Lin Shu-tang, Governor of Honan, re-orts that a few months ago the prefect of ch: ing district magistrate of Yilitéfu, Bonin, p-titiened that one Li
cheng, had, upon banding over his seals to his success-or, been found to have fallen short of his land tax accounts by Tis 2,795, odd. In consequence of this the said prefect hud done his best to make the defaulting oticer refund the money. Shortly afterwards it was found that Li Chi had abso ded. Then it transpired that had returned to Wuchinghsien in the Inperial prefecture—hisnative town—in order to borrow money for the repayment of his debt to government. M.m-then reported the matter, #t the t me, to the Throne with the request that the Governor of Shuntienfu be commanded to arrest Li Chi and send him back to Honan for trial. But in the meantime Aespatch had been received from the Governor of Shuntienfu to the effect that the said Li Ch'i had tried to borrow a sum of money from his nephew, a Hanchun Bannerman connected with the Tartar garrison of Wuchinghsien, but that upon Feceiving a refusal the said Li Eh' had been plunged into despair which culminated in his committing suicide by swallowing foreign opium. Although the said Li Chit has died in the above manner, this still does no' absolve his family from being compelled to make g- od the sum owed by the deceased, hence memorialist prays that a decree way he issued commanding the family of the deceased to make good the amount within two months, and that if the whole debt. be not paid within the prescribed period, a heavier penalty be devised to punish the members of deceased's family for contempt of the laws.—Rescript: Granted. Let the Board of Revenue take note.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.