Nothing can better illustrate the rapid progress made in Japanese commerce during the last thirty years than the development of her import and export trade, which is regularly recorded in a pamphlet published by the Japanese Minister of Finance, both in Japanese and English, entitled the ‘Monthly Return of the Foreign Trade of the Empire of Japan,’ which gives the fullest particulars respecting the commercial operations of the month, as well as a résumé of what has recently transpired. Each spring a complete volume is issued which supplies further details, and gives a table showing the commercial status throughout the preceding year. According to the figures given in this document, which are extremely accurate, the exports in 1898 attained the unusually high figure of £16,570,000, and the imports £27,700,000, making a total of £44,270,000. The following table displays very clearly the prodigious advance made in Japanese commerce during the thirty years included between 1868 and 1898. The figures in the original document are, of course, given in Japanese currency, but, for the convenience of English readers, they are here rendered by their equivalent in English money, taking the yen at two shillings, the rate it has held for a considerable time past. JAPANESE FOREIGN COMMERCE. ───────────────────────┬───────────────────────┬─────────────────────── │ Imports. │ Exports. ───────────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────── 1868│ £1,070,000│ £1,550,000 1879│ 3,300,000│ 2,820,000 1884│ 3,220,000│ 3,400,000 1889│ 6,620,000│ 7,020,000 1894│ 12,170,000│ 11,330,000 1895│ 13,870,000│ 13,620,000 1896│ 17,170,000│ 11,780,000 1897│ 21,930,000│ 16,310,000 1898│ 27,700,000│ 16,570,000 ───────────────────────┴───────────────────────┴───────────────────────