CHINESE PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3942, 8 March 1884, Page 6 (Supplement)

CHINESE PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS.

(PHUENOLOGICAL JOTTKNAI.) Each governor of a province maintains a court of his own, and whenever ho appears abroad he is attended bj , a numerous retinue, bearing the eymbols of his' high office. . He is carried in a gilded chair or sedan, invariably accompanied by the public executioners, some carrying chairs and others that universal instrument of justice, tho bamboo, which is very unceremoniously applied on the spot to any unlucky wight who may chance to bo detected in any misdoiijonnor ; consequently the approach of the liirrJi functionary never fails to inspire a degree of awe, wliieh is manifested by the respectful haste with which tho people make way foi? the procession, where they range themselves close to the walls, and stand perfectly still and motionless till tho .whole retinue lms passed. Tho governors are entrusted witli despotic authority, but they must be careful how they use it, as they arc always liable to the visits of the Imperial commissioners, who frequently arrive from the capital without giving notice of their approach, for tho purpose of seeing whether all is as it should bo; and if they find anything wrong it is immediately reported at court, when the offender is visited with a prompt and often severe punishment. Aginglc word from the emperor is sufficient at any time to deprive tho first grandee in tho land of his rank, his property, or even of liis life. The governor of a province or a city is particularly liable to such a reverse from tho nature of the laws > which hold him responsible for public evils.