SPECULATIVE WAVE IN JAPAN.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8835, 11 June 1907, Page 1

SPECULATIVE WAVE IN JAPAN.

“Tho ‘get-rich-quick’ fever lias seized Japan, and unless tho nation sobers down speculative crises will become as common in Tokio as they / are in New York. ” 1 Such is the opinion of a city merchant who has just returned to London from a business tour in tho East. “I was amazed at the amount of speculation which is now indulged in by all classes in tho principal cities,” ho told a ’press representative. ‘‘The Stock Exchange in Tokio. which, unlike ours in London, is open to the public, is frequently the scene of great excitement, and bucket-shops of tho worst description abound both in tho capital and in other cities. The Produce and Rice Exchanges arc other centres of feverish excitement and gambling, 3omo day a Japanese Loiter will make a corner in rice. I learned that tho companies and syndicates floated during the twelve mouths ending in January last represented the astonishing total capital of 140 million pounds. Many of these companies were of the soundest description, but Japanese company promoters, whoso numbers are growing rapidly, have been responsible for several rotten concerns. In land and house prorety, too, there is much speculation. In Northren Japan, more especially, property has in many cases trebled in value. Happily Japanese women do not speculate, and take little interest in business affairs. The railways, owned by the State, afford no opportunities for speculation, and the tramways in Tokio are shortly to bo municipalised. The sober-minded statesmen of Japan believe that the present fever is a passing phase,'due to the groat wave of prosperity which is passing over the nation, and to the elation consequent on their victories. ”