38
THE CHEFOO CONVENTION
contribution, direct or indirect, other than or in excess of such tax or contribution as is or may hereafter be levied on native opium.
In the event of such tax or contribution being calculated ad valorem, the same rate, value for value, shall be assessed on foreign and native opium, and in ascertaining for this purpose the value of foreign opium the amount paid on it for li-kin at the port of entry shall be deducted from its market value.
6. It is agreed that the present Additional Article shall be considered as forming part of the Chefoo Agrement, and that it shall have the same force and validity as if it were inserted therein word for word.
It shall come into operation six months after its signature, provided the ratifica- tions have then been exchanged, or if they have not, then on the date at which such exchange takes place.
7.-The arrangement respecting opium contained in the present Additional Article shall remain binding for four years, after the expiration of which period either Government may at any time give twelve months' notice of its desire to determine it, and such notice being given, it shall terminate accordingly.
It is, however, agreed that the Government of Great Britain shall have the right to terminate the same at any time should the transit certificate be found not to confer on the opium complete exemption from all taxation whatsoever whilst being carried from the port of entry of the place of consumption in the interior.
In the event of the termination of the present Additional Article the arrange- ment with regard to opium now in force under the regulations attached to the Treaty of Tientsin shall revive.
8.-The High Contracting Parties may, by common consent, adopt any modifica- tions of the provisions of the present Additional Article which experience may show to be desirable.
9.--It is understood that the Commission provided for in clause 7 of Section III. of the Chefoo Agreement to inquire into the question of prevention of smuggling into China from Hongkorg shall be appointed as soon as possible.
10.-The Chefoo Agreement, together with, and as modified by, the present Additional Article, shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London as soon as possible.
In witness whereof the Undersigned, duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed the present Additional Article, and have affixed thereto their seals.
Done at London, in quadruplicate (two in English and two in Chinese), this 18th day of July, 1885, being the seventh dax of the sixth moon in the eleventh year of the reign of Kwang-su.
My Lord,
(L.S.) (L.S.)
SALISBURY. TSENG.
The Marquis Tseng to the Marquis of Salisbury.
Chinese Legation, London, 18th July, 1885.
In reply to your Lordship's note of this date, I have the honour to state that the Imperial Government accept the following as the expression of the understanding which has been come to between the Governments of Great Britain and China in regard to the Additional Article to the Chefoo Agreement relative to opium, which has been signed this day:
1.—It is understood that it shall be competent for Her Majesty's Government at once to withdraw from his new arrangement, and to revert to the system of taxation for opium at present in operation in China, in case the Chinese Government shall fail to bring the other Treaty Powers to conform to the provisions of the said Additional Article.
2.-It is further understood that, in the event of the termination of the said Additional Article, the Chefoo Agreement, with the exception of clause 3 of Section III., and with the modifications stipulated in clause 1 of the said Additional Article, shall nevertheless remain in force.
Page 75Page 76
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.