Home Affairs, declared that the initial task of the Government was relief work, namely to aid the wounded and sick, and to provide shelter, supply food, clothes and jpthdr daily necessities to the sufferers. This emergency work was nearly com" pleted on September 10. The next task confronting Viscount Goto is the reconstruction of the Metropolis, as well as Yokohama. The Government has lost no time in taking up the study of city-planning on a drastic scale. cording to the latest information from Tokio, an initial draft, which was laid before the Committee of Reconstruction by the Mayor of Tokio, is as follow:—1.—The property of the military arsenal, as well as the premises of the military cadet school and the military junior cadet school, will be converted into a public garden. 2—Ten more public gardens shall be established through-.
out the city. (The sites and sizes of these parks mentioned in detail.) 3:—Eleyated railways, big canals and main highways which can be, at the same time, useful barriers for preventing the spreading of fire, ghal}t be built.
(a) The first-class highways should be 240 ft. in width and radiate from the To-kie Station, the centre of the city.
(b) Two big canals, 360 ft. in width, shall be built, rad-lating from the Tokio Station.
(c) The second-class highways shall be 120 ft. in width and radiate from the To kie Station.
(d) Restrictions forbidding the erection of any permanent building in the devastated area in Tokio, until the city plan is definitely fixed.
You can easily imagine how appallingly hard is the task which is confronting our Government buildings. Nine were completely burned down, including the Metropolitan Police Headquarters and Government printing office, reducing the archives to ashes. The remaining Government buildings which escaped destruction by fire are also by no means available, as the dai aire in most cabed so severe that it is impossible to occupy them. For instance, the Foreign Office staff are ait pre} sent gathered in a small building ridiculously inadequate, al+ though many of the staff are un/
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.