Directory_and_Chronicle_1901 — Page 129

TREATY BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND CHINA

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Art. XVII.-Duties shall be charged upon the net weight of each article; tare therefore to be deducted. If the German merchant cannot agree with the Chinese officers on the exact amount of tarc, then each party shall choose from among the goods respecting which there is a difference a certain number of chests or bales, which being first weighted gross, shall afterwards be tared and the tare fixed accord- ingly. The average tare upon these chests or bales shall constitute the tare upon the whole lot of packages.

Art. XVIII.-If in the course of verification there arise other points of dispute, which cannot be settled, the German merchant may appeal to his Consul, who will communicate the particulars of the differences of the case to the Superintendent of Customs, and both will endeavour to bring about an amicable arrangement. But the appeal to the Consul must be made within twenty-four hours, or it will not be attended to.

As long as no settlement be come to, the Superintendent of Customs shall not enter the matter at issue in his books, in order that a thorough investigation and the final settlement of the difference be not prejudiced.

Art. XIX.-Should imported goods prove to be damaged, a fair reduction of duty shall be allowed, in proportion to their deterioration. If any disputes arise, they shall be settled in the same manner as agreed upon in Art. XVI. of this treaty having reference to articles which pay duty ad valorem.

Art. XX.-Any merchant vessel belonging to one of the contracting German States having entered any of the open ports, and not yet opened hatches, may quit the same within forty-eight hours after her arrival, and proceed to another port, without being subject to the payment of tonnage.dues, duties, or any other fees or charges; but tonnage-dues must be paid after the expiration f the said forty-eight

hours.

Art. XXI.-Import duties shall be considered payable on the landing of the goods, and duties of export on the shipping of the same. When all tounage-dues and duties shall have been paid, the Superintendent of Customs shall give a receipt in full (port-clearance), which being produced at the Consulate, the Consular officer shall then return to the captain the ship's papers and permit him to depart on the

Voyage.

Art. XXII.-The Superintendent of Customs will point out one or more bankers authorized by the Chinese Government to receive the duties on his behalf. The receipts of these bankers shall be looked upon as given by the Chinese Government itself. Payment may be made in bars or in foreign coin, whose relative value to the Chinese Sycee silver shall be fixed by special agreement, according to circumstances, between the Consular Officers and the Superintendent of Customs.

Art. XXIII.—Merchant-vessels belonging to the contracting German States of more than one hundred and fifty tons burden shall be charged four mace per ton; merchant-vessels of one hundred and fifty tons and under shall be charged at the rate of one mace per ton.

The captain or consignee having paid the tonnage-dues the Superintendent of Customs shall give them a special certificate, on exhibition of which the ship shall be exempted from all further payment of tonnage-dues in any open port of China which the captain may visit for a period of four mouths, to be reckoned from the date of the port clearance mentioned in Art. XXI.

Boats employed by subjects of the contracting German States in the conveyance. of passengers, baggage, letters, articles of provisions, or articles not subject to duties shall not be liable to tonnage dues. Any boat of this kind, however, conveying, merchandise subject to duty, shall come under the category of vessels under one: hundred and fifty tons, and pay tonnage-dues at the rate of one mace per register ton.

Art. XXIV.-Goods on which duties have been paid in any of the ports open to foreign trade, upon being sent into the interior of the country shall not be subject to any but transit duty. The same shall be paid according to the tariff now existing, and may not be raised in future. This also applies to goods sent from the interior of the country to any of the open ports.