Directory_and_Chronicle_1886 — Page 978

268

THE CHEFOO CONVENTION.

certificates, lekin will be duly collected on all goods whatever by the native authorities. Foreign merchants will not be authorised to reside or open houses of business or warehouses at the places enumerated as ports of call.

2. At all ports open to trade, whether by earlier or later agreement, at which no Settlement area has been previously defined, it will be the duty oft he British Consul, acting in concert with his colleagues, the Consuls of other Powers, to come to an understanding with the local authorities regarding the definition of the foreign Settlement area.

3.-On Opium, Sir Thomas Wade will move his Government to sanction an arrangement different from that affecting other imports. British merchants, when opium is brought into port, will be obliged to have it taken cognisance of by the Customs, and deposited in bond, either in a warehouse or a receiving hulk, until such time as there is a sale for it. The importer will then pay the tariff duty upon it and the purchasers the lekin; in order to the prevention of evasion of the duty. The amount of lekin to be collected will be decided by the different Provincial Govern- ments according to the circumstances of each.

4.--The Chinese Government agrees that Transit Duty Certificates shall be framed under one rule at all ports, no difference being made in the condition set forth therein; and, that so far as imports are concerned, the nationality of the person possessing and carrying these is immaterial. Native prod: ce carried from an Inland Centre to a Port of Shipment, if bona fide intended for shipment to a foreign port, may be, by treaty, certificated by the British subject interested, and exempted by payment of the half duty from all charges demanded upon it en route. If produce be not the property of a British subject, or is being carried to a port not for exportation, it is not entitled to the exemption that would be secured it by the exhibition of a Transit Duty Certificate. The British Minister is prepared to agree with the Tsung-li Yamên upon rules that will secure the Chinese Government against abuse of the privilege as affecting produce.

The words nei-ti, inland, in the clause of Article VII, of the Rules appended to the Tariff, regarding carriage of imports inland, and of native produce purchased inland, apply as much to places on the sea coast and river shores, as to places in the interior not open to foreign trade; the Chinese Government having the right to make arrangements for the prevention of abuses thereat.

5.--Article XLV. of the Treaty of 1858 prescribes no limit to the term within which a drawback may be claimed upon duty paid Imports. The British Minister agrees to a term of three years, after expiry of which no drawback shall be claimed.

6. The foregoing stipulation, that certain ports are to be opened to foreign trade, and that landing and shipping of goods at six places on the Great River is to be sanctioned, shall be given effect to within six months after receipt of the Imperial Decree approving the memorial of the Grand Secretary Li. The date for giving effect to the stipulations affecting exemption of imports from lekin taxation within the foreign settlements, and the collection of lekin upon opium by the Customs Inspec- torate at the same time as the Tariff Duty upon it, will be fixed as soon as the British Government has arrived at an understanding on the subject with other foreign Governments.

7.-The Governor of Hongkong having long complained of the interference of the Canton Customs Revenue Cruisers with the junk trade of that Colony, the Chinese Government agrees to the appointment of a Commission, to consist of a British Consul, an officer of the Hongkong Government, and a Chinese official of equal rank, in order to the establishment of some system that shall enable the Chinese Government to protect its revenue without prejudice to the interests of the Colony.

Separate Article.

Her Majesty's Government having it in contemplation to send a Mission of Exploration next year by way of Peking through Kan-Su and Koko-Nor, or by way of