The Governor of Kiangsi reports the conclusion of a tour of inspection of all the naval and military forees in the province. He found that considerable improvement had taken place in every respect since date of the last inspection the naval forces on the Yangtze having acquitted themselves very creditably. At Huk'ou he conducted the review in ce pany with the Brigadier General Ting Yifang, and at Kiukiang he was assisted by an officer of the same rank named Chu}
Huai-sen. The only military station which he did not visit was Wuning, a place so inaccessible that he was obliged to send a deputy there fo perform the task in his place.
8th September.
OPENING OF CHUN TO FOREIGN TRADE, Liu Ping-chang, the Viceroy of Szechuan, submits a memorial in which he sets forth the preliminary arrangements which sre being made for the opening of Chungking to foreign trade by means of native craft; and requests that the Board should be instructed have an official seal made and forwarded for the use of the Superintendent of Customs at that port. Memorialist acknowledges the receipt some time ago of a communication from the Tsung-h Yamen in which they transmitted to him a copy of the memorial which they had addressed to the Throne, together with a copy of 4 Convention in "six Articles regarding the opening of Chungking to foreign trade and the suspension of steam navigation. Some time later he received a ther communication from the Yamen in which, with a view to the constituting of Chungking an open port, he was asked to submit to the Throne a' full statement of his views regarding the alteration of the Otlice of Chenan Tung Taotai into that of Customs Superintendent at Chungking the collection and quarterly remittance of Customs duties, the issue of the seal of office to the Superintendent of Customs, and thedisbursement of the necessary funds. The memorialist forwarded these documents in the order in which they reached him to the Intendant of the Ch'uan Tung Circuit, who was asked to make his preparations in advance. He would observe however, that, as there has been hitherto no treaty port in the province of Szechuan, the regulations regarding the collection of duties, the disbursement of funds, and other kindred matters, are not sufficiently known there, and that the number of officers in the province who possess an nequaintance with commercial questions is very limited. As it nevertheless absolutely necessary, ow that Chungking [was to be opened to foreign trade, to have trustworthy precedent on which to base the regulations that were to be drawn up, memorialist wrote to the Tsung-li Ya-nien and to the Governors and Viceroys of Kiangsu, Chekiang and Hupeh, asking to he supplied with copies of the regulations under which the ports of Ningpo, Shanghai, Hankow and Ichang were opened to trade.
It was very important that these gulations should be carefully studied all their aspects with a view to arriving at a satisfactory arrangement in the present ease, So far, no copies have reached Szechuan but in order to avoid delay the memorialist suggests that the Ch'uan Tung Taotai should be constituted Superintendent of Customs, and that the Buard should be instructed to furnish him with a seal of office without waiting for the arrival Fu-jun, the newly appointed Lieutenant of all the documents. As soon as the copies Governor of Shantung, reports having! of the various Customs Regulations shall assumed the duties of his office on the! have reached the menwrialist, he will ex-third of August last. Huang Huai-sen, amine them carefully, devise a satisfactory yeh wax recently.
Commissioner of Kueichou, took up his] set of rules suited to the locality and the promoted to be Judicial system of procedure and draw up a complete post on the 8th of July last, the Grain In- circumstances of the case. These he will submit from time to time for the Imperial approval. In the meantime he begs to present this memorial in which he has detailed the preliminary arrangements that have been made, consequent upon the opening of the port to foreign trade by means of native vessels, and the suspension of steam navigation to' Chungking, and in which he asks that the Board should be instructed to furnish a seal of office to the Superintendent of Customs.—Approved bir rescript.
'9th September.
AYPOTNTMENTS, Prince K'o Chtin is gazetted Chief Superintendent of the Octroi Collectorato outside the Hata Men, the Assistant Superintendent being Sung' Shen, the President of the Board of Punishments, and nephew of Ch'ung Hou.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.