April 2nd.—A decree condemning serial tim a number of propositions of the stereotyped nature offered by a Deputy Supervisor of Instruction on the question of famine relief and administrative reform. The memorialist has apparently been more vehement in his denunciations than many that have gone before him, and every suggestion that he makes is'set aside as unnecessary or impracticable. He takes exception in the first instance to the raising p' of funds by foreign loans. The decree answers' his objection with the following remarks:—''Setting aside the consideration that the interest on a foreign loan would be an useless drain on the resources of the Imperial exchequer, the length of time that must elapse before negotiations can be completed would render it impossible to obtain the necessary funds with sufficient promptitude to rescue the victims of this wide-spread calamity, who are hovering on the brink of death. There is no need therefore to consider his request." A suggestion that the mulferers by famine should be induced by offers of a supply of need to migrate to the waste lands on the frontier, in negatived an the ground that it i# impor: xible to supply the saved required, and it would not be fair to let "number of destitute people love upon the present inhabitants of the district indicated. A. fierce attack upon Tung-aim, President of the Board of Revenue, who has persistently atived all propomls for expenditiro in aid of the nutferory, and has obstructed the flow of the Imperial bounty, and should therefore be dismissed from the public avrvice, moots with " stern rebuke. refusing to endorse certain proposals for the diversion of tribute grain, ete., Tung-sun has bon actuated by a desire to give due heed to radical interests, while Soo ions ved at after consultation with colleagues, who have appended their tures to the memorials submitting their Tung-sun has not the power to assume sole responsibility in these matters. The memorialist has been guilty of a serious dereliction of duty in allowii jimnself to be blinded by prejudice, and in givin credence to idle rumours which he Foul not be at the pains to verify. He is to be handed over to the Board for the adjudication of a penalty, (2) A decree of the same nature rebuke ing a Censor who has ventured to express an opinion on the conduct of the officers of the Imperial Household, who, in answer to a decree ordering economies'to be effected in palace expenditure, replied that no retrenchments were possible. Itis not within the province of persons outside the palace to concern theniselves with palace matters, of which they should know nothing. The Censor states that, at a recent audience, the Vice-President Kien-fuh was in complete ignorance on a stibject upon which his own office had memorialised. It is highly improper that any officer outside the palace should have any knowledge of conversation that takes place at an atdience.—Let the Censor be sent for and reprimanded.
(3) Postscript memorial by the Censor Ma Luang-ju, calling attention to the frequency of burglaries and highway robberies in the immediate vicinity of the capital. These have become so numerous of late that people are afraid to travel along the public highways in broad daylight. Strangers and others coming to the capital from the Lu-kow-kiao (a bridge on the main road to the west and south about 7 miles from Peking) are afraid to travel without a large escort from the villages around. From this fact alone it is possible to form an estimate of the dangers to which solitary travellers on the less frequented roads are constantly. Tt is easy to distinguish between and high-their parents and their little ones, The former are seompanied by and er" aloud for food. Their emaciated and sickly condition would in itself deter them from acts of brigandage and burglary. It requires more strength and energy than they possess to burn, pillage and wound, or to despoil the graves of their hidden treasures. The memorialist requests that the office of Gendarmerie and the Governor of Shun-tien may be called upon to post a number of soldiers and runners in different Enrglars and highwaymen and inflict sum-laces, with instructions to seize all may justice upon them,—Deeree already lished.
April 3rd.—(Court Gireular.) The office of Gendarmerie reporte the destruction by fire of 7 kien of the office in which drafts of official documents are deposited.
(1) A decree in answer to a memorial presented by the Han-lin College, on behalf of a graduate of that institution, calling attention to the frequent pillage by destitute people of shops for the sale of eatables in Peking. The metropolitan authorities are to consider and give to the best means for suppressing the evil complained of.
(2 & 3) Decrees ordering a fresh series of intercessory prayers for rain on the Bth inst. A fast in ordered to be held, commieneing three days previous to the institu tion of the services, and the Prince of Ch''un ix directed to officiate on behalf of His Majesty.
(4) A decree referring to an objection on the part of the Board of Reveni made public, to xanetion the prohibition of distilling operations, ax suggested by the Grand Secretary Li'tlung-clung. Hwang Ti-fang, Deputy Supervisor of th tion, had taken exception to the finding of the Board, who, ho insinuated, were reluctant to Rose the large fees, appro. printed by them for rice money," which the sale of licences for this branch of industry brought in.
The Board hav been called upon to answer this now explain that, their refusal to mut to the cessation of distilling opera. tions arose from a reluctance to throw th thousand and more families to whom th industry gives employment entirely out of work, coupled with a desire to avoid affording principled underlings a handle for extortion and oppression. They nocordingly Proposed to limit the trade to the present holders of licences. They were in no way influenced by a desire to retain the fees derived from the issue of these licences, a portion of which, they aight add, were surrendered to the Grand Secretariat and ices to defray working expenses. The above explanation being considered satisfactory, the Deputy Supervisor's charges are dismissed.
(5) A decree ordering an immediate onquiry into malpractices in the distribution of relief inthe famine district, with one certain department Magistrates, Maxis-frater and!others; are charged by a Tutor of the Imperial Academy. One officer is said to have forwarded tue whole of a grant of Tls. 3,000, issued for the purchase grain, to his family in Kiangsu; another to have sold grain, and supplied the suf-forers for whose relief it was issued with half the sds; others to have allowed their domestics or followers to appropriate Rave been issued to the people.
wrtions of the grain or funds that should
(6) A decree based on a memorial from the Censor Hit Shang-hwa, who represents that the Innd adjacent to a temple called the Kie-sheng-sze, in which it has been the custom to offer up prayers for rain, tas boon appropriated by Bao-in, Comptroller of the Imperial Household, and his brother Teiing-lin, as a burial' ground. The "pulse of the Dragon" has thus been interrupted, and supplications for rain have this year been offered in another which accounts for their inefficacy. are directed to proceed to the temple in question, and ascertain whether the facts
(2) The remainder of this day's Gazette represented, is Occupied with a memorial from Li Hoh-nien, acting Governor of Honan, and Yuan Pao-hong, special high Com: missioner for famine relief in the same province, detailing at length the measures they have adopted for the administration of relief. They commence by the assertion that agriculture la the only industrial pursuit in the province, and that the taxes, amounting to something over Tacks 3,000,000, are all derived from land. Hence it follows that the important ossontial in famine relief is the preservation of the people from death or dispersion, 8 everyone #0 preserved forms an integer in the te, of taxpayers. A system of relief, therefore, which fails to reach all cases' of destitution, while in the immediate present it entails loss of life, must in the end affect the Imperial economy. Their endeavour therefore has been to pursue a system that to the utmost the life. After summarising the steps taken by the former Governor, which have already eon reported, they yo on to state that on their sucovssion to the control of the relief meusmres, the first difficulty with which they had to contend was inautt caf means, as haw already boon sub in repeated inemoriala, It became ut. the same time their duty' to organise a basin upon which charity should be diaponaed, After careful thought, they decided that it would be right, while attending more particularly to urgent casson of diate neglect those localities where the auffer-was only partial, and instructions wore inmuod calling for careful roporta ar to the uni condition of the various localities, supported by guarantees from the yon try and elders resident in each district. A list, of the original number of familion in each district, with the number at, present romaining, was also called for, and a corps of private individuals for the issue of relief was organised, in addition to taken to exclude all ment attices, and dis dabbling in public matters, A act of putable gentry given
rules, 22 in number, were printed and distributed, that publicity and uniformity might be scour It has been found impossible, however, owing to want of money and supplies, to adhere rigidly to these rules. The supplies at the disposal of each district did not average more than 2,000 to 3,000 piculs of grain, and Tls. 2,000 to Tls. 3,000 in money, while the applicants for relief amounted on an average to about 100,000 in each district, so that provision could not be made for more than two issues of supplies, each person receiving on cither occasion a few sheng of grain and a few score of cash, hardly" enough to support life fora fortnight. Thus the people were soon reduced to their original condi-issue peremptory orders for their reception tion of destitution, and it only remained to
into the relief agencies, in order to aa them from immediate death from starvation. More relief agencies were opened at a number of places which are enumerated by the memorialists, that the people might be enabled to obtain food within easy distance of their homes. Hereupon the want of tprbns the rae nem cigualy ete one the relief agencies originally lished reported that their stock was exhausted, until very few remained open,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.