Ting Li-Chun is appointed prefect of Yichoufu, Shantung, vice Hsi Liang promoted t be Tavtai of the Yen-yi-t'saos chi Intendancy in the same province, (2) Pa-ké-tan-pu, Senior Director of the Imperial Stud, etc., reports that his leave of absence is about to expire without his getting any better of his bodily complaints, and hence prays to be allowed to resign his various posts in order to better attend to three look-out men had, upon hearing the alarm given by the murdered man, already been scared away. So the rest of the gang were forced to lead the animals themselves and by quickly marching overtook the runaways. The wholegangthen went toa solitary spot where they were not liable to be interrupted and a division of plunder took place. While the robbers were thus employed a lighted taper carelessly thrown away by one of them seemed to hare communicated with some combustible matter in one of the side rooms of the house, with the result that a conflagration took place, the greater portion of the house being' thus destroyed. The neighbours were in this way alarmed and while helping to quell the fire, a body of the rest joined the yamen runners and military patrol to hunt for the robbers the same night. No one was caught then, but gradually nine of the gang were one after another captured within the period allowed the district magistrate by law for their arrest. The only man who has so far escaped capture is Li Pa, the leader of the gang. The law demands the summary execution of any members of a gang of robbers, with fire arms in their hands, who helped in plundering a place and finally to-k a share of the spoils, while those who joined to make a robbery but refrained eventually from committing the deed should be sentenced one degree more lightly, viz:—punished with 100 blows of the "heavy" bamboo and exile for three years. This last sentence has 28th May.
Appointing a large number of officials to the Metropolitan and Provincial adminis. trations.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.