Turkestan submits a Memorial respecting the proposed disbandment of the irregular troops in Ili which clashes to a great extent with the views held by Sé-long-o, the military Governor of the latter district. Si ug-o, it seems without consulting the Governor, formulated certain proposals of his own on the subject and obtained sanction from the Throne, to incur ay expenditure of Tis, 150,000 in giving effect. to them. The Governor now points our that a scheme of the kind had been under con sideration for some years and that Sé- Teng-o's ignorance of the past history {of the case has caused him to fall into a number of mistakes, Over three years ago the Governor and Hsi-lun, then General of the forces in Ili, were instructed to deal with the question of arrears of pay due to the irregular army there, and after ich consultation it was decided that from on the subject should be introduced in Ti the beginning of 1887 the Hupei regulations
and that no arrears should be allowed to accrue after that date. A certain proportion of the soldiers were to be retained in the province and a sum of Tls. 99,000 was to be devoted to this object. Certain allowances to cover travelling expenses were to be granted to such as were disbanded and wished to return to their homes, while separate treatment was provided for others who preferred to remain and settle in the country. Sé-long-o has ignored all these distinctions and has based his caleu-Jations upon the supposition that a uniform scale of compensation should be enforced.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.