July 1st.—(1 and 2). Memorials by the Board of Works and the Captain General of the Gendarmerie respectively, with reference to the outbreak of a fire in certain stores of the Board of Works on the 17th June. The fire took place in the afternoon, and was extinguished before much damage was occasioned.
(8) The Court of Censorate memorializes forwarding the appeal lodged by a native of Shantung, named Liu P'an-ming, plaining of the murder of his son Liu Fang-tien by certain fellow villagers, and of corrupt conduct on the part of the authorities, through which justice has been perverted. He complains that his son was murdered under the following circumstances:—A dispute having arisen in September last betwen the young man and a fellow villager to whom he hed lent a small sum of money, he was missing toward nightfall, and on complainant making search for him at the house of one in Chen-yung, this man stated that he 1 lost sight of after a squabble with the person who had borrowed thi money. Three days afterwards complain aut, on going to draw water from a well near the village, saw a body in the water, and on having it drawn out found that it was the corpse of his son. Report having been made to the Magistrate and an inquest held, wounds inflicted by a knife were verified on the head and abdomen, beside the mark of " blow on the throat, The two parties incriminated were brought before the Court, but by collusion with the law clerk and the examiner of corpses the evidence was falsely stated, and it was declared that deceased had committed suicide from fear of the consequences of an intrigue with the wife of Li Tel ig. The two prisoners admitted only the fact of having dealt a blow with a stick. The Magistrate, thus imposed upon, called upon complainant to sign an acknowledgment of the satisfaction of justice, which he refused to do, and he lodged appeals with the Prefect and Provincial Judge, who referred the matter back to the Magistrate, with the same result. In desperation, he tow appeals at Peking.—Referred in the usual manner, July 2nd.—(Court Circular). Li-jui presented his respects on his return from conveying the mandate of the Imperial accession, to Corea.
The Governor of Shun-tion Fu reports the fall of between 3 and 4 inches of rain at Peking.
(1) A Decree, Let Li King-siang ZEB) succeed to the vacant post of Governor of Honan, Let Chang Ying suc-ecad to the post of Financial Commissioner of Shansi, and let Chow Hong-k'i become Judicial Commissioner for the province of Kwangtung.
(2) A decree expressing the Imperial sorrow on receipt of intelligence of the decease of Ts'ien Ting-ming, Governor of Honan. All penalties recorded against his name are to be remitted. The rank of secretary to a Board is conferred upon his eldest son, and his second son is granted advancement from the first to the second.
(Kujen) literary degree, with the privilege of competing at the triennial examination for the doctorate.
(Band 4) Memorials by the Board of Punishments and the Captain General of Gendarmerie respectively, reporting the outbreak of a fire in the offices of the Board on the night of June 18th. The conflagration fortunately did not extend to the prison yards.
July 3rd.—(1) A Decree, Let Sungtsin succeed to the vacant post of Grain Comptroller in Shantung.
(2) The Military Governor of Jelicho reports the completion of the labours of a commission appointed to wind up outstanding arrears connected with transfers of office in that jurisdiction, (8) Tsaikang, and his colleagues, Superintendents of a portion of Imperial mausolea, make urgent applic tion for a sum of Tls. 3,600, which is required to provide for the expense of watering a plantation of young trees, now three years old, during the current year. A sum of Tis, 2,400, obtained from the treasury of the salt department of Chili, is only sufficient to provide for the main. tenance of a supply of water to an older plantation. In the present season of drought, the young trees, it is observed, are urgently in need of attention, Referred for the consideration of the Board of Revenue.
July 4th,—(1) The Censor Yi Shang-hwa memorializes representing the necessity that exists for a thorough revision of financial procedure, He begins by el ving that the policy of the ancient Sovereigns was invariably that of adapting expenditure to income, by which m the sources of revenue Uremselves wei duly fostered. At the present time, armies have been maintained in the field for upwards of twenty years, since the rebellion first broke out,-and_ the con nonce is an unprecedented exhaustion of the national finan He would remark that the Board of Revenue is the central point to which the yield of taxation throughout the Empire converges, and that unless speedy measures be devised for regulating the sources of supply, and applying a check to the flow of ments, it is to be feared that the waste which has 40 long continued will only go on from bad to worse, Notwithstanding repeated memorials on the subject, no nine measures have as yet been instituted for systematising the collection and disbursement of revenue. He would entreat that the Board be commanded to lay before the Throne " concise summary of the items of receipt under the head of Tand-tax, salt collectorate, and Customs? duties, forming the main branches of the revenue, besides the amounts additionally levied under the head of sums in aid, purchase of rauk, likin, foreign Customs' duties, and other miscellaneous items, Where no fixed sum can be assigned under any one of these headings, an average cant yet be struck from the data of past years. On the other hand, the Board should draw up a statement exhibiting the items of expenditure under the following heads, viz 1. Pay of troops and official salaries and allowances at Peking; works at the Imperial mausolea; pay, of the Shen Ki Ying, or Musketeer Division, constituting the defensive force of the capital,—2. Proportion of revenue to be retained in each province for the salaries of officials and miscellaneous expenditure.—3, Pay of the Manchu and Chinese troops of the regular army in the different Provineos.—Pay of the drilled troops and irregular levies in the Provinces.—5. Outlay for the armies operating on the northern and western frontiers. A budget having been thus constructed in outline, it would remain to bring items of disbursement into harmony with the actual receipts, by means of economies under different headings wherever practicable,—A rescript haa already appeared referring this proposal for the consideration of the Board of Revenue,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.