Osaka, Mar, 4.
The number of British steamship lines with vessels calling regularly at Japan was reduced to one as two more British firms cancelled the Hongkong-Japan run, according to a despatch from Calcutta received by the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, The British India Steam Navigation Company and the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company announced that effective during the month of March, their ships would halt their eastern sailings at Hongkong.
Shipping circles attribute the British action, first, to the difficulty of ships of belligerent countries in obtaining cargoes in Japan, and secondly to the low freight rates on Japan-bound vessels as a result of Japanese opposition to the revision of the conference tariffs, The Osaka despatch mentions that the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company is the only British fürm with vessels calling regularly at Japan, but it is learnt that no ships of this line have been making this run for some time past—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.