For centuries Korea has been reputed to be rich in deposits of gold; and it is a fact that Japan, by trading with Korea, obtained most of this precious metal, which the Dutch, by shrewd management of their relations in trade with Japan, carried off to Holland. Both these Oriental countries in this way contributed to the enrichment of a limited number of Europeans. But the real condition of the mining resources of the peninsula has never been investigated; even the amount of the annual product of gold has never been accurately ascertained; and—worst of all—there have never been any laws or accepted principles to govern the mining industry. The result of all this ignorance, confusion and fraud is not difficult to conjecture. “Some mines,” says the official report, “are under the direct control of the Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry; with others the granting of a concession rests with the Chief of the Mining Bureau; with others again, the subordinate officials on the spot have it in their power to allow or disallow their working; and to make confusion worse confounded, there are even mines operated under patents secretly granted by the Emperor without consulting the Cabinet. This chaotic state of things is bad enough, but it does not stop here. For in some cases the concessions granted are cancelled without compensation; while in other cases, one and the same mining district has been leased to several persons one after another until it has become utterly impossible to tell which is the rightful concessionaire. Then, again, there are cases in which the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, of Finance, and of the Imperial Household, severally and independently, have levied mining taxes to suit their own convenience; while in others, the provincial authorities quite arbitrarily collect imposts. In the midst of this indescribable confusion, the cunning and unscrupulous have not been slow to make the most of the situation, by having recourse to bribery, instigation, intimidation, and other unlawful schemes, until vast tracts of mining lands have come under their control.”[64]