March 21st.—(1) A decree acknowledging the report of Ngén Oh'eng and "ung Hwa, two high oticers sent to investigate certain charges brought against Ting Pao-cheng, Goremor of Szechwan, and some of his subordinates by the Supervising Censor Wa Chen. The Governor-General was accused of establishing an arsenal without sufficient experience of the machinery required, of appropriating public funds tu his own uso, and of screening others who were Gominiasioners find that the charges made ity of a similar misdemeanour. The
were either unsupported by proofs or that the acts complained of were justified by circumstances, but that the cost of the arsenal was heavy and the work turned out was faulty in construction and not durable. The Governor-General is accordingly directed to abandon the undertaking in order to avoid a useless expenditure of money. Lao Wén-show, a Taotai in charge of the military expenditure department, has denied that ho sent money to the Governor-General's Yamen, but in order to ascertain whether or no he has been guilty of misrepresentation, he is to be relieved of his duties and his books for some years pasture to be carefully scrutinized by the Financial Commissioner and Judge. A wei-yuan, against whom a charge of embezzlement was brought, has been found to be innocent, but is to be withdrawn from his present duties on account of his having formed undesirable acquaintances which have given rise to the circulation of stories damaging to his official reputation, Certain other minor officials are to be deprived of office and their conduct investigated by the high authorities of the province. fromthe post oe SEE Bs General Wei Ch'ing is transferred of the Bordered Yellow Han-chun Corps to that of Deputy Lieutenant-General of Chreng-tu, He is to be succeeded by Wen (8) A decree ordering a fresh series of charges against Li Chung-ming, alias Li Chung-shan, alias Li Ping-hsin, the Pekin, bookseller referred to in Decrees of 18 and 20th March, to be investigated by the Court of Censors. It is now stated a Censor that both his house and shop encroach on Government land, and that he has appropriated a public refuge for the poor and converted it into a private house.
(4) Memorial from the Censor Hwang Yuan-shan. He hailed with pleasure the appearance of the Imperial Decree on the abolition of the purchase system, and the subsequent announcement of its cessation by the Board of Revenue. The measure is one that cannot fail to be appreciated by all members of the official class who have the slightest acquaintance with administrative economy. The evils of the purchase system were universally recognised, but no one dared to give expression to his opinion on this matter at a time when the financial condition of the Empire was in such an unsatisfactory state, It was left to Their Majest the Empresses and Emperor to take the decided step of abandoning the system abruptly and for ever, thereby commandingrespectful admiration for Their energetic appreciation of lofty aims While every effort will doubtless be ie by high provincial authorities to give duo effect "to 'Their 'Majesties' will, there is much cause to fear that the pressure of immediate necessity restricting their views to present needs and causing them to lose sight of future advantages, will lead to the conclusion that sale of office must once more be renewed. The object of this memorial is to suggest means whereby such a contingency may be avoided, and after anxious consideration of the subject the Censor conceives that what is needed to this end is the reduction of channels of expenditure rather than the devising of fresh sources of inco1 He then proceeds to demonstrate in what directions this reduction can be effected. He would do away with all Chit (Jo), or special offices or departments, the growth of recent years. Such are the Fa-shen-chu, or supplementary judicial courts, defence committees, subordinate military departments, &c., which are supported by Chuan-chu, or contribution agencies, " reorganisation" departments (34 $%) supported by lekin collectorate public institutions for th works at a reduced price, and a host of others too numerous to mention. Each Chie that is established involves an increase of expenditure and necessitates the employment of officials the multiplication of whom means the multiplication of salaries for their support. These men consider only the fact that the expenditure of their respective offices is supplied by the offices themselves, and forget that each item is a drop that is drained from the public purse. Military operations are now at an end, and yet the offices that military needs created continue to exist, and in the humble opinion of memorialist it would be better to abolish a number of these and so save the expenditure they cause than retain them and the plethora of officials they entail. He suggests therefore that with the excoy tion of extra judicial courts, all other Chi be abolished or reduced, and concentration be thereby effected. Finally, he attacks the lekin system and its abuses. The returns from the collectorates are less by several millions of taels than they used to be, and it is vain to try and account forthe fact by the increase of Yang-shui, or duties on goods from abroad, In former days when there was more liberality in the system of collection, the returns were larger than at the present time with all its nolle ect emenialaee
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.