December 22nd.—(1) With the exception of two short memorials on unimportant matiers, the whole of this day's Gazette is occupied with a report from Kwang Show, President of the Board of War, the Imperial Commissioner sent to investigate the charges brought forward by the Censor Teng Ch'ing-lin of corruption and malpractices existing im the military garrison at Ma-lan Chen, the head-quarters of the troops in charge of the Eastern Mausolea, under the command of the Brigadier General Ching Jui, The charges are five in number.
(1) Carelessness and laxity in the administration of the affairs of the garrison.
(2) The presentation of memorials that are not true statements of facts.
(8) Incitation to litigation by means of bribes.
(4) Inducing a Lieutenant, Hsit Yung-hsing by name, to abscond.
(8) Terrifying the son of the above into committing suicide.
memorialist, having carefully instigated each individual charge, submits" the following report: With regard to the first count the Censor contents himself with the statement of a bare fact, and does not particularise the precise nature of the laxity of which ho complains. It is to be presumed however, that he referred to the monopoly of business by the clerks of the draft office, amongst whom he states there are a number of accountants who cause false statoments of expenditure to be drawn up, sell minor vacancies to the highest. bidder, and case the Brigadier-General to report to is Majesty in whatever sense they wish, found that these charzes ave not substantiated, The subject matter of all memorials is determined by the Brigadier-General himself; there are no paymasters attached to the draft office; and no opportunity is afforded for the sale of minor appointents. As regards the second charge, it points particularly to the denunciation of sil Yung-hsing by the Brigadier-General sconntiny the rewards to the soldiers Mausolea that passed through his ha The Censor states that the facts contained in this denunciation were untrue, and that the actual state of the case was as follows: Hstt Yung-hsing, having received a larger sum for distribution in grati than there were soldiers to issue it to, was anxious to account for the surplus, but to this the clerks and paymaaters in the draft office objected, and in order to got Hsit Yung-hsing into trouble bribed certain soldiers to accuse him of levying discount upon their respective gratuities. Reference to the registers by the Commissioner showed him that Hsii Yung-hsing had not, in effect, been guilty of the conduct ascribed to him, which he proceeds to prove by detailed statements. With reference to the third charge, which, in brief, is to the effect that one Lu Pin, with his son and nephew, Dribed certain soldiers to make a demontration at the Brigadier-General's Yamen in connection with the false charges against Hu Yung-hsing, the bribes to these soldiers being supplied from an allowance that Lu Pin obtained from the Brigadier-General for the repair of barracks, the Commissioner has elicited the following statement from Lu Pin: He and Hsi Yung-hsing received a certain sum of money from the General for building "additional barracks, which was placed in a bank by Hi, who absconded when he was denounced' by Ching Jui. Some of the troops whose houses leaked, imagining that the money deposited in the by Hsii was his own property, and considering him responsible for the condi-and clamoured. for the application of tion of their quarters, went to In Pin
this money to the repair of their roofs.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.