Means of communication are of the utmost importance to the good government of a nation. Hence, the work of levelling and constructing roads and paths in other countries is being attended to with the greatest energy. The official roads and the postal stages of old in China represented, to some extent, the idea of national roads, But owing to our adherence to a conservative policy, no improvement whatever has ever been made to the old, pri-hich have given Since the advent of the railway, different requirements have been caused by different conditions, and it is essential for us to make @ united effort to devise methods of conducting or repairing roads and paths of the whole country. Recently, the district of Peking was fixed as the area within which to set @ model for self-government. As road-construction constitutes one of the duties of municipal government, let the Governor of Peking make a careful investigation as regards all ros that should be constructed in his district, and to divide them into two classes, the national and the district roads, in order to set an example to all. With respect to the roads in the villages and the countryside, let the subdistrict committees be held responsible to keep them in repairs.
these, the work of building roads in the provinces shall be carried out gradually and in order of their importance by the taoyins and prefects under the direction of their superior officials.
According to an old-established custom of our country, the bridges and roads of a district or a village have mostly been built by the people, who regard this kind of work as philanthropic and beneficial in scope. Let the district officials encourage the development of public spirit, but they must refrain from using pressure. Any person who willingly makes a large donation should be given special recognition. The Ministry of the Interior shall speedily frame the regulations governing road-construction and submit them for our approval.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.