Osaka, Feb, 11.
Japan is now in the throes of a general election. Billposting and stumping speeches are being vigo or ously "pushed by over candidates in the 122 constituencies throughout Japan. Of these candidates, 338 are for the Govrament! and 455 against it, while 127 are be classified as! ror the Government asuaattegst he & 293 overamen film, Vigilance Committees at Work The Minseito, the main Opposition Party, for their part, are frankly suspicious of the Seiyukai. In order, therefore, to ensure that the Government Party candidates, do not violate the new election laws in any way, they have appointed Vigilance committees to watch over proceedings and report on any ixrefgularitios that _may be observed. The Government Party, however, are equally suspicious of their opponents and, having suffered con. siderable annoyance from the activi ties and attentions of similar committees in the prefectural elections of last autumn, are now retaliating by having close watch kept on the Opposition candidates, As a result, the country is now being treat are juntifgt to some extent in their: suspicion of their opponents can hardly be doubted. In fairness to the can. idatos and their supporters it muar be admitted that the new election 1 10 atrict, and in many respects so complicated and am~ Biguous, that infringements might well be' made in all innocence, No House to House Canvassing Apart, however, from the inhibitions placed on' downright dis. honesty, bribery, and corruption, the two main points are, that hous louse canvassing is forbidden, and that the total expenses incurred by. a candidate in his election campaign must mot exceed a equivalent to 40 sen per v the district for which he is standing. So far as the latter ite concerned, the expenditure per. mitted cannot be regarded as excess sive when one considers that, with house-to-house canvassing forbidden, the only way to get into personal touch with voters, apart from public speaking, is' to send him otters and pamphlets, which in the aggregate cost money.—Reuter.
The Polls Opened Tokyo, Feb. 10.
In the present general lection there are not a fow places where the date of polling hus been advanced in consideration of their be ing remote from the main iand, Tu Tokishimamura, a remo Jand under the jurisdiction of Yamagata Prefecture, polling took place to-day in spite of a heavy blizzard. This island is so distant from the mainland that the news of the dissolution of the Diet react: ed there two weeks after the ever? two place, The number of cles tors in the island is, all told, only 260.
In Okinoshima Island under the Jurisdiction of Kochi Prefectur and Kurishima Island under th: control of Niigata Prefecture, polling is to be conducted on February Expenses of Candidates One of the features of the new Election Law is a restriction on expenses for election campaigns, namely, no candidate is permitted to spend over ¥.12,000, The Independents include a large number of men, who are inclined to side with the Government.
There are 466 seats in the House of Representatives, and the following forecast is made by many as. likely to be not very wide of the)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.