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be paid in francs and in gold, from the pro- ceeds of the payment of capital, every six months, the 1st March and 1st September of each year.
Art. 3.-The repayment of the loan is placed at twenty years and for withdrawal, after a table annexed herewith, the year is placed at 1909. The drawing will take place every year on the second Tuesday of the month of January, to finish on the second Tuesday of January, 1909. The numbers drawn will be published in four daily journals at the expense of the Belgian Syndicate.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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Art. 12. The bank in question must, every six months, have already in hand the payment to effect the six months following. It must take from the depot the necessary sams for remitting when able to the bank charged with the business of payments.
Art. 13. The bank charged with the duty of payment of interest and of capital redeemable by regular drawings or by forestalling repay- nients, receives a commission of 0.25 per cent. that is to say, 125 for £10,000. This com- mission will be paid out of the general ex- penses of the works.
In the case of a deficiency China will com
Art. 4. The numbers drawn will be repaid at par on the date of the next payment of in-plete the sum. terest. The scrip must be returned with the coupons for interest to run. If these crupons are detached, their valne/will be deducted from the par value repaid. No further interest will be paid on capital already redeemed.
Art. 14-China consents to authorise, in conformity with Article 9 of the present con- tract, as far as she possibly can, the issue of these scrip. Therefore all the scrip and coupons with interest, as well as the movement of the funds provided in the said loan are exempt from all taxation, in order to facilitate the enterprise.
Art. 5.-China cannot repay, wholly or in part, the capital borrowed before 1907; but after 1907 the repayments can be made at any moment and once that a repayment has been Art. 15-The interest on scrip which have made, the present contract is entirely nullified. not been touched at the end of five years will Art. 6.-The Belgian Syndicate will desig-be to the profit of China, likewise with scrip nate the place in Europe where they will make the payments of interest to facilitate the repay ment of scrip whereof the numbers have been drawn by lot. These payments will be made in francs.
The Belgian Syndicate will equitably desig- nate the Bankers who are charged with the pay- ment and issue of scrip.
Art. 7.-The payments of interest, and the return of the scrip are authorized by the Im- perial Government and will be made previous to all other payments.
The income of the said railway, after deduct ing working/expenses and improvements will be devoted at first to the use of the loan, the per- formance of which is mentioned in the rules of exploitation annexed herewith. This rule, elaborated after consultation between the Chin- ese General Company and the Belgian Syndi. cate, has the same force as the present contract and cannot be changed or modified before the total repayment of the loan.
Art. 8.Upon the commencement of the said railway, the net results, less the expenses, are to be remitted by the General Company to the Belgian Syndicate, in order that they may be deposited in the Central Bank of Brussels or the one designated by the latter. The bank must immediately convert this deposit into gold to the advantage and profit of the General Company, sufficient to pay interest and capital for the following six months in such manner that each payment is to be taken three months in advance.
The bank which receives the deposit must make the production of interest to the profit of the General Company. The sum destined for payments cannot be withdrawn from the deposit before twenty days before the date of payment. Art. 9.-The bank which receives the deposit of sums accruing from the loan can take from this fleposit, during the period of construction of the line, the necessary sums for effecting the payment of the half-yearly interest, without the necessity of a special authorization to this effect.
Art. 10.-The General Company, in order to show its solvency and good faith, consent to give to the loan, under the form of a chief guarantee, the railway line from Lu-kou-chiao to Hankow with the rolling stock and lines of improvement.
The Belgian Syndicate engage to accept, in the name of the capitalists, the said guarantee.
Should the said General Company be unable to fulfil its engagements relative to the payment of interest and the repayment of capital, or, if the Belgian Syndicate replaces it with another Syndicate, the capitalists can deal in an effeo tive manner with the guarantee herewith in order to protect their interests.
Art. 11-The guarantee mentioned in Art. 10 cannot destroy the effect of the conditions contained in Article 7.
In cases where remittances deposited in the bank through the intervention of the Belgian Syndicate, three mouths previous to the time of payment, is judged insufficient, China must find the means of completing them, under advice of the bank charged with the duty of these pay. ments, of which advice will be given sixty days before the date of payment.
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whose numbers have been drawn by lot of which repayment has not been demanded during a period of thirty years.
The scrip the possessors of which have died, becomes the property of their heirs in accordance with the law of the country of the deceased.
The payments of interest and of capital must be made regularly without distinction of the conditions of the country or of war and whether the holder of scrip is a friend or au enemy.
In case of scrip having been stolen, lost, or destroyed, the holder can make a declaration to the General Company who will deliver him new scrip if proof of the declaration is considered well-founded or justifiable.
Art. 16.-The Tsungli Yamen are to tele- graph to the Chinese Minister to notify the Brussels and Paris markets of the loan authorized by the Imperial Government in order that the scrip may be quoted on the said markets.
Art. 17. The present loan of 112,500,000 francs, the Belgian syndicate will immediately purchase for 39,000,000 francs, 78,000 scrip at 500 francs each. This sale-purchase has been accepted with a discount of 10 per cent. that is to say for a sum of 35,100,000 francs only.
Interest on this 39,000,000 francs will be paid to the section of depots effected in accordance with Article 18 following.
Art. 18.-The Belgian Syndicate will deposit with the Russo-Chinese Bank in Shanghai a first instalment of 8,600,000 francs of the 39,000,000 francs. The balance will be trans- mitted to a bank designated by common accord by Sheng-ta-yen and the Belgian Syndicate after which the Russo-Chinese Bank in Paris will receive the 78,000 sorip which is the first object. The other 147,000 scrip will also be deposited in the same bank.
The Russo-Chinese Bank and the other ban- kers to be finally designated at a meeting will place the moneys deposited at the disposition of the General Company. The method of pay- n'ent is stipulated in Article 20 following. The bank will pay interest on the sums deposited which will be to the profit and advantage of the General Company.
Art. 19. The General Company has already a capital of 13,000,000 taels
As the Lou-Han line must be first executed, on one side by the trunk line of Lon-kon-chao to Pao-ting-fn-145 kilometres-and on the other side by the trunk line of Hankow to Sing. yang-247 kilometres-the General Company will immediately proceed with the construction of these two trunk lines, and with the capital of 13,000,000 taels which they have at their disposition, they will furnish all the material for the construction, rolling stock, for the be- ginning of the trunk lines.
Excepting the trunk-line of Lao-kon-chiao to Pao-ting-fu, the construction of the entire Lon- Han line will be given by the General Company to the Representative of the Belgian Syndicate, who, acting for the General Company, will un- dertake the direction, supervise the construction, survey, make plans and estimates, undertake the work, order the ballast anil materials for its carrying out.
All the plans, estimates, projects, etc., must be submitted for approbation by the Superintend. ent of the General Company.
[Angust 6, 1898. Excepting purchases made in Europe, which are paid directly by draft, all the expenses of work, as the treatment and passage money of the European staff engaged by the Belgian Syndicate on account of the General Company, will be paid by the latter, in order that the Bel. gian Syndicate will have no expenses to pay and that it will devote all its efforts exclusively to forwarding the work of the railway, which must be completed throughout the entire line within three years.
Art. 20.-For the work on the Hankow- Singyang and Paotingfu to Singyang trunk lines, the Russo-Chinese Bank and the other banks to be mentioned later must pay monthly to the General Company such sums as necessary for its construction and expenses. These sums must be appraised in advance by the Belgian Syndicate by its Representative.
Deductions will be made from the first pay- ment deposited by the Belgian Syndicate for repaying the sum already disbursed for ex- penses made on the Hankow-Singyang trunk line.
The profit from the sale of scrip is destined exclusively for the construction of the railway line from Hankow to Pao-ting fu; the banks can, therefore, suspend payment if they discover that a single cent of this money has been diverted to other purposes or that the General Company refuses to further authorise the Bel- gian engineers to direct the construction thereof.
Should this construction not absorb the en- tire amount of the loan, the surplus will be returned to the General Company.
Art. 21.-The Belgian Syndicate engages to purchase, previons to the end of the year 1901, the remainder of the scrip for the sum of 73,500,000 francs of which the remittance will be made to 90 per cent. with interest to cast up. This purchase can be made in one or more in- stalments but each purchase must not be less. than the actual sum of 25,000,000 francs. These operations are made legal by the Russo- Chinese Bank in Paris, to which the General Company will give its orders whithin a period of one month after advice of the purchase has been noted.
The product of these purchases will be legal- ly deposited in a bank designated by mutual agreement. The Bank will make payments conformably with the stipulations of Article 20.
Art. 22,--The Belgian Syndicate is charged with the realization of the loau scrip; it will have to come to an understanding with the General Company before each operation of this nature as to the method of using the money raised by these scrip; that is to say, the choice of the line to be constructed with this money.
Art. 23.-Starting with the signature of the present contract, all the expenses of survey will be paid by the General Company. These surveys must be commenced on the Hankow- Sing-yang trunk line, and proceed as rapidly as are given the orders which have been decided upon previous to the purchase of the scrip stipulated in Article 21. The result of these purchases are destined for the construction of the Pao-ting-fu line to the Yellow River where these surveys are to end within a period of one year in order to be fully prepared for the com- mencement of work.
Art. 24 The scrip, of which the Belgian Syndicate has been entrusted with the sale, can be subscribed to the extent of 78,000 numbers. In this case the General Company, following the telegraphic advice of the Belgian Syndicate, can legally sell a number of scrip above 78,000 numerals, under the same conditions as those preceding; but, notwithstanding the present Article, the Belgian Syndicate is not bound. to purchase a single number of scrip above the numeral of 78,000.
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Art 25.-Excepting the material furnished by the Hanyang Ironworks, all the material necessary for the construction and exploitation of the Hankow-Pao-ting fu line will be furnished by the Belgian Syndicate, which engages to render itself worthy of confidence by respecting the clauses of the present con tract and in furnishing material of good quality at the lowest prices.
With respect to the Lon-kon-chiao-Pao. ting-fu trunk line, the work must be quickly finished; it will not be taken as the property of the Belgian Syndicate.
The material furnished by the Belgian Syndi. cate is exempted from all tax or lekin in China,