June 26th.—The Court Circular records that the Board of Ceremonies has requested his Majesty's decision respecting the date for putting en gala dress in honour of the 40th birthday of the Empress Mother.—The Governor of Shun-tien Fu announces the fall of 5 inches of rain in Peking.
(1) The Governor-General of Chihli, Li Hung-chang, memorializes with reference to a proposed measure of relief to the contractors for the salt revenue. On repeated occasions the difficulties under which the salt merchants labour have been represented to the Throne, but owing to the continuance of military needs no relief has been experienced. Since 1848, the monopolists have been saddled with the debts of their predecessors, and of late years their distress has been aggravated by the deficient supply of salt and the increased cost of transport in consequence of floods, At the same time, the freshly prepared salt goes to waste much more rapidly than that which has been kept for time stored up, After several propositions have been rejected as inadmissible, a request has been made for permission to increase to some extent the water-allowance and the selling-price, and these the Governor-General supports. An allowance for waste is recognized by the existing regulations, but the monopolists are no longer able to adhere to the former usage of storing the salt fora year, in consequence of the abundant' supply before shipping it off, and as the salt is now packed and sent off from the brine pans as fast as produced, the waste is 10 per cent. greater than formerly. As every catty of salt involves a payment to Government, the loss of every catty is felt by the mono-a be given to add. henceforward 20 and itis now proposed that per-
to the weight allowed by regulation to each bag, as an allowance for waste, except for' delivery to the dis tricts' between Tient and the sea, which immediately adjoin the salt-producing area. The proposed addition would hold good for the remainder of the province of Chihli id the whole of honan, being the division of the Ch'ang-In salt delivery. The additional amount of 20 catties per bag would be exempt from duty payment, leaving the regulation amount unaffected in any way. Again, as regards the selling price, which is also fixed by regulation, the prime cost of the salt has of late years been enhanced to the monopolists by scant supplies and increased outlay for carriage, etc., and the progressive rise in the value of silver has also occa sioned great loss to the monopolists in the course of exchanging their receipts of cash into sycee for duty-payments, It is consequently proposed that an addition of 2 cash per catty may be made to the selling price throughout the Ch'ang-Lu Gabelle district, with the exceptions already named above. As it is estimated that the consumption of salt per head of population is three mace-weight per diem (i.e. 3/160 of a catty), the additional cost to each individual will be no more than a little over one cash per month, The Governor-General proposes to give effect to the new system from the first of the month ensuing: upon receipt of his Majesty's sanction; an to limit its duration to five years, on the expiry of which period further enquiry into the then existing circumstances may be made.—Rescript: Let the Board of Revenue consider and report to Us.
(2) The Governor-General, Li Bung-chang, memorializes, quoting a report from the Taotai at Newchwang, to the effect that three of the banditti who have lately menaced the foreign settlement (7 47) at that port, have been captured and summarily executed. It is represented that owing to the floods of last year, an outbreak of brigandage has been' encouraged, and as the port of Newchwang is a place where foreign relations exist, its protection is of all the greater moment. Orders having been given by the Yamen of Foreign Affairs and by the Governor-General for energetic action in the matter, and a report having reached the Taotai in January last of a design to attack and pillage the foreign settlement, a party of the drilled troops were sent out against the banditti, whom they attacked and dispersed, taking three prisoners. Of these the leading individual is a notorious highwayman, who has pursued a career of brigandage for 16 years past. Promotion and honours are requested for the officers in command of the troops.
Tune 27.—(1). A rescript awards certain honorary distinctions to each of the Nui Koh or Inner Council, viz., one "degree of merit" Jf}—§& and the honor of being "thrice recorded" respectively to the Prince of Kung, Wei siang, Pao-yun, Jui-lin, Li Hung-chang, and Tso-tsung-tang. (These distinctions are available in case of future shortcomings of a trivial nature, when their deprivation stands in stead of more serious forms of penalty).
(2). A Memorial of unusual length from a board of high officials in the province of Sheng-king (Manchuria), conveying the result of a trial for parricide, with which they were charged last year, owing to a conflict of evidence at previous trials. A man named Feng Ki, of the Hi: ug district, lived with two married sons named Feng Tai-ch'ang and Feng Teh. and a nephew named Feng Teh-vit, in ferent parts of the same dwelling, wife of the elder son was named Feng Wu-she, and the younger son's wife, Feng Chao- The latter was subject to fits of insanity, during which she lost the power of speech. The two husbands were habitually away from home, pursuing their vocations as hired servants. According to the evidence now taken, criminal connexion had been formed between the nephew and the wife of the elder brother.
had continued for some length was discovered by the father, Feng Kii, and the two guilty persons determined' after a certain lapse of time to rid themselves of his reproaches by murder. Accordingly, before daylight one morning, in the early part of 1873, they armed themselves with a hatchet, and entering Feng Ki's room as he slept, fulfilled their purpose. The man, having first stunned the vi by a blow on the head, proceeded to hack the face and skull with the edge of the chopper, and this bloody task was completed by the woman, She next proceeded to raise an outcry, accusing her lunatic sister-in-law of having committed the act in a fit of frenzy, and the insane woman, alarmed, but unable to express herself in words, took to flight and attempted to drown herself in the village well, She was seized, however, by the villagers, and being suspected as the murderer, was given into custody. In the course of a few days, however, she was able to give the name of the real criminal, and the man and woman were thereupon apprehended. After alternate confession and retractation, the crime has now been brought home to the guilty parties, and the woman is sentenced to death by lingch'e (cut in pieces) for the crime of parricide, the man being adjudged to suffer death by decapitation only, being related in a lesser degree to his vic Sundry neighbours, who allowed themselves to be instigated into presenting a petition on behalf of the prisoners, whose innocence they maintained, are to receive 40 strokes apiece, and the fatal weapon is forwarded to the District Magistrate, to be stored away in his treasury. Rescript: Let the Board of Punishments consider this with all dispatch.
Tune 28th.—(1) A decree awards certain honours asked for by the Prince of Ch'un and his colleagues, on behalf of some military officers, who have exerted themselves in apprehending certain criminals who banded together last year to recapture by force a prisoner who had been seized in the breaking-up ofa gang of gamblers.
(2) The eral and the military authorities of Chibli report the measures taken for.converting a force of 200 drilled infantry, hitherto stationed neer Ku-pei K'ow, into a mounted force, with a view to increased efficiency in taking action against brigandage in the vicinity of the Great Wall.
4) Memorials from the Governors of Fu-kien and Shan-si, renewing their applications for leave to retire from the vice on the score of ill-health.—Rescript granting further congo already published.
Tune 29th.—(L) A decree in reply to a memorial from the Governor-General of the Two Kiang, acceding to his request for sanction to the erection of memorial temples at Nanking, in honour of the two generals Luang-yung and Chang Kwoh-long, who fell at different times during the great rebellion, after occupying for time Nanking with their forces.
(2) A decree, The 18th of November next being the auspicious date of the 40th birthday of Her Majesty the Dowager Empress Ts'ze Hi Twan Yeo K'ang 1 (the Empress-mother), let_gratuities be issued, in reverent conformity with the precedent on the 50th anniversary of the Empress-mother's birth in the 6th year of K'ien-lung (1741), to aged persons belonging to the ight Banners. Let bounty be bestowed. upon all persons above the ago of sixty, of both sexes, officials, rank and file," or eunuchs, belonging to the Eight Banners at Peking. Let the proper Board take atops accordingly.
(8) A deeres. Let the Palace of the sentences of the autumn assize of this year proceed as usual; but let the death warrant be suspended on this occasion with regard to criminals adjudged actually guilty of capital offences.
June 30th.—Tho whole of this day's Gazette is occupied by memorials from the Governor-General of Fukien and Chekiang on administrative details.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.