In November two years ago the Magistrate of Sung-plan T'ing in Szechuan reported a case of robbery to the Governor-General of the province. A certain tea-merchant had gone out into the Kokonor region, and when he was returning across the grass country after his tea was sold, he was attacked at Tumulung by one Pang-chou, the nephew of the Jo-tang-pa native chief tain. Pang-chou's gang consisted of a hundred and more lawless aborigines from the Szechuan and Kansu frontier. The merchant was robbed of all his goods and cattle, and five of his party were slain, The pecuniary loss to him was more than twelve thousand taels, and none of the bodies of the men killed had yet been recovered. The Magistrate, who was thereupon instructed to arrest the guilty parties, afterwards reported that the principal "offender, Pang-chou, had fled to the Labulang Monastery in' Kansu, where he was lying in concealment. The Governor-General therefore wrote to the Kansu Government and the Imperial Commissioner at Si-ning, asking them to secure the arrest of the offender. In reply they informed him that they had sent an officer to meet the Szechuan authorities concerned at Erh-tao Huang-ho and act in conjunction with them. In the course of time the said officials sent in a report to the effect that the native chieftain acknowledged the guilt of his nephew, had paid a fine of four hundred head of horses and cows, and had iven a bond that no more robberies should committed. The Governor-General was very indignant at this settlement. The compensation exacted did not amount toa tenth bf the value of the goods stolen, and no notice was taken of the destruction of human life. He therefore withdrew the Sung-plan Magistrate from his post, leaving the Kansu officer to be dealt with by his own superiors. He begs the Emperor to instruct the Kansu Labulang Monastery to surrender the high authorities that they must force the criminal Pang-chou. Otherwise that establishment will become a place of refuge for offenders, the native tribes will think that they can commit brigandage as they please, and the tea trade will be seriously affected.
In reply the Emperor directs the Governor-General to write to the Kansu Government and the Sining Commissioner to secure the arrest of Pang-chou, who be handed over to the Szechuan authorities.
19th February.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.