The following incidents afford proof of the report. The Northern forces recently procured a steamer for the transport of soldiers and material from here to Szechuan. She was formerly the, Dahvar, but is now called the Yangwei and is painted battle grey. She arrived here the day before yesterday and a great number, perhaps a hun dred or more, coolie loads of opium were seen being carried along the street yesterday. They had been discharged from this ship and were being escorted by soldiers whose badges showed' that they belonged to the "Army Joint Office for General Control and Investigation.'' The other office is a place of storage for the opium, and merchants may lodge it here until the required dues are paid. The Joint Office was established by the gentry and the army, and a well-known metnber of the gentry named Ma Sao-wen is at the head of it. It is said' that he and a colonel laid the scheme before Gen. 'Wang Ju-chin, who approved it,+and after that it was submitted to Generals Wu Pei-fu and Hsiao Yao-nan. Whether the two latter approved it or not does not' matter, for the scheme for legalizing trade in opium is being carried through either with their consent or in spite of them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.