NEWS FROM JAPAN.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3147, 20 March 1879, Page 3

NEWS FROM JAPAN.

(Pee Pbess Agency.)

; si i s ; > Yokohama,ATanuiary 15. / k Rumours of Ministerial changes are prevalent. . • i General) Saigon has been-removed from the EdutJitional to the War Deprfrttnent. He is known to be a a,ood soldier, and is ;>v father popular with the army. It is ex* I pect^t that he will rtstore good f(?ej(injj amoojjst the "troops who have been in a dwjwntented state lately. The finances of th«r countxy «r« in aa unsatisfactory itate, and the value of paper money shows a further decline. • Itiis,.reported $hat the Gorean aulhori T< tie's have applied to the Chinese Government for assistance against Japan, but the Cbineii .Government, have declined to afford the required assistance, on the 'grounds that their o«n foreign affairs required all their attention. v The Government are about to abandon the monopoly in rice, which they have so longsheld. There is a Strong tendency towards protection manifesting itself. s»^ The poorer classes '\i : I'oniio are suffer-;, ■~ J ing great privations from the dearness of' . rice,and fuel. „, ... ■..,.. .-• „; --:.. : ■■■■.■!■.■. ■ \ Anatire paper says a German Prince is expected to visit .jJapan in \ a shorti . t .,During the last; moath i^ere wefe thirty-one cases of cholera in Yokohama, of wnich twenty-two terminated fatally. Hibgkj K6be, January 3. There was a great fire on the 11th of December, wh^egjJOk house* were burnt,, "iff; KlanTafiwa, near Yokohama., . On the 3rd December 6000 cases of kerosene were burnt in one of the Yoko* hama Custom-house jetties. < ' On the 16th December upwards of 2000 buildings were destroyed by fire at nH»kpdate. ! On the 20th December nineteen houses irer6 btirnt at Kagoshima. On the 27th December twenty-two houses were burnt at Tokie. Two more submarine cables were laid last month, viz., between Shimonosski and Kinshui, and between Shikoku and r Nippon. Sereral extensive land lines are also completed. The country is quiet. The/weather, is very severe, and in the north there is plenty of snow.' ■■.■ ;. : . : Kata Shinskawa, uncle to the Emperor, was married on the 20th December to a » daughter of the Prince of Sosa.