester, and there are other incidents in the recent financial history of the country which are Uelieved to have inspired him with some doubt as to the stability of Japanese finance. Our Correspondent, who certainly shows no desire to speak unjustifiably si mouth things of the Japanese, has no hesitation in declaring such doubts to be without solid foundation. It is trae that expenditure has risen from eight millions in 1894 to 14 millions in 1899. It is true that the army and the navy now cust 5} millions, against 1] millions before the war, and that the direct taxes have been practically doubled within five years. It is true that the Opposition have offered a vigorous resistance to an increase of the land tax. Nevertheless our Correspondent affirms that J "pan is more than able to repay any Joan she can possibly re-'The real reason why the Government cannot get the money it wants at home is the rapid commercial expan Native capitalists who can readily get a hi; return in native industries will not lend to the Goverament at 5 per cent. The expend ture, though absolutely large, is small in proportion to the res-urees of the country. The taxes on sate and on land are low and might. readily be increased and, thous Opposition are troublesome on the subject of the latter impost, they well know that it about a-fourth of what it was in feudal times, The statistics quoted by our Correspondent show how great has been the commercial and industrial expansion of Japan within the last few years. There are, of course, special risks' attached to loans of the kind projected, but the chief obstacles to the success of a Japanese application to the European money markets seem to be those mentioned by our Correspondent—the reticence of her finau-
attitude of M. de Witte—and the reluctance ders, which contrasts strangely with the of the Opposition and of a section of the people to face the necessary burden of an in crease in the land tax, In a leading article on the Samoan problem in its issue of the 13th ult. the Times It is eminently satisfactory to find that, in the words of our New York correspondent, England and the United States are actin, together in diplomacy as well as by sea an land. We never had the least doubt that they would, but illusions on the subject, which were not the less dangerous because they were absurd, seem to have been seriously cherished elsewhere. Apparently they have fow been abandoned og untenable, and any hopes which may have been based upon them have been dashed. The Kreus Zeitung regretfully confesses that it Look "too optimism tic a view" when it inferred from certain alleged statements of Mr. White—which in fact Mr. White never made—that ' England and America donot adopt an identical atti. tude on the Samoan question." The attitude of the two Governments—and we may add, as it is important in democratic countries under Governments, the attitude of the two peoples—is identical, It suits the German Press to throw the whole blame for the delay in constituting the commission upon us, but there is the best reason to believe that our Government and the Govern. ment of Washington are acting, and have ted throughout, in entire agreement, The Daily News takes a view of the Samoan problem that must be widely shared in. It says in its issue of the 8th ult.
{tis impossible for any of us to feel much Bects la Samoan waters. We do not under. patriotic pride in the achievements of our
was not necessary to bring the might of Eng-take to prejudge the case by sagig that it land and America to bear on the Samoans, The German Colonial officials seem, as usual, tohave been utterly wanting in tact, temper, and discretion, But all this is rather beside the mark. The sad thing is to see British and American bluejackets, and British and American Maxim guns, at work in this dot of island empire, as mastiffs might be at work in a sheepfold. "The breed is made for nobler uses, Itis a case of What art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?" The solemn installation of Malictoa as King, with the representatives of England and the United States in procession 1 bras band, is not convincing asa pageant The scale of the scene of action is too small the disproportion between the means and the end is too monstrous. It is permissible to hope that the Governments themselves have hoon struck with a sense of the ridiculous, and that this has had its effect on their determi to settle their differences by friendly conference.
The same paper writing on the 12th ult. on the suicide of M. Locrimier, say:
The suicide of Colonel Henry's secretary isa tlhunderelap only inferior in violence to the so-called suicide of his chief, Bue after this, as after the other event, there are those who hold that there is nothing in it. The secretary, we are told, killed himself asa result of persistent melancholia, and his friends had long been in expectation of news of hisdewh. Like the death of his chief, it was singularly ill-timed. It coincided with his receipt of a mysterious summons to Paris, which, by the wording of it, might have'led him to fear that he would be compelled to disclose all he knew. If the French people eyn doubt the existence of a conspiracy on the part of the General Staff. after this, they are simply in the condition of the-e who wilfully sin_ageinst the light.
If Esterhuzy were any Luger worth powder and shot General De Gallifet's evidence in regard to him would be only less important,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.