Phe Directors of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation have convened an extraordinary meeting of the shareholders in the Bank, to be held in the City Hall, ongkong, on the 30th of December at 3 p.m. Resolutions will then be proposed Authorizing thy increase of the capital of the Bank from five millions to seven and a half millions of dollars in shares of $1: ench, issued at £10 por share; shareholders to pay for their allotments at the current rate of the day for Bank demand bills on London, The new shares fare to be offered in the first instance to the shareholders as on 30th December, 1882, in the proportion of one new share for every tivo shares then held by them, The dates at which it is proposed the new shares should be paid are. £10 on the last days of March, June, September and December next year. All the premium received on the now shares will go to Reserve Fund.
We are glad to see that the Tannery Company is to be resuscitated under a now Board of Directors. The prospectus of the new company notifies that the business vill be carried on-in the land belonging to the former proprietory, but upon a larger scale; by which, the directors state, a proportionate diminution in the cost of production and a proportionate increase in profits may be expected." Messrs. Siemssen and Ca. are the General Agents, and Mr. Vandertak, the manager of the former Company, will occupy the same position in the new concern.
An aggrieved Correspondent writes to us on the subject of our article on Gas v, Electricity, the remarks contained in which, he says, were most opportune. His own case with regard to the consumption of gas appears to be a very hard one, and we will state it as nearly as possible in his own words, The Shanghai Gas Company, writes, "as every one knows, was, when here was no competition, very lordly in the rules it established for consumers. Amongst it was Inid down that whatever quantity of gas a meter registered, that quantity had to be paid for. Now I burn oil almost entirely, having only one gas-lamp, which is seldom alight more than tivo or three hours, in the hall, In the summer one would think the consumption would be smaller than in winter; but no—the bill is always for the same amount. 1 was absent from Shanghai the whole of September, and even this made no difference. But now comes an oven greater puzzle. At the end of August my monthly account was presented, and it came to six times the usual amount? I had just loft Shanghai, and fortunately my compradore declined to pay it in my absence, I remoustrated, and by way of reply was calmly referred to the terms' printed on the back of the gas-bills." We do not know whether the affair has been laid before the Directors; but well it may be, And we think that it should be laid before the public too, There is such a thing as "terms" too far.
lear that the Viceroy of Nanking has had a stroke of paralysis. It appears that on the opening of the examinations, when the Viceroy proceeded to the Examination Hall, there was strong, chill wind blowing, and His Excellency caught a very severe cold. Ten days ago, when the two Imperial Examiners left Nanking for the Capital, the Viceroy, attended by numerous other officials, es: carted them on board the steamer. The Examiners being in a way the special ambassadors and representatives of His Imperial Majesty, it is the etiquette for every official to kneel and deliver " mos-sage to them for transmission to the Emperor, enquiring after his health. Tso sung-tang complied with the requisi tion, but on his assuming the attitude which proved a source of so much physical ain to him during his sojourn at Peking, it was found that he was unable either to speak or tense. The attack is said to have been of a paralytic nature, Telegrams from various officials were sent to Nanking yesterday afternoon enquiring after His Excellency's condition, and replies have now been received to the effect that he has rallied. But his condition is no doubt very critical, the complication of disorders from which he is suffering constituting something very much like imminent danger.
Out private advices from Peking lead us to believe that our Correspondent was a little premature in stating that the bribery case in which several Grand Councillors were implicated, had come to an end. He probably based his idea on the fact that the Decree of Ostober 14th says that Hung Liang-pain, the Censor, hal no proof at and, but relied on common rumour. affair is not over, we believe, but is in abeyance pending the arrival of Te'ui Tsunyi and P'an Ying-chang. The former is Toported to have most conveniently died, but no definite assertion has been made to this effect. Chou Jui-ching has been called on for the notes addressed to him; and what he will do in this case is difficult to say—perhaps fabricate new ones. Though legally liable to penal servitude, Wang en-shao and Ching-lien will possibly shift the guilt on to the Yunnan officials, especially if one has opportunately died OF course it is difficult to predict with any certainty the course of Chinese dealings, but the likeliest result seems to be th issue of an Edict announcing that the charges are disproved, but that Wang Wén-19 and Ching-lien have both committed some less grave offence, or have been little circumspect as to excite public comment, and are therefore handed over to the Board for the determination of a penalty. Nevertheless, if both Ts'ui Tsun-yi and P'an Ying-chang turn up, affairs may assume a different complexion. The only thing that seems certain at present is that the case is not yet over.
We publish elsewhere a translation of the proclamations recently issued by the authorities in Wuchang with respect to the Into mutiny. Our readers will of course bear in mind that both documents contain a garbled, if not indeed absolutely untrue, version of the affair, as our Hankow Correspondent has been careful to point out; but this has imposed on no one, as the facts which are here glossed over and perverted are well-known to the public, and there can be no doubt that all the officers in any way concerned will be summarily dealt with from Peking.
We commence to-day the publication of from Ghang Chih-tung upon the male the Jong and important series of memorials administration of Shansi, to which we referred some time ago in leading article, The Governor's paper on the opium-cultivation is now given at full length, and will well repay the perusal of all, missionaries, merchants, or diplomatiste, who ato interested in this very important question.
The Prince of Kung is at present in retirement, having been granted an oxtonsion of twenty days' leave from the 27th Imperial Highness has boon seriously ill, but is now, we believe, convalescent, It is characteristic of Chinese modes of thought that the memorial in which the Censor Hung Liang-pain impeaches the officials of the Board of nue opens with a vivid and picturesque description of the now fast-receding comet, The crimes and shortcomings of mankind must indeed. be of an egregious nature in the eyes of Heaven when the very course of celestial bodies is interfered with to draw the attontion of the Emperor to them. The Censor begins by enunciating the theory that the appearances of celestial phenomena is always evoked by the state of human affairs, and says that repeated calamities never appear on high as long as the government below is free from fault. It is the fact of one comet following so closely on another that seems to have impressed both the Emperor and his ministers so deeply. The Censor describes our late visitant as resembling, in form, a piece of silk, with a tail several yards in length stretching away to the south-west, the brightness of it in the morning sky vying with that of the rising sun, He then quotes some appropriate anecdotes from history, by way of illustration, There were terrible floods and droughts during the Han dynasty, and the dismissal of the three high Ministers of State—the Ministers of War, Civil Afairs, and Publio Works respectively—was found necessary to avert the wrath of Heaven. In the Sung dynasty uno less terrible a portent occurred than a conflagration in the Imperial Palace 5 and this was followed by the disgrace of the Premier. The connection between the prodigy and the event it portended in each
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.