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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 16TH OCTOBER, 1886.
ARTICLE II,
The subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties shall be permitted reciprocally in the territories of the other, to an equal degree with the nationals, to enter all harbours and rivers with their vessels and cargoes, to travel, to sojourn, and to establish themselves, to carry on wholesale or retail trade and industry, to hire or to possess houses, warehouses, and shops, to send goods or specie by sea or land, as well as to receive consignments, whether from the country where they reside or from abroad, on payment of those taxes only as are or shall be payable by nationals; they may buy and sell with or without the agency of a middleman chosen by them, and fix the price of goods, effects, wares, or other articles, whether imported or native, and whether the same are intended for the home market or for exportation; and so long as they obey existing laws and Ordinances they may transact their business affairs, present customs declarations, acting themselves or being represented by another according as they find it suitable, and only against such charges as have been agreed to with the latter.
ARTICLE III.
The subjects of the High Contracting Parties shall be empowered in the territories of the others to the same extent as the nationals, to acquire and possess any kind of movable or immovable property, and to dispose of it by sale, exchange, donation, testament, or any other way, as well as to acquire inheritances by testament or in accordance with the laws. And in none of the said cases shall they be subjected to different or higher taxes or imposts than the nationals.
They shall reciprocally enjoy the free exercise of their religion, in accordance with the laws or the country.
They shall have free access to the Tribunals for the purpose of prosecuting their actions and of protecting their rights, and, with this object, they shall enjoy all the rights and exemptions of the nationals, and be empowered, like them, to employ in any legal case barristers, attorneys, or solicitors, properly admitted according to the law of the land.
ARTICLE IV.
Joint-Stock Companies and such-like commercial, industrial, or financial Societies which arte established in the territories of one of the High Contracting Parties, conformably to the laws there in force, shall enjoy the same rights in the territory of the other as are extended to the Companies of the same description of the most favoured nation.
ARTICLE V.
Merchants and manufacturers who are able to prove in the usual international way that in thẹ country of their domicile they have been duly recognized as such shall in this respect in the territories of the other party pay no dues or taxes if they, with or without samples, but without taking about with them any goods, travel themselves through the country, or send commercial travellers or agents in the interests of their commercial or industrial business for the purpose of making purchases or of obtaining orders.
It is, however, to be understood that the above arrangement is not to contravene the laws and Ordinances on hawking which, in each of the two countries, apply to all foreigners.
Articles liable to customs duty, which are introduced as samples by merchants, manufacturers, and commercial travellers, shall mutually be relieved from duties, on the understanding that these articles be re-exported unsold within a period settled beforehand, with the proviso that the Custom- house formalities for the re-exportation or for the re-warehousing of the goods be complied with. These formalities shall be established by common understanding between the two Governments.
No impediment shall be placed on the movements of travellers, and the administrative formalities; with reference to travellers' papers required on entering the territories of the High Contracting Parties, as well as on leaving the same, shall be limited to what the public safety absolutely requires.
ARTICLE VI.
The subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties shall, in the territories of the other, be free from every sort of compulsory service, whether official, judicial, administrative, or municipal, from all personal service in the army, navy, in the territorial or naval reserves, or in the national militia, from all burdens, forced loans, military requisitions, and impositions, of whatever kind they may be, which are imposed in case of war or in consequence of other extraordinary circumstances, except as regards the obligation of billeting troops and furnishing supplies for the army in the same degree as nationals.o Their property shall not be sequestrated, and their ships, cargoes, goods, effects, shall not be embargoed for any public purpose without the interested parties having previously fixed the amount of compen sation upon just and equitable grounds.
ARTICLE VII.
As regards marks applied to merchandize or to the packages fthe same, as regards manufacturers' and trade marks, and as regards designs, models, and patents for invention, the subjects of one of the High Contracting Powers shall enjoy within the territory of the othe the same protection as is enjoyed by nationals.
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