The house-owners of every street were arranged in companies, or corporations, of five _Goningumi_, or sometimes a few more, each street having from ten to fifteen such companies. None but house-owners were admitted into these corporations; mere occupants were looked upon as dependants on their landlords with no voice in the affairs of the street, nor right to claim any share in the public money, though they paid high rents. Each street company had one of its number for a head, who was responsible for the conduct of his four companions, and obliged, in certain cases at least, to share the punishment of their crimes. The members of these corporations chose from among themselves an _Otona_, or chief magistrate of the street. The choice was by ballot, and the name of the person having the greatest number was presented to the governor, with a humble petition that he might be appointed to the office, of which the salary in Nagasaki was a ten-fold share of the annual distribution to the inhabitants, derived from the duties on the foreign trade. [Illustration: DIAL OF OLD CLOCK.] The duty of the Otona was to give the necessary orders in case of fire; to have the oversight of the watch; to keep a register of the deaths, births, marriages, arrivals, departures, &c.; to arrest criminals, and to punish those of smaller magnitude; to compose, if he could, all disputes among the people of his street; and generally to be personally answerable for their good behavior. He had for assistants three lieutenants, the heads of the corporations of house-owners, a secretary, a treasurer, and a messenger. A guard was kept every night, of three or more house-owners, while the street was paced by two sentinels, walking from each gate till they met, and then back. The hours were regularly in the daytime struck on a bell hung for that purpose on the ascent of the mountains, and during the night the street-watch indicated them by beating two sticks together[153]. The street officers were held responsible for the offences of the house-owners; the house-owners for the offences of their lodgers, domestics, and families; masters for servants; children for parents, each corporation for its individual members; neighbors for each other[154]. It was naturally a part of this system that no new inhabitant was admitted into any street, except by consent of all the house-owners in it, which thus became necessary to every purchase and sale of a house.