Peking, Jan. 2.
_A number of Mandates were issued for the New Year, conferring the following distinctions: Order of Merit, Fourth Class, to the Foreign Minister, Dr. W. W. Yen, and Civil Governor Li Ching-cheng. Order of Merit, Third Class, to Tuchun Tan Hou-ming. The Nine Lions Sword to Lu Yung-ting. A special order eulogized the services of Tuchun Liu Tseng-hou.
Dr. Yen is the only member of the Cabinet to be decorated.
As already announced, Li Ching-cheng has just been appointed Civil Governor of Kuangsi, Lu Yung-ting Tupan of Kuangsi and Kuangtung, and Tan Hoy-ming Tuchun of Kuangsi.
Another Mandate has recalled Gen. Chang Kuang-chen, and appointed Gen. Tsai Chen-hsun Tuchun of Kansu, while Gen. Ma Fu-hsiang is appointed Tutung of Chahar. Gen. Lu Hung-tao—will act as Tuchun, pending the arrival of Gen. Tsai Shen-hsun.-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.