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provinces of China and the three Eastern Provinces. This provision does not apply to the Native Customs offices at present in existence on the seaboard, at open ports where there are offices of the Imperial Maritime Customs, and on the land frontiers of China embracing the nineteen provinces and the three Eastern Provinces.
Wherever there are offices of the Imperial Maritime Customs, or wherever such may be hereafter placed, Native Customs offices may also be established, as well as at any point on the seaboard or land frontiers.
Special Surtax on Foreign Imported Goods.
The Government of the United States agrees that foreign goods on importation, in addition to the effective 5 per cent. import duty as provided for in the Protocol of 1901, shall pay a special surtax of one and one-half times the amount of the said duty to compensate for the abolition of li-kin, of other transit dues besides li-kin, and of all other taxation on foreign goods, and in consideration of the other reforms provided for in this article.
Export Tariff. Surtax.
The Chinese Government may recast the foreign export Tariff with specific duties, as far as practicable, on a scale not exceeding 5 per cent. ad calorem; but existing export duties shall not be raised until at least six months' notice has been given. In cases where existing export duties are above 5 per cent., they shall be reduced to not more than that rate. An additional special surtax of one-half the export duty payable for the time being, in lieu of internal taxation of all kinds, may be levied at the place of original shipment or at the time of export on goods exported either to foreign countries or coastwise.
Certificate for Foreign Goods similar to Native.
Foreign goods which bear a similarity to native goods shall be furnished by the customs officers, if required by the owner, with a protective certificate for each package, on the payment of import duty and surtax, to prevent the risk of an; dispute in the interior.
Trade in Junks.
Native goods brought by junks to open ports, if intended for local consumption, irrespective of the nationality of the owner of the goods, shall be reported at the Native Customs offices only, to be dealt with according to the fiscal Regulations of the Chinese Government.
Machine-made Products of Foreign Type.
Machine-made cotton yarn and cloth manufactured in China, whether by foreigners at the open ports or by Chinese anywhere in China, shall, as regards taxation, be on a footing of perfect equality. Such goods, upon payment of the taxes thereon, shall be granted a rebate of the import duty, and of two-thirds of the import surtax paid on the cotton used in their manufacture, if it has been imported from abroad, and of all duties paid thereon if it be Chinese-grown cotton. They shall also be free of export duty, coast-trade duty, and export surtax. The same principle and procedure shall be applied to all other products of foreign type turned out by machinery in China.
Supervision of Natice Customs by Members of the Maritime Customs Foreign Staff. A member or members of the Imperial Maritime Customs foreign staff shall be selected by the Governors-General and Governors of each of the various provinces of the Empire for their respective provinces, and appointed, in consultation with the Inspector-General of Imperial Maritime Customs, for duty in connection with Native Customs affairs to have a general supervision of their working.
Complaints.
Cases where illegal action is complained of by citizens of the United States shall be promptly investigated by an officer of the Chinese Government of sufficiently high rank, in conjunction with an officer of the United States Government, and an officer
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of the Imperial Maritime Customs, each of sufficient standing; and, in the event of it being found by the investigating officers that the complaint is well founded and loss has been incurred, due compensation shall be paid through the Imperial Maritime Customs. The high provincial officials shall be held responsible that the officer guilty of the illegal action shall be severely punished and removed from his post. If the complaint is shown to be frivolous or malicious, the complainant shall be held responsible for the expenses of the investigation.
Date of Coming into Effect of this Article.
When the ratifications of this Treaty shall have been exchanged by the High Contracting Parties hereto, and the provisions of this Article shall have been accepted by the Powers having Treaties with China, then a date shall be agreed upon when the provisions of this Article shall take effect, and an Imperial Edict shail be published in due form on yellow paper and circulated throughout the Empire of China setting forth the abolition of all li-kin taxation, duties on goods in transit, offices, stations, and barriers for collecting the same, and of all descriptions of internal taxation on foreign goods, and the imposition of the surtax on the import of foreign goods and on the export of native goods, and the other fiscal changes and reforms provided for in this Article, all of which shall take effect from the said date. The Edict shall state that the provincial high officials are responsible that any official disregarding the letter or the spirit of its injunction shall be severely punished and removed from his post.
ANNEX (D.)
(Conditions for Abolition of Li-kin.)
Extract from Minutes of 18th Meeting of Pacific and Far Eastern Committee.
M. SARRAUT said that he would ask to be enlightened with respect to the first article, especially with respect to the phrase "and other Powers which adhere to this convention, to prepare the way for the speedy abolition of li-kin and for the fulfil- ment of the other conditions laid down in article 8 of the treaty of the 5th September, 1902, between Great Britain and China, in articles 4 and 5 of the treaty of the 8th October, 1903, between the United States and China, and in article 1 of the supplementary treaty of the 8th October, 1903, between Japan and China, with a view to levying the surtaxes provided in those articles."
M. Sarraut said he believed that there had been certain changes from the first text prepared by M. Kammerer, in that special reference had been made to articles 4 and 5 of the treaty between the United States and China, and to article 1 of the supplementary treaty between Japan and China. These precisions had not been made in the original text. Referring to the text of these treaties, M. Sarraut said he would like to ask the following question: "Was it the intention of the articles, as drafted, to oblige all nations to bind themselves by the terms of the most-favoured- nation clause, or was this done by error?" If an automatic application of the most-favoured-nation clause was intended, he must make a reservation, as his own Government might not agree. He believed that it would be better to omit the clauses referring to the most-favoured-nation clause, or to say that it was not desired to apply them automatically.
MR. ROOT said the treaties referred to in article I were the same treaties which were referred to in the original report of the committee on Chinese revenue. The only difference was that this draft specified the particular articles of those treaties which were supposed to be relevant to the subject matter of this instrument. It was rather to limit than to enlarge the reference in the original report, and the conditions which were referred to in article 1 were the conditions upon which the Powers entering into these treaties with China undertook to consent to the increase of duties. te, they agreed to consent to an increase of duties on condition that China did thus and so. No conditions were imposed upon any other Power, so that he would say that no obligation whatsoever could be found in this article upon any of the Powers
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