mption of oil by the people is considerable, and it is hoped that
ere long Japan will be able to produce all that she requires. The
petroleum is somewhat crude, providing about 50 per cent. of burning
oil.

Tobacco, as I have elsewhere remarked, is now a State monopoly, and
forms a considerable item in the State revenue. The quality has much
improved since the manufacture of it has ceased to be a private
industry. The Japanese are inveterate smokers, and the intervention of
the State in this matter, although it has been criticised by political
economists in the country and out of it, and is undoubtedly open to
criticism from some points of view, has, I think, been justified by
results. The making of sugar from beetroot has been attempted in
Japan, but the results have not been over-successful. The efforts in
this direction are, however, being persisted in, and it is hoped that,
especially in Formosa, the beet--sugar industry may develop in
importance.

The manufacture of paper in Japan has long been an important national
industry. Paper has been and still is used there for many purposes for
which it has never been utilised in European countries. Originally it
was largely made from rice, and the mulberry shrub has also been used
for paper manufacture. The rise and development of a newspaper press
in Japan and the impetus given to printing has, of course, largely
increased the demand for paper. This is being met by the adaptation of
other vegetable products for the purpose of making paper, and it seems
quite certain that Japan will be totally independent of any
importation of foreign paper to meet the great and greatly increasing
demand for that article in the country.

Salt is, I may remark, a Government monopoly in Japan. No one except
the Government, or some person licensed by the Government, is allowed
to import salt from abroad, while no one can manufacture salt without
Government permission. Salt made by salt manufacturers is purchased by
the Government, which sells it at a fixed price. This particular
monopoly has only recently been established, and the reason put
forward for it is a desire to improve and develop the salt industry
and at the same time to add to the national revenue. Whether a
monopoly in what is a necessary of life is economically defensible is
a question, to my mind, hardly open to argument. That the revenue of
the country will benefit by the salt monopoly is unquestionable.

As might have be