and ninety-seven sen for every one tan of residence. Of the whole population, the owners of some of these three kinds of land are more than 6,003,000 in number. The least amount of tax paid by each of these owners is ten sen. The public debt is of two kinds, namely, the home and the foreign. was made up as follows, July, 1883 : A great part of this debt was left to the present Government for redemption by the former princes of different provinces. The foreign debt of Japan was raised in England. It comprises a nine per cent. loan VOL. 11. 26 In 1872 all the chijis and reis were called to hold meeting at Tokio, the meeting being called "Chihokuwan Kaigi," or the meeting of the local governors, the chief subject of their discussion being the taxes. By the imperial decree promulgated in 1873 was revised the old system of taxation of the whole empire, the revision having consumed the period of seven years. In each of the years of 1875, 1878, 1879, 1881, chiji and rei were called to hold meetings to discuss the local executive affairs. In 1879 fu and ken assemblies were opened, the members being elected by votes and vested with the power of discussing the sole affair of the adjustment of the local taxes. But the approval of chiji or rei must be obtained to execute the result of their discussion. When chiji or rei thinks that his approval could not be given to it, he submits his reasons for it to the Minister of the Interior for his direction. Those who are qualified to be elected members of each fu or ken assembly must be men of over twenty-five years of age, living in each fu or ken over three years, and paying land taxes upwards of ten yen. Those who are qualified to elect such members must be men of over twenty years of age, living in such fu or ken, and paying land taxes to the amount of five yen. Those who are qualified to elect members were 1,809,610 in number at the end of the year 1881. Of this number, those who were qualified to be elected were 879,347. Education and Religion.-On December 31, 1881, the statistics of schools, high schools, normal schools, university of Tokio, schools for special branches, and schools of all kinds, are as follows :— Among those schools, some are maintained by the Government expenses, or the State taxes; some by fu and ken expenses, or the local taxes and the money collected from the public in such fu and ken; and some by private donations. They are called respectively the government, public, and private schools, the number of each of which are stated as follows: Of these schools, those which are under the supervision of chiji and rei are public schools, which are the foundation for the extension of the education of the whole country, and considered as important elements of the educational statistics. Consequently those who attend, and those who do not attend, the schools, together with the state of the income and expenditure of the schools, are indicated as follows. In 1880-81 the comparison of those who attain the age of attending school (from full six years to full fourteen years) with school boys and girls among those who attain such age is as follows: 1880 2,878,508 2,654,688 5,533,196 1,690,277 581,573 2,271,850 1881 2,914,727 2,700,280 5,615,007 1,747,451 666,135 2,413,586 Those who attend school out of every hundred of those who attain such age. 41.06 42.98 During the years of 1880-81 the annual educational income and expenditure by the local taxes and the money collected from the public are as follows: In 1881 the number of students of such public schools was 2,582,826, and their The religion is of two sects, namely, |