(2) The same Memorialist acknowledges the the receipt of an Imperial Decree directing his attention to a Memorial by the Governor of Shantung, who states that portions of Shantung have been flooded by water which escaped from the Yellow River in the District of K'ai Chouin Chihli. He remarks, in reply, that in the neighbourhood of K'ai Chou and the adjacent districts the real bank of the Yellow river is the Chin embankment. This wall is situated ata considerable distance from the channel in which the stream flows during the dry season; and the space between the two is intended to be given up to the river and covered with water during the violence of the summer floods. But the people of the country are unwilling to yield this strip of land to the river, and have made farms and fields there, which they protect by embankments of their own. These structures ure slightly built and only keep out the water in years when there are no great freshets, giving way whenever there is a rear strain, When the water subsides the farmers till their land again and still secure autumn crop. The Memorialist was informed last winter by the Governor of Shantung that there were tracts in this neighbourhood not dyked, and he gave orders to the local authorities to furnish funds to the people and let tham undertake the work. The Memorialist has received no news yet from K'ai Chou concerning the inundation, He supposes that as the breach ocourred in a private and not in a government embankment the magistrate was waiting, according to previous practice, till he could give a complete account of all the facts of the case, The magistrate has, however, delayed so long in furnishing a report, that the Memorialist suggests he should be deprived of his button but retained at his post.—Approved by Re cript. (For the Decree and Memori referred to see Gazette of August 0th and 23rd)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.