February 19th.—The Governor-General of Sze-chw'an suggests a plan which will enable him to puta stop to the system of giving presents of money by subordinate officials to their superiors. Asis well known, he remarks, the system of making presents of money to one's superiors in office, on festivals and birthdays, has been in vogue for over two hundred years; it is nota very reputable custom, but under the cireumstances there is no help for it. No allowance is made to officials for the expenses of their ofice, and their pay, subject as it is to many deductions, is quite insufficient to meet the many calls made upon it on public account. In some of the other provinces there exists a fund on which to draw, built up out of the surplus grain tax paid as "waste. allowance," and out of the profits trade in the process of commuting the grain tax for a money payment. A similar fund, however, is now being accumulated out of the profits derived from the turn of the scale in receiving payment for the Szcchw'an Salt, and the Salt Office has signified its consent to the money so collected being used to defray the office expenses of the various authorities in the province. From the beginning of the present year, accordingly, the custom of giving presents will be strictly forbidden, and any officer, whether as donor or recipient, who ventures to disregard the injunctions now laid on the provincial authorities will be impeached.
February 20th.—A Decree. When the Magazine with large stores of ammunition was destroyed by fire in the summer of 1876, Li Hung-chang merely reported the accident without submitting a detailed list of the articles destroyed. Having now been called upon for particulars, he states that there were consumed in the fire, nine million rifle caps, 800,000 fuses, 6,400 tents, rifles, 38° gun-carriages, and other articles, adding that he had made no detailed return because, according to regulations, no one had to be held pecuniarily responsible. Military stores should be most carefully guarded and watched. The present accident does not come within the category referred to by Li Hung-chang. The officers responsible must make good the loss, and stringent orders must be issued requiring greater vigilance in the future.
February 2lst.—A Decree. The Censor Wang Ping points out that seed grain is urgently needed in the province of Shansi, and recommends that some may be purchased in Chihli, where grain is now unusually cheap, "Let the Governor of Shansi end to Chihli to purchase seed. grain for immediate transport to Shansi, and let him also distribute such seed as he may now have in hand.
Let also the Governo: Shansi, the Famine Commissioner ~tevince, and the Governor of Anhws: truth of the charge b: expectant Prefect Shao having been sent to Che Tis. €0,000 to buy grain. 1877, he instead to his tive place in' Anhwei, and bought up "A. glam there, which he kept until the "mer of 1878, when he (2) The Govert: o:-General of Sze-chw'an ports that ti alt me. nants in the prov-mice have undertaken s: heir own expense to improve the w: ication bo-tween Sze-chw' ihe salt depots in Kwei: Te will greatly to the destitute pzopie live banks. ing along the February 22nd.—A Decree. Lin K'unyi reports the suc. -ssful termination of the operations against che Annamese and border rebels. The Annamese rbel chief, Lia To-chang-erh, having had ihe temerity to zague himself with the Chinese rebels, and wake a raid on Chin Chow (BK LIH), the Civil and Military authorities of the district acting in concert with the Annamese troops, brought a force against him, and completely routed his rebel band, killing a large nuinher, and destroying all their strongholds. The rising, it must be admitted, was very promptly suppressed; but at the same time there is no clue to the whereabouts of the rebel leader Lin Te-chang-orh (SE F—), and the rebel chief Wen A-tan (SEUAB HA) is still at large. Let Liu K'un-yi give orders that a strict search be made, and that it be ascertained when ther it be tree that Liu Té-chang-erh was killed by cannon shot. Wen A-tan must be seized, as well as any others who may be at large, in order flirt the extermination may be complete.
The Governor of Fuhkien requests that Chung Hung-kwei (Gi #8 322), ing Magistrate of Chang-hwa Hsien (ES) in Formosa, may be stript of his ran as a preliminary to being brought charged (1) that when a certain junk he offences with which he is
was wrecked and pillaged by the people on shore, he took a force to the spot and burned some villages, and imposed a fine of $5,000 on some others. Out of this, $2,000 were given as compensation to the junk, and the remaining §3,000 have not Yet been paid; (2) that on discovering that gambling was going on in a certain house, he confiscated the premises and sold them 3 (8) that in a certain judicial case he fined the defendant $600 for failing to obey the order of the Court; (4) that he fined a man $100 for being behindhand with his contribution of grain to the Shansi famine; and (5) that when one of his subordinates carelessly allowed a prisoner to escape, he seized all his property and sold it, expending the money, as he said, in repairs to his official residence. Pillaging wrecks, the Governor points out, is too common in Formosa and gambling is a vice that should be stamped out, The infliction of a fine is not the proper penalty in such cases. To be behindhand with one's contribution is not a criminal offence, and the imposition of such a heavy fine was a gross injustice. It is requested that the Acting Magistrate may be brought to trial, in order that it may be discovered whether he has been guilty of appropriating to himself the fines he has been imposing.
February 23rd.—Dectee ordering on enquiry to be made into a-charge brought against Li Yuan-hwa, Financial Commissioner of Shantung, and Ma Ying-kwei, Prefect of Ts'ao-chow, of falsifying the accounts of the Yellow River embankment repairs.
(2) The Governor of Kwei-chow reports the sentences passed on certain men con-viered of having counterfeited the official seal of the Governor and Commander-chief of Kwei-chow; and of having obtained money by means of forged documents, The principal offender is sentenced to death; the others to banishment.
February 24th.—(1) Tso Tsung-tang reports the arrival at Lan-chow Fu of Yang Chiang-chun BF EA 74F, Assistant Administrator of affairs in Turkestan, (2) A memorial from the same states that Yang Ch'ang-chun has been provided with 2, seal bearing the words Ex-Governor of Chiehiang, decorated by Imperial order with the button of the fourth rank, Assist-aut Administrator of affairs in Kansuh and 'Turkestan and it is requested that in order to avoid the delay which would be incurred were reference always to be made [fo Teo Taungtang at Suchow Fu, twenty Stages off, Yang Ch'ang-chun inay be allowed to' address the Throne directly on stions specially coming under his cogizance.—Granted by Rescript.
(3) The Governor-General of Fuhkien and Chehkiang recommends Cheng Tsung-Hui (Rap, at present Magistrate of the Yung-fu district, for the post of Magistrate of the Hou-kwan district 'OF LID in which the city of Foochow is situated. {4} The Governor-General of the two Kwang provinces requests that memori portals may be erected in honour of certain individuals who subscribed largely for the relief of the distress caused by the overflowing of the West and North rivers in February 25th.—(1) Chi Ko and Eu Lin report themselves on their return from Corea.
(2) The Governor-General of Szechwan states his intention of making a quarterly allowance for office expenses to the Tartar General and Lieutenant-General at Ch'eng-tu Fu out of the fund derived from surplus payment for salt by the monopolists. A present the Tartar General and Lieutenant-General have nothing but their pay, which is barely sufficient for their private wants.
February 26th,—(1) Lin Hsibung, late Minister in Germany, reports himself on
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.