LANDLORD AND TENANT IN CHINA,.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2498, 14 July 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

LANDLORD AND TENANT IN CHINA,.

A case of homicide which occurred some time ago in Anhui is exciting great interest. Tne Chinese paper Sbih Pao gives the following particulars :— In the district of H'o-fei (where the Viceroy's homo is) there lives a family of great distinction aud unbounded opulence, whose mansions are like palaces, and whoso lauds measures thousands of acres. In this family there is a young aristocrat of dissolute habits and orer-bearing demeanour, surrounded by a retinue of servile attendants, and appareled in tho best silks and satins to be found in the empire. When ho goes out he prances along the stroet, full of arrogance and pomposity, seated upou a high-spirited steed. Summer and winter he spends his nights in drinking-bouts and boisterous carousals. Every year the young aristocrat takes a trip to the villages in the district to collect from the peasants rent for the land which they cultivate. Last fall he went to a certain village which had suffered for a, long time from the drought. One of the peasants appeared before him with a bundle of parched grain-stalks, and, prostrating himself, besought him to depute some of his attendants to inspect the condition of his fields. In great wrath the haughty aristocrat exclaimed, " If all your grain be parched, does that exonerate you from paying me rent ?" And he directed him to forthwith settle his account, On the next day the same farmer came again, accompanied by a large number of peasants, also debtors in rent like himself, and entreated their master to have consideration for them. Instead of granting their entreaty, he began attacking them, kicking and beating, and ordering them each one to pay up his rent speedily. The peasants dared not utter a word in protest, but went away sorely troubled. The head farmer, seeing that ho had brought such brutal treatment on his neighbours by persuading them to plead with their master, and knowing that hs and they could not possibly evade paying tho rent demanded of them, announced his readiness to die if by so doing he could save his brother-farmers from further trouble. He accordingly proceeded to the residence of the young squire, and there saw him dangling his concubines upon his knees, laughing with boisterous merriment. Upon seeing an intruder he flew into a towering rage, and, picking up a block of wood, he hurled it at him, hitting him on the temple, and knocking him senseless on the ground. He then exclaimed. " Wretched slave, what impudence brings you here ?" at the same time kicking hira into the street, until he expired. That night the local officials came to hold an inquest ; but on arriving at the mansion the young gentleman assumed a most overbearing attitude, and ordered his servants to demand of the visitors what their mission might bo. To this tho official replied, "This is hardly a necessary question, seeing that your master has baen guilty of taking a man's life." Then the young aristocrat burst into vituperations, saying, "You insignificant tyrant, how dare you to insult my servant by answering back to him?" But before his words were ended, the plucky magistrate, wishing to show hira that he could not be intimidated by his high connections, ordered his servant to receive 200 blows on the spot. The people insisted on tho inquest being held ; a guard was placed round tho youag aristocrat's house; and the case has attracted so much attention that no attempts at hushing up the crime or shielding the criminal will be toleratod. —Public Opinion.