日露戦後における電力政策の展開 : 第二次桂内閣と電気事業法
スポンサーリンク
概要
- 論文の詳細を見る
After the Russo-Japanese War, the electrical power industry achieved rapid progress in hydroelectric enterprises as a result of technological innovations in methods for high capacity hydroelectric energy generation and in techniques for long distance high voltage electricity transfer. Correspondingly, the Ministry of Communications under the second Katsura Cabinet changed its electric power policy from one of mere technological management to a genuine set of industrial measures. The policy during this period was characterised by : 1)water utilization measures based on actual surveys and aiming at effective hydroelectric energy development ; 2)legal preparations which would become a basic code for the administration of the electrical industry. In these political measures we can identify two tendencies, one protective and one regulatory. While the economic community's interests at this time were aimed at developing a manufacturing sector capable of supplying a cheap, industrial-use energy substitute for coal, at the same time, the communications bureaucracy, headed by Minister Goto Shimpei and hoping to play a role in encouraging industrial progress, was working to expand its policies for nurturing electrical endeavors through such measures as The Hydroelectric Surveys of 1910 which presented fundamental data on possible water use areas, and legal codes which would provide for the security necessary in the construction of power lines. On the other hand, the communications bureaucracy was expanding its administrative regulations policy for the purpose of securing stability and economy for electrically powered public services like railroads and sea transport, which from an economic point of view were indispensable, basic industries. The most important regulations were those for the authorization of power rates, but in the Parliament, because of strong opposition from the Seiyukai which was backed by large capitalist interests such as Tokyo Electric Light Co., Ltd, these regulations were reduced to the government's right to merely issue rate changes. As a result of this parliamentary setback, in urban areas the Ministry of Communications changed the direction of its sanctioning from monopoly authorization to supply electric power for lighting to overlapping authorizations, thereby indirectly adopting a regulatory policy position of encouraging competition and so lowering rates. We can also see these kinds of administrative measures which emphasized production for the public interest present in the transportation policies concerning railroads and shipping during and after the Russo-Japanese War. In conclusion, by arguing that from the viewpoint of administrative policy, regulatory measures were a common characteristic in the economic planning policies of the Ministry of Communications after the Russo-Japanese War, we can see a marked difference between industrial policy during the above period and that of the Sino-Japanese post-war period in which industrial independence and production expansion were emphasized in relation to the basic industries such as railroads and shipping.
- 1980-04-20