As an illustration of the difficulties under which Japanese officials conduct their duty in Korea " The Seoul Press publishes the following incident "Mr Yi chai, a gentleman of noble birth, having his landed estate in @ suburb of Seoul, unlawfully occupied by ® certain Min, had- to fight for his rights before the law courts, The case finally came up to the Supreme Court where decision was given only a few days ago. To the great surprise of Mr. Yi, whose title to the land could not be disputed by any legal authority, the decision of the Coart was against him. He at once went to the Court and saw some Korean lodges there and asked for an explanation. They asserted with mach show of sympathy that they had een forced to make the decision, which they thought iniquitous, owing to the strong pressure brought to bear upon them by their Japanese colleague.
litigators; but Mr. Yi knew better.
wontd have satisfied most Korean'
He straightway went to the office of the Japanese official in question, Mr. Justice Miyako, and told him what he had heard from the Korean judges. This was a great surprise to Mr. Miyako. He produced from his drawer his own cop) of the decision in which Mr. Yi' was definitely recognized and the unlawful usurper ordered to hand over the property to the rightful owner. The document had evidently been falsified. Mr. Miyako, who was natare ally very indignant, called on his leagues and demanded an explanation. They had to confess their guilt."
The new str. Malte, of the Round-the-World service of the Compagnie des Chargeurs Réunis is expected to arrive at Shanghai on the 25th instant. The vessel is a twin-screw steamer of 15,800 tons gross and accomplished on her trial trips an average speed of sixteen knots. In addi to a large cargo capacity, the steamer has luxurious sccommodetion for fifty-seven first-saloon passengers, whose cabins are all amidships and fitted in most modern style. The dining-saloon, library, smoking and reading rooms are all beautifully fitted and upholstered and these and the cabins are fitted with steam beating apparatus and electric fans. Two large promenade docks afford the passengers ample space in which to lounge or to take part in any form of exercise or sport. The Malte will be followed at intervals of weeks by three sister-ships—the Ceylon, Oessant and Corse. These steamers will sail from Shanghai to Japan, via Chinwangtao, and thence to Honolulu, San Francisco, ete, retarning to Europe via South American ports. Mr. Thourode, the General Agent for the Company, has headquarters at Yokohama, and the Mes-eries Maritimes are agents at Hongkong, Shanghai and Kobe.
Tuene are several interesting} features in "The Eastern Sketch."
Traffic management on the French side suggests a frontispiece which, (like life acco to the Councillor in "Utopia Limited"), "teems with quiet fu Later on we come across a realistic portrait of " well-known Shanghai resident, " in the footsteps of Marco Polo"; and there are some further instructive comments on the Chekiang railway trouble. Of the letter press two items deserve attention—the first, some bright verses on a new royalty of an adjacent island; the second, @ critique on the performance of the Lilliputians—or rather on the ethics of that performance—with whi we heartily agree. As "the Man " expresses it: pandering ssu restiveness is infinitely more disgusting when little children are employed to convey it."
We are glad to see that the editor of "The Saturday Review" is back at: work again; he is responsible for the front-page cartoon in the latest issue. He devotes considerable attention this week to the boycott movement and to! China's grievances.
Ws are in receipt of the Shanghai Mercury Blotting Pad and Desk Book, which this year makes its appearance in a neat dark blue cover with silver. lettering. The competition in directories is stimulating rival publishers to expedite their appearance, but it is clear that early publication can sometimes be achieved at " sacrifice of accuracy. Absolute—infalli in local directories is hard to obtain few days' delay, however, in the appearance of the book before us, devoted to filling io addresses dropped out and numbers omitted would have enhanced its usefulness and still have launched jit on the world in time for all practical purposes. The Mercury Desk Book, nevertheless, is a handy publication and by now too familiar an object to need detailed reference. It deals with Shanghai only and thus appears in compact form, while a pad of blotting paper, keeping it always at hand, is included in the purchase price of $2.50.
We: have received Tientsin papers with dates to January 14.—Prince Suh has arranged with the Grand Council that an effort shall be made to obtain a census of all people who have been cured of the opium habit.—A horse tram service was started in Mukden on the 4th instant.—The Board of Communications in Peking has given to the entire staff of the Imperial Ri ways of North China " month's salary, as a bonus for efficient work during the past year—A farewell dinner was. given to Mr. P. Angier, Manager of the Tientsin branch of the Chartered Bank, on the 12th instant. A game of Ice between t by er riting England Hockey was played on the 11th instant and Amerien; the ingush team won by seven goals to four.
A report in "The China Times" states that a daring attempt at robbery by armed Chinese was made upon, natives in the train between Tangho and Peitaiho Stations on the 11th The robbers boarded the train at 5.40 8.m. Half-an-hour later they attacked five passengers, cut the throats of three and wounded the other two on the face. A cry of thieves was raised and taken up in other cars. The robbers then became frightened and jumped off the train while it was going up an incline. The victims who were not fatally injured, were taken into hospital at Changli and a vigorous pursuit of the robbers is reported. A strong force of train police was huddled around a stove in a car at the rear of the train while the robbers were at work and they did not hear the alarm!
A somewnar serious landslip occurred in Chinkiang on January 18, at 3.30 pin. on Messrs Butterfield It is stated that the nity and in other with it thirty Chinese, and they were all drowned. A huge pontoon was washed away from ite moorings by the waves which came in after the landslip,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.