Directory_and_Chronicle_1870 — Page 616

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REGULATIONS FOR BRITISH TRADE WITH SIAM.

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II-A vessel passing Paknam without discharging her guns and ammunition as directed in the foregoing regulation, will be sent back to Paknam to comply with its provisions, and will be fined 800 Ticals for having so disobeyed. After delivery of her guns and ammunition she will be permitted to return to Bangkok to trade.

III.-When a British vessel shall have cast anchor at Bangkok, the master (unless a Sunday should intervene), will within four and twenty hours after arrival, proceed to the British Consulate; and deposit there his ship's papers, bills of lading, &c., together with a true manifest of his import cargo, and upon the Consul's reporting these particulars to the Custom-house, permission to break bulk will at once be given by the latter.

For neglecting so to report his arrival, or for presenting a false manifest, the master will subject himself, in each instance, to a penalty of 400 Ticals: but he will be allowed to correct within twenty-four hours after delivery of it to the Consul, any mistake fe may discover in his manifest, without incurring the above-mentioned penalty.

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IV.—A British vessel breaking bulk and commencing to discharge before the mission shall be obtained, or smuggling either when in the river or outside the bar, shall be subject to the penalty of 800 Ticals, and confiscation of the goods so smuggled or discharged.

V.-As soon as a British vessel shall have discharged her cargo, and completed her outward lading, paid all her duties, and delivered a true manifest of her outward cargo to the British Consul, a Siamese port clearance shall be granted her on application from the Consul, who, in the absence of any legal impediment to her departure, will then return to the master his ship's papers, and allow the vessel to leave, a Custom- house officer will accompany the vessel to Pakuam; and on arriving there she will be inspected by the Custom-house officers of that station, and will receive from them the guns and ammunition previously delivered into their charge. The above regulations, numbered from 1 to 5, are obligatory under the treaty concluded between Great Britain and Siam; those which follow, numbered from 6 to 14, are equally to be observed by masters of British vessels and their crews.

VI.-Masters of British vessels when reporting their arrival at Her Majesty's Consulate, at the port of Bangkok, as directed by the fourth regulation above quoted, shall notify in writing the names of all passengers and persons not forming part of the registered crew.

Notice must likewise be given of the number and names of persons, who, as passengers or in any other capacity (seamen borne on the muster-roll excepted) intend to leave Siam in a British vessel.

VII.-Seamen, lascars, and others belonging to British vessels in the port are strictly prohibited to wear side knives or any other weapon while on shore.

VIII. Should any seaman or apprentice absent himself without leave, the master will report his absence, if such exceeds twenty-four hours, at the Consulate office.

IX.-Any British subject who entices a seaman or apprentice to desert, incurs according to the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, paragraph 257, a penalty not exceed- ing ten pounds; or any such subject who wilfully harbours or secretes a person deserted from his ship, incurs a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, if it be proved that he had knowledge of his being a deserter.

In default of the payment of such fines, the offender is to be imprisoned in the Consular gaol for any term not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour. X.-All cases of death, and especially of sudden death, occurring on board of British vessels in the port of Bangkok, must be immediately reported at the Consulate. XL.-The discharge of guns from vessels anchored in the port of Bangkok, without notice having been previously given, and permission obtained through H. M. Consul from the proper Siamese authority, is forbidden under a penalty not exceeding ten pounds. XII. It is strictly prohibited to shoot birds within the precincts of the Wats or Temples, either in Bangkok or elsewhere within the Siamese dominions, or to injure or damage any of the statues or figures, the trees or shrubs in such localities of Siamese worship, any British subject or seaman of a British vessel guilty of such an act, renders

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