(Translated for the N.C. Herald.
Mei Ki-chao, Governor of Chekiang, kneeling presents a memorial setting forth how certain pirates and evil characters in a sea-girt island offered resistance to authority and murdered and did violence to officers and soldiers; how troops were despatched for their annihilation and capture; and how the chief conspirator and other ring-lenders were taken alive and severally dealt with [as will hereafter be shown. He would humbly represent that Ta Shan, in the jurisdiction of Ting-hai, being formerly a waste and uninhabited territory, the occupation of which was not forbidden by explicit prohibition, it has now been taken possession of by' numerous settlers and has thus, to all intents and purposes, become ci 'Yang Eh'
-kiin, memorialist's predecessor, solicited permission from His Majesty to apply to ti ud the law with respect to reclaimed foreshore, and sury the land with a view to registering it for taxation, each -holder being supplied with a proper title to his land. "On the 13th November, 1875, the Inner Council had the honor' to receive the following Imperial Decree:—Yang Ch'ang-kun in a postscript, memorial requests permission to survey the land on Ta K'd Shan and register it for taxation," etc., etc. in the month of July, 1876, El han, then acting sub-prefect of Ting-hai, reported that "in the matter of the organisation of taxation in Ta K'i Shan, the inhabitants had, with one exception, gladly sent in returns of the land held by. them, but that one Kin K'i-lan, an old offender, who had been guilty in the year 1870 of harbouring certain pirates and resisting their capture by Government troops, some of whom were wounded, had, with his sons, resisted [the innovation] from first to last, and refused to indjgate' his land for measurement. He h+ further inflamed the minds of theinha*? ¥® s against the measure, with a view toP®'PSting any attempt to arrest him, The'¥-Prefect had accordingly to request thit troops might be sent to put this insubordination down." Upon this, the Late Governor issued a proclamation exhorting the people in emphatic terms [to submit to authority], and at the same time directed the sub-Protect in question to carry out the necessary arrangements in.a fit and proper manner, adding that if Kin K'i-lan and those with him persisted in their resistance and disregard of authority, he would then detach troops to arrest him. When memorialist visited Ningpo last year on his tour of military inspection, he made enquiries on the subject from the Taotai, the Prefect, and Shih Chih-stin, the present sub-Prefect of Ting-hai, They all affirmed that the island of K'it Shan, standing, as it did, aloneyn the midst of the outer sea some thrégngr four hundred distant from Ting-lig fcjand Ningpo, was inaccessible except by "it, while the exceptional nature of the sds and tides that prevailed in these waters rendered the voyage a difficult one. The attitude of the miscreant Kin K'i-lan and those with him, moreover, who, while openly subservient, were in reality nothing of the kind, and professed obedience only to offer resistance the next moment, caused so much delay in the execution of the survey that it had not yet been possible to complete it. In reply, memorialist directed them to carry out the necessary arrangements with due care and. attention, and not to mar their efficacy from a desire to use expedition. On the 25th August last, the sub-Prefect of Ting-hai reported that ho had ascertained by enquiry that the only person on Ta K'ii-shan who resisted measurement of their land were Kin K'i-lan and Hia Ta-kin, and his followers—a few families only—whom the former had summoned to his aid; that he had accordingly.consulted with the commandant of the Ting-hai garrison, and that officer had consented to detach gun-vessels and troops to go with [the sub-Perfect's deputy] to seize these individuals and put down insubordination. But that immediately on the landing of this force on the 17th July, at_a place on the island called Tao Tow Ngao, Kin K'i-lan had come forward with a band of followers provided "with gongs and banners, "ind resisted all attempts at capture. The road being nothing but a narrow and secluded hill-path, and the water in the ponds being very deep, it was impossible to form the troops into fighting line, and this miscreant had then the audacity to fire upon them with muskets and howitzers, Thereupon his followers emerged. from the mountain gorges on every side and advanced upon the soldiers. There was then nothing for it but to engage them
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.