1850.
Journal of Occurrences.
407
proclaim to the tea merchants of the different provinces, and to firms engag:d in foreign trade, for their full information, that hereafter when teas arrive at Can- ton, and when the dealers with foreigners purchase these teas, it is absolutely necessary that they each conform to the following Regulations. Let there be no opposition Special proclamation.
REGULATIONS. 1. Every merchant on bringing his teas (to Canton) must store them in the government warehouses, and these having been clearly exam- ined, and their marks and number of chests ascertained at the official ware- houses, the proprietors of the warehouse must immediately repair to the Consoo of the old hong-merchants, and distinctly and minutely report the same. Hav- ing settled for the sale, on the day of weighing them, they must immediately report to what dealers in foreign trade they are sold, and separately report the marks, number of packages, and weight of the teas disposed of. If any of the said tea merchants, having stored teas in the government warehouses, should remove them to another place, this also must be reported in order to clear investigation and management thereof.
2. As to the discount for difference of weight and value of moneys employed in transactions between the tea warehouses and the dealers in foreign goods, of late years every hundred taels by the tea scales has been discounted at a difference of five taels and odd by the government scales. Now it has been decided, after deliberation, that in future, there shall be universal conformity to the precedent of the old co-hong, that the discount between tea scales and those of the new treasury scales, shall be two tacls per hundred taels (i. e. 100 taels by tea money weight will be reckoned 98 taels new treasury standard), and only 20 taels in the hundred can consist of broken (or “chopped") money, and should there be no broken money, then there will be a further deduction, but not exceeding one tael (for each hundred taels). The tea merchants obtaining this compensatory discount in their favor, will possess a very great advantage in [receiving] their tea money, and it is right according to this regula- tion to deduct two mace for every pecul of tea, to compensate the warehouse proprietor, and by him to be delivered to the Consoo of the old hong-inerchants, and by them delivered over to the government treasury.
3. Warehouses for black and green teas (from other provinces), and for the Tsingyuen teas (of Canton), have been opened for many years, incurring the cost of lodging the merchants, storing teas, rent of warehouses, and various items of porterage and other requisite expenses, and in future, according to the rule hitherto existing, black teas will pay a commission of five mace per pecul, and green and native Tsingyuen teas will pay a commission according to the old regulations respecting them. (?)
4. If a tea merchant rent a place of residence for himself and for storing his teas, or if the hong-merchants manage for their own chops (i. e. send their partners or agents to the tea country, and purchase their teas), each must accord- ingly repair to the official warehouses and report the number of chests, and through the official warehouses communicate the same to the Consoo of the old hong-merchants. On selling the teas, the said government warehouses, shall deduct a comunission of three mace (per pecul), but if said tea merchant employs another warehouse to sell his teas for him, then the said superintending official warehouse shall receive a commission of only five candareens, and there must be no dispute upon the point. The dealer in foreign trade also must have the evidence of the official warehouse certificate (that the teas have been deposited in government warehouses), before he will be allowed to purchase them, and if he do not possess such certificate he will be considered as sinuggling the teas. 5. When one licensed warehouse shall sell the teas of another of the saine class, it is provided clear, that for black teas, it shall receive a commission of five candareens per pecul to recompense it for its trouble, and the remaining four mace five candareens shall revert to the original warehouse to compensate its trouble. In respect to green and native Tsingyuen teas, there will be a division between the two parties, according to the respective commission on each, and they will be managed in the same manner as black teas. As to the deduction of two mace per pecul of teas, to make up the deficiency in the public items, it must be done according to the original petition of the old hong-merchants, viz, thự