Directory_and_Chronicle_1885 — Page 898

RULES FOR JOINT INVESTIGATION.

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the ship or goods attacke! should the ultimate decision be against him; which bond being sealed with the Consular seal, and deposited at the Custom House, the Super- intendent will restore to the merchant the ship or goods attached; and when the superior authorities shall bare decided whether so much money is to be paid, or the whole of the property seized be confiscated, the merchant will be called on to pay accordingly. If he decline to give the necessary security, the ship or merchandise attached will be detained. But whether the decision of the superior authorities be favourable or not, the appellant will not be allowed to claim indemnity.

RULE VI. When the act of which a merchant at any port is accused is not one involving the confiscation of ship or cargo, but is one which, by Treaty or Regulation, is punishable by fine, the Commissioner will report the case to the Superintendent, and at the same time cause a plaint to be entered in the Consular Court. The Consul will fix the day of the trial, and inform the Commissioner that he may then appear with the evidence and the witnesses in the case. And the Commissioner. either personally or by deputy, shall take his seat on the bench, and conduct the case on behalf of the prosecution.

When the Treaty or Regulations affix a specific fine for the offence, the Consul shall on conviction give judgment for that amount, the power of mitigating the sentence resting with the Superintendent and Commissiouer. If the defendant is acquitted, and the Commissioner does not demur to the decision, the ship or goods, if

any

be under seizure, shall at once be released, and the circumstances of the case be communicated to the Superintendent. The merchant shall not be put to any expense by delay, but he shall have no claim for compensation on account of hindrance in his business, for loss of interest, or for demurrage. If a difference of opinions exist between the Commissioner and Consul, notice to that effect shall be given to the Superintendent, and copies of the whole proceedings forwarded to Peking for the consideration of their respective high authorities. Pending their decisions, the owner of the property must file a bond in the Consular Court to the full value of the

pro- posed fine, which will be sent to the Custom House authorities by the Consul, and the goods or ship will be released.

RULE VIIIf the Custom House authorities and Consul cannot agree as to whether certain duties are leviable or not, action must be taken as Rule V. directs, and the merchant must sign a bond for the value of the duties in question. The Consul will affix his seal to this document, and send it to the Custom House autho rities, when the Superintendent will release the goods without receiving the duty; and these two functionaries will respectively send statements of the case to Peking,- one to his Minister, the other to the Foreign Office.

If it shall be decided there that no duty shall be levied, the Custom House authorities will return the merchant's bond to the Consul to be cancelled; but if it be decided that a certain amount of duty is leviable, the Consul shall require the merchant to pay it in at the Custom House.

RULE VIII.-If the Consul and the Custom House authorities cannot agree as to whether confiscation of a ship, or a cargo, or both of them together, being the property of a foreign merchant, shall take place, the case must be referred to Peking for the decision of the Foreign Office, and the Minister of bis nation. Pending their decision, the merchant must, in accordance with Rule V., sigu a bond for the amount, to which the Consul will affix his seal, and send it for deposit at the Custom House. As difference of opinion as to the value [of ship or goods] may arise, the valuation of the merchant will be decisive; and the Custom House authorities may, if they see fit, take over either at the price aforesaid.

If after such purchase it be decided that the property seized ought to be confiscated, the merchant must redeem his bond by paying in at the Custom House the original amount of the purchase-money. If the decision be against confiscation, the bond will be returned to the Consul for transmission to the merchant, and the case then be closed. The sum paid by the Custom House authorities for ship or goods being regarded as their proper price, it will not be in the merchant's power, by a tender of the purchase-money, to recover them.