r with a grant of official rank
entitling him to wear the appropriate "button." The right is much
sought after, and indeed there are very few Chinamen of any standing
that are not thus decorated, for not only does the button confer
social standing, but it gives the wearer certain very substantial
advantages in case he should come into contact with the law courts.
The minimum price for the lowest grade is taels 120 (L18), and more of
course for higher grades. The proceeds of these sales go directly to
the Peking government, and do not as a rule figure in the provincial
returns. The total of the miscellaneous items accruing for the benefit
of the government is estimated at taels 5,500,000.

_Expenditure._--In regard to expenditure a distinction has to be drawn
between that portion of the revenue which is controlled by the central
government, and that controlled by the several provincial authorities.
As the provinces collect the revenue, and as the authorities there are
held responsible for the peace, order and good government of their
respective territories, it follows that the necessary expenses of the
provinces form a sort of first charge on the revenue. (As the tables
given show, the provinces spend the greater part of the revenue
collected.) The board of revenue at Peking, which is charged with a
general supervision of finance matters all over the empire, makes up
at the end of the year a general estimate of the funds that will be
required for imperial purposes during the ensuing year, and apportions
the amount among the several provinces and the several collectorates
in each province. The estimate is submitted to the emperor, and, when
sanctioned, instructions are sent to all the viceroys and governors in
that sense, who, in turn, pass them on to their subordinate officers.
In ordinary times these demands do not materially vary from year to
year, and long practice has created a sort of equilibrium between
imperial and provincial demands. The remittances to the capital are,
as a rule, forwarded with reasonable regularity, mostly in the form of
hard cash. There is, however, a constant pull going on between Peking
and the provinces--the former always asking for more, the latter
resisting and pleading impecuniosity, yet generally able to find the
amounts required. The expenses which the central government has to
meet are:--(1) Imperial household; (2) pa