The Home Department has written to all the provinces to the effect that many of the laws are being disobeyed and people without means of livelihood are wandering about the country accompanying powerful Koreans or foreigners and tempting young people to sell or pawn their rice fields or other property, generally in secret and then spend the proceeds in riotous living. These debts have finally been collected of parents or brothers by force, and these innocent parties complain that their property is taken from them without cause. It is a shameful state of affairs, and hereafter a father will not be compelled to pay the debts of his son, and the son cannot sell the fields of his father. Any one charged with this offence in future will be severely punished and the governors are asked to notify all the magistrates.

Early in the month it was reported that the Russian soldiers in northern Korea had exhausted all their funds and were demanding both money and rice from every village.

The Il Chin Hoi in Chin Ju district expelled eighteen members and brought six of them into court for punishment for illegal acts.

The following terms have been agreed upon between Korea and Japan for the regulation of marine traffic between the two countries;

1. According to treaty Korean and Japanese vessels can sail along the coast and on the rivers of both countries for commercial purposes.

2. To secure proper permit the owner or master of a vessel after applying to the government authorities through his consul at any commercial port, must apply to the customs authorities for a navigation permit. This permit is good for one year only, and must contain the following:

a. Name and address of ship’s owner.

b. Kind of ship and number of tons.

3. The following rates must be paid either to secure the permit or to have it renewed:

a. Twenty yen for each steamship or sail boat less than 100 tons.

b. Fifty yen for each steamer more than 100 tons and less than 500.

c. One Hundred yen for each steamship more than 500 and less than 1,000 tons.

d. Five hundred yen for each steamship of more than 1,000 tons.

4. With this permit a ship may sail along any coast or on any river, but cannot sail through a closed harbor for any foreign part.

5. The permit must be exhibited on demand of any Customs officer or magistrate.

6. After government consent has been granted only one storage house may be erected at any given port, the maximum area to be not more than two hundred square meters. This land must be cured by application to the magistrate, and on expiration of the contract may be returned at original price.

7. If the owner or master of vessel acts contrary to this agreement his permit may be suspended by the Customs authorities, and if a serious wrong is committed the permit may be cancelled.

8. Any ship sailing along the coasts or on the rivers of either country without the above-mentioned permit will be examined by the consul and a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred yen shall be imposed.

9. If sailors on these ships act contrary to these articles and the commercial treaties or disturb the peace the matter must be investigated and adjudicated according to treaty.

10. This agreement shall be in force for five years.

It is reported that a new issue of 3-cent postage stamps for use in Korea have been ordered from the Printing Bureau by the Japanese government.

In northern Choong Chung province the Righteous Army is said to be increasing daily.

While here several members of the Japanese House of Commons visited the Justice Court and city jail.

Yi Yang Pak, of Euiju, has been executed, having been charged with injuring the military telegraph lines.

The Yang Chung prefect says the Japanese railway authorities have demanded of him five hundred men to work thirty days each on the railway line. He finds it difficult to get fifty men for ten days, during this season of the year, and thinks the people should not be robbed of their time for plowing and weeding their fields.

At the ceremony of opening the Keo-Fu Railway there were present from the Japanese House of Peers, Count Ohgimachi, Count Matenakoji, Viscounts Juonye, Tsutsumi, Akabe, Torii, Joiye, Matsdaira, Makino and others to the number of twenty-eight, and from the House of Commons there were Messrs. Yebarar, Sugita, Morimato, Hoselba, Ogino, Asano, Honai, Ando, Fuknoka, Takenchi, Iwamato, Tsunada, Nagai, Ishida, Terada, Kimura, Haseawa, Matsumoto and others to the number of one hundred and seventy five, besides bankers, editors, shareholders, contractors and railway managers. This distinguished company very strongly impressed the Korean officials and the foreigners of various nationalities in Korea with the substantial character behind Japanese commercial enterprises in Korea.

The governor of South Choong Chung asks the Home Department what disposition to make of the request of the Japanese army that he shall report concerning all the horses in the province.

Mr. Cho Min Huy, Korean Minister to Japan, has been notified by the Foreign Office to return to Seoul. A reply has been received that Mr. Cho is seriously ill, but will return after his recovery.

The governor of North Pyeng An province reports to the Foreign Office that the prefect of Kang Kai has received a demand from the Japanese army for two thousand oxen, to be delivered on the border of China, five hundred miles distant. He bitterly complains because of the difficulty in securing the oxen and the hardship imposed on the people during the cultivation season.

All the French Legation Guards have departed from Seoul with the exception of four who remain to look after the Russian Legation property.

In Juksau district about one hundred evil characters have gathered under the name Righteous Army and have been squeezing money and rice. The magistrate reported that his efforts to arrest them had failed because each had a gun and ammunition.

The government has asked that the following be inserted in the agreement between the Japanese and Korean Communication Departments:

1. All officers appointed must be Koreans.

2. Salaries of officers must be paid by Korean Finance Department.

3. Korean postage stamps must be used.

4. The duration of this agreement must be settled.

On the first of May the contract for communication service between Korea and Japan was published in the Official Gazette.

From his country residence Mr. Min Yeng Kui, Minister of the Finance Department, sent in his resignation, but it was not accepted.

The Minister of Finance has been requested to allow the free and uninterrupted circulation of Japanese bank notes, without regard to the condition of the Korean market.

One night recently many valuable jewels and several thousand yen were taken from the home of one of the leading Ministers in the Korean government. Thorough investigation revealed a trusted servant as the guilty party. The goods were returned, and after a lecture in which he was reminded that according to the law of the land he should be imprisoned, the man was given a handsome present and dismissed from service.

The Home Department has asked the War Department to despatch soldiers to Choong Chung province to hasten the dispersal of robber bands.

Ten thousand boxes of gunpowder for the use of the British mines are just now being imported into Korea.

Syn Tai-hu, Chief of Police, has sent identical notes to the police in the five wards of Seoul to the effect that young boys found smoking cigarettes must be whipped, and fathers neglecting to get the boys in school must be punished.

The German Minister has requested the government to remove the granite blocks from the compound of the new German Legation being erected outside the West Gate of Seoul, and he also asks that the stones be used in the repair of the city wall in that vicinity.

The Vice Minister of the Supreme Court asked for a modification of the Communication agreement so that all officials and postage stamps be put under the control of the Korean government, but the proposition has been refused by the Japanese.

On the twenty-second instant nearly three hundred members of the Young Men’s Christian Association went to the Synheung Temple for a picnic. In addition to a splendid luncheon, cooked in foreign style, debates and several unique races were features of the day’s outing.

The Vice Minister of the War Department, Mr. Om Chu-ik, has resigned and his resignation has been accepted.

More than one hundred post office clerks are said to have been ordered from Japan to Korea to assist in the new postal work undertaken by the Japanese.

The regulations requiring examinations in order to secure appointment to any of the Departments, include the Chinese language (reading and composition) international history and international law. Only thirty may pass the examination at one time and the first thirty have already been passed and have received their appointments.

The Korean Minister in Washington telegraphs the Foreign Department that Korean immigrants in Hawaii desire a Consul of their own nationality instead of a Japanese subject.

When the Japanese officials took possession of the postoffices on the seventeenth instant the Korean clerks and officials were assigned certain duties, which they refused to perform. Resignations were sent in and the Koreans went to their homes, and for several days refused to attend the offices. A few were arrested by the Japanese.

Nearly all the officials of the Communication Department presented their resignations a number of times but the resignations were not accepted.

In addition to the previous regulations issued by the Japanese commander-in-chief, the Foreign Office has been notified of the following:

1. When the Korean government appoints a magistrate the office of the commander-in-chief must first be notified.

2. Without the consent of the commander-in-chief the magistrate will not be permitted to go to his post of duty.

3. No mines can be worked or forests be cut down without permission of the commander-in-chief.

Complaint is made that coal stored in Pyeng Yang has been secretly sold without an account being rendered. Request for payment has been made and a demand to discontinue secret selling.

The magistrate of Chin Chun district reports that more than seventy members of a so called Righteous Army entered his district from Chook-san, with their leader Pak Chai-man. They had robbed the people of rice, money and guns, and departed in the direction of Chung an district.

Mr. Chung Choo-yeng has been appointed governor of North Kyeng Sang province.

The Law Department has ordered all judges to post bulletins of the trials of those sentenced to be hung, so that the public may know the charges, evidence, and law under which the criminal has been condemned to death.

The Wonsan Kamni cannot see how ten policemen can satisfactorily perform the labors it formerly took forty policemen to perform. He wishes to know why thirty of his policemen have been dismissed, and he further greatly desires to have their places filled at once.

The Agricultural Department has been requested to grant the use of the silk worm compound to the Japanese commander-in-chief.

Graduating exercises of the Japanese language school in Chemulpo were held on the twentieth inst. The Minister, Inspector and other officers of the Korean Educational Department were in attendance. The five graduates have been appointed assistant teachers.

The Foreign Office has been notified that the salaries of Japanese police inspectors in the five wards of Seoul must be paid at once.

On the eighteenth inst. a Japanese notice was posted on the bulletin boards of the Korean Communication Department that from that day the Japanese would:

1. Take charge of the Korean ordinary postal service.

2. Take charge of the Korean telegraph and telephone service.

By a special Edict Prince Eui Yang-koon represented His Majesty, the Emperor of Korea, at the formal ceremony of opening the Seoul-Fusan railway.

The Japanese Prince received from the Emperor of Korea the decoration Keum Chuk Tai-soo and the attachÉs received the Pal Kwa and Tai Keu decorations from His Majesty.

It is proposed to place Korean assistants under the Advisers of the various Departments in the Korean government, with salaries paid by the Finance Department.

The director of all the foreign language schools, Mr. Yi Chong-tai, has communicated with each school to the effect that education is for the mind, the soul and the body. Of late some students have taken a dislike to bodily exercise. The teachers are instructed to require students to take exercise regularly, and all who refuse to obey the order must be dropped from the rolls.

Prince Yi Chai-wan has asked permission of the Household Department to erect a paper mill in Yang Kun district, and it has been granted. When told of this His Majesty ordered the Household Department to collect the old and useless paper from all the Departments now and in the future and send it to the paper company without charge.

On the 13th inst. public exercises of all the primary schools were held and some suitable rewards were distributed by the Educational Department to those excelling in their studies.

Trains are running daily over the military road between Seoul and Pyeng Yang, and the mails are carried regularly. Passenger coaches are not used, and at present no passenger business is desired; but an occasional pass is issued so that one may make the journey on an open flat car, usually loaded with railroad or army equipment. The trip would doubtless be rather taxing on ladies, and the authorities are at present chary in granting them permits.

The governor of North Choong Chung asks the Home Department to see that all magistrates residing in Seoul be sent to the country at once, because robbers are numerous and the people cannot peacefully attend to their crops.

The Foreign Department has announced that it will be impossible to send a special representative to Belgium to the forthcoming congress.

Six inspectors have been appointed by the Law Department.

The Home Department has provided for the stationing of police as follows: ten each for Mokpo, Sam-wha, Masanpo, Gensan, Sung-chin, and Yongampo; eight each for Pyeng Yang and Euiju; and four for Kyeng Heung. The annual expense will be twenty-three thousand four hundred and eighty-six dollars.

A band of more than thirty robbers have been carrying on their work by daylight in the Poo Pyung district, and several wealthy Koreans have fled to Seoul to escape trouble from them.

The Il Chin Hoi have organized a company for the ostensible purpose of cultivating waste lands, and the Agricultural Department has been asked to allow it.

Since the second instant only Japanese steamers in special instances have been permitted to go north of Wonsan, by order of the commanding general.

Five magistrates dismissed for squeezing money from the people have voluntarily appeared before the Justice Court.

Sixteen thousand one hundred twenty-three dollars ninety cents and two cash is the amount paid for work on the railroad in Pyeng San district, Whang Hai province, as reported to the Home Department by the Finance Department.

Yi To Chai, Minister of the Home Department, sent in his resignation four different times, and then it was not accepted.

Mr. Hayashi, Japanese Minister to Korea, has returned to Seoul, as has also the Japanese Adviser to the Korean Police Department.

Much of the material for the new water works system has arrived, but government delays have thus far prevented actual work of construction.

The Korean Consul, Mr. Ma Kyeng, has been appointed acting Minister of the Korean Legation in London.

The Constitutional Society, with Yun Hyo-chung at its head has received from the Japanese authorities a permit to hold meetings.

The acting Foreign Minister, Yun Chi Ho, has received a request from the Chinese Minister for the release of a Chinese merchant recently arrested at Haiju.

A telegram from the Korean Legation in London announces to the Foreign Department the death of the Acting Minister, Mr. Yi Hon-eung. A telegram from the Foreign Department to the Legation in Paris orders the Secretary, Mr. Kim-Myeng-soo, to take charge of Korea’s diplomatic affairs in London.

Very numerous complaints have reached the Foreign Office on account of large quantities of nickels having been refused when offered for exchange. All magistrates in the thirteen provinces had been warned not to receive nickels not coined by the government; but of late counterfeit coins have become so numerous that innocent people suffer greatly and cannot protect themselves. The government out of pity for the innocent have decided to accept coins whose quality and form compare favorably with government coins, even though they may be counterfeit.

No celebration in Korea in modern times has equaled that in Seoul on the 25th inst. at the formal opening of the Kei-Fu, or Seoul-Fusan Railway.

Many oxen have been demanded in the north for the purpose of transporting rice and other commodities to the Japanese army in Manchuria.

Books are now being printed for the use of those Koreans who desire to study Japanese without a teacher. Sample volumes have been presented to His Majesty, the Crown Prince, and others in the Royal Household.

The Foreign Department has been notified by the Japanese Minister that according to the announcement of the Japanese Chief of the Communication Department since he has assumed control of Korean Communications he will collect all rates from telegraph, telephone and post offices, and the official salaries will be paid by the Japanese government.

A contract has been signed with a Japanese fishing company defining the limits of waters between Japan and Korea where whale fishery may be carried on in three different districts. The yearly rates have been increased from four hundred and fifty to nine hundred yen.

From the Korean Legation in Paris a despatch has come stating that the secretary, Min Sang Hyun, is starting at once for Korea as he has received notice of the sudden illness of his father. As immediate departure is necessary there is not time to secure leave of absence. The government is asked to pay the return expenses.

The magistrate of Hong Wan district has been changed, but as the former magistrate was entirely satisfactory to the Japanese army representations have been made that a change is not desirable.

The railway company has been asked to remove posts placed around the hill near the South Temple.

Agreements with four French engineers have been cancelled and the Foreign Office has sent to the French Legation eleven thousand seven hundred and seventy-three yen and thirty cents for salaries, house rents and traveling expenses.

It is asked that the material which arrives at Fusan to be used in iron bridges be admitted duty free.

The willow trees in An Pyen district are asked for by the Japanese authorities for the railway.

Civil service examinations were announced to be held between the thirteenth and seventeenth of May, to which each Department was privileged to send not to exceed five men. Vacancies in the office of clerk in any Department are to be filled in regular order from the ranks of those passing the examination.

The Home Minister, Mr. Yi To-chai, sent his resignation to His majesty.

A dealer living in Chongno has secured the monopoly of furnishing all the Korean national flags throughout the country.

The resignation of Min Yeng Whan, Vice Minister of the Supreme Court, has been accepted.

The former Chief of Ceremonial Department has been appointed Vice Minister of the Supreme Court.

Governors of the various provinces have been asked by the Japanese commander-in-chief to report the number of horses in each district.

The ex-magistrate of Ko-Wan district, Hamkyeng province, unfolds a tale to the Home Department of how he was appointed prefect last September, and proceeded as far as Wonsan on his journey to take up his work. At Wonsan the commander-in-chief of the Japanese army detained him. He telegraphed to the Home Department seven different times but received no reply. Finally the police inspector of Wonsan took his official seal by force and there was nothing left for him to do but to return to Seoul which he did four months ago. Now he has been dismissed, charged with being absent from his post of duty, and he desires to be relieved of the charge.

Nine Japanese police inspectors and thirteen policemen for the various districts have arrived in Seoul.

According to the recent military adjustments the monthly expense for the army is about two hundred and seventy thousand dollars, and the adviser of the Finance Department is willing to pay but one hundred and eighty thousand monthly, hence the War Department is short on salaries.

The home Minister and acting Minister of the Finance Department presented their resignations but they were not accepted.

On the sixth instant the Japanese representatives appointed to receive the transfer of the Korean communication Department made a demand for said transfer on the ground that the government would appoint special agents to attend to the matter.

His Majesty has issued a proclamation concerning the new laws which have been promulgated. He calls attention to the fact that there has been doubt in the minds of magistrates as to whether certain ancient laws were repealed, and it has therefore been found difficult to enforce the existing laws. The new laws are made up of the best of the ancient laws conformed to modern foreign regulations, to be published throughout the country and observed forever.

The Sunju prefect has been summarily dismissed for squeezing money from citizens of his district.

The governor of South Pyeng An province reports that the people are greatly disturbed, and he asks that a good magistrate be sent there at once.

Cutting of trees on South mountain by the Japanese has been complained of, and the authorities have been asked to put a stop to it.

The Minister of the Law Department memorialized His Majesty, stating that law should mean justice and asking permission to appoint special agents from his department to investigate all the courts of Justice and Judges and examine the evidence and judgments carefully to see that no wrong is done. His Majesty acquiesced, and six agents have been appointed.

The Japanese gendarmes have been asked for permission to form another political organization by several prominent Koreans.

Human bones are said to have been found scattered along the road-side near the railway outside of South Gate, probably having been disinterred when the many graves were removed by railway workmen. The Home Department has ordered policemen to see that the bones are properly interred.

The former secretary to the Korean Legation in Russia returned to Seoul this month.

The Minister of War, Kwan Choong-hyen, has repeatedly sent in his resignation because of the reduction in the allowance for military expenditure. He has now been dismissed and Yi Yong Ik, formerly governor of North Kyeng-san province, has been appointed Minister of War.

The magistrate of Si Heung district complains that the conduct of Japanese workmen on the railroad is such that the Koreans are all leaving the district. A reply has been returned that of course such conduct will cease on completion of the railway.

The kamni of Chemulpo reports the request of the Japanese authorities for the removal of all the inhabitants from Walmi Island, and the people are in an uproar.

The chief of Police has proposed to the Home Department to employ a force of ten men in each ward at ten Yen per month to keep the streets and gutters free from filth. As there are no funds for the purpose he proposes to tax each jinrikisha one dollar per month, and after defraying the expenses of the department he will pay any remaining money into the Royal Treasury.

In the Chunju district the magistrate has been requested to furnish one hundred and thirty men daily for work on the Japanese railway with a daily wage of seventy cents. It is very difficult to take the men from their fields during the sowing and cultivating season, and if the fields are neglected the crops will be a failure. The magistrate asks the government what he shall do.

Special thanks have been sent in an official communication to the Japanese Minister for exceptional greetings to the Korean Envoy to Japan, such as providing a Royal ship for his journey and one of the Royal palaces for his hotel.

The governor of Pusan reports that since the action of the Home Minister in relation to the police force many police inspectors are resigning, and he asks that new police regulations be promulgated as speedily as possible.

A complaint is made to the Foreign Office by the Chinese Minister that many Koreans are crossing the border into China and causing disturbances. He asks that this be stopped at once.

The Finance Department has authorized the governor of North Chulla province to collect taxes by accepting copper cash.

All the governors of the thirteen provinces have been cautioned by the Finance Department to collect the taxes with great care.

In a cabinet meeting the Ex-minister of communications, Gen. Min Sang Ho, is said to have created a sensation by declaring the agreement between the Korean and Japanese governments on postal matters to be sheer nonsense, and the other Ministers are said to have remained silent after his denunciation.

By a special Edict the Minister of the Royal Household, Min Yeng Chul, the General of Royal Officers Yi Koun taik, and the Minister of the War Department, Yi Yong-ik have been decorated with the First Degree of Pol Kevai. Yi To-Chai, Minister of the Home Department, resigned and Yi Chi-yong, Minister of the Law Department, has been appointed to take his place, and Yi Keun-ho, governor of Kyeng-kea province has been made Minister of Law.