The average telegraphic selling rate during 1909 was 28. 01d. per 1 yen. For ordinary purposes the yen is taken as worth 28. 04d., and currency values have been converted throughout this report at that rate.

Reference to previous Report, Annual Series No. 4290.

Report on the Trade of Japan for the Year 1909 by Mr. E. F. Crowe,
Commercial Attaché to His Britannic Majesty's Embassy, Tokio.

Total volume of trade. The total import and export trade of Japan during 1909 amounted to 82,413,0331., a decrease of 734,1631., or a little less than 1 per cent., as compared with the previous year (83,147,1967.) but a falling-off of 12,205,9891., or 12.9 per cent., as compared with the record year of 1907.

The following table shows the figures for the past six years:

In this table and throughout the report the values of exports are the original prices paid, whereas the values of imports are c.i.f.

General remarks.-In last year's report it was stated that a decrease in the total trade as compared with the total for the preceding year was an event that had only occurred once in recent Japanese commercial history, but one decrease on top of another decrease is a thing which has not happened since 1884, at which date the total trade was worth less than 7,000,0002.

In the Financial and Economic Annual of the Department of Finance for 1905 it was shown that Japan's trade had doubled decennially during the 20 years from 1868 to 1888 and septennially after the latter year, and that if the same rate were maintained, the total volume would reach 108,500,000l. in 1909.

The actual total for 1909 has, however, proved to be only 82,413,0331. or 26,000,000l. less than the rather optimistic estimate above mentioned, so it will be seen that Japanese commerce has not progressed as rapidly as it did in past years.

This need occasion no surprise nor should it give rise to pessimistic thoughts. As is well known, 1908 and 1909 were lean years all the world over, and in Japan local influences, such as a feeling of uncertainty caused by revelations of commercial scandals, and a wave of parsimony, combined with other causes to make the depression last longer here than elsewhere.

The Japanese, however, remain wedded to the mercantilist theory and they derived no small satisfaction from the fact that exports exceeded imports by nearly 2,000,000l., even though this excess was caused by a falling-off in imports rather than by a phenomenal growth in exports. This feeling is well illustrated in the speech of Baron Matsuo, the President of the Bank of Japan, who, in reviewing the foreign trade of 1909, said, "Compared with post bellum days, when conditions were tending upward at home and abroad, the monetary value of the trade is inferior, but regarded from the point of view of the favourable balance of imports and exports it may be called a good result."

It is very doubtful, however, whether merchants, either Japanese or foreign, will remember 1909 as a particularly good year.

The cessation of the boycott in China and the absence of marked fluctuations in silver helped to improve the general export business to China, while the fine silk and rice crops were very important factors in the growth of exports.

As regards imports there was an immense falling-off in machinery— a not unnatural result when it is remembered that the industrial boom which had been responsible for the placing of so many orders had subsided a long time before and had been followed by severe depression. In a great many other lines there was also a considerable reduction, and had it not been for the advance in raw cotton, wool and paper the import figures would have been a very poor showing.

Particulars of these items will be found further on. The financial programme of the Japanese Government evidently met with the approval of investors abroad, for there was a continuous demand for Japanese bonds, which appreciated considerably during the

year.

The money which was thus brought into the country, coupled with the funds which some of the leading municipalities were able to borrow in London and Paris, helped, together with the stagnation in industrial circles, to produce great easiness in the money market throughout the year, and the banks were at times seriously embarrassed to find employment for their funds. The lowest discount rate in Tokio fell gradually from 2.3 or 2-2 sen per day in February to about 1.3 or 1.2 sen in November. Call money from 17 to 0-7 sen and