With supplies of food and cther necessaries for the devastated areas pretty well assured, the problems engaging the serious attention of all concerned and, calling for a prompt settlement are those connected with the moratovium and the payment er nonpayment of insurance claims.
With regard to the first, the moratorium was originally fixed to extend for 30 days, that is until September 30. The leading bankers of the country are now in conference at the Department of Finance to discuss its withdrawal or extension, as well as ether problems connected the restoration of banking facilities throughout the country, The moratorium, which applies only to the devastated area, is calculated to work considerable hardships elsewhere outside the region, in that while the merchants and banks in the different cities of the country are unable to recover any part of what is due to them from their Tokio customers, they are themselves called upon to meet all their obligations in their own particular region., There is naturally a desire on their: part that the moratorium should be ended, or that the Government, through the Bank of Japan, should render them such assistance as may be necessary. This, the Minister of Finance says that he is willing to do; at the same time he has appealed to the banks of Osaka, which has more or less auto matically been forced into the position of banking centre in ihe country. to render Tokio and the country elsewhere all the assistance that it is possible for them to give. The Osaka representative has given this assurance and further conferences are being held to work out details,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.