30th January.—(1) During the present Chinese year the Canton salt revenue was to furnish Tls. 200,000 as a contribution to the Peking subsidy and Tls. 60,000 for defraying tle expenses of the Imperial Household. Tls. 150,000 of the former and Tls. 40,000 of the latter amount hud already been forwarded and an officer was on the point of starting with the balance, when a telegram was received from the Board of Revenue stating that all sums due to it for the present year from all the venue stations in the Empire were to be diverted to Honan for the repair of the breach in the Yellow River. Tls. 50,000, being the balance due on account of the Peking subsidy, have accordingly been re-unitted in bills to Li Hung-chang. who will forward them on to the river authorities. If this sum had been sent to the Board it would have been Tls. 1,500 for difference in tenance money." This is. sent separately with the Tls. 10,000 due to the Imperial Household, accompanying which latter sum Tls. 330 have been forwarded for porterage and loss by exchange.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.