T
B
It is further agreed that England and China shall in consultation draw up a Commercial Code.*
ARTICLE X.
On the one part China agrees to issue licences to pilots.
On the other part England agrees to punish British subjects piloting, or who employ persons to pilot, not having licences.
It is further agreed that effect shall be given to the stipulation of the Treaty of Tien-tsin that, "for the due restraint of crews of ships, regulations will be drawn up by the Consuls and the local authorities."†
ARTICLE XI.
It is agreed that drawbacks issued to foreign goods, re-exported by British merchants to foreign countries within three months from the date of importation, shall be convertible (at the Haikuan bank) into cash.
On the other part England agrees that foreign goods, re-exported by British merchants to foreign countries after the expiration of three years from the date of importation, shall not be entitled to drawback of import duty.‡
ARTICLE XII.
It is agreed that opium shall pay import duty at an increased rate. On the other part China agrees -
1. That British subjects holding passports may use their own vessels, resembling Chinese craft, and propelled by oars or sails, when visiting non-Treaty ports or places in the interior.
2. That bonded warehouses shall be established for British subjects at such Treaty ports as may be expedient.
3. That the Superintendent of Customs at Kiukiang shall provide a tug for the use of British-owned Chinese-like boats on the Poyang, and in the vicinity of Hukow.
4. That bonds entered into by British merchants for the re-export of teas shipped from Yang-tsze ports shall as an experiment be done away with.
5. That the Imperial Commissioner in the South shall open coal mines at two or three places; and
6. That the duty on native coal, exported by British merchants from the southern ports, shall be reduced.§
ARTICLE XIII.
It is agreed that silk shall pay export duty at an increased rate.
On the other part China agrees:—
1. That Wu-ho in Anhui shall be opened to British trade.
2. That foreign grain may be re-exported and without payment of duty by British merchants.
3. That materials used by British subjects in docks for the repairs of British vessels shall be exempt from duty.
4. That the list of duty free goods for British household use and ships' stores shall be revised.
The object of this is simply to give a Treaty Clause authority to the principle of joint-investigation in Customs cases. The concluding sentence is a stipulation of great value. A Commercial Code accepted by both China and England will be very useful in itself, and it may perhaps pave the way for reforms in the judicial procedure in China generally speaking. This promise must be considered as not a little gained.
+ The object of this is to give a Treaty Clause authority to licensing pilots, and punishing those who pilot without licenses. It is to serve as a base and support for an efficient pilotage service.
This Article stipulates for what will be beneficial to both parties. On the one hand, the British merchant will receive back in cash duties paid on goods re-exported within three months, and on the other the Chinese Government will have a limit fixed beyond which it will not be held liable for refunds of duty carried to account.
§ As regards increased duty on opinm, the increase will only amount to 24 per cent, and opium can well bear it. The consumption will not be decreased a single ounce, and the tax will fall on the Chinese consumer. In exchange China will give bonded warehouses which some merchants have called for so loudly; will commence to work two or three coal mines, reducing the duty on native coal; will do away with troublesome tea-bonds; will put a tug in the Poyang Lake, and will permit British merchants to go in their own boats wherever their business calls them. Here are three concessions of a value which will be demonstrated before the next revision takes lice; more especially the last, which will work powerfully in opening China, to say nothing of the effect likely to follow the proper working of a mine.
9
5. That foreign coal and guano imported by British merchants shall be exempt from duty; and
6. That import duties shall be reduced on watches, pepper, black and white, tin plates, and timber, imported by British subjects."
ARTICLE XIV.
It is agreed that each Custom-house shall draw up rules fixing the touch of Sycee to be received in the payment of duties by the bank at each port,
It is further agreed that the various documents issued to British subjects. (transit papers, passports, &c.) shall be returnable on the expiration of one year from the date of issue.†
ARTICLE XV.
It is agreed on both parts that the Articles untouched by the present revision shall be hereby declared to be renewed and confirmed, and that the revised version shall rule in the case of such Articles as the present revision affects.‡
ARTICLE XVI.
The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratification shall be exchanged at Peking as soon as possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention, the Supplementary Regulations appended, and the Tariff affecting goods in respect of which duties have been hereby changed; and have appended thereto their seals.§
Done at Peking in quadruplicate, this 23rd day of October, in the year of our Lord 1869,
(L.S.) (L.S.)
RUTHERFORD ALCOCK. [Signatures of Chinese Plenipotentiaries.]
Supplementary Rules and Tariff.
Whereas it is expedient that Supplementary Regulations should be drawn up for the better explanation of the Articles of this Convention, the respective Plenipotentiaries do hereby agree that the appended Tariff and Rules-the latter being in ten Articles hereinunder following, shall be equally binding on the Governments and subjects of both countries with the Convention itself. In witness whereof they hereto affix their seals and signatures,
(L.S.) (L.S.)
RUTHERFORD ALCOCK. [Signatures of Chinese Plenipotentiaries.]
RULE I.
287
an unmistakeable
1. The Convention permits certain specified commodities of foreign origin, viz., Amoris specified, of cottons, linens, woollens, woollen and cotton mixtures, &c., &c., &c., to circulate foreign origin, to freely in Treaty-port provinces without further liability to inland dues or charges Treaty-port provinces
circulate freely in
after simultaneous
The increased duty on silk will be slightly over 1 per cent., and while it cannot much affect price in payment of import consumption, to assent to it procures several advantages for merchants in China. articles; guano and foreign coal are freed from duty; foreign grain may now be re-exported (hitherto forbidden),
Duties are reduced on sun try duty and transit dues. and that without any duty. Dock stores are to be admitted free of duty, and a revised list of household and ships stores, free of duty, is to be drawn up; lastly, Wu-hu is to be opened to trade. importance, if only for the reason that it makes the Province of Anhui (coloured white in the preceding map), a This last concession is of inmense Treaty port province, and this opens that province for the circulation of British manufactures, in accordance with the freedom and easy terms assented to in Article 3. but if painted red the gain will be great.
If the map must be painted blue there will be something lost,
+ Possessing no coinage (cash excepted), China causes great trouble to foreign merchants in paying duties by calling for payment in a medium which does not really exist; it is therefore of importance to get it distinctly stated at each port what relation local Sycee bears to the Customs standard, and this is the task that this Article pats on the Superintendent of Customs at each Treaty port. The work will be of difficult performance, but once done, of lasting value. On the other hand, to stop malpractices and secure the return of documents, it is agreed that transit papers shall only be valid for a year, and must be returned within thirteen months from date of issue. This will be no hardship, and will not cramp mercantile operations in any way.
The object of this Article is obvious, and needs no explanation.
8 Here a real difficulty presents itself. When are the stipulations the revision provides for to take effect ? If on ratification by England other States may not accept all, but only some of them, or rather may accept all that China concedes, but to refuse to assent to all that England consents to. merchants according to two rules, and therefore some method of procuring acceptance by all must be here d ́vised, It would not do to be dealing with [70]
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