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Railway; while the departure from Harbin of M. Kabalinsky, who has for nearly a year past been chief of the commercial department of the Chinese Eastern Railway Company, and who was shortly due to return to Europe, has been hastened to enable His return to Harbin appears to be extremely him to take part in the debates. uncertain, in view of the opinions which he entertains as to the importance attaching to the department over which he has presided. If report speaks true, he considers that he should to all intents and purposes be independent in his own sphere of General Horvat, the manager of the railway; while he holds that the commercial interests of the line are entitled to first consideration, and that the other administrative departments should make its commercial development their principal objective.
One of the chief difficulties with which the conference at St. Petersburgh will have to contend is, I am told, to fix the point at which rates shall be broken. The Japanese, I understand, have favoured Harbin, the Russians Kwangchengtzu, while Shuang Cheng Pu, 32 miles south of Harbin, has been mentioned as a compromise. The interests of the South Manchurian and Chinese Eastern Railways will clash in this respect in regard to beans and cereals, since each party will desire to attract as much as possible of these commodities to its own line and to its own port of shipment. The shipping facilities at Daluy greatly excel those at Vladivostock, and 1 have heard it stated by a gentleman who is intimately connected with the bean trade that, if the Russians wish to encourage shippers to convey their cargo to Vladivostock, they will have to give cheaper rates than the South Manchurian Railway. A quicker and more regular service than that afforded last season will also be necessary. Long delays were then occasioned owing to an inadequate supply of cars, and matters were not improved by the unprecedented heavy falls of snow.
Other important articles in regard to which reciprocity in the matter of freight rates would be mutually advantageous are those mentioned in the enclosure to Mr. Parlett's despatch, to which reference has before been made, namely, Fushun coal, timber, and flour.
The appendices and tables attached to enclosed agreements are not forwarded. These agreements, in English, were supplied to me by the Chinese Eastern Railway.
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
1 have, &c.
H. E. SLY,
Convention determining the Mutual Relations between the Curriers porticipating in the Manchurian-Japanese Pussenger through Traffic.
ARTICLE 1.
IN order to promote the passenger and baggage traffic between the principal stations of the Chinese Eastern, the Ussuri, and the Imperial Japanese Railways, as well as between the above stations and the ports indicated in the tariff, a through traffic to be known by the name "Manchurian-Japanese passenger traffic" is being established.
The following carriers are participating in the said tratue :—
The board of directors of the Chinese Eastern Railway Company at St. Petersburgh,
the Ussuri Railway, leased to that company.
The board of directors of the South Manchurian Railway at Dairen.
The administration of the Imperial Japanese Railways at Tokyo.
The committee of the Russian volunteer fleet at St. Petersburgh.
The board of directors of the "Osaka Shosen Kaisha" Steam Shipping Company
at Osaka.
ARTICLE 2.
1. The carriers participating in this traffic elect by a majority of votes, for a term of five years, a board for the management of the affairs relating to the said traffic.
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2. The board managing the through-traffic affairs receives from the carriers concerned various kinds of proposals which have the object to promote the present through traffic by means of adaptation of adequate general measures.
In case, when the settlement (by means of exchange of correspondence) of questions raised by the carriers interested in the traffic should meet with difficulties, or when one of the said administrations should express the desire that these questions be discussed by the conference, the board managing the through-traffic affairs enters these questions on the programme of the business to be attended to by the nearest conference. The board managing the through-traffic affairs convenes the conferences, executes the decisions passed and approved by the conferences, prepares and publishes the tariffs, the supplements to the tariffs, the conventions, &c., and attends, when necessary, to the correspondence with the administrations participating in the present
traffic.
3. The correspondence relating to the traffic in question shall be done---
By the Russian carriers, in Russian;
By the Japanese carriers, in English.
The publications issued by the board managing the affairs of this traffic are printed--
For the Russian carriers, in Russian For the Japanese carriers, in English.
ARTICLE 3.
and
For the deliberation on questions bearing upon general interests, as well as on measures which are likely to promote the development of the traffic, shall be convened by the administrations concerned, from time to time, conferences to which the participating carriers shall depute their authorised delegates.
The said conferences shall give decisions on questions relating to claims which could not be settled by means of correspondence. The resolutions passed by the conference with regard to matters connected with claims shall be executed immediately.
2. The conferences are convened by the board managing the through-traffic affairs. The conferences decide by a majority of votes the question as to the time and place of the next conference.
3. The programme of the business to be attended to by the conference shall be drawn up by the board managing the through-traffic affairs and forwarded to all the administrations concerned, so that the programme and the materials appertaining to the same should reach them not later than thirty days before the beginning of the conference.
4. The motions about arising questions which are to be submitted to the conference for discussion must be stated in detail, and communicated to the board managing the through-traffic affairs at least eight weeks before the beginning of the conference.
5. The motions of which no timely notice had been given shall be submitted to the conference for deliberation and decision only in case of an acknowledged urgent necessity.
6. Each administration represented at the conference by a delegate shall have only one vote. Those administrations who failed to send delegates to the conference forfeit their right of voting. Each administration, however, shall have the right to be represented by another administration on strength of a written power of attorney. The resolutions given by that administration in the name of the administrations represented shall be binding for the latter.
7. The resolutions of the conference shall be binding for the participants of the conference only in case when they were passed unanimously.
By a simple majority of votes only the following questions shall be decided, namely, the election of the board managing the through-traffic affairs, the deter- mination of time and place of the conferences to be held, and the questions relating to claims of a contestable nature.
8. The resolutions of the conference shall take effect immediately only in case of this being stated expressly in the resolution of the conference itself.
All other resolutions shall be considered as accepted if, within three months from the date of the dispatch by the board managing the through-traffic affairs of the respective report, together with the protocol, no objection is raised on the part of the
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