The Chinese Times of the 3rd January arrived by courier and s.s. Pekin yesterday. It states that no one was more surprised than the Foreign Ministers, except perhaps the Tsungli Yamen, at the appearance of the Audience edict, and has the following notice from Peking of the death of Prince After a long protracted illness H.1.H. the Seventh Prince breathed his last on the morning of the Ist instant at 2 o'clock. Six weeks ago he was thought to be in extremis, but he rallied again sufficiently to be able to transact business from his couch. Recently, however, the frequent visits of the Emperor to the residence of the Prince been ominous. It would be the purest speculation to attempt to forecast even the near consequences of the death of the Seventh Prince. To find a precedent for a reigning Emperor mourning for his father who was not an Emperor the records of several dynasties must be searched, and it is probable that the Court will establish a precedent of its own for the occasion. The Audience to the foreign Ministers will almost certainly be waived, snd no. one will be hurt by the postpone ment of that ceremony since the Prineiole has been established by Imperial Decree.
Tientsin notes we extract the 'The first overland courier from Chinkiang arrived on the evening of the 29th, with dates from Shanghai to December' 13th, and bringing the English mail of November 7th. Shanghai dates to 18h December have been received to-day.
The cold winds of Wednesday last succeeded in freezing over the riv id from ki the solid appearance of the ice, it is improbable it will break up until the spring. The Pehtang river, which is said to be deeper and swifter in current, was frozen over a week On lst December, the Linsi extension of the China Railway, built under the supervision of Mr. A. Cox, assisted by Mr. Jeme Tien-yav, a graduate of Yale College, was informally opened by the foreign officials and their chief Chinese assistants, three trains running each way. There are two stations on the new piece of line, Whalee and Kuys, the latter being within a short distance of the new mines at Linsi, the length of the extension Leiny about eleven miles from Kaiping, an is the first step in the direction of Shan Hai-kuan. The line goes through fertile country and will be an incalculable boon to the farmers whose homesteads are situated near the track, as the railway will be a cheap and convenient mvaus of transporting their surplus grains, etc, The gardeners on the Tungshan section have risen to the opportunity afforded them, sending now daily eight to ten cars ut vegetables to the Tientsin market, and such a beginning is prophetic of the future from an agricultural point of view, along the whole line.
The first train on the morning of the Bist left Tongshan at 7.30, reaching Kuya a little before nine o'clock. The stations of Whalee and Kuya were crowded with curious Chinese, who gazed witl all-absorbing interest at the train. The road is not yet completely ballasted and the carriages and trucks were hitched to a diminutive engine which looked more like a toy than serious locomotive, but which proved itself quite equal to what was required of it. The track runs through one bridged cutting and over several small bridges, much of the material originally designed for the Peiho Bridge being utilised fur the purpose. The range of hills that runs to Shan Hai-kuan begins just after leaving Whalee, and it is over or through this range the line will soon have t be carried.
At Kuya, the Trattic Manager, Inv. W. Lemmon, the Locomotive Superintend-Mr. G. D. Churchward and the Resident Engineer for the section, Mr. D. P. Ricketts, entertained a few friends, and at a light refection speeches were delivered, congratulations exchanged on the opening of the line, and hopes expressed for the speedy continuation of what as yet the beginning of that immense of lines which mus': sooner or Inter run through the Empire,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.