ART. XLV. As to drawing, each one may draw for himself, or the voters of a town or village, or villages, may choose one or three persons to represent them all, to whom the drawing shall be committed.

ART. XLVI. A supplemental company of conscripts shall be formed to fill vacancies in the regular force. These shall serve one year, and shall be called out after the regnlar conscripts.

ART. XLVII. Before the drawing takes place, a tabulated statement shall be exhibited showing the whole number of persons liable to conscription in each shi, fu, and ken; the kind of soldiers needed, as also the number of regular and supplemental troops.

ART. XLVIII. The method of drawing shall be as follows: The men shall be examined, and a corresponding number of cards, numbered and marked in due form, shall be put in a box, which shall be placed beside the teller, who shall call on the men to draw in the ordor of the roll, and observe whether the drawing is done rightly or not. He shall call out the number drawn in a loud tone, take the card, and record the name and number in the register, and return the card to the drawer.

ART. XLIX. If 500 men are drawn 500 tickets or cards shall be provided. If 200 regulars and 100 supplemental troops are needed during the year, the first 200 shall be regulars, the next 100 shall be supplemental troops, and the remainder blanks. Those that draw blanks shall be exempt from service in time of peace.

ART. L. After the drawing has taken place, forms shall be made out, according to the records kept, and delivered to the conscripts drawn, in exchange for the cards held by them.

ART. LI. The supplemental troops shall remain at home employed, and when vacancies occur in the ranks of the regulars, they shall receive notice from the garrison in the order of their draft number, and be made to enter camp.

(NOTE. Those who are not summoned within a full year, counting from the first day that regulars enter camp, that is from the 20th of the 4th month, shall be exempt from service in time of peace.)

ART. LII. Those supplemental troops who enter the regular army shall serve three years, counting from the first day of the period when regulars enter camp, and without regard to the particular month or day of their entering.

ART. LIII. After the superintendent has completed the conscription in any shi, fu. or ken, he shall examine the register and examination papers of the conscripts, and classify them as regulars or supplemental troops. He shall also collect the several reg istration papers and form them into a book called the "soldiers' register," and the sev eral examination papers, and form them into a book called the "register of examinations," and forward a copy of both books and a copy of the records of the drafting to the army department and to the garrison.

ART. LIV. All documents relating to the conscription, such as the lists of persons called out and of persons exempted, petitions, notices, and the like, are to be kept on record in each shi, fu, and ken, and copies forwarded with the documents mentioned in Art. LIII, to the army department and to the garrison.

CHAPTER VII.

MISCELLANEOUS RULES.

ART. LV. Conscripts drawn as regulars shall enter camp between the 20th of the 4th month, and the 1st of the 5th month. The neighboring officials in each shi, fu, and ken shall collect and conduct them to camp, and the expenses shall be paid, according to regulations, by the finance department.

ART. LVI. When any one fails to be in time on account of sickness or of a crime committed, a minute account of the facts in the case shall be made out, stamped, and forwarded by the county official to the garrison or camp. The person taken sick shall inclose the certificate of a neighboring physician, stamped in like manner.

(NOTE. Those who fail for the above reasons to enter camp till the 1st of the 10th month, shall defer entering camp till the next year, when they shall be examined again and enter camp before the ordinary conscripts.)

ART. LVII. When any one's home is removed while he is serving in the regular army, the fact shall be made known at once by the relatives to the person rendering such service, who shall inform the inferior officer to whose command he may belong. ART. LVIII. Those taken sick while serving as regulars shall be put in the hospital by the army physician and treated. Those who are thereafter unfit for service shall be dropped from the roll, and their regular expenses home be paid by the army department.

ART. LIX. When one in the regular service is needed at home on account of the sickness of his parents, or other sufficient cause, one of his relatives shall obtain the county magistrate's seal in confirmation, and present the request at the garrison or

camp, when, after consultation, he may be allowed to go home, at his own expense, for two weeks, exclusive of the time required to go and come.

(EXCEPTION. Those who have been in camp less than six months, and who are hence untrained, or who are practicing special drill or engaged for review, will not have such leave granted them.)

ART. LX. As all the males in the country are to be enrolled in the national militia when they reach the age of seventeen, all that become of age in any given year between the 1st and 12th months shall, through the head of the family, and between the 1st and 15th of the 9th month, report their names, rank, residence, time of birth, and occupation to the district magistrate, who shall examine their reports and send them to the county magistrate before the 25th of the same month. The county magistrate, after examining them, shall send them to the shi, fu, or ken before the 10th of the 10th month, when the persons thus reported shall be entered on the militia roll. (NOTE.-Those who reside temporarily in any shi, fu, or ken need only report to the district magistrate of the place where they are registered.)

ART. LXI. As all the males are liable to military service in the regular army when they reach the age of twenty, all that reach this age in any given year between the 1st and 12th months shall, through the head of the family, and between the 1st and 15th of the 9th month, report in due form to the district magistrate, who shall collect the reports and forward them before the 25th of the same month to the county magistrate, who shall examine and classify them, and forward them with his report to the shi, fu, or ken before the 10th of the 10th month. The shi, fu, and ken officials shall inspect them and enter the names reported on the conscription roll to be forwarded to the proper garrison before the 25th of the 12th month.

ART. LXII. When one is residing temporarily in the shi, fu, or ken he may be conscripted in the place of his registration, or in the place of his temporary residence, at his option.

ART. LXIII. When any one concludes to be conscripted in his place of residence he shall report the fact, vouched for by his security in the place of residence, before the 1st of the 9th month to the government officers of the province where he resides, and of that in which he is registered; the government office of the latter shall inquire for the head of his family in his district and report to the government officer of the former where his name shall be appended to the conscription roll, and an account of the matter recorded.

ART. LXIV. Any one that is conscripted, by the payment of 270 yen, and any one that is exempt in time of peace only, by the payment of 135 yen, may obtain exemption from all military service except in the national militia.

ART. LXV. Any one wishing to obtain exemption shall, through a relative, present his petition to the district magistrate before the arrival of the superintendent. The district magistrate shall stamp the petition and forward it to the county magistrate, who, after inspection shall forward it to the shi, fu, or ken, from whence it shall be sent to the conscription station.

ART. LXVI. Persons liable to conscription who shall falsify as to their ages or their relatives, or who shall injure their persons or make themselves sick, or attempt in any other dishonest way to evade conscription, and the county or district magistrates who vouch for such persons and acts, shall be dealt with in the manner prescribed by law. ART. LXVII. Those who attempt in the way indicated in Art. LXVI to escape the conscription, and those who fail to report themselves as required by Art. LXI shall be examined at the next year's conscription and put in camp before those mentioned in the note under Art. LVI.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE NUMBER OF CONSCRIPTS.

ART. LXVIII. In the six garrison districts the number and class of conscripted soldiers shall, in general, be as follows:

First military department.-The Tokei Garrison.

Infantry, three brigades; cavalry, one regiment; artilery, two regiments; engineers, one regiment; transportation, one company; coast-guards, three companies; total, 7,020, of whom 2,340 enter camp each year.

The first department includes the districts of Tokio, Kanagawa, Saitama, Shidzuoka, Yamanashi, Gunba, Chiba, Ibaragi, Tochigi, Nagano, and Nügata.

Second department, Sendai.

Infantry, two brigades; artillery, one regiment; engineers, one battalion; porters, one company; total, 4,260, of whom 1,420 enter camp each year.

The second department contains the provinces of Miyashiro, Tukushima, Aomori, Iwate, Akita, and Yamagata.

Third department, Nagoya.

Infantry, two brigades artillery, one regiment; engineers, one battalion; porters one company; total, 4,260, of whom 1,420 enter camp each year.

The third department contains the provinces of Aichi, Sanuki, Ishikawa, and parts of Shidzuoka, Echizeu, Nagano, Shinano, and Iga.

Fourth department, Osaka.

Infantry, three brigades; artillery, two regiments; engineers, one regiment; porters, one company; coast-guards, two companies; total, 6,700; proportion for each year, 2,2334.

The fourth department contains the provinces of Osaka, Hiogo, Sakai, Wakayama, Kioto, Miiè, Iga, and Okayama.

Fifth department, Hiroshima.

Infantry, two brigades; artillery, one regiment; engineers, one battalion; porters, one company; coast-guards, one company; total, 4,340; or 1,446 for each year. This department contains the provinces of Hiroshima, Shimane, Yamaguchi, Kochi, Ehime, and Bichu, in Okayama.

Sixth department, Kumamito.

Infantry, two brigades; artillery, two regiments; engineers, one regiment; porters, ne company; coast-guards, two companies; total, 4,780; or 1,5934 each year. The sixth department includes the provinces of Kumamito, Kagoshima, Owake, ukuoka, and Nagasaki.

Seventh department.

At present united with the second department.

Coast-guards, one company; total, 80; or 26 for each year.

The territory included in this department is one county under the jurisdiction of the Hakodate branch of the colonization department.

Grand total, 31,440 regular troops in the army, of which number one-third or 10,450 enter camp each year.

ART. LXIX. The classes or kinds of supplemental soldiers are the same as those of the regular conscripts.

ART. LXX. The standard height of the different classes or kinds of soldiers is as follows:

Of artillery and coast-guards, 5 feet 4 inches and upwards.

Of cavalry, engineers, and porters, 5 feet 3 inches and upwards.

Of infantry, 5 feet and upwards.

Of porters and hospital men, unfixed.

ART. LXXI. The number of supplemental conscripts for one year is, on the whole, as shown above; but the number may be increased or diminished as circumstances require.

No. 1040.]

No. 425.

Mr. Bingham to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Tokei, December 29, 1879. (Received Jan. 27, 1880.) SIR: Herewith I beg leave to transmit for your information the fifth annual report of His Imperial Japanese Majesty's minister of education for the tenth year of Meiji (1877).

I take pleasure in saying that I have been furnished with this interesting report through the courtesy of his excellency Mr. Terashima, now the minister of education, and formerly the minister for foreign affairs.

You will observe that the empire is divided into fu and ken, the former being cities, the latter being political departments, and that the tables annexed to the report show the expenditures in each per annum for school purposes, and also the salary paid to teachers in each, and also the value of public school property in each.

The total value of the public school property is estimated at 12,369,138 yen, of which the permanent school fund is 7,521,459 yen; the value of school-houses 3,164,114 yen; of school grounds, 265,261 yen; the revenue from school land, 149,844 yen; the value of school apparatus and books, 1,868,458 yen. It also appears that the interest from the school fund for the year amounted to 827,173 yen.

It is stated that the voluntary contributions made in money by the people during the year to the school fund amounted to 809,745 yen; in lands, to the amount of 115,506 tsubos or more than 96 acres; also 310 buildings; 26,507 complete sets of books, &c; and that the total number of persons who thus contributed during the year to the public schools was 499,767.

It is well said by the minister that "the table of contributions (from 1873 to 1877, inclusive, pp. 21, 22) shows that the local interest in edu cation has been so great that fortunes have not been spared" in promoting the good cause.

The table shows that during the five years the money contributions amounted to 8,504,000 yen; and the land contributions to 853,000 tsubos, about 700 acres.

During the year 1877 the government contributed to the elementary schools 562,500 yen, and to the public normal schools 28,875 yen.

It appears (p. 6) that the entire population in 1877 of the seven school districts in the Empire was 34,245,323, and that the number of children who received instruction during the year was 2,094,298, while the whole school population was 5,251,807.

The new code of education just issued and forwarded in my No. 1039 will in future prevent the exclusion from the public schools of any of these children.

This report speaks well for this government and its people, and is another evidence that both the novernment and the people of Japan esteem education to be essential to the general welfare.

I have, &c.,

No. 426.

JNO. A. BINGHAM.

No. 1042.]

Mr. Bingham to Mr. Evarts.

UNITED STATES LEGATION,

Tokei, December 29, 1879. (Received January 27, 1880.)

SIR: I have the honor to acquaint you that on the 15th instant I received a dispatch from Mr. Duns, the United States consular agent at Hakodate, in which he says that on the 7th instant the consulate was burned, and that he had lost everything, save fifteen books, and that he had "lost all the letters and archives."

I have, &c.,

JNO. A. BINGHAM.

No. 1043.]

No. 427.

Mr. Bingham to Mr. Evarts.

UNITED STATES LEGATION,

Tokei, December 30, 1879. (Received January 27, 1880.) SIR: I regret to say that on the 26th instant there occurred in this city a most destructive fire with great loss of property, over 10,000 houses having been consumed, and large quantities of goods.

More than 50,000 people were rendered houseless. Many persons were greatly injured, and quite a number of lives were lost. The lega tion made a very narrow escape, and for a time was saved by the great exertions of the firemen and police of the capital, but was only finally saved from destruction because of the fact that the course of the wind, which was blowing a gale, suddenly changed and carried away from the legation buildings the flames of the burning city. The danger of the immediate destruction of the legation buildings was so great that it was deemed necessary to remove the legation archives and also the legation library, which was most carefully done with the assistance of good friends.

Among the many friends who lent assistance to me in providing safety for my family and in saving the property of the legation were the minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Inouye, the vice-minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Enomoto, his excellency Mr. Eisendecker, the German minister, and also his excellency Mr. Struve, the Russian minister. His excellency Mr. Iwakura sent his most trusted servants to guard the archives of the legation, as did also others of His Majesty's ministers.

The archives of the legation were all brought back in good order on the evening of the same day, having been under cover in my carriage in the street until the danger was passed.

This is the second time within three years that our legation here and all the government property has been exposed to imminent danger from fire. It does seem to me that it would be a wise economy if Congress would appropriate $25,000 for the construction and furnishing of United States legation buildings in this city on the grounds offered to our gov ernment as a gift by His Majesty's Government, and on which the legation buildings would be so isolated and so constructed as to secure them against the fires so frequent and so destructive in Tokei.

Tokei, January 16, 1880. (Received February 19.)

SIR: Herewith I have the honor to inclose for your information two copies of the official report* of the commissioner of the imperial mint of Japan for the year ending June 30, 1879.

It is to be noted that the whole amount of gold received at the min for the year was but 48,853.81 ounces troy, and that the amount of sil

* Omitted herefrom, owing to its length.