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I have accordingly the honour to request you to take such measures for the due punishment of the master of the steam-ship" Ïdenshing" as may seem advisable.
I have, &c. (Signed)
F. S. UNWIN,
Commissioner of Customs.
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Consul Brady to Messrs. Cornabe, Eckford and Co.
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not, the only other course open to me is to proceed against the master of the Lienshing" in conformity with the terms of His Majesty's Order in Council of 1904, section iii, to which I would invite your attention.
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I may explain that the reason for my fixing on the sum of 100 taels, is that that was the amount which the Commissioner himself decided would meet the gravity of the case, and I see no reason for reducing it.
Should this arrangement meet with your approval, I shall be glad to receive your draft so that I may be able to forward it to the Commissioner and acquaint him with my
action.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
HERBERT F. BRADY.
Gentlemen,
Chefoo, October 18, 1907. AS I informed you on Wednesday, I have received a despatch from His Majesty's Minister in regard to the infliction by the Customs of the fine of 100 taels on Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co's, steamer " Lienshing."
The charge which the Commissioner preferred against the vessel and for which he imposed the fine was, as you are aware, that the master had wittingly taken on board without permit and without informing the Customs, twenty cases of munitions of war in contravention of the 3rd Article of the Tariff Rules which strictly prohibits all trading in such articles. The fact that the master had done so was not at any time in dispute, but the circumstances under which the goods were shipped were such that at the time they seemed to throw the responsibility, if not wholly, at least in a great measure, on others, and for that reason I gave you what support I could in your protest to the Commissioner. It was, however, rather to the manner in which the case had been dealt with that I chiefly took exception, the Commissioner having imposed the fine under the terms of your annual guarantee, or bond, and having threatened that unless it were promptly paid all privileges would be withdrawn from the steamer.
This action appeared to me so unwarranted and so entirely opposed to the procedure laid down by Treaty and Regulation that I felt it my duty to protest against it and to report it to His Majesty's Minister. In doing so I pointed out that the sole object of the bond was to facilitate the prompt dispatch of vessels by guaranteeing to the Customs the payment of all duties on cargoes landed irrespective of whether the ship was in port or not; that for the Customs to make use of it for any other purpose, for instance to enforce fines, or to compel obedience to any order the Commissioner might choose to give, was improper, and that to allow this interpretation would he granting a power, I considered, which might easily be abused, and which would enable the ordinary procedure prescribed by Treaty to be overridden. In this view, I am glad to say, His Majesty's Minister concurred, and in the representations which he addressed to the Inspector-General, be stated that the use which Mr. Unwin bad attempted to make of the guarantee was not contemplated by the wording of the instrument and constituted a precedent for withdrawing British vessels from their national jurisdiction to which he felt obliged to take exception.
The result of the Minister's intervention has been that the Commissioner has received instructions from the Inspector-General to refund the fine to you, and to leave me to deal with the case either on such evidence as I already possess, or by holding a joint investigation.
This decision safeguards the principle that breaches of Treaty, or Customs Regu- lations, by British vessels shall be adjudicated upon by His Majesty's Consuls, while it also places beyond all doubt the interpretation which is to be given to the guarantee, and is therefore entirely satisfactory. It does not however, unfortunately, dispose of the charge against the master of the "Lienshing" for shipping contraband goods. In regard to this, as I have already said, there is no disputing the fact that he allowed the munitions of war to be taken on board his vessel, while it is equally clear from the evidence that has been produced, that he did so with full knowledge that he was doing what was wrong. The fact that you appear to have thought that the matter could be set right by reporting the irregularity to the Customs the next morning by no means exonerates him from blame, or from his liability to punishment. That being so the only question to be decided is how the case shall be dealt with. The Customs authorities who have no desire to press it unduly, have expressed their willingness to leave it in my hands, and as I understand you are also prepared to abide by any decision I may come to, without recourse being had to legal proceedings, I have come to the conclusion, after carefully considering all the circumstances, that the Minister's instructions will be carried out and justice met by your submitting to a fine of 100 taels, If you are willing to accept this settlement the matter may be considered at an end, if
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Messrs. Cornabe, Eckford and Co. to Consul Brady.
Dear Sir,
Chefoo, October 21, 1907, WE are in receipt of your letter of the 18th instant, and now beg on behalf of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson and Co. (Limited), as well as on our own behalf, to express our thanks for the support you have given us in connection with the steam-ship
Lienshing" case.
!
We recognize that your action in the matter has resulted in the obtaining of a clear definition of the purpose and scope of the annual guarantee, a definition which will be of much value to the shipping community here and elsewhere.
We agree that someone was blameworthy in allowing the contraband to go out of port without a Customs permit. We are quite willing to take the blame ourselves, but it would appear that the master is technically responsible. Both the master and ourselves were well aware that, by a mistake on the part of others, contraband was on board and that a rule was broken by the vessel leaving with it. In explanation, therefore, we would say that we were guided in our decision by our previous knowledge of the slow-working of the custom-house machinery. Had we informed the custom- house officer at the time the discovery was made, there is no doubt that the ship would have been detained until the next day pending investigation. It was important that the vesssi should get away quickly and we, therefore, decided to despatch her trusting to our being able to set the irregularity right with the Commissioner the following morning.
There is, of course, no doubt that from the Imperial Maritime Customs' point of view our action was wrong, and we, therefore, beg to inclose our c/o for the sum of 100 Haikwan taels for the favour of transmission to the Commissioner.
Sir,
I am, &c. Per pro. Cornabe, Eckford and Co.,
(Signed)
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
Consul Brady to Customs.
J. HOWARD STOOKE
Chefoo, October 23, 1907.
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I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 16th instant, in which you laid a formal charge against the master of the steam-ship "Lienshing of having, on the 1st Angust last, received on board his vessel certain contraband cargo in contravention of the Regulations, and at the same time requested me to take such measures as might seem advisable for the due punishment of the offence.
From your thus placing the matter in my hands to deal with as I might think best, I understand that you were willing to waive your right to have the case investigated under the Joint Investigation Rules, and also that you had no desire to proceed criminally against the master provided it were possible for me to deal with the offence in an equitable manner without its being made the subject of a case in Court. This course is in fact the one which, after carefully considering the instructions we had received from Peking, we mutually decided would be the most convenient to adopt in view of the difficulties attending any other form of inquiry, and I accordingly at once proceeded to carry out your request.
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