January 17th,—The Governor of Kirin states that the currency system of the town of Kirin is carried on on a most pernicious system, and as a remedy for the great inconvenience and suffering which it entails upon the people, he suggests that a portion of the subsidy which the province receives yearly fron Peking should in future be remitted in copper cash. Cash, he states, is the proper standard for the monetary requirements of the people and paper money is only to be resorted to when it proves insutticient. If the latter could be made to circulate freely and the price of commodities whether paid in cash or paper could be equalised it would prove a real convenience for the people, to which no objection could be raised, as in the other provinees where paper money is used to supplement the ordinary currency, In Kirin, however, the case is quite ditferent. Here the notes no longer represent a cash value and being inconvertible, have given rise to abuses greater than any ever resulting from the financial expedients of the Sung dynasty. The commercial transactions of the town are all based on a gigantic system of credit, against which prohibitions have been issued from time te time without effect. The notes of the system lay in its convenience for use in the market where money was required to pass rapidly from hand to hand, and in course of time its use was extended' until it assumed its present dimensions and afforded facilities to dishonest merchants for fraudulent practices and overtrading. Thenotes were put
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.