Directory_and_Chronicle_1877 — Page 774

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

boundary stones to define the limits of their respective lots. These stones shall be put up in the presence of a British Consular Officer, and in cases where any portion of any lot is transferred, the part so transferred shall in like manner be defined by boundary stones, set up by the parties to the transfer, or their representatives, in the presence of some duly authorized officer of H.B.M. Consulate.

Should the owner of any land in the settlement neglect or refuse to put up such boundary stones when called upon by H.B.M. Consul to do so, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding $25 for his original neglect, and to an additional penalty not ex- ceeding $5 per day for each succeeding day's neglect or refusal to comply with the said Consul's requisition.

VI. The Chinese land tax of 1,500 copper cash per mow, as reserved in the Crown leases, shall be paid by the several lessees thereof into H.B.M. Consulate within twenty one days next after the 30th of September of each year.

VII.-It being expedient and necessary for the better order and good government of the settlement that some provision should be made for the making of roads and jetties, and for cleansing, lighting, watering, and draining the settlement generally, and establishing a watch or police force therein, and paying the person necessarily employed in any municipal office or capacity, the British Consul shall, in the month of April of each year, convene a general meeting of land renters, giving twelve days' notice of said meeting, to devise ways and means for raising the requisite funds for the aforesaid purposes; and at such meeting it shall be competent to the said renters or a majority of them, in public meeting duly assembled, to declare an assessment upon the aggregate area of the lots in the settlement, towards which assessment each land renter shall pay a sum exactly proportionate to his own quantity of ground, and it shall also be competent for the said renters, or majority of them as aforesaid, to impose other rates and taxes in the form of duties on all goods landed or shipped on or from the Bund within the limits of the said settlement, and in the form of mooring charges to be levied on such vessels as may make fast to the mooring post set up for their accommodation within the said limits, provided the said rates or taxes levied in the form of dues shall in no case exceeed 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 annual 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 purposes aforesaid, and for carrying out the regulations now made. Be it further ordered, that the sail committee when appointed shall have power and authority to levy and apply the said rates, dues, and taxes for the purposes aforesaid, and also that the said com- mittee 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 bold 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