DEVELOPMENT OF JAPAN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19996, 13 January 1927, Page 13

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPAN.

INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS.

The International Labour Office, which is following the evolution of industrial and social life in Japan with special attention, has recently set out in pamphlet form the chief items of information that it has been able to collect. Japan possessed 1400 factories in 1900, and 460,000 in 1922. Thirty-six per cent, of the population subsists on industry, commerce, public works, and transport and mining undertakings, and social development has closely followed industrial progress. A number of laws relating to labour had already been promulgated before tbe war; but it was on the occasion of the Washington Conference in 1919 that Japan decided also to provide its working population with social laws at least equivalent, if not actually similar, to those of the Western nations, notwithstanding that its economic situation was not comparable with theirs. Her delegates voted in favour of the Eight Hours Draft Convention, one article of which dealt specially with Japan, and since that date a large number of laws for the protection of workers have been passed. With regard to women and children, the new legislation, inspired by the Washington Convention, has enlarged the scope of limitation of the hours of work, night work, ancl certain dangerous or unhealthy occupations. Minimum age has been raised and maternity protection has been improved. Such legislation was of considerable importance, since half the total of industria workers are women, a proportion which, moreover, shows a decline since 1909, when female labour represented 60 per cent, of the total. As a result of it, children under 16 now represent 16 per cent, only of the total number of workers. It is particularly in the direction of increase in wages that labour conditions have improved. Wages doubled selves in the period between 1885 and 1914. They were quadrupled between 1914 and 1924. The prevalence of accidents in factories is continually dimhiishAn office for social affairs was set up in 1922 to deal with all labour problems, It is supported by the trades unions, tho development of which has proceeded rapidly during and since the war. In 1922 the number of organised workers was 100,000, and at the end of 1923 no less than 125,000. At this latter date labour organisations were invited by the Government to nominate the Japanese labour delegate to the International Labour Conference. Moreover, it is known how much importance Japan attaches to this conference, to which she sends a very numerous delegation annually. Further, the author of a pamphlet published by the International Labour Office is in a position to state that this new function of the trades unions resulted in raising their standing and doubling their forces in less than a year, to the extent that the number of members reached about 230,000 by the end of 1924.