year, and to have improperly allowed offi- October 6th.—(1) The Commissioners of Gials ut low rank to accompany him on these Customs for the Ha-ta Méu Gate at Peking evasions. The Commissioners tind ques- present a report of the sums collected by tioning the officers stationed at the provin- the offices under their superintendence cial capital that they had not experienced during the year of thirteen months com-any ditticulty in obtaining access to their pleted on the 28th September last. The chief. The Governor also explains that he receipts, which amount to Tls. 181,658.6.9, had indeed been ill, and had petitioned the are somewhat longer than those collected in Emperor to allow him to retire, but had recent years, but still fall short of the been granted a short leave of absence in- amount fixed by law, the deficiency being stead, The sickness from which he had Tis, 141,842.7.1.2.
Trade has been very suffered was an infirmity of the legs, renbad in Pel of late. Fluctuations in dering him unable to walk, He had, therefure, at the solstice and on the New.
Your's day ridden in his chair as far as thi chants afraid to do business. Then the road: robing room, where he had dismounted vere rendered impossible by heavy rains and been supported into the temple by a during the sunnner, and in July the river; couple of orderlies, who had thus entered Peiho escaped rom its channel and was with him, Another complaint had refer-diverted to the East, so that beat trottie to the lekin collectorate. The com-was greatly impeded. The for missioners found, however, that there were toms also steadily absorb no grounds for the charges against the portion of the duties. All these causes chief commissioner, who had been accused lave tended to prevent the receipts from of making alterations in the rules, em-! reaching. the proper amount. The com ploying his own friends and fellow towns: missioners further state fines have quen under fictitious names, and causing been actually inflicted on seventy-two falling elf in the revenue by his gene: ts, and in @ curtain, amber of other mismanagement and by the corruption of cases the offenders, who were found really those engaged by him." That any decrease ty he without means of paying, have been in the revenue had occurred was trium- either pardoned or punished in other ways. Pooks of returns, from which it was shorn pliantly disproved by the production of the—Referred tu the Board ut Revenue. that the receipts' in silver and the receipts 6) py, nane Commisenane pry hat Pabiis in yepper being calculated together, the @2), The sume Commissioners furnish," exceeded that during the total sun collected during the last tive years TPert period by According to regulations, which date back om the duty collected, on opt tore than Tis, 400,000. With regard to the & 1852 all opium, whether army, there were two camp ints, first that pay was drawn for men who did not exist, receipts are kept apart from those on other and secondly that some companies had been seeds, and sent separately to the Board of Revenue. But it was enacted that at all left without a penny of pay for a whole stations on ma it year, Special officers despatched by the, Commissioners compared the rolls with the seaports the duty she as at Shang-anon actually present with their regiments, be Tls. 30 p cul, whil the Ha: nnd fo the abr Po the charges shuld instead. annual duty remitted to the any cases of non-issue of pay. Moreov' he twenty there had been no tumults or wholesale Board Board of Revenue by the commissioners' desertions, which would certainly have Predecessors oceurted if the men had been left pencil 35 Poet evens a execu Tis 6, 000 collection on native foralongtime. The commissioners also enquired ito number of other eases of misconduct on the part of Hunan otticials alleged ing. And early in the
of these the most imp us important charge?Y the Board of Ret Bo. "lof Re ombouse was notified ence that there would against a Taotai to the effect that he had the no duty to be lo 1 on foreign opium, Governor completely under his influence cee one 3 Under these circumstances it has only beer S. wath Lis. 197 wid took Range bribes to obtain abpomt: Fr difference in scales, and the fines amount es to obtain actual sums received front certain officers after dadu ion of the proper percent and the agents through whose hands they tage fur rewards, to the sum of Tls. 13.3. passed being specifically stated inthe ori-, REPRESSION OF CHIME IN CANTON PROVIN ginal complaint made to the Emperor.—Qetober 7th.—(1) The Vieervy at Canton Phe commissioners, however, found that reports at great Tength and with very pre-these charges, like all the others into which cis details the successful result of the they had enquired, were without founda- efforts he has made to put down brigand el They recommend, however, that the dage, clan-tighting, and illegal associations said Chuang Keng-liang, should be removed in the Province of Kuangtung.
He di from the special appointments which he ded the country i tary dis-Held, and that one or two others should be tricts, assigning the East Coast to Admiral tly punished, or kept under surveill- Fang Yao, the North and West Rivers to ance, because, though nothing was proved General Cheng Shao-chung, and Lien-chou against them, they had not been able to Fu and Ch'in Chou on the West Coast to keep themselves from being generally General Feng Tzu-tsai. Proceedings were talked about, commenced in the fourth month of last The Districts of Hai-feng and Lu-Feng on the East Coast and Ch'ing-yuan on the North River were the localities most notorious for either the turbulence of their inhabitants or the prevalence of brigandage. The gentry in each neighbourhood were Required to assist the local authorities by giving in the names of all offenders known ito them and arresting such persons whenever it was in their power. As each district was taken in hand, numerous bodies of troops were moved up, and, where it was found necessary, the villages were surrounded and all possibility of resistance prevented. In the country of Hai-feng Hsien as many as 465 men were arrested, the worst offenders being execu-and then released on bail. In every case ted, and others punished in various ways not only did the criminals confess their guilt, but overwhelming evidence was given inst them by the people of their locality. The crimes proved included attad ing towns, resisting troops, kuli i abduction, kidnapping, levying black mai and attempting to coerce' the authorities by closing markets and destroying public elfices, At one place in Ch'in Chou on the West Coast, there had been something very like rebellion against all authority going for many years, and here occurred what seems to have been the only case of open resistance to troops. A fortified stronghold was taken and burnt by the soldiers, who killed in the assault eleven well-known ruttians. In addition to the three districts mentioned above, the country in the immediate neighbourhood of Canton and to the south-west of it was diligently searched for offenders. Everywhere the respectable inhabitants evinced great joy at the re-assertion of the majesty of the law. Rules were laid down for the preservation of order in the future, the use of red and black flags was prohibited, and a number of schools and colleges were founded with the property and plunder confiscated. From the commencement of the work up to the middle of the present summer 906 criminals were executed, either on the spot or after reference to the Viceroy. Wherever notorious offenders evaded the attempts to arrest them, their names were published and rewards offered for their capture, so that it rendered impossible for them to 1
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.