PROGRESS OF JAPAN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1883, 8 January 1885, Page 2

PROGRESS OF JAPAN.

-: One of the striking illustrations of -.the" progress!veness of Japan is its vigorous extensibn'of railways through put tb,e onipire, • l|e. tgtal length of railways now open'in 'Japan (says •'The Times") i 3 240 miles, the first line opened being that between Tokio and Yokohama, which is twenty miles jn length,, and was opened \u 187,2;. Tijis'lroe, wljiojjhas five intermediate stations, obst nearly- and was, aogsttfuotfid... by English;' Engineers. The line':b.etween Hiogo and Osaka was opened in t874.-but. it Bipsp beenlightened at b6tib- J runs-' from; Robs to total'length of-mote than simples, an<T cdst'T.OQOjOOyßn,'' which has sixteen ihtermediate. stations,., traverses the- wealthiest provinces of the centre,of Japan, and among the' numerous' articles which it conveys to Eobe.-arid Osaka, are silk,, tea, cottori, rice, wheat, wadding and cotton goods.';--It "also carries inland the: articles imported ,frpm abroad and the native, goods sent to Kobe. This line, which stops short at Otsu, begins again afc'%inama, a town upon the opposite shore of Lake Biwa, and runs to the Tsuruga, upon the sea of Japan, The distance between the two places is twenty seven miles. This line.was, opened for traffic in 1882, so that the whole of this part of Japan can'be traversed by except for the break at Lake Ej'wa, a serviceof steamers plying between the two termini. A third line has been constructed between Ngahama and" Sekiganors and Ohognki, its total

length being fifty-seven miles. The terminus of Olmgaki, to. which the line was extended on 25th May, is the centre of the Province of Mino, wh'ich is.one of the busiest and most productive jn Japan, The fourth line open' is that which connects Tokio .with Takasaki. The line was pfc commenced until Jjine, 1882, but by July of the following'year the. trains were already iis far as Kumaga,'which is-thirty-eight miles from the capital, and the line Y/as completed to Takaski this spring, when tile Emperor opened it in person,,,'; The' length of this line is about sixty : two miles, and it brings to Tokio'large quantities of • silky tea, and tobacco from the different provinces, Two other lines are in course of construction, the first running from Shinegawa, upon the line from Tokicj to Yo.koh.ama, to gawagutchi, and the other from Takasaki to Mayebashj, one of the'ptinoipal centres of the silk .trade.,,,. The latter, .only. sSven,miles 46'tigV will be opened in.the autbmn, 'live other lilies are.:to beoomreenced.!.;' and T|ka.s*ki tyw, to, Aomori, %[ town at the:nbr'thernmosti, .point-- of the; islaud 'ef:Miphpij'(lepgili. 0. cCfiles)']

second from Takasaki to Ohogaki and Yokkaitch (length 200 miles); third, from Oneyeda, in the province- of Shinano, to Niigata (length 150 miles); fourth, from Osaka to Sakai (seven miles) ; and -.fifth"' from Shizonoka to Sliimidzu, in the province of Tsurugo (seven miles). A'tramway from Tohio to Eafu will also be make without delay. ■