His subordinates at Hiogo, during the time he was Governor, were like himself young and progressive men, entirely at one with the propaganda of the new and progressive policy which aimed at the consolidation of the Empire and the development of all its resources. Many proposals were put forward by Governor Ito at this period with the view of remodelling all branches of the imperial polity, in particular with respect to the imposition of taxes, military education, and so on, covering a wide field. Their advocacy of these measures procured for Ito and his associates at the time the designation of holders of the “Hiogo view.” It was really Ito who inspired Kido, the famous statesman whose history is recorded in another chapter, with the resolve to take up the question of the total abolition of the feudal system, and which rapidly gained supporters in many quarters, to the extent that in a few years it came to be an accomplished fact. As Governor of Kobé-Hiogo, he won the highest esteem of all classes, but he was not destined to remain long in that office, for he was called to Tokio next year to undertake the duties of Finance Vice-Minister, and the following spring he went to the United States to study the monetary system of that country, a task to which he devoted himself for the ensuing twelve months, returning to his own land in 1871. While away he wrote the following memorandum on “Reasons for basing the Japanese new coinage on the metric system.” According to the coinage system recently adopted in Japan, the silver yen is the standard unit of value, so that it may be used as legal tender in transactions to any amount; the smaller coins, various fractions of one yen, are to be the subsidiary medium of exchange, each kind being permitted as legal tender in transactions amounting to one hundred times its value. There is besides the gold yen, but it is subsidiary, and may be used in the payment of sums not more than ten times its value or one hundred yen. The silver yen is equal in quality to the American dollar, but slightly exceeds the latter in weight. The gold coins are in England and America legal tender to any amount. I presume the Japanese Government is in hopes that gold coin will always remain abundant while silver yen will gradually wear out through constant handling, so that in course of time gold will of itself become the standard unit of value. Just now there is under discussion in the U.S. House of Representatives a bill for establishing an international system of coinage. The ten-dollar gold piece according to that system is to weigh 257·2 grains, or sixteen and two-third grammes. The Japanese ten-yen gold piece weighs 248 grains, but if it were slightly increased in weight to equal the suggested international standard coin, the coinage system of Japan would be established on a sound basis and be for ever free from