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Art. 2. Those wishing for the allowance of rebates as provided in the preceding Article shall present an application in the, following form:-
APPLICATION FOR REBATES.
351
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[January 6.]
SECTION 1.
Date.
South Manchurian Railway Company.
Gentlemen, Desirous of being allowed yearly rebates according to the Regulations, the Undersigned make a formal application with the following particulars :-
Nature of business.
Yearly estimate of the total freight charges.
Nationality,
Address.
Commercial name of the applicants.
Yours faithfully,
(Signature).
Art. 3. On the receipt of the foregoing application, Chief of the Traffic Depart- ment will award his approval on the following conditions :---
(1.) The approval hereby awarded shall be withdrawn whenever the applicants are found to have acted to the prejudice of the traffic interests of the Company.
(2.) The period of time to be covered by the application shall not be extended, even if, due to unexpected disasters of some nature or another, shipments of goods may have to be interrupted.
Art. 4. The computation of freight charges referred to in Article 1 shall date from the 1st October and end on the 30th September of the following year. The rebates shall be paid on the elapse of six months after the end of the term.
Art. 5. In case the person or firm which has obtained the privilege of the allowance of rebates wishes to intrust an agent or agents with the shipment of goods, the name and address of the said agent or agents shall be reported in writing to the Traffic Department of the Company
Art. 6. The way-bills for goods that fall under the provisions of the present- Regulations shall have (rebates approved) entered in the column of (Remarks)."
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Sir,
No. 1.
Foreign Office to Board of Trade.
Foreign Office, January 6, 1908. WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 14th Novembor, 1907, I am directed by Secretary Sir Edward Grey to transmit to you herewith, to be laid before the Board of Trade, a copy of a despatch which has been received from His Majesty's Minister at Peking,* inclosing a translation of draft Mining Regulations issued by the Chinese Government.
It will be seen that these Regulations to some extent affect the Treaty right of foreigners. For instance, foreigners are permitted to mine only in partnership with Chinese (p. 7), and that their rights are very circumscribed; they are to submit to Chinese jurisdiction (p. 30), and must bind themselves to observe these and any supplementary Regulations (p. 33); if in a criminal action a decision is given by à foreign Consul, which is not considered satisfactory by the Chinese authorities, no subject of that nation may in future apply for leave to mine in the province where the incident took place, and that in this event there is to be no right of making diplomatic representations (p. 35).
In view of the unsatisfactory nature of these Regulations, Sir E. Grey proposes to instruct Sir J. Jordan to enter a strong protest, and to call attention to the entire failure of the Chinese Government to act up to their engagements under Article IX of the Mackay Treaty of 1902, by which satisfactory Regulations were to have been established within a year of the signature of the Treaty, that is, by the 5th September, 1903, of such a character that they would not impede the attraction of foreign capital or place foreign capitalists at a greater disadvantage than under generally accepted foreign Regulations.
Meanwhile Sir E. Grey will be obliged if the Board will furnish him with their observations on the whole of the Regulations, emphasizing any points which they consider should be brought more especially to the notice of the Chinese Government.
In this connection, I am to recall to your attention the Mining Regulations drafted in 1902 by Mr. Cockburn (together with that officer's accompanying Memo- randum), which in your letter of the 15th September, 1902, were stated to be "as a whole excellently adopted for their purpose," and regarding which the China Association stated that they were struck by the "marked ability shown in drafting them, with their completeness and their suitability to the circumstances of the country."
Sir E. Grey would also be obliged if the Board would furnish him with a statement of any reasons which may occur to the Board why it would be impossible to expect that British capital should, under the Regulations in their present form, be invested in mining enterprise in China, as contemplated by Article IX of the Mackay Treaty.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
Sir J. Jordan, No. 587, November 13, 1907.
F. A. CAMPBELL.
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