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concerned shall notify the Superintendent of Customs in order that he may take whatever action may appear necessary.
Any person, however, proceeding into the interior shall, in accordance with the Treaties, be deemed to be travelling there only, and shall not be permitted to lease land or build houses,1
2. All graves in the Settlement shall be removed, to begin with, by the persons concerned themselves, and nobody shall subsequently be allowed to dig a grave in the Settlement,
Should it be necessary in course of time for foreigners to have a cemetery, the Board shall select a suitable spot in the vicinity of the Settlement where the former can bury their dead.
Though the foregoing are Provisional Regulations, all persons applying to rent land in the Settlement shall be required to give a written undertaking to abide by them before a lease will be granted. Any details and matters not touched upon can be dealt with in supplementary Regulations or amendments.
Sir,
Inclosure 6 in No. 1.
Consul King to Nanning Tootai.
Wuchow, January 31, 1907 (Kuang Hsü, 32nd 12th month, 18th day).
year,
I HAVE the honour to inform you that I am in receipt of a communication from Mr. Arthur, the Wuchow Agent of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co., to the effect that, Nanning having been made a port open to international trade and a custom- house established there, Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co. propose to open a branch business at Nanning, and to appoint the Chi Hsing (Kat Hing) firm as agents for the purpose of conducting all the business transactions of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co., and looking after their export and import trade.
In addition to addressing this letter to you, I have also notified the Commissioner of Customs of the foregoing.
I have, &c.
In addition to addressing this reply to you, I have written to the Commissioner of Customs on the subject.
Sir,
I have, &c. (Signed)
TING.
Inclosure 8 in No. 1.
Consul King to Nanning Taotai.
Wuchow, March 13, 1907 (Kuang Hsü 33rd year, 1st month, 29th day).
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your reply, to the effect that the port (Settlement) of Nanning is situated at the Hsia Kuo Street; that the Chi Hsing (Kut Hing) firm has hitherto been established in the Sha Street, which is "nei ti" or interior land; that, if Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co. wish to open a branch office, they should be directed to do so within the port (Settlement); and that the Chi Hsing firm, therefore, can only be regarded as their temporary agents, for otherwise Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co., by their branch office, would be seriously contravening the Port (Settlement) Regulations.
In reply, I would observe that your Government having, of its own accord, opened Nanning to international trade, fixed Regulations would naturally be drawn up, and in view of the fact that Mr. Hung Hsing Ch'uan, the manager of Messrs. Edwards and Co., of Wuchow, is also shortly proceeding to Nanning for the purpose of opening an agency of the firm there, I should be obliged if you would kindly send me, for my information, a copy of the said Regulations at your earliest convenience, so that I can instruct foreign firms, where fit, to act in accordance therewith.
I have, &c. (Signed) H. KING.
(Translation.) Sir,
Inclosure 7 in No. 1.
Nanning Taotai to Consul King.
(Signed)
H. KING.
Nanning, Kuang Hsü, 33rd year, 1st month, 7th day (February 19, 1907).
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, informing me that Mr. Arthur, the representative of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co., proposes to open a branch office at Nanning, and to appoint the Chi Hsing (Kut Hing) firm as agents for the purpose of conducting all the business transactions of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co., and looking after their export and import trade.
In reply, I beg to point out that Nanning is a port self-opened to international trade, and both Chinese and foreign merchants may establish themselves there in trade, it being, however, provided by the Regulations that the land outside the limits of the port (Settlement) shall be considered, as heretofore, "nei ti," or interior land.
While, therefore, there would be no objection, ordinarily speaking, to Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co. appointing the Chi Hsing (Kut Hing) firm as their agents at Nanning for the purposes mentioned above, they cannot in this case do so, inasmuch as the open port (Settlement) is situated at the Hsia Kuo Street, and the Chi Ilsing (Kut Hing) firm have hitherto been established in the Sha Street, and consequently not within the area opened to trade. If Messrs, Jardine, Matheson, and Co. wish to open a branch office, they should be directed to do so within the port (Settlement) limits, and the Chi Hsing (Kut Hing) firm can only be regarded as their temporary agents, for otherwise Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co., by their branch office, would be seriously contravening the Port (Settlement) Regulations.
Inclosure 9 in No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Prince Ching. Your Highness,
Peking, June 8, 1907. ON the 24th December of last year your Highness notified me that the necessary works for the commercial port of Nanning were almost completed, and that the Customs would be opened there on the 1st January, 1907.
Since then I have received from His Majesty's Consul at Wachow the provisional Regulations for the interport traffic between Wuchow and Nanning. A perusal of these Regulations, which were drawn up and issued without prior consultation with His Majesty's Consul at Wuchow, shows that they are nevertheless intended to be binding upon British subjects and vessels owned or chartered by them. Regulation 20, which reads, "With the exception of goods which have paid transit dues, all native produce, on application for export, has to produce a Tung Shui receipt," appears to indicate also that the commercial mart on the riverside is only open to foreign trade, and that the city is still to be considered as a place in the interior.
The "Regulations for the Open Port of Nanning" make this intention abundantly clear, the boundaries of the area opened to international trade being defined in Section 2, Article 1, and the condition being laid down that everything beyond these boundaries is "nei ti," the interior.
These Regulations are based on those issued at Chinan-fu. In his despatch of the 23rd March, 1905, respecting the Chinan-fu Regulations, Sir Ernest Satow expressed the view that they were not likely to produce successful results or to attract foreign firms to open business premises in that place.
More than two years have clapsed, and the forecast has proved correct. No development whatever has occurred at Chinan-fu.
Nanning is now opened by China herself, after eight years' delay, under similar Regulations. It might be thought that the intention of the Chinese Government, while declaring such places open to trade, was in fact merely to obstruct commercial relations with friendly countries.
I should be reluctant to believe that this is the case, but can hardly come to any other conclusion unless the provincial authorities will now agree to modify these
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