Directory_and_Chronicle_1890 — Page 258

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TRADE REGULATIONS BETWEEN FRANCE AND CHINA.

for which the special treatment applicable to Chinese products traversing Tonquin in transit is asked, will entail the confiscation of such merchandise. In every case where confiscation has been declared, the merchant shall be free to recover his goods on payment of a sum equivalent to their value, which shall be duly determined by an arrangement with the French authorities.

The same rules and the same transit duty will by applicable in Annam to Chinese merchandise despatched from a Chinese port to an Annamite port in order to get to the Chinese frontier Customs by crossing Tonquin.

Art. XIII.-The following articles, that is to say, gold and silver ingots, foreign. money, flour, Indian meal, sago, biscuits, preserved meats and vegetables, cheese, butter, confectionery, foreign clothing, jewellery, plated ware, perfumery, soaps of all kinds, charcoal, firewood, cndles (foreign), tobacco, wine, beer, spirits, household stores, ship's stores, personal baggage, stationery, carpeting, cutlery, drugs, foreign medicines, and glass ware, shall be verified by the Chinese Customs on their entry and clearance; if they are really of foreign origin and intended for the personal use of foreigners, and if they arrive in moderate quantity, a duty exemption certificate will be given which will pass them free at the frontier. If these articles are withheld from declaration or the formality of an exemption certificate, their clandestine intro- duction will render them subject to the same penalty as smuggled goods.

With the exception of gold, silver, money, and luggage, which will remain exempt from duty, the above mentioned articles destined for the personal use of foreigners and imported in moderate quantity, will pay, when they are transported into the interior of China, a duty of 2 per cent. on their value.

The Franco-Annamite frontier Customs shall collect no duty on the following articles of personal use which Chinese carry with them, either on entering or leaving Tonquin, that is to say, money, luggage, clothes, women's head ornaments, papers, hair pencils, Chinese ink, furniture, or food, or on articles ordered by the Chinese Consuls in Tonquin for their personal consumption.

Art. XIV. The high contracting parties agree to prohibit trade in and trans- port of opium of whatsoever origin by the land frontier between Tonquin on the one side and Yunnan, Kwang-si, and Kwangtung on the other side.

Art. XV.The export of rice and of cereals from China is forbidden. import of these articles shall be free of duty.

The

The import of the following articles into China is forbidden :-Gunpowder, pro- jectiles, rifles and guns, saltpetre, sulphur, lead, spelter, arms, salt, and immoral publications.

In case of contravention these articles shall be eutirely confiscated.

If the Chinese authorities have arms or munitions bought or if merchants receive express authority to buy them, the importation will be permitted under the special surveillance of the Chinese Customs. The Chinese authorities may, further- more, by arrangement with the French Consuls, obtain for the arms and munitions which they wish to have conveyed to China through Tonquin exemption from all the Franco-Annamite duties.

The introduction into Tonquin of arms, munitions of war, and immoral publica- tions is also prohibited.

Art. XVI.-Chinese residing in Annam shall be placed under the same condi- tions, with regard to criminal, fiscal, or other jurisdiction, as the subjects of the most favoured nation. Law-suits which may arise in China, in the open markets on the frontier, between Chinese subjects and Frenchmen or Annamites shall be decided in a Mixed Court by Chinese and French officers.

With reference to crimes or offences committed by Frenchmen or persons under French protection in China, in the places opened to trade, the procedure shall be in conformity with the stipulations of Articles XXXIII. and XXXIV. of the treaty of the 27th June, 1858.

Art. XVII.-If in the places opened to trade on the frontier of China Chinese deserters or persons accused of crimes against the Chinese law shall take refuge in the houses or on board the vessels of Frenchmen or persons under French protection