We look for all the startling news of Peking to the correspondence of the natives in the columns of the Southern papers, and for the first time we hear of an epidemic of cholera carrying off three thousand five hundred people within six weeks. We hear too of the examination hall here having been washed away and that consequently there will be no examinations this year in the Chihli Province. Thousands of new stalls have been built this year, to replace the old which had fallen into disrepair.
We are also told that Hsii Tung, a Grand Secretary, is a Minister of the Tsungli Yamen, "We are also informed from Tientsin of the opening of coal mines Ai
and the signing of contracts with German syndicates, reported conversations of the Emperor or Empress regarding Siam, the Pamirs, railways, ete., which are entirely without foundation. The statements generally of the native correspondents must be taken cum grano salis, Newspapers in China and at home seem fond of having Peking correspondents whether their effusions really proceed from the capital or not, and any news from Peking seems to carry great weight whether trustworthy or not.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.