Directory_and_Chronicle_1869 — Page 547

PORT, CONSULAR, CUSTOMS, AND HARBOUR REGULATIONS, &c.

General Consular Regulations.

NOTIFICATION.

Diplomatic Department.

The following General and Local Consular Regulations for the five ports of Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai, based upon the stipulation of the Treaties now existing between the governments of Great Britain and China, and intended to secure the due observance of the said Treaties, are hereby published, in accordance with Articles III. and IV. of the order of Her Majesty in Council, dated the 13th day of June, 1853, for the information and guidance of British subjects resorting to the five ports open for trade.

By Order,

Superintendent of Trade, Victoria,

Hongkong, 18th May, 1854.

W. H. MEDHURST, Officiating Secretary to H. B. M.'8

Plenipotentiary in China, &c., Sc.

GENERAL REGULATIONS,

For the five ports of CANTON, AмOY, FOOCHOW, NINGPO, and SHANGHAI. I.-All Rules and Regulations, heretofore in force to secure the observance of Treaties having reference to any of the five ports open for trade in China, are repealed from and after the date of the publication of the present regulations.

II.—The Consulate offices shall be open for public business from 10 o'clock to 4 P.M., daily, excepting on Sundays, and those holidays upon which public offices in England are closed.

III.-Every master of a vessel shall deposit his ship's papers, together with a summary of the manifest of her cargo, at the Consulate office within forty-eight hours after her arrival in the port or anchorage, unless a Sunday or holiday should intervene. Masters not conforming to this regulation will render themselves liable to a penalty of two hundred dollars.

IV.-Every British vessel must shew her colors on entering the port or anchorage, and keep them hoisted until she shall have been reported at the Consulate, and her papers deposited there.

Masters not conforming to this regulation will render themselves liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred dollars for each offence.

V.-Should any vessel, the property of a British subject, but not provided with a British sailing letter or certificate of registry, hoist the British Ensign within any port or anchorage, or should she exhibit within such limits any flag so similar to the British Ensign as not to be distinguishable from it, the master of such vessel will be liable for every such exhibition to a penalty not exceeding one hundred dollars.

VI.-In accordance with the provisions of article XII. of the General Regulations of Trades, master of vessels in any port or anchorage will be held accountable for the conduct of their crews on shore. Should any seaman absent himself without permission,