EMIGRATION CONVENTION BETWEEN SPAIN AND CHINA.
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chosen by the Consul of Spain, will go on board of the ships ready for departure in order to ascertain that the passengers embarked leave by their own free will and accord.
Those passengers who in the moment of departure are found not carrying the necessary documents are to be landed at once. In any case, on the arrival of a ship at her destination, when passengers are found having no document, the Spanish Authorities can, in accord with the Consuls of China, adopt such measures as they see fit for the occasion.
In order that the visit of the delegates above-mentioned can take place and have an effective result, the captain or shipowner will be bound to declare in advance the hour of the departure of the ship.
If the captain on a ship which carries emigrants does not submit to this condition, and if he declares his intention of leaving previously to the visit of the delegates, the Consul of Spain, after an official communication has been made to him to this effect, must refuse to him delivery of the ship's papers, and the ship will be detained and treated according to the laws of her country, until all the formalities prescribed by the present convention have been duly complied with.
Art. VI. The Government of His Majesty the Emperor of China will nominate a Consul-General in Havana, and will also have the right to nominate Consular Agents in all the towns where the Spanish Government admits those of other nations.
It is well understood that these nominations will be made according to the conditions agreed upon by common accord between the high contracting parties.
The Spanish Government will grant to the Chinese Consuls the same preroga, tives as those which the Consuls of other nations residing in Cuba enjoy.
The local authorities in Cuba will accord to the Consul-General as well as to the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of China all the facilities connected with the exercise of their functions for placing them in communication with their nationals and for giving them the means of affording protection to those who are entitled to it.
Art. VII.-Chinese subjects can leave the island of Cuba whenever they wish, provided that they are not under judicial pursuance.
Moreover, in order to facilitate the free circulation and settlement of the Chinese subjects in Cuba, and in order that they may enjoy the rights which are given to them by Art. III. of the present convention, the Spanish Government, together with the Chinese Representative in Madrid, or the Authorities in Havana, together with the Consul-General of China, will establish regulations, which, without deviating from the existing laws of the public good order and peace or from those which might be established in future, will grant to the Chinese subjects treatment equal to that of foreigners of the same category and subjects of the most favoured power.
The Spanish Authorities have besides to deliver to the Chinese subjects a pass of circulation similar to those with which other foreigners are furnished.
Art. VIII.-Chinese subjects will have the faculty to appeal to the Spanish tribunals in order to defend or pursue their rights; they will in this respect enjoy the same rights and privileges as the subjects of the most favoured nation.
Chinese subjects will have the faculty to be accompanied to the tribunals by lawyers and interpreters, be they Spaniards or foreigners, who, according to the Spanish law, are qualified to be present at the sitting of the tribunals and who could be designated by the Chinese Consuls residing on the island of Cuba.
The complaints which Chinese subjects actually residing on the island of Cuba have to forward in regard to ill-treatment, which they pretend to have suffered previously to the exchange of the ratifications of the present convention, will be examined by the Spanish tribunals and judged equitably in the same manner as it is the practice to do in regard to the subjects of the most favoured nation.
Art. IX.--The Consul-General of China in Havana and the competent authoritie on the island of Cuba will establish, as speedily as possible and in common accord, the regulations which the Chinese emigrants actually residing in Cuba, and those who may
hereafter arrive, ought to observe in order to obtain a certificate stating their entry in the register kept by the Chinese Consuls. The Chinese Consuls will