Your Excellency,
Inclosure in No. 1.
Prince Ch'ing to Sir E. Satow.
Peking, June 9, 1904
IN Article 11 of the Final Protocol of 1901 it is laid down that a Conservancy Board charged with the management and control of the works for straightening the Whangpoo and the improvement of the course of that river is thereby created, that this Board shall consist of members representing the interests of the Chinese Government and those of foreigners in the shipping trade of Shanghae, and that the expenses incurred for the works and the general management of the undertakings are estimated at the annual sum of 460,000 Haikwan taels for the first twenty years, which sum is to be supplied in equal portions by the Chinese Government and the foreign interest concerned.
The object of this conservancy scheme is merely to improve the course of the Whangpoo for the benefit of commerce. Now the Chinese Government is willing to undertake the work of conserving the stream itself and to provide the whole of the necessary funds without requiring contributions from merchants of all nationalities. The proposed method of procedure is stated in the following five clauses:
1. The Chinese Government will bear the entire cost itself. A sum of 460,000 taels will be set aside yearly from the revenues of the Imperial Maritime Customs to meet the expense of dredging the Whangpoo, payment to cease on completion of the work. The taxes, which it was arranged to collect under clause 30 of Annex No. 17, will be abolished, and are not to be levied under pretext of it.
2. The works in connection with the Whangpoo will be under the management of the Shanghae Taotai and the Maritime Customs. The control of the river police, sanitary, and other matters will remain in the same hands as under the old Regulations.
3. Three months after the present scheme has been approved by the Diplomatic Body in Peking, the Chinese Government will select and appoint one or two engineers who are well versed in river conservancy to take the work in hand; but for all contracts tenders will be invited, and they will be considered and choice made from them in public.
4. Every quarter an account of the moneys issued for and expended on the works will be made up and submitted to the Shanghae Consular Body for their inspection in general meeting.
5. The Chinese Government, having undertaken to bear the entire cost of dredging the Whangpoo, Annex No. 17 cannot be quoted as a justification for collecting taxes for the purpose from owners of property on the banks of the river, or from the shipping, or on merchandise.
The five clauses quoted above are advantageous both to China and other nations. I have the honour, therefore, to request that your Excellency will be so good as to communicate the proposals to your Government for its consideration and to favour me with a reply.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
C.C.
29509 [August 1.] 433
TRECE SECTION 3. REG 22 AUG 04.
No. 1.
Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne.~(Received August 1.)
(No. 212.) My Lord,
Peking, June 14, 1904.
I HAVE received your Lordship's despatch No. 127 of the 30th April, in which you request me to report on the present state of the case for the protection of patents in China, and more especially as to whether any steps have been taken to carry into effect Article X of the new American Commercial Treaty.
In my despatch No. 205 of the 9th instant I have already touched on this question in connection with the particular case which formed the subject of the inquiry contained in your Lordship's despatch No. 95 of the 15th April.
In a despatch from Shanghae, a copy of which was transmitted to your Lordship in my despatch above referred to, His Majesty's Consul-General states that no arrangements for the registration of patents have, so far, been made at that place, and no steps have been taken to carry into effect the provisions of the United States' Commercial Treaty relating to the protection of patents.
As the result of inquiries made at the United States' Legation here, however, I am informed that they are urging the Chinese Government to fulfil the obligations imposed upon them by the Treaty.
The Chinese Government have already made a start with Provisional Trade-mark Regulations, and it is hoped that they will soon set to work on the establishment of a Patent Office.
It must be remembered that legislation on such subjects in China is an absolutely new development, and it would not be wise for British patentees to expect that it should come to fruition here any more rapidly than it would in other countries where similar conditions prevail, and where such legislation would be equally novel. The remarks contained in my despatch No. 392 of the 18th November, 1903, relative to International Agreements for the protection of trade-marks apply with equal force to the protection of patents.
[2103 a-3]
I have, &c.
(Signed)
ERNEST SATOW.