In the end of July, Tokyo Yokohama Mainichi Shinbun (Tokyo Yokohama Daily Newspaper) and Yubin Hochi Shinbun (Post Dispatch Newspaper) got a scoop that Kiyotaka KURODA, chief of Hokkaido Development Commissioner, was planning to sell government owned facilities and equipment to Tomoatsu GODAI, who was from the same village, at very cheap prices (Kaitakushi Kanyubutsu Haraisage Jiken [Incident of Development Commissioner's Selling of Government-Owned Facilities and Equipment]).
そんな折の7月末に「東京横浜毎日新聞」及び「郵便報知新聞」のスクープにより、開拓使長官の黒田清隆が同郷の政商五代友厚に格安の金額で官有物払下げを行うことが明るみに出た（開拓使官有物払下げ事件）。