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wishes to accept a monetary payment for his land and does not wish to be a shareholder, then such land shall be purchased by the Government and leased to the party engaged in the co-operative mining enterprise. The Government thus becomes the landowner, and will be entitled to a share in the net profits, as set forth below in (b) and (c) class mines, viz., 30 per cent. or 50 per cent. Foreigners shall under no circumstances purchase mining property.
2. When Chinese enter into partnership with foreigners by subscribing capital, then they shall be on an equal footing, and will share equally in the profit or loss, while the capital of the partnership shall be half foreign and half Chinesc.
If the foreigner only enters into partnership with the owner of the land, whose share then consists of his mining property, and there is no Chinese investor of money shares, such foreigner shall hold 30 per cent. of the shares for purchase by Chinese at any time at the original share price. If after five years have elapsed no purchaser for such shares has come forward, such foreigner shall be authorized to dispose of one- balf of the 30 per cent. of unissued shares, and continue to hold the remainder for purchase by Chinese shareholders at the original price per share. If after a further period of five years such shares reserved for Chinese have not yet been bought up, the foreigner is at liberty to put the whole residue of shares on the market. But if after the full period of ten years Chinese purchasers should come forward for foreign owned shares at the market rate, they shall be entitled to do so at any time without hindrance on the part of the foreigner concerned.
No Chinese or foreign applicant to work mines who falls under any of the following categories shall be permitted to enjoy the privilege:-
(a.) Chinese subjects who have been guilty of an offence against the law.
(b.) Buddhist or Taoist priests and all disciples of any religious sect who make religion their profession.
(c.) Subjects of foreign countries not having Treaty relations with China, and of those countries which do not afford reciprocal mining privileges to subjects of China.
(d) Foreigners who do not obey Chinese law, and who have ever offended against Chinese law or the laws of their own country.
(e.) Foreign Governments or the employés of the Chinese Government,
(f) Persons holding official positions under foreign Governments who have not resigned such posts.
(g.) Persons particularly prohibited from so doing by the Chinese Government,
TART V ~~ Clossification of Minerul Products.
Section 11. Mineral products fall into three classes :----
(a.) Siliceous rocks, slates, sandstones, granites, earthy lime, limestone, marble- gypsum, dolomite, muds, clay bed, fireclay.
(6.) Placers, metalliferous sands or alluvial deposits, bog iron ore, bog manganese ore, emery, corundum, asbestos, phosphate of lime, baryta, fourspar, skatite, fuller's earth, pyrites, magnesian earth, kieselguhr, meerschaum, peat, and pumice stone.
(c.) All varieties of precious metals, antimony, arsenic, bismuth, chromium, cobalt, iridium, molybdenum, nickel, osimium, platinum, tin, uranium, zinc, petroleum, mineral oil, asphalt, bitumen, anthracite, coal lignite, sulphur.
Salt of all kinds is the sole monopoly of the Government, and is not included in the above classification.
Section 12. Additional mineral products.
If any mineral product is not mentioned in section 11, and cannot be easily classified, reference must be made to the Board, who will notify their decision to all provinces for future reference.
PART VI.-Rights over Land,
Section 13. Explanations of terms "surface" and "below the surface."
Following the provisions of Article 11, all ground containing mineral products shall be divided into two strata :-----
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(a.) The first stratum is called the "surface," of which the depth is limited by the greatest depth attained by the proprietor in his ordinary avocations, such as ploughing, building, and other native industries which have no reference to mining.
(b.) The second stratum is called "below the surface," and comprises everything below the "surface" stratum, and has no limit as to depth.
Section 14. Rights over
between.
"surface" and "below the surface.' Differences
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Surface rights, apart from the right of the proprietor to enjoy these himself, shall in no case be enjoyed by persons engaged in mining enterprises below the surface." But in areas for which a permit has been issued, and in which the Mining Bureau has authorized the payment of fees, in accordance with these Regulations, all neces sary mining operations may be carried on without interference on the part of the land-owner or others.
By a law common to all nations, all that lies below the surface is Government property. No deposits of precious metals or valuable mineral products can be worked without Government sanction. Land-owners or other private individuals are not entitled to exercise rights over what is below the surface.
The Chinese Government, actuated by liberal ideas, desires to accord the people generous treatment, and will therefore only take as its preferential share one-half of the net profits on the capital invested in mines below the surface of class (e) (section 11), after deduction of annual rent and pit-mouth taxes, Icaving the other half to the land- owner (sie.-TRANSLATOR). In other words, the State and the people will each take as share 50 per cent, of the total net profits in order that these advantages may be mutually enjoyed.
No person engaged in mining who shall have paid fees and entered into a partnership, whether Chinese or foreigners, shall be granted rights over the land itself.
If the persons interested constitute a Chinese and foreign partnership, they must first ascertain from the proprietor of the required land whether he is willing to come in as a shareholder with his land. If he does not wish to do so, but prefers to accept a money payment for his land, he must report to the General Bureau of Mines, and the Government will buy the land at a fair price and go into partnership with the interested parties as a "land shareholder.” If the land-owner does not wish to sell his land, an official inquiry should be held and a method of procedure devised. The persons engaged in the mining enterprise may not use any coercive measure in defiance of public feeling.
In regard to mines for which official permits have been granted, the persons engaged in mining have only the right to carry on the business of the mine, and may not concern themselves with the surface; neither may officials interfere with the business of the mine in any way not authorized by the Regulations. When the mine has finished working, the surface must be handed back to the Bureau, by whom at the same time the mining permit will be cancelled.
State Control of Mining Rights.
Mines, whether official or private undertakings or Chinese and foreign partnerships, can only be worked after a permit has been issued by the Board. If any subject of China privately sells any mining property to a foreigner, and the Bureau becomes aware of it, the mine will be confiscated and the land-owner will be punished under the law relating to illegal sales.
Except with the co-operation of Chinese shareholders, no foreign subject shall be allowed under any circumstances whatever to work any mine.
Section 15. Distinction between money shares and shares consisting of mining
land.
All capital subscribed by Chinese and foreigners to work any mine may be called money shares, and capital subscribed by the Government to eke out any deficiency of funds on the part of a Chinese mining party may be called "Government money shares." In cases where proprietors possess land, but no capital to work a mine, and desire to enter into a mining partnership and apply for a permit to do so, such Chinese proprietors' interest in the undertaking may be called land shares," or in the event
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