Sept. 25th—(1) A decree in reply toa memorial from Tsai-tsien and others (guardians of the Imperial Mausulea) directing a high officer to inspect certain dilapidations in the Mausolea which, the memwraliste represent, should be immediately attended to, (2) A Decree, Let Shuslin 2F JO go to Hangchow as Superintendent of the Imperial Manufactory.
(3) A memorial from Pao Yuan-shen, Governor of Shansi, praying that a Memorial Board with the Imperial Autograph may be awarded to the presiding deity of a Temple to the Dragon God and the Spirit of the five kinds of grain in the Ch'ing-shui Ho Sub-prefecture, as a mark of gratitude for his readiness in answering prayers for rain. (Reecript assenting to this already published.)
Sept. 26th.—Postacript memorial from Yih-ai, Lieutenant-General of the Banner forces'in Kirin, lately sentenced by the Board of War to dismissal for incompetency in the conduct of certain reporting that he has taken upon hi retain the seals of office handed to him for temporary custody by Yih-yung, the military de. Memorialist being now Military Governor, who was sentenced to
under sentence of dismissal, should of course give up the seals, but as there is no high officer in the town of Kirin to whom he-can deliver them, and the Lieutenant Generals on other stations are too far off to be removed within a reasonable time, he proposes to await the arrival of the A Military Governor Mu-t'u-shan, who I hears is on his way to his post, and may Lo shortly expected.
opt. 27th—(1) A decree, in answer to memorial from the Governor of Shun-Yien Fu, sxnetio accordance with the usage of recent years the opening of the two winter asylums for the destitute poor of Pekivg at an earlier period than that prescribed by regulation,—I addition to the regular allowance of 300 piculs of millet, a further donation of is, 500 is at the same time, as usual, bestowed. two Empresses in reply to a meworinl from Ling Pau-cheng, Governor of Shi of the late Emperor and place at the not accepted, on ud that the Empreases and the young Emperor could in no wise reconcile themselves to the non-performance of such duty.
(8) A memorial from the Governor-eral of Sze-ch'wan, reporting the arrear and execution of three manufacturers of counterfeit cash.
Sept. 28th.—(Court Circular.) The Grand Secretary, Wen-siang, paid his respects on resumption of his duty.
(1) A Decree. The Yamen of Foreign Affairs has presented a memorial, praying a declaration from the Throne, on the subject of certain prescriptions in Our Decrees, and regarding the conclusions arrived at [by the Yamen] in the matter of intercourse between the chiefs of the principal departments of State and the Foreisn Ministers residing in the Capital. The explanation of the prescriptions that apply to the Decrees is perfectly correct, As regards intercourse with the chiefs of departments, Ve command that action be taken in the manner the Yamen has proposed.
(2) 'The Acting Gorernor-General of the Two Kiang provinces, Liu Kw'én-yih, memorializes with reference to the proposed reopening of the Inland Customhouses in the province of Kianysu, orders for which had lately been issued' at the instance of the Board of Revenue, but which a careful consideration of the circumstances involved, shows to be virtually impossible. The facto are these: By the regulations heretofore in force, the prescribed amount of revenue to be annually collected by the Lung-kiang and the Si-sin Customhouses was Tis, 186,993; and by the Hu-shu Custom-house Tls. 421,151, making a total for the three of is. 608,134. This is the fixed annual amount of revenue prescribed by the regulations; but no matter how the collectorate might be conducted, it was seldom if ever possible to up to this standard of collection still less to exceed the amount prescribed. The collection of likin, on the contrary, in the province of Kiangeu, yields through the three head offices at Sovchow, Shanghai, and Nanking, notwithstanding repeated reductions applied during the last few years, a total revenue of something more than Tls. 2,000,000, or upwards of three times the amount which the regulation revenue from the Customhouses would provide. Thus the State in no loser, although the Custom-houses closed.' Of course, if the Customs' duties could be levied as well as the likin, it would be highly advantageous from a revenue point of view; but the mercantile community, groaning under the burden of the likin tax now prevailing, are not a day without longing for measure with a view to its reduction, Since the memorialist acceded (a few months ago) to his present office, he has receiv multitudes of petitions from the mercantile community, and despite his attempts at persuasion, they continue to besiege him unintermittingly with their appeals, Public would certainly be dissatisfied re it now proposed to re-impose the iand Customs' duties over and above the likin taxation at present in force; and, although the scheme were by a great effort carried into execution, it would merely result in killing the goose that lays the golden eggs (lit, in draining the pond to take a haul of fish), ina manner by no means conducive tothe recovery of the pronerity of the country. Moreover, it us to be observed that since the introduetion of the foreign transire system, it has been rewurted to by dishonei merchants as a protection to th whereby a falling-off has been caused in the likin revenue, At the same time it must be admitted that men of respectability, who are impressed with a regard for right principle and for the law, have hesitated to enter upon such a proceeding. Should, however, the Customs' duties be now additionally imposed, the inevitable result must be that' the mercantile class, unable to bear the burden longer, will resort to the most desperate extremities, will eagerly buy up foreign transit passes and falsely assume the character of foreign merchants, thus entailing the loss to China of both the Customs' duties and the likin revenue. may be alleged, perhaps, that if the likin were abolished, and the collecting stations done away with, so that the Customs' duties should not exceed in amount th total of the likin collection, the mercantile class would have no complaint tomake, To this it may be objected that, where both sources of revenue alike contribute to the necessities of the state, a mere substitution of one for the other would sitnply be productive of both needless confusion, and at the sometime beunpalatableto the vulgar mind, which is invariably disturbed by anything of a novel description. Of the likin atations, again, many are employed only for purposes of surveillance, and to abolish any "ne of them is merely to open the door tofraudandesasion. 'The instance quoted by the Board of Enquiry, for example—viz., the Custom-house at Kiukiang, where Customs' duty and likin are collected jointly, a system which it is thought might apply to the inland Custom-houses in Kiangeu as well, it is objected that the Kiangim Custom-houses are all on interior lines of traffic, whereas the Kiukiang to deal only with the ely above and below that port.
At Kiukiang, moreover, the Native and Foreign tariff duties are collected at one and the same office; and in the periodical reports to the Throne, it has been more than once stated that the Foreign tariff duties are continually encroaching on the Native! There appears to be no reason whatever for establishing
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.