27
Tientsin and the Joint Investigation Rules of 1868.
unnecessary to cover all the old ground in the present
despatch since the position is fully discussed in my
despatch to Shanghai above referred to, and in the
correspondence enclosed therein.
It is
This
3. The following is a brief summary of the facts
leading up to the present position in regard to this question
The Chinese Maritime Customs have for many years been in the
habit of enforcing fines for smuggling on British and other foreign ships by means of the annual guarantee bond and threats of withdrawing the extra-Treaty privileges accorded as a matter of routine practice to foreign shipping. procedure for inflicting fines by executive action has no
legal Treaty basis, since, apart from the confiscation of contraband goods, cases of smuggling (false manifests) by British ships involving fines should strictly speaking in our own view be adjudicated in the British Consular Courts, or
jointly by the Consular and Customs Authorities under the
Joint Investigation Rules of 1868. These rules have, however seldom been resorted to in practice and the present procedure (Customs fines) has been acquiesced in for many years as meeting the needs of the case from a practical point of view. The position was thus generally accepted all round until early in 1931, to meet the increased smuggling arising from the raised import tariff, the Customs Authorities issued new regulations one article of which provided for fines 1,000 taels in the event of unmanifested cargo being found on board, the Treaty of Tientsin providing in similar circum-
stances for fines of 500 taels. These regulations were reported in my despatch No.680 of 6th May, 1931, on which it was ruled (see Mr. Henderson's despatch No.742 of 31st August, 1931) that:-
"it