Tuly 25th.—(1) Wan Ch'ing-li, President of the Board of Civil Office, is allowed to resign the Deputy Governorship of the Metropolitan Prefecture.
(2). Memorial from the Censor Li Chi han, representing that reforms are urgent called for in the manner of conducting the examinations in Peking for the degree of metropolitan or provincial graduate. The Jaws governing the conduct of these examinations are explicit enough and provide for every emergency, but the enforcement of these provisions has become slack by lapse of time, and numerous abuses have sprung up. For instance, there were more than a hundred essays presented at the recent test examination of chie jénthatshould have excluded the writers from competing at the chin shih examination; and at the first course of this examination there were two candidates who remained until dark of the concluding day and then sent in plank papers, while some ten or more had not finished their compositions. At the second and third courses the same thing happened, Now, if the liang sik examinations at which these men lad been passed had been fairly conducted, how could such a thing happen, as the inability of a candidate to write a paper? The memorialist also hears that many provincial graduates send substitutes to compete at the metropolitan examination, and do not enter the enclosure themselves; and that papers are written outside and passed in to the candidates. That such abuses are allowed is due partly to the corm tion of the underlings on duty, but it is attributable in equal measure to the carelessness of the superintending officials. Unless strenuous reforms therefore are instituted, these abuses will increase as time goes on, and there will be no end to them. 'The memorialist begs to submit for His Majesty's approval a few suggestions to that end'
Firatly.—The preparations should be completed earlier, - By law all preparations for the conduct of the Asiang shih examination should be ready by the dth of the 8th moon, and those for the hui shih by the 4th of the 3rd moon, When the preparations are complete, officers should inspect the rows of cells and check each cell off, after which all the doors should be closed and sealed. This year the workmen had not finished their preparations until the night of the Sth of the 3rd moon, and before they had left, the Pad already enteres the enclosure, so that copie bringing supplies for the examiners
there was a mixed crowd inside, anyone entering who chose, amongst whom substitutes and others might well have introduced themselves. To avoid such occurrences in future, the memorialist would suggest that all work should hereafter be finished by the 27th of the 7th moon in the case of the fisiang shih, and the 27th of the 2nd moon in the case of the hui shih, and that after the inspection has been held by the authorised officials, net a single person should be allowed to remain within the enclosure. The servants and underlings on duty should then be passed into the enclosure through one of the side gates, under the inspection of the Censor appointed for that purpose.
econdly.—Care should be taken in the selection of the copyists employed to transcribe the papers. This year, under the new regulation, the copyists were subjected to an examination at the Shun-tien Fu before acceptance, but the majority of them were as slipshod a Tot as ever, and he hears that most of the applicants for the post from the Chibli districts could neither read nor write, and although there were not many of those who presented themselves that could not read, substitutes were easily procurable. No pains were taken to classify these applicants, so that when the names of the copyists were called over previous to going in and there wore found to be too many, the ones not required were turned back without distinction, instead of discarding the worse opiate and retaining the bettor ones.
ly.—Theoutor and inner wallsofthe examination enclosure should be heightened and repaired. In many cases the dust accumulated by the action of the wind, has raised the level of the ground outside, so that if the thorn-bushes on the top of the wall should happen to be displaced it would be an easy matter to climb over. In fact, the memorialist understands that if a man gets upon the shoulders of another and throws fur-garment over the thorn-bushes he can easily get astride of them and slip into the enclosure. This being the case, communication with those inside is perfectly possible. The walls should therefore be heightened several feet, and extra thornbushes placed upon them.
Fourthly.—In sending in the papers of the candidates for inspection by the examiners, ets should be drawn as to which Prefecture has the preference, instead of, as at present, always giving the preference to the papers of candidates from the chief Prefecture of the province. The result of this arrangement is that the candidates from outlying Prefectures do not stand an equal chance, for the selections have already been made before their papers come ruler inspection, As an evidence of this fact the examinations of the present year may be quoted. Fuhkien is allotted twenty chin shih degrees, and out of the twenty men passed, eighteen came from Foochow. Kuangtung is allotted sixteen degrees, and thirteen of the successful candidates came from the Canton Prefecture.
Should the above suggestions be adopted, they should be printed in the form of regulations and distributed amongst all the officials inside and outside of the enclosure. (For decree seo Gazette of July 12th.)
July 2Weh.—(1) Pung Hua is directed to assume the Deputy Governorship of the Shun-tien Prefecture in addition to his other duties.
2) Tung Hsun, President of the Board of Revenue, is absolved from attendance at the Tsung-li Yamen, or office for the control of Foreign Affairs.
[Wote.—Tung Hsun, President of the Board of Revenue, has been a Minister of the Tsung-li Yamen almost since the date of its establishment.]
(8) Memorial front the Tartar General at Foochow, the Governor-General of Min-chih, and the Governor of Fuhkien, reporting that the city of Foochow has been visited bya continuous succession of heavy rains, but, so far, no disastrous consequences have ensued. The memorialist, Ho Ching, assumed charge of his present duties early in the year 1877, and a few weeks afterwards the provincial capital was visited by disastrous floods that drove numbers of people from their humes, and filled the hearts of their rulers with never-ceasing pity. It scorned to him at that time that the narrowness of the outlet into the sea for the waters of the Tai-chiang, swelled by the drainage of the rivers and streams higher up, and the opposing action of the tide was a constant source of danger. He accordingly summoned the officials and gentry of the city, and having learned from them the condition of the water-ways of the [province], considered how [he might Dest abate the evil from which they had suffered.] In pursuance of the plans then formed, he proceeded to raise funds in the autumn of that year to meet the expense of diverting the waters of the Wu-lung River below the sca wall) by way of Min-an to the sea, and so relieve the pressure upon the T'si-chiang. This year, after the spring had set in, there were steady and continuous rains, accompanied by chilly weather that gave warning of the approach of meteorological conditions similar to those of 1877, and called for the adoption of precautions, The memorialists accordingly look counsel together, and gave orders that a number of life-boats should be hired end kept in the river near the city in readiness to be despatched to any place at which they might be wanted. Troops were also drafted off to patrol the neighbourhood, and officers were told off to open the granaries and have rice hulled in readiness for distribution to sufferers who might be in need of charitable relief, The preparations had only just been completed, when, on the 3rd of June, the rain again fell in torrents, as was anticipated, and continued day and night until the 10th, during which time the river rose higher and higher, and there were from two to five feet of water outside the city on the west, south, and east side; there were from two to three feet of water also inside the western, southern and eastern gates, while the street leading from the western gate, that lies comparatively low, was also from aueto two feet deep in water. The condition of things was slightly better than in the year 1877, but the people, mindful of the jessen they then learned, had moved to higher ground, the life-boats coming to the rescue of those who could not get away in time. No lives, therefore, were lost, and last year's harvest being a good one, the people had a small supply of grain in store, and were not in such a famishing conduct as on the previous occasion, thanks to the steps that had been taken to clear the Wu-lung River, as soon as the rain ceased the waters began to subside. The memorinlists were daily on the city walls superintending and Keeping a look-out. The country folk kept quite., and in the city itaolt no houses or walls fell down, and by the 12th of June the floods had subsided. But the sky is now again overcast, and seems to threaten heavy rain, while as this is the period of spring tides, it is possible that Hoods may once more ensue, The memorialists will, however, continue to maintain a precautionary attitude, and will positively not relax their efforts. They will also continue to be diligent in prayers, and endeavour to purify the pekin and judicial systems from abuses in order to invite the hiarmonising attributes of Heaven.—Rescripts: Woe have perused the memorial, and are deeply impressed with the importance of this question. The Governor-General and his colleagues must positively be careful to make every preparation for the issue of relief. They will at the same time direct their subordinates duly to minister to those who have been driven from their homes by the floods.
(4) Wen Hsin, Superintendent of live stock and house duty for the western division of Peking, reports that his receipts for the year ending 19th Juno, 1880, amounted to Tls. 17,526, being fis. 5,302 short of the assessed amount. He attributes this falling off to the want of rain in the spring, the consequent decrease in the number of sheep and horses brought down to Peking, and the difference in exchange between Peking and other places.
July 27th.—(1) The Governor of Shantung forwards a return of the native duties collected at the Tung Hai Kuan, or Chefoo Customs, during the year ended 7th February, 1880. the Tung Hai Kuan embraces the port of Chefoo and twenty-three outside stations, and the total receipts for the year were Tls. 57,412, exclusive of Ts. 8,300 duty on opium, remitted as it was collected. This amount falls short of the assessment by Tls. 4,587, which it is requested the Superintendent may not be called upon to make good, the deficit being attributable to causes beyond his control.—Referred to the Board ut Revenue.
July 28th.—() Memorial from Ming An, Governor of Kirin, and his colleague Yii Liang, sting forth that in consequence of the daily increasing population of Kirin,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.