Tokyo, May 14.
A report issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry reveals that the value of Japan's industrial production for the year 1937 reached Y.16,412000,000 compared with Y.12,- 257,000,000 for 1936, an increase of Y4154,000,000.
Statistics compiled by the Ministry show that the number of factories in Japan totalled 106,005 at the close of 1937, an increase of 17.0 per cent. compared with the preceding year. The percentage annual gain is a new high record in past many years.
The report further discloses that, of the total as much as 91,455, or 863 per cent, was represented by factories with five to 30 operatives employed; 10,718 by those with 30 to 100 employees; 1963 by those with 100 to 200 workers; and 1,869 by those with 200 or more operatives.
The textile industry had the great est number of factories, 26.6 per cent. The food industry ranked next with 15.6 per cent, and the machine and tool manufacturing industry third with 13.8 per cent. of the total.
The number of employees on December 31, 1937, totalled 2,936,512, of whom 1,27032 were males and 1,- 209480 females. Compared with the position a year before, these figures show an increase of 18.4 per cent. for male workers and 66 per cent. for female. Of the total number of workers, 1,032,510 were in the textile industry, 601,684 in the machine and tool making industry, and 322,796 in the chemical industry. Out of the total workers, 2,936512, those who were below 16 years of age numbered 4.—Reuters.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.