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Manchurian Company, unlike the Chinese Eastern Railway Company in their settlements, do not insist on any formal promise from foreign lessees to submit themselves to the settlement Regulations. Their consent is assumed from the fact of the acceptance of the lease, and any breach of the company's regulations is punishable by expulsion from the settlement, together with, I presume, though it is not stated in the agreement under consideration, a forfeiture of the remainder of the lease.
With regard to the regulations concerning rates and fees attached to the agree- ment, articles Nos. 3 and 8 seem to me very objectionable.
Under article 3 it would appear that the district agent has the right to levy house tax on individuals, not on the value of their property held in the settlement, but according to their capacity to pay, a principle which appears to me an extension of even the wildest socialistic theories.
The right of official inspection of premises and books given under article 8 is also certain to give rise to friction if rigidly insisted upon.
In fact the regulations, taken as a whole, seem to me to be open to almost identically the same objections in theory and practice as the municipal scheme promulgated at Harbin by the Chinese Eastern Railway Company in the winter of 1907-8.
I do not, however, think it at all probable that, pending discussion of the ultimate status of the South Manchurian Railway settlements, the railway officials will take any arbitrary action against the subjects of treaty Powers whom they have allowed to reside or sojourn in the railway territory. During the past year, although two or three complaints against the action of subordinate officials have reached me, the chief officers of the company have undoubtedly shown not only brilliant capacity in railroad management, but also an obvious desire to treat all persons having dealings with them, irrespective of their nationality, with fairness and consideration.
I have, &c.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
ROBERT WILLIS.
Agreement governing Residents, Tenants, &c., in the South Manchurian Railway Company's Railway Area.
IN order to enable the South Manchurian Railway Company to further the general welfare and common interests of all the residents, tenants, &c., in the company's railway area, all persons who may reside or sojourn in the said area, rent land or buildings therein, shall be considered to have entered into the present agreement, and shall undertake to strictly observe the following stipulations, víz. :---
1. Public interests shall be respected, and the company's laws and regulations adhered to.
2. Whilst on the one hand the benefits of all public works and institutions shall be shared in common, on the other hand the expenses requisite for their promotion and maintenance shall also be borne in common in the form of rates to be collected in accordance with the company's regulations.
3. Whoever has infringed this agreement or the company's laws and regulations, or has been found guilty of acts inimical to the public interests, shall be made to leave the settlement, if necessary, by police force.
4. All people, irrespective of nationality, shall be treated on an equal footing in the railway area, and shall observe this agreement in a spirit of mutual co-operation.
Regulations concerning Rates and Fees.
Article 1. Rates are classified into-
(a.) House rate, &c. ;
(b.) Sundry rates.
Art. 2. The grades and ratios that form the basis of assessment together with their alterations shall be determined by the district agent, subject to the President's approval.
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Art. 3. The house rate shall be assessed on such resident, tenant, &c., in the taxable district, according to the grade and ratios as assigned to him by taking into consideration his capacity for bearing burdens.
Art. 4. The sundry rates shall be assessed on singers, dancers, restaurant maids, buffoons, singing masters, musicians, street singers, carriages, jinrickshas, bicycles, carts, boats, junks, places of public amusement, slaughter-houses, &c.
For the rates on singers and dancers, restaurant maids and buffoons, their keepers, if any, shall be responsible.
Art. 5. On persons sojourning in the railway longer than three months the rates shall be assessed dating from the time of their arrival.
Art. 6. The rates are collectable by the year, the month, or the day, at the discretion of the district agent.
(1.) Annual rates shall be collected for each year in four instalments, each instal- ment being payable respectively on the 1st April, the 1st July, the 1st October, and the 1st January.
From any one becoming liable to assessment in the intervening period the rates shall be collected in monthly instalments dating from the first day of the month in which the liability was created.
(2.) Monthly rates: Where the liability is created before the 15th inclusive the rates shall be collected for a full mouth, and if after the 15th inclusive, for half a-month.
(3.) The rates may in some cases be assessed by the day.
Should the liability to assessment be cancelled, or otherwise affected in the intervening period, the rates already paid shall not be remitted, nor shall the amount as assessed be altered.
Art. 7. The creation of a new rate or a new ration for assessment is subject to the President's approval.
Art. 8. The officials of the district agency may, if deemed necessary, make a personal inspection of any place of business, or the books and objects belonging thereto.
Art. 9. The district agent may, with the President's approval, grant exemption from, or a reduction of, the rates in some exceptional cases.
Art. 10. Anyone who rents land or buildings, or some buildings in the railway area, but does not reside therein, shall appoint an agent for the payment of the rates, &c., and shall report his name and address to the district agent.
Art. 11. The rates and fees collectable on common property or joint enterprise shall be jointly borne by all the parties concerned.
Art. 12. All fees shall be fixed, and their alterations made by the district agent, subject to the President's approval.
Art. 13. In case the rates or fees are not paid within the fixed period, the district agent may enforce their payment in accordance with the company's regulations.
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