Reorganization of the Modern Maritime Policy-System and Ship-Building Market

Abstract

The modernistic maritime policy-system established as a link in the chain of the "Post Sino-Japanese War Management" in 1896 was reorganized in 1899. This "reorganization", two axes of which were revising the Navigation Encouragement Law restrictively and expanding the Institution to Promote Specific Regular Lines rapidly, introduced for the first time the rule that compelled shipping agents to order new ships from internal shipyards. The introduction of direct method like this to protect ship-building market was epoch-making in itself, because between internal and external (English) ship-building industries there was a general gap of competitive powers which couldn't be supplied sufficiently by the ship's import duty and the Ship-building Encouragement Law. But "reorganization" introduced the rule only partially and restrictively, as a link in the restrictive revision of the Navigation Encouragement Law. So, as a direct result of "reorganization" all the market didn't come to be protected directly by the rule and the number of new ships ordered under direct controle of the rule--we name this type of ordering new ships from internal shipyards "type compelled by policy" and the other "type not compelled by policy"--couldn't increase remarkably, too. "Type not compelled by policy" formed epoch-makingly under the 1896-system, composed in itself of "type supplied by capital relation" and "type opened", existed and extended after "reorganization". And developments in management and technique advanced in shipping, ship-building industries correspondingly with it. "Type compelled by policy" was formed really and started to develop by basing itself on these processes, more directly, by removing and changing from "type supplied by capital relation". And before the Russo-Japanese War, it couldn't develop, enough to overcome the latter and coexisted with reciprocal action. On the other hand, "type opened" developped uniquely by basing itself on it's own specific, restrained conditions. Thus, before the Russo-Japanese War, ship-building market was in a complicated and transitional step, neverthless shipping agents came to order most new ships from internal shipyards.