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COMMERCIAL TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND ANNAM.
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No European nor Frenchman shall be employed in the Customs at the open ports, before the full payment of the Spanish indemnity, without the consent of the Consul for France or of the French Resident at the Court of Hué
This payment terminated, if the Annamite Government thinks that its Customs officers can dispense with the assistance of French functionaries, the two Governments shall consider such modifications as this determination shall render necessary.
Art. VII. The Customs of the open ports shall be directed by an Annamite functionary resident at Ninh-hai; a French functionary placed at the disposal of the Annamite Government, and bearing the title of "Chief of the European service," shall reside at the same port in order to arrange with him all matters of detail having for their end the good organisation of the service.
All Europeans employed in the Customs service shall hold office directly from the Chief of the European service. He shall have the right to correspond on the affairs of Customs and of commerce with the French Consul and the French Resident at Huć.
The Chief of the European service and the Chief of the Annamite service shall agree upon the reports to be addressed to the Minister of Finance. In case of dissent each of them may directly address this bigh functionary.
Art. VIII. The rank of the personnel placed at the service of His Majesty, their official relations with the authorities of the country, as well as their emoluments, shall be arranged by common consent between the two Governments.
Art. IX. The accounts of the Customs shall be kept in duplicate, in the offices of the European service and in the financial establishments designed by the Annamite Government for that purpose.
Receipts for the dues shall bear the signature of the French functionary and that of the Annamite functionary. The same formality shall be observed when money shall be drawn from the Customs treasury to be paid to that of the state.
The accounts and registers shall be compared every month.
Art. X.-There shall be charged to the product of light and anchorage dues, and in case of their insufficiency to the product of the Customs dues, always provided the charge does not exceed one-half of the revenue derived from the latter, the follow- ing, in the order stated:-
1.-The pay of the Europeans employed in the Customs at the open ports of Annam; also that of the Annamite or other employès of the same service.
2.-The construction and maintenance of the Customs houses.
3. The construction and maintenance of light-houses, light ships, and buoys. 4.-The works of sounding and dredging.
Lastly, all the recognised necessary expenses for facilitating and promoting the development of commercial enterprise.
Art. XI. The tariff of duties established by the present convention shall be in force for ten years from the date of the exchange of the ratifications; during this period it shall be modified only by the common consent of the High Contracting Parties and within one year at least from the time that the proposition shall have been made by one of them.
Art. XII.—All disputes between foreigners and the Customs officers as to the application of the Customs regulations shall be decided by the French Consul and an Annamite magistrate.
Art. XIII.—A French or foreign vessel arriving in the waters of one of the ports open to foreign trade shall have the right of engaging such pilot as is required to take the vessel immediately into port, and likewise a ship having paid all legal charges and being ready to leave shall not be refused pilots to enable the ship to leave without delay.
Any individual who may wish to exercise the profession of pilot for foreign vessels shall, on the presentation of three certificates from shipmasters, be commissioned by the French Consul and Captain of the Port.
The remuneration to be paid to the pilots shall be equitably regulated at each port by the Consul or Consular Agent and the Captain of the Port according to the distance and difficulties of the navigation.