February 23ed and 24th,—Prineo Ch'ing obtains ten days leav (1) A Decree calling upon the Governor-1 of Chili to direct his Financial Commissioner to supply the sum of 10,000 which is required by the cflcials charge of the mausolea for expenditure in preparation for the Imperial visit.
(2) A Decree calling for a further aum 12,000 from the Chili and their deputies reporting the conclusion of the annual joint patrol of the frontiers of these two provinces by officers appointed by the Memorialist By arrangement which has received the Imperial sanction, an officer of the rank of Clonel li each province every winter. proceed to the boundary line respective provinces and having met ata given rendezvous, proceed to patrol the froutive in concert, In accordance with thia rule the two colonels, with their respective followings, met this year at Li Gh'éng-izi on the 26th of November and held their joint patrol. They found the frontier free from th traces of banditti and perfectly quiet either side. At the conclusion of joint patrol each officer followed his frontier line down on his return to garrison, where ho reported to his particular chief, and the Memorialists have now respectfully to lay the particulars of this joint patrol by officers appointed by them in a joint Memorial before Their Maje Rescript: We have taken cngnisauce.
February 25th.—The only duenment worthy of note in this day's issue la a meniorial from Chin-shun, Governor of Ili, denouncing an expectant sub-prefect who had been sent by him to the Bored of Revenue to draw the sum of Tis, 30,000 required for the maintenance of certain cavalry regiments, The officer returned in dine course, but when the money entrusted to him came to be taken delivery of, it was is. 4800 short. The auh-Prefect could give no satisfactory explanation to the Memorialist as to the cause of thin large deficit, nor, though over n year lina elapsed. has he made the deficit good. Under these cireums'ances the Memorial has to request that he be cashiered and ended over to the charge of the vent authorities with instructions to proceed rigorously against him for the recovery of the money. If this be not paid in full by ven date, application will be made for 4 punishment,—Request granted by Kescript.
February 26: h.—Tho greater portion of this day's issue is occupied with a Memorial from the Governor General and Governor st Canton embodying the report of a Committee composed of the Financial and Judicial Commissioners and the Superintendents of the " Reorganisation" office and Military Secretariat, into certain charges of fraud againat an Expectant Di strate called Wang Mao-kuan a recently entrusted with the cousirnetion of a number of forts on the Canton river, The Memorialists, having reason to suspect his honesty, had uppiled for Imperial authority to cashier hint and place him on his trial, and the following is the result of the enquiry held, Wang Mao-kuan, who was in the first instance questioned by the Prefect of Cane ton, deposed that he had been in charge of certain office called the " Huang Pfu supply office" from its establishment in the month of October 1883 until its aboli tion in October 1884, during which time he had superintended the construction of 26 large forts and 13 small ones, at a total expenditure, juarteraete., of is, 363,920 odd. From this had to be deducted Tle, 58,806 for the "Long Bridge" work and materials, which was drawn and expended by General Wu Sung-lo, and a further sum of lls, 3,531 odd for office wages and expenditure. Of the balance, viz: Tls. 301,582 odd, is. 158,686 odd were expended by the military on behalf of the office in the purchase of materials and the pay of workmen, leaving a sum of Te, 142,805 odd which was expended by hint, Wang Mao-kuan; all materials were inspected and_ prices' arranged by his agent Chao Fu-ch'ang who made the purchases and payments on his, Wang Mao-kuan's behalf. Upon the abolition of the office Chao Fu-chtang had gone home, he Wang, having no reason to suspect Chao's houes'y hud, when first summoned for interrogation, disputed the correctness of the charges made against him. Subsequent enquiry amonget the firms with whom Chao dealt, however, and inspection of their books, resulted in the discovery that the incide with the accounts sent in by Chao, Steps were then taken to find Chao by enquiry amonget the shops where he was known, and though Chao himself was not to be found it was discovered that he had upon fixed deposit in the T'ung ch'ang in the "Great Now Street" of Canton a sum of is 30,000, and seeing that Chao was a man whose family
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.