Arosenal, hind audience on leaving for his A further Decree on the subject of extortions practised at the Ch'ang-wen or Customs gate of Peking. A Censor has now come fervord with a statement that one of the servants of the chief Superintendent is in the habit of sitting in judg-mont at the office of this gate upon petty smugglers, and that ti vidual has recently exacted a fine of Tls. 2,000 from the Indies of a certain Taotai in Fuh-jon, on the ground that they were carrying dutiable articles into Pi Pao Yin Yen Eh missioned to investig (2) A long Memorial from the Governorjeueral Li Hu prefecture, detailing the measures they propose to take to relieve the distress in their respective jurisdictions by the sale of grain at reduced rates and other means. Some ime since the Board of Revenue communi: morial subsjeaty by a Censor urging the necessity of selling grain at reduced rates in Peking, with their minute thereon, in which they expressed a fear that the Capital would be invaded by large num-Bers of poor in {search of food unless timely measures were taken to anticipate th They accordingly suggested that the province of Chilli might be called upon to supply Tls. 100,000, and that other provinces, with the exception of Hupei, Shantung, and Chekiang, where there was also much distress, might be directed each to contribute Tls. 30,000 from their opium likin fund or its equivalent in grain i and send it to Chili, where the Memorialist Li Hung-chang would devote the money to the purchase of grain, a portion of which would be sent to Peking to be sold there at reduced rates. The scheme having received the sanction of His Majesty, it was communicated to the Memorialiste, who have been in constant correspondence on the subject, and now beg to submit an account of the strangements they propose to make. They would premise that in the year 1876, when a similar arrangement was called for, the sum of Tis, 140,00 was devoted to the purchase of 87,000 piculs of grain, which was sent to Peking, and there sold at reduced rates from the Ist to the 8th moon of the year. 'I'he losses on these ales, inclusive of the cost of carriage, was Tle. 114,000, which wasdefrayedoutof funds at the disposal of the Board, and the coast defence fund. The MemorialistLi Hung-chang then proceeds to record in somewhat complicated and guarded language his objections to nue of relief in the form itis impossible to determine the genuineness of the poverty of the purchaser; secondly, because the tendency of Pekingese to eat their grain in the form of flour renders it necessary to have it ground by millers, who are certain to levy toll on what passes through thei hands; and, thirdly, because the present stagnant condition of trade will prevent that substantial aid from merchants being afforded, which on former occa one of the chief elements which to the success of the undertaking, As, moreover, the Governor-General cannot be responsible for the ement of the enterprise in the Shun-t%ien prefecture, ho begs to retire from the control as far as region is concerned, and to leave it to the Governor and Governor Adjoint, As it is the object of the Board of Revenue to provi at @ pauper invasion of Peking, he opines that this object will be mot by applying the system it is pro-Posed to introduce to the Shun tien pre; acture alone, and he would suggest that 40,000 piculs' of grain from the Pekin; ye placed at the inquiry may with His Majesty's approval, to furnish is prepared, if this suggestion m
Tls. 100,000 to be expended by the above officers in relief.—Approved by Rescript, (8) A further Memorial from Li Hung-chang with reference to the funds he has boon called upon to provide for the purchase of the yrain required for the object speciGed in the precooding Memorial, the Board suggested that the Arsenal fund should contribute Tls. 40,000, and the opium duties another Tls. 40,000; but reference to the manager of th establishment and the Customs Taotai, the officers represent that they ai position to meet these claims upon their resources. The Arsenal at 'Tientsin is supported by a grant of one fourth of the foreign Customs Revenue, supplemented by a contribution paid from the duti collected from the China Merchants' Company. These grants have been found insufficient of Into years to meet the incronsed expenditure en jon required by the province ud the purchase of machinery which thi requires. So mich so, th show a large deficit, which for the last three years has been partially mot monthly geant of Tls. 10,000 from the Board of Revenue, 'The duties on foreign opium and dues collected from the China Mor-chants' Company are amalgamated under one head, and four-tenth of the total receipts are paid over to the Arsenal, the jon of one-fifth of the China Merchants' Company's duties, which are set apart for the use of the Board of Rorenue. The balance, far from considerable, is devoted to th of coast defences and pai but as it is inadequate for this purpose, it is supplemented every year by chafts to the amount of of lacs of taels on the funds which should properly be sent to t provincial capital by the Salt Commi sioner. This state of financial embarrassment, which is the normal condition of the province in ordinary years, is naturally augmented in times of wide-sprond distress
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.