Directory_and_Chronicle_1885 — Page 1029

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COMMERCIAL TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND ANNAM

Art. XIV. As son as the pilot shall have brought a foreign merchant ship into port the Chief of Customs shall send one or more officers to inspect the vessel and prevent fraud. These officers shall, according to their convenience, remain on their own boats or on board the vessel.

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The cost of their maintenance and their salaries shall be charged upon the Cus- tome and they may not demand any remuneration whatever from the captain or the consignees. Every contravention of this regulation shall entail a punishm ut propor- tionate to the a nount of the exaction, and the latter shall be returned in its entirety. Art. XV. Within twenty-four hours following the arrival of a foreign merchant ship at one of the open ports, the captain, unless he be unavoidably prevented, and, failing hio, the supercargo or the consignee, shall present himself at the French Consulate and place in the hands of the Consul the ship's papers and the manifest. Within the following twenty-four hours the Consul shall send to the Chief of Customa a list of the crew and a detailed note of the name of the ship, her legal tonnage, and the nature of her cargo. It in consequence of the negligence of the captain this last formality shall not have been accomplished within the forty-eight hours following the arrival of the ship, the captain shall be liable to a fine of fifty dollars for each day of such delay, such fine to go to the Custom-house, but the whole amount of such penalty shall not exceed two hundred dollars.

Immediately after receipt of the note from the Consulate, the Chief of Customs shall give a permit to open hatches. If the captain, before having received such per- mit, shall have opened hatches and commenced to discharge be may be condemned in penalty not exceeding five hundred dollars and the merchandise so discharged may be confiscated, the whole to the profit of the Custom-house.

The arms and munitions of war which merchant vessels may have on board for their own protection shall be enumerated on the ship's papers and declared at the same time as the description of the cargo.

If the officers of the Annamite Government deem it necessary, these arms shall be placed in depôt on shore in the hands of the Captain of the Port and the Consul, or in the frontier post, to be returned only on the departure of the vessel, either for the high sea or Chinese territory. In the latter case the quantity of arms and muni- tions to be carried shall be determined by the Consul and the Chief of Custome according to circumstances. Contraventions shall be punished by the confiscation of the arms to the prout of the Annamite Government and also a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars.

If a vessel have clandestinely discharged arms or munitions on Annamite territoy, these arms, if they are in small number, shall be confiscated and the offenders shall in addition be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, but if the quant- ity of arms or munitions of war no discharged be considerable and constitute a danger, the vessel may be seized and confiscated, as well as the whole or part of the cargo.

The confiscation of a European or American vessel shall be decreed only by the two governments.

Art. XVI-Captains and foreign mrchants may hire such boats or lighters 25 they wish for conveyance of merchandise and passengers, the amount to be paid for them being arranged between themselves by the partis interested, without the inter- vention of the Annamite authorities and consequently without their guarantee in case of accident, fraud, or the disappearance of such boats. The number shall not be limited and monopoly shall not be conceded to any one; neither shall there be a m nopoly of the conveyance of mrchandise by street porters.

Art. XVII. A foreign merchant having goods to loal or discharge shall first send a detailed note of them to the Consul or Consular Agent, why will communicate it to the Chief of Custom 4. The latter shall at once give a prait to load or dis- charge. H will then pro-1 to the verification of the goods in the form must con- venient to prevent loss to any of the parties.

The merchant must cause himsel to be represented at the place of verification (iť h⋅ does not attend hialf), by a person possessing the requisite qualifications,