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Japan to Australian and Indian Ocean waters, 33 vessels, of 275,841 gross tons.

Japan to the South Seas and Straits Settlements, 77 vessels, of 507,067 gross tons.

And in the coasting trade about 286 ships, of 1,297,427 gross tons. I cite these as a general distribution of Japanese tonnage in world trade.

Mr. SIROVICH. What have been the particular imports and exports along the Atlantic coast, outside of Baltimore, Newport News, and the Gulf ports, where they have been taking cotton and scrap iron? Mr. SAUGSTAD. I have no knowledge.

Mr. SIROVICH. I understand, Mr. Chairman, that we have a lot of testimony from men in Massachusetts that they have been bringing fish from Japan to Atlantic coast ports.

The CHAIRMAN. I do not know that their fish have come in in Japanese ships.

Mr. SIROVICH. Which came into competition with the fishing industry at Gloucester, Mass.

The CHAIRMAN. I do not think that they came necessarily on Japanese ships.

Mr. SIROVICH. Yes. They brought in their fish from Japan, from Japanese boats. They brought the fish into Boston and Gloucester, selling the fish there cheaper than the fisherman in that area can even go out and fish it.

Mr. SAUGSTAD. We now come to the so-called "ordered services", the equivalent of the contract service system of other countriesJapan under consideration here.

To the general contract or ordered system of services the Japanese Government distributes subsidies in an annual amount of about 10,000,000 yen. There are some current variations between the budget proposals made by the Ministry of Communications and the allowances finally approved by the Ministry of Finance and the Diet. I can say, as a general statement, that the usual request of the Ministry of Communications is about 12 million yen; and for the past 2 or 3 years the actual appropriations have been 10,500,000 yen for 1934, and 9,996,000 yen for 1935.

Mr. SIROVICH. What is the current valuation of the yen in American exchange?

Mr. SAUGSTAD. The average for the period February 24 to March 2 was 28.283 cents.

Mr. SIROVICH. So that would mean an appropriation of between 3 million and 31⁄2 million dollars?

Mr. SAUGSTAD. Yes, sir, at that exchange ratio.

Mr. SIROVICH. Is that the total subsidy that Japan gives as an ordered subsidy?

Mr. SAUGSTAD. Yes, sir.

Mr. SIROVICH. That is about the lowest we have had, of all the nations, so far?

Mr. SAUGSTAD. Well, the exchange situation, of course, creates that figure. Normally, we speak of the Japanese subsidies as being $5,000,000, in round figures, annually. In point of money, Japanese subsidies range the lowest in the world today, for the services rendered. Mr. SIROVICH. They are the lowest in the world?

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Mr. SIROVICH (interposing). For its population?

Mr. SAUGSTAD. I mean in the category of the five principal maritime nations. The Netherlands and Norway are included in the general large group of maritime countries, but they pay less than Japaň.

Mr. SIROVICH. From the standpoint of the comparison of populations they would be paying more?

Mr. SAUGSTAD. Which?

Mr. SIROVICH. Holland, the Netherlands.

Mr. SAUGSTAD. I hardly believe so. I could not answer that offhand.

But, in considering Japan, Italy, France, Great Britain, and the United States, you will find that the Japanese is the lowest in the scale of total payments. I might say that, in dealing with the maritime nations, for the purposes of finance, we usually divide them, or include in the first group the nations that have a total gross tonnage of about 3 million tons and upward; and in the second grouping those that have a total gross tonnage of about 11⁄2 million gross tons and downward.

There is a margin, apparently, in the maritime nations, which stops at 1,500,000 gross tons; and there are no countries-there are some that come just below 3,000,000 but, between the group of nations having a gross registered tonnage of 1,500,000 and the group having a gross registered tonnage of 3,000,000 and upward, there are none. There is just a blank space. So, we take the first category, when we treat them as the principal maritime nations, based on the registered tonnage of those nations. That is what I had reference to when I stated Japan was the lowest among five in that category.

The present budget proposals and the last official reports are for an appropriation of 12,067,000 yen for the ordered services for 1936. That was the estimate. We do not have the amounts actually approved by the Diet. It has been reported that the proposed subsidy for 1936 will be curtailed by the Ministry of Finance.

The CHAIRMAN. Does the Diet approve every year the subsidy for that year?

Mr. SAUGSTAD. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Very much like our appropriations?

Mr. SAUGSTAD. Yes, sir.

The process, briefly, is that the Ministry of Communications prepares a budget for the services; and the Ministry of Finance approves or disapproves or curtails it, which has been the practice for the past 2 or 3 years; and the Diet, of course, retains the privilege of approving the recommendations of the Ministry of Finance or altering them.

For instance, in connection with the construction subsidy system, which ends on the 31st of this month, in the proposals to continue that the Ministry of Finance has won its point, apparently, of having it greatly reduced.

There are some changes from previously published statements of the amounts allotted to certain lines. For example, the San Francisco service of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, the N. Y. K., was allotted 3,540,000 yen for 1936, as compared with an estimate of 2,747,163 yen for 1935; while the Seattle service of the same company was allotted 1,674,000 yen in the 1936 estimates, as compared with 1,702,580 yen for 1935.

Mr. SIROVICH. What is the reason for that increase? Is it due to the colonization by Japan on the western coast of South America? Mr. SAUGSTAD. I have no knowledge of that, sir. There is some increase in high speed and higher class tonnage going in there, which may have some bearing on it.

Mr. SIROVICH. It seems to have doubled.

Mr. SAUGSTAD. Yes, sir.

I think, Mr. Chairman, that it might be well to include a tabular statement of the ordered services of Japan, as published by the Japanese Department of Communications. This includes 31 lines, 9 of which extend beyond Asiatic waters to the United Kingdom, Australia, North and South America, Africa, and the Near East and Habana. This tabulation, as published in official Japanese sources, covers the lines, the number of vessels and gross tonnage, and the speed of each, on each line, the frequency of sailings, the duration of the contract, and the contracting company.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection it will be inserted in the record. (The table is as follows:)

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Osaka-Nawa Line.

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Line connecting Hokkaido with Honshu 2; over 800 tons; over 10 knots. Near East services.

Services calling at Habana..

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Vessels navigating regularly between Japan and Europe Twice or more employed; over 6,000 tons; over 14 knots.

Vessels navigating regularly between Japan and America employed; over 5,000 tons; over 14 knots.

every 3
months outward; once or
more every 3 months
homeward.

Once or more every 2 months in outward voyage.

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Provided that in the period during which the water of the river is diminished, the navigation may be suspended or the regular service decreased. Provided that during the winter the navigation may be suspended.

Do.

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