Tae Peking Gazette of the 6th and 7th February contains @ characteristically energetic Deoree from Her Mujesty the Bupress, The Board of Revenue presented a Memorial in which they re. quested that vectnin measures suggested by them should be adopted for securing supply of copper cush in Peking. Pheve vnggestious wore mount to supersede the action which the high officials wore last year instructed to tuke for the gradual restoration of the cush to old basis, The main part of the notions was that the Guvernor-
General and Governor respect Jy of Chibli and Kinngso were to buy additional mnohinery and en-in the manufacture of standard Those Provinces which are required by law to manufacture stand. ard cusl were also onlied upon to com. matico operations with all promptitude, Tt was the duty of the Board of Revenue to see to the execution of these orders, bat that department, like a good many of its kindred in other coun. tries than Obine, preferred old and sluggish ways, which have excited the ice of their Imperial mistress, They are therefore committed to the Board concerned for the determination of a severe penalty; their Memorial is to be thrown back to them with contempt, and they are again called upon to submit, with all despatch, fresh proposals for putting the furnaces in work and arranging for the casting of coin. ago. A year, and no more, is allowed that for giving full consecutive effect to the measure, and no farther delay will be permitted, under pain of pauislment, These orders are driven home into the minds of the delinquents by the emphatic "Taremste" which closes the Deere. It is highly satis. factory to all who have the welfare of China at heart, that the Empress abound hold the officials to the dis. charge of the duties which ale haa imposed on them, and the condition of the currency hus long been so bnd that reform of it is a pressing necessity. Bat that part of the Decree which is most notable is where many of the Governors-General and Governors are censured for the perfunctory manner in which they live trented the development of copper and iron mining—probably other ores, us these are m tioned as instances—in, (00 often, Memorials to the Throne. Metropolitan and Provincial Officials are severely taken to task for falling into chronic habits of dilatoriness and sloth, and not giving their whole minds to the honest execution of the best expedients for securing the groutest profit from men-sares which are gencies of the times. is part of the Decree we rend the determination of the Ewpress to develope ut least some of the mineral riches of China, and the Innguage used agrees with what we have recently heard of deci-18 come to by the Cabinet in Peking, some time past the Government has been considering the best way of developing the gold workings in Man. churia, und we believe now tend to uns b dert ko th Gold working, washing or ig Allrnets & rough and violent, and, auloss properly restrained, unmanageable people in all parts of the world, In Siberia, where the cou tions are in many respects similar to what Manchuria is likely to become with the inflex of large nambers of gold hunters, the Russian government has Inid down very strict mining lane, These are wninly designed to protect the forests of the Government, including therein the pence of the several mining or gold working districts, The Peking authorities can see or ascertain how gold washing or working io at present carried on in Russian Manchuria, about which we have little information, though we are led to believe that considerable quantities are obtained and sent to St. Petersburg or Moscow, The mining Inns of other countries are nvniluble for comparison with those of Russia, with (hose, and the experience wh tins been gained from them, the Chinese Government should have no difficulty in framing laws and regulations to suit the circumstances of their miners and territory, It is probable that the development of the Manchurian workings will be solely made by the Government, for it docs not seem that it is coutewplated to make th over to private enterprise. Old ions still obtain in official Peking Bat it is better for the country that the mineral wealth should be partially, and comparatively speaking imperfectly availed of, than that it should lie utterly useless in the ground. When the Government has sven the advantages wh properly conducted mining bestains on the ovnutry, they will, in their own way, extend the means by which it will be developed. Modifioations, os in Siberia, mey be after" wards, even at the or adopted. In order to enrich State it is not nevessury precious metals should xotnally be raised by (he State, That is nu ecouos wie belief (hat hus long been exploded, in countries enlightened by modern thought, experience having abundantly shown that private enterprise is much the better agent, The State, or the country, obtains its benefit indirectly, by the inorensed wealth of some of ite subjects, by more Inoralive employment being provided for others, and by the impulse which increased resources give to trade and commerce. These advat tages will not be foregone by the Gor ernment carrying on the Manchurian gold mines or workings; they will only be less quickly and fully reaped by nation, and now that China has ree solved to take mining in hund, she may be trusted to improve her methods in her own time and in her own way, people of this country and all who have interests in her will be benefited by the new policy, and we hope that ils development will he entered upon without those delays which the Hu. preys denounces in her Decree, For, 22 the special advantages whiok gold mining will confer upon the State, it will have others which will specially benefit Manchuria, one of the conn! which the Marquis Tseng snye "lih immense tracts of country which have never felt the touch of the busbandmav." Gold mining or working in any way is the most powerfal magnet to altraothusbandman, artificer, and people of all kinds,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.