BLE. Chang Chih-tung has been finding some difficulty in getting funds to pay his troops, it being most important for the preservation of order that they should be paid regularly. The merchants of Wuchang and Hankow recently raised the sum of Tls. 180,000 for this purpose and presented it to the Viceroy, and the latter has now made a contract with the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank for a loan of Tls. 500,000 (£75,000), under the guarantee of the British Government. The security is the remainder of the salt gabelle not already hypothecated.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.