Japan's new programme allocates '¥.1,205,000,000 to new construction and provides for a steady Increase in shipbuilding as the present production facilities are expanded. The greatest ullding is planned for 1942-43, Japanese Limit Traffic To China Tokyo, Mat: 16, Japan's near sea routes, linking Japan and China ports, will be mono-policed by a semi-official holding company, while a law will be intro= duced for regulating China havi tion, Mr. Jiro Isetani, Director of the Shipping Bureau in the Ministry of Communications, told the Lower House committee, which is investiing legislation for ship-building Vessels belonging to. companies outside the holding company, whose operation may conflict with the interests of the projected serut-oficlat navigation company, would be prohibited from navigating between Japan and) China. Only tramp vessels would be left unlimited in their operations, except in the transortation of staple commodities, ani declared to the Diet commit: tee.—Domel, Augmentation of the naval air force calls for expenditure of ¥.300,000,000 over five years.
"The so-called fourth replenishment programme follows three earlier re~ Plenishment programmes which have been carried out since 1930, The first two programmes were published, but the third, initiated in 1997, has been hold in secrecy and is the one supposed to include battleships of more {than 20,000 tons. The type of build ito be done under the fourth replenish ment programme likewise will not be announced.
Japanese budgets are presented in uch a way that it is impossible to obtain from them broad figures on departmental expenditures, Thus far this year there have been the regular budget. of _Y.3,094,000,000 supplem~ entry budgets of nearly another milliard, the special "China War" budget of ¥.5.200,000,000 and another tem of ¥.910,543,000 listed as a first supplementary budget for the 1939-40 general accounts. This latter supplementary figure included the appropriations for the Army and Navy replenishment programmes for the next fiscal year.
The Navy's new building programme starts off with ¥00,180.000 for 1880-40, jas follows:—
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.