Directory_and_Chronicle_1870 — Page 602

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

311

the form of dues shall in no case exceed the amount of one tenth of one per cent, on the value of the goods landed or shipped on or from the said Bund

The scale of wharfage dues and mooring charges thus fixed at the annual meeting of land renters shall be communicated by H. B. M. Consul to the Consuls of other nations and to the local Chinese authorities.

VIII.-It shall be competent to the land renters as aforesaid in public meeting duly assembled, under and in accordance with the provisions of the above regulation No. 7, to appoint by ballot, or otherwise, as may be agreed upon at the aforesaid an- nual general meeting, an executive committee or council of not more than five or less than three land renters, for the purpose of levying the rates, dues, and taxes hereinafter mentioned, and applying the funds realized from the same for the pur- poses aforesaid, and for carrying out the regulations now made. Be it further ordered that the said committee when apointed shall have power and authority to levy and apply the said rates, dues, and taxes for the purposes aforesaid, and also that the said committee or their secretary have full power and authority to sue for all arrears of such rates, dues, and taxes, and recover the same from all defaulters in H. B. M. Consular Court if the said defaulters or any of them be British subjects, and in the Consular Courts under whose jurisdiction such defaulters may be, if the said defaulters or any of them be not British subjects.

IX. The committee shall hold office for one year from the date of their election, and shall have power of themselves to fill up any vacancies that may occur during their term of office.

They shall elect their own chairman, and may from time to time appoint, pay out of the municipal funds, and remove such officers and servants as they think fit.

Three members of the committee shall form a quorum, and on all questions upon which the members are equally divided the chairman shall have a casting vote.

X.-The committee shall administer the municipal funds at their discretion, for the purposes specified in regulation No. 7, of these regulations, and in as far as such expenditure shall have been sanctioned at the annual general meeting of land ren- ters, or at any special general meeting called to vote expenses, provided they do not exceed the sumns voted at such meetings.

Be it further ordered that the said committee shall appoint an auditor at least seven days before the annual general meeting of land renters to audit the accounts kept by them during their year of office, and that they shall also draw up a state- ment of receipts and disbursements for the same period, and that the said statement and said accounts duly audited be left in the court room of H. B. M. Consulate for at least 24 hours before the asembling of the said annual general meeting, to be open for the inspection of the land renters generally, and that the said accounts be passed finally, if correct, at the said meeting.

XI.--The committee shall have power and authority from time to time to make bye laws, for the purpose of better enabling them to carry out the objects of these regulations, and such bye laws if adopted by a special general meeting of the land renters, and approved by H. B. M. minister, shall be of the same force and effect as these regulations.

XII. The committee shall be liable to be sued, through their secretary, in H. M. B. Consular Court at Tientsin, by any person who may deem himself injured by any act of the committee or its officers, and should the plaintiff obtain damages in any such suit, said damages and the costs of such suit shall be summarily recover- able by H. B. M. Consul, and paid out of the funds levied under the authority of these local land regulations.

XIII. In addition to the annual general meeting of land renters, H. B. M. Consul may at any time when it appears to him needful, or on the requisition of the chairman of the land renters' committee, or on that of at least five of the land renters or their representatives, provided such requisition set forth satisfactory grounds for such request, convene a general meeting of land renters, giving seven days' notice of the meeting and its object. The resolutions passed by a majority at all general meetings, annual as well as occasional, upon subjects which these

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