October 16th.
(1-5) Decrees appointing officers to preside over various departments in connection with the approaching examinations for the degree of, military (6) Memorial from the Censor Lin Chih-ping on the subject of abuses in connection with the execution of repairs and the construction of public buildings by the Board of Works; the perfunctory enquiry instituted by the Board of Punishments into a case of robbery of money from the silk and satin store department, and misdoings in connection with the selection of soldiers and others for duty at the Treasury, These strictures are summarised in an earlier decree.
(7-9) Memorials from the Governor of Shun-tien and other officers, making the usual application for grants of grain for the various charitable establishments in and around Peking. The applications have been sanctioned in decrees published in the Gazette of 30th September.
(10) Postscript memorial from Lin K'un-yi, Governor-General at Nanking. The ship is the home of the sailor, und every effort ought to be made to render it durable and strong enough to face the dangers of the sea. P'éng Yi-lin, Admiral of the Yangtsze, writes to say that the vessels recently turned out at the Nanking and Hu-kou arsenals are not equal to the old models, and that an example should be made of the officers attached to these arsenals to whose mismanagement this deterioration is due. It is: therefore the duty of the memorialist to request that Ch'én Ta-yuan, expectant sub-Prefect with the brevet rank of Prefect, attached to the Hu-kou arsenal, may be deprived of his brevet rank,' and that 'T'ang Ohi-ch'ang, an expectant Prefect who is attached to the Nanking arsenal, may be degraded to the rank of sub-Prefect, both officers being retained for duty in the arsenals to which they are respectively attached. They will be carefully watched, and should they show any tendency-to con tinue to perform their duties in the careless manner which is now complained of, they will be forthwith denounced and application made for their dismissal from the public service, coupled with an obligation to make good the losses they may be the cause of.—Granted by Rescript.
(11) The Superintendent of Imperial Manufactories at Nanking makes the usual application for permission to purchase the raw silk required for the manufacture of thie fabrics he is under orders to supply, at the ruling market rates, the allowance granted by the Board being insufficient to cover the present cost of the raw material.—Rescript. Let the Board of Revenue take note.
October 17th.—(1) Memorial from the Governor of Kuangsi, reporting the result of an enquiry into the conduct of the two officers attached to a lekin collectorate, who were charged, the one with applying a portion of the receipts to expenditure that was not authorised, and the other with using false weights. The enquiry held elicited the following facts: T'ao Yung-chung, a native of Kiang-ning Hsien in Kiangsu, se home was in the metropolitan district of Ta-hsing Hsien, having obtained official rank in consideration of his services volunteered during the rebellion in Kuangtung, purchased the rank of Assistant sub-Prefect in the year 1877, and was nominated a probationer in Kuangsi. In the autumn of 1878, he was placed in charge of a branch lekin station attached to the Wu Chou collectorate. He conducted his business there in satisfactory manner, with the exception of the unauthorised application of public money, which was appropriated under the following circumstances. The station in question consisted of a number of small boats lashed together and anchored to the river's bank, upon which sheds were constructed in which the officials and wnderlings attached to the station lived and carried on their business. This floating station had not been repaired for a number of years, and leaked in many places. A boat attached to the station, which' was used for preventive purposes, was also rotten in many places, and had lost its sails, mast, and cordage, and, like the floating stage, was much in need of repair. Yao Yung-chung accordingly caused an estimate to be furnished of the cost of these repairs, which were put down at Tls. 156 for the boat, and Tls. 121 for th floating house. On applying to hi superior for sanction for this expenditure, T'ao Yung-chung was told that the public funds were at such a low ebb that the repairs he wanted must be deferred. 'T'ao Yung-chung, however, deemed them too urgent to admit of delay, so he ordered them to be put in hand at once, and spent altogether Tis, 277, which he deducted from the lekin receipts on bamboo and wood for the year. He also exceeded his maintenance allowance of Tls. 43 during two months when the price of rice was high, by Tls. 11.1, which was also drawn from his receipts, making a total unauthorised expenditure of Tls. 288. As regards the case of employing false weights, the individual concerned, one Sung Ch'ung-ch'iu, who was serving as a probationer in Hupeh, had to go into mourning for his father. His home was in Chekiang, but as he had no money he determined to go first to Kuangsi where he had formerly resided, and look up his friends and some relatives with a view to raising some money amongst them. This was in the year 1878, and at the end of the year he reached Wu Chou. He there heard that his old friend T'ao Yung-chung was serving at a branch station, so he went to look him up, and begged him to get some employment that would enable him to live in Wa Chou. One of T'ao Yung-chung's clerks having fallen ill, he invited Sung Chung-chin to take the latter's place, his duties being to take receipt of the moneys collected. It was the custom at the station to weigh amounts of less than ten taels with a steelyard and anything above that amount with seales, and Sung, feeling that his rate of pay would not enable him to remit any money home, determined to supplement his income byalittle dishonesty. To this end he be two ounces of resiti at a small general shop near the station, and the same night, when all his companions were asleep, he melted it down and smeared it on to the bottom of the plate in which the weights were put. He used these scales effectively for a week, during which time lr netted Tls. 11 over and above the proper amount, but on the ninth day the trick was discovered by T'ao Yung-chung and the Superintendent, and Sung was handed over to the nearest District Magistrate. The memorialist then proceeds to sum up the eases against. the two men, and to quote the law under which he passed sentence upon them. T'ao Yung-chung is. sentenced to banishment for four years, and Sung Ch'ung-chin to seventy blows with banishment for ayear.—Referred to the Board concerned.
October 18th.—No documents of import ance.
October 19th.—(1) A decree. Hsii Ying-Kuei, Director at the examination for the degeée of military chin-liily reports that a military chiijén' of the first class from Shanting, Sung Chin-chung by name, was unable at the second test examination to draw the bow he had originally applied for. It was ascertained that his failure on the second occasion was due to an accident__he had met with to his arm and not to the fact that he had secured a substitute on the first occasion. The Director begs to be informed whether or no the name of Sung Chin-chung shall be struck off the list—Let Sung Chin-chung's name be struck out.
(2) Joint memorial from Liu K'un-yi, Governor-General of the Two Kiang, Wit Yuan-ping, Governor of Ki and T'an Chun-pei, Financial Commissioner of the same province, soliciting the Imperial sanction to the erection of a memorial temple to the Into Wen Pin, Director-General of Grain Transport, who recently died at his post. The deceased officer, who had served many years in Kiangpeh, hind won the confidence of the people, and the posthumous honours conferred on him by His Majesty, gave universal satisfac tion, A. number of literary graduates and gentry from various districts have now Todged a memorial with the memorialists praying them to urge His Majesty to sanction the erection of a memorial temple to the late Director-General somewhere near Civin-chiang P'u, on the Grand Canal, In supporting this application, thememorialists give a brief sketch of the deceased officer's career. In 1861 ho was appointed Prefect of Yi-chow Fu in Shantung, which adjoins the Prefecture of Hsii-chow in the Kiangpeh region, and Wen Pin distinguished himself by the aid he rendered Wu ang, who was Director-General of Grain Trans port at the time, in the operations that were directed against certain local rebels, who were giving much trouble at that Poviod., Ten years later, when ho was ancial Commissioner of Shantung and acting Director-General of Grain Transport, being duly impressed with the fact that this same Hsti-chow was a centre of disaffection in which robber and murders were committed by—large gangs of banditti, sometimes numbering thousands, which' bated the efforts of former Ditectors-General, he set to work to exterminate them, being completely successful in his efforts. Again, in 1874, he successfully quelled a ig of the members of an affiliated society who were driven to revolt from want of food, while his efforts for the relief of the famine refugees at a more recent date were deserve ing of the highest praise. He found work for the hardy, and gave succour to the aged, the women and the young, ata time when there was no - organisation in force for the issue of relief. He gave personal attention to the case even of solitary individuals, and considered no matter too trifling for his cares which was the means of saving the lives of more than hundred thousand souls. In the work of his own special department he was painstaking and conscientious, and the freedom
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.