are evidences of steady improvement in this respect. Thus, during the period of ten years between 1893 and 1902, it was found that the percentage of recruits of 5 ft. 5 in. and upward grew from 10.09 to 12.67, the rate of increase having been remarkably steady; and the percentage of those under 5 ft. declined from 20.21 to 16.20. _Towns._--There are in Japan 23 towns having a population of over 50,000, and there are 76 having a population of over 20,000. The larger towns, their populations and the growth of the latter during the five-year period commencing with 1898 were as follow:-- URBAN POPULATIONS 1898. 1903. Tokyo 1,440,121 1,795,128 Osaka 821,235 988,200 Kioto 353,139 379,404 Nagoya 244,145 284,829 Kobe 215,780 283,839 Yokohama 193,762 324,776 Hiroshima 122,306 113,545 Nagasaki 107,422 151,727 Kanazawa 83,595 97,548 Sendai 83,325 93,773 Hakodate 78,040 84,746 Fukuoka 66,190 70,107 Wakayama 63,667 67,908 Tokushima 61,501 62,998 Kumamoto 61,463 55,277 Toyama 59,558 86,276 Okayama 58,025 80,140 Otaru 56,961 79,746 Kagoshima 53,481 58,384 Niigata 53,366 58,821 Sakai 50,203 -- Sapporo -- 55,304 Kure -- 62,825 Sasebo -- 52,607 The growth of Kure and Sasebo is attributable to the fact that they have become the sites of large ship-building yards, the property of the state. The number of houses in Japan at the end of 1903, when the census was last taken, was 8,725,544, the average number of inmates in each house being thus 5.5.