On the other hand, the Japanese did not want to see the whale oil market spoilt, nor specially to have a slump occur, such as happened in 1931. when the depression was so great that the Norwegians refrained entirely from operating in the An-arctic in the 1931-32 season in order to help the market to right itself The Japanese also genuinely desire. from self-interest if for no other reason, to protect the whales and prevent, or at least postpone, their eventual extermination.
Therefore, when the British called another conference in London in the summer of 1938, the Japanese agreed to attend. and sent representatives from the Foreign Office and from the Bureau of Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, which has control of the whaling' industry. For the foregoing reasons, and also because they now had six factoryships ready for the 1938-39 season, putting them on a more equal basis, the Japanese decided the time had come to ce-operate with the other countries interested in the whaling industry. Still another reason was that the British soap interests provide the chief market for the Japanese production of whale oil, so the Japanese thought it would be politic, on various grounds, to accede to the British urging that Japan participate in an agreement, The result of the conference was that the agreement reached in 1937 was amended to overcome various Japanese objections, and Japan is now observing the revised convention. reason the Japanese navy favours the development of the whaling industry.
With the exception of the Tonan Maru, all whalers were built in Japan and have the most modern equipment in every respect. They are of from 18,000 to 20,000 tons, and have tank capacity for 20,000 tons of oil. Each has 2 flock of chaser-boats, each of several hundred tons, the newest factory-ship, the Kyokuyo Maru, having nine. The Japanese ships are operated with the utmost economy. and the gunners get only about one-tenth of the fabulous wages paid those with the Norwegian and other fleets.
The Japanese vessels begin operating in the Antarctic about a month sooner than other fleets. This season they arrived there between the beginning and the middle of November, while other fleets did not get there Prices as below berton Hongay Anthracite Shansi Anthracite Mouse Coal No. 1 House Coal No. 2 Soft Coal Kitchen Coal Slack Coal 530.00
$48.00
$45.00
$44.00
$43.00 $43.00
$40.00
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.