JAPANESE SCANDALS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9596, 16 September 1909, Page 3

JAPANESE SCANDALS.

Some very nagrant corruption J came to light in connection with the Japanese Sugar scandals. it transpired, sayjj a correspondent of "The Times," (London), tMat the dishonest directors of the "Great Japan Sugar Company" had been tampering with members of the House of Representatives, and one morning the citizens of Tokio learned that several prominent politicians had been apprehended and their homes subjected to vigorous search by the police. Each succeeding day saw additions to the ranks of these I suspects, until finaly no fewer than 24 members and ex-membera of the I Lower House of the Diet were in cusI tody, In every instance where corrupt overtures were made by the d'rectors the baits seem to have been swallowed, and altogether something like £l2,ooo—a very large sum in Japan—was paid out by the disciples of Tammany.Every political party in the State was involved in the exposure. It cannot be said, however, that the incriminated men were in any case political leaders of the first rank They belonged rather to the category of sectional heads, each with a following sufficient to make their combination formidable. Among them, however, was a man who had been at one time president of the American Board of Missions' flourishing college in Kioto, and whose name, up to the moment of his arrest, had stood for everything upright and honest. This man, together with three others, made full and frank confession, and it was expected that the penalty would be a short term of deferred imprisonment—in other words, that the guilty men would be sentenced and not actually punished. But the ju Jges took a different view; out of the 24 accused, they acquitted only one; the rest were committed to prison for periods varying from three , months to ten. The writer states that this incident has given a severe shock to public respect tor the Lower House of the Diet, and to public confidence iii the integrity of Japanese business i enterprise. The latter feeling is f likely to be short-lived, especially aa i a probable outcome of the affair will j be the organisation of a system of j chartered accountants. But the reputation'of the House of RepresentaI tiven is effectually smirched, and | there will certainly accrue a marked | increase of credit to Conservative | politicians who oppose' party Cabinets, and to the House of Peers as an incorruptible guardian of national interests.