JAPAN'S EFFORT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2954, 18 December 1916, Page 8

JAPAN'S EFFORT

BIDDING FOR AFTER-WAR TRADE. Information received by Wellington business peoplo illustrates the determination of /Japanese manufacturers and traders to retain, Mf. possible, the trade that they have won during the war period. The struggle in Europe has spelled an era of remarkable prosperity for Japan. The country has been able to. sell vast quantities of goods and munitions at high prices and to reach markets that were practically monopolised""by the European nations prior to August, 1914. The Japanese nation to-day is handling more capital than ever' before, and tho industrial community is co-operating with the Government in preparations for afterwar trade.

The Governors of the Japanese provinces have been instructed to report upon the industries and trades within their jurisdiction, and an official Economio Investigation Committee has been directed to devise means of preserving . the trade that has been won during the war. It appears that a high protective tariff is going to bo reinforced by a system of Government subsidies and concessions; For example, salt is to be supplied at a specially low price to firms which are using ir, in processes of manufacture. The production of salt is ji Government monopoly in Japan, and the Concession "'ill lio made at the expense of the ordinary consumers. Among the manufactured goods that are to be protected bj; a high tariff wall are dye-stuffs, chemicals, glass, celluloid, paper, paper pulp,' phosphorus, potassium of * chloride, alkali, and certain cottons and woollens. Tho chemical industry is being assiduously developed Tinder official direction. .r "

"The glass manufacturing industry has achieved striking progress,'' says a Japanese trade journal. "Not only is the .import of glass effectively checked, but'the export of sheet-glass is made to Australia, tho Netherlands Indies, China, and elsewhere. . . .

Paper mills hare been remarkably enlarged -to capture tlio trade with China, British-India, the Netherland Indies, and elsewhere, and the result lias so far been splendid. The Japanese trade, it is obvious, must be made proof against dumping by Europe after the war."

The advantages that Jannn is reaping from the-war . are. well illustrated b.y the fact that Japanese bankers and financiers are buving the bonds of their own country in the European markets in big quantities. Janan -was a borrowing country before the war. and raised loans at fairly high rates of interest in London and elsewhere. Tim rise in money values in London and Paris has depreciated tho Japanese bonds, and-the Japanese financial houses, with plenty of money for investment, arc buying these "bonds at tho reduced_ prices. The Government is encouraging the process ( by undertaking to accept these bonds as security against loans. This operation is having an important effect in strengthening Japanese finance in readiness" for after-war. competition.