19th June.
A Financial Scheme of Viceroy Yuan, According to a Paoting letter Viceroy Yuan Shih-h'ai, of Chibli, has on foot a scheme to establish a Provincial Government Bank, which shall finance and collect the land, grain and other taxes which constitute the general revenues of the three inces of Chihli, Shantung and Honan.
is Provincial Government Bank will be the privilege of issuing paper currency, which taxpayers of the three provinces in question may use to pay their lues, and in this way secure the confidence of the masses. Negotiations wre being at present conducted betwe.n the Viceroy and the Governors of Honan and Shantung i d to the scheme, which is expected on foot by the end of this sum-
The New Police Force, Ordered to be rised by Viceroy Yuan Shih-kai last Jamuary, wud organised by! Captain Ts'ao Chixchsiang, Imperial Chinese Navy, lwoly in command of the new Chinese fast cruiver Haiyung has, at last, been embodied at Paoting, and numbers 3,000 men sli told. Under the able direction of Captain 'T's'ao instant, Commander j aval officer, the strictest discipline is observed by the newly raised Police, which by the way, isa semi-military organisation, while the men are relieved at their respective beats at stated hours in regular military style. 'The strict discipline of the men has given confidence to the people "f Paoting, and the institution has evidently become a popular one, seeing that the number of those anxious to join the force has been very large one, enabling Captain Ts'ao—who by the way is also a returned American student—to easily make his selections, and procuring without ditticulty a body of very finely formed and stalwart men. The men ure dressed entirely in black with fono large red Chinese characters on their breasts, stating that the wearers belong to the Paoting Police Force or Gendarmerie, All words of command are given in English. Ts 1s also reported that only 1,000 of the men are to be stationed permanently in Paoting, while the other 2,000 are destined for Tientsin, when that city is returned to China.
A Taotai Betieged.
According to the "Tientsin Chih Pao," Yuan '4 ed by Viceroy Yuan Shih-kai to by peaceable means if he could, the insurgents of the district of Weihsien—one of the rebellious hsiens of south-west Chihli—went not many days ago to a mud-walled village of that district to persuade the inhabitants there to throw down their arms peaceably and submit themselves to the Viceroy, who would be mercifully inclined if' they promptly gave up their firearms to the. Government. The villagers invited Yuan Taotai, who had only a small guard of some fifty men, into their village, which is a large one, containing a population of over 20,000, and having made him enter one of their headmen's house besieged it, and refused to allow the official and his bodyguard to leave the place alive unless he gave them a written document granting their head. men and their families pardon and life. All the headmen of the village had joined the rebels with the adult population of the place, and Yuin Taotai had proclaimed that all the inhabitants of the village would be pardoned with the exception of their headmen. Yuaa Taotai was then entrapped into the village with the above result. From last accounts, says the paper, Yuan Taotai had not yet left that. village.
20th June.
The Competition for Mining Rights in Szechuan province, according to the ""Sinwénpao," appears to be a keen one on the part of French capitalists. It would seem that by the energy of certain British ants they had obtained rights for the mining of certain coal and mineral deposits in six districts of Szechuan province, while French merchants had succeeded in obtaining mining rights in only two districts. This is reported to have been a matter of great dissatisfaction to the loiter, with the result that they have asked their Consul xt Chungking to xo to Chengtu to remonstrate with Viceroy 'K'uei for his seeming partility to the British.
The Insurrection in Changchou, Fukien Province.
An official dispatch received by the local mandarins from Amoy reports that the insurgents of Changchou prelecture, Fukien province, who bad been threatening the city of Changchou for the past three months, have dispersed at last, after a considerable number of pour-parlers with the new Taotai, Ho. As the insurgents had obtained' what they demanded, namely, the dismissal of the Manchu Taotai, Yung, whose extortions had been the chief cause of the insurrection; the remission of some of the newly imposed taxes; and pardon for the principal offenders, there remained but little ditliculty to get the insurgents to disperse to their Homes, capecially ax Ho Tavtai bad With him over 9,000 troops, more than a-half of whom, well-armed and equipped, [had been sent over from }.ochow ty re-enforce him. Affairs have ed their normal aspect in Changchou and vicinity and the troops from Foochow are to be sent by the end of this month back to their o! quarters.
A New Commercial Enterprise at Yangchou.
A Chinkiang dispatch reports that a wealthy notable of Yangehou, which city lies opposite that port, has started a syndicate of merchants for the establishment at Yangchou of a towel mill and an umbrella factory, where foreign machinery is to be used. "The mill and factory are to be built on the northern bank of the Grand Canal, where the necessary land has already been purchased and commencement on the buildings "lo begun. A Japanese superintendent: and several machinists ar> also to 1c engaged for the works.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.