Directory_and_Chronicle_1902 — Page 214

TREATY BETWEEN PORTUGAL AND CHINA

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Art. XXIX.-Portuguese merchants having goods to ship or to land will have to obtain a special permission from the Superintendent of Customs to that effect, without which all goods shipped or landed shall be liable to confiscation.

Art. XXX.-No transhipment of goods is allowed from ship to ship without special permission, under penalty of confiscation of all the goods so transhipped.

Art. XXXI.—When a ship shall have paid all her duties, the Superintendent of Customs will grant her a certificate and the Consul will returu the papers, in order that she may proceed on her voyage.

Art. XXXII-When any doubt may arise as to the value of goods which by the tariff are liable to an ad valorem duty, and the Portuguese merchants disagrees with the Custom-house officers as regards the value of said goods, both parties will call two or three merchants to examine them, and the highest offer made by any of the said merchants to buy the goods will be considered as their just value.

Art. XXXIII.-Duties will be paid on the net weight of every kind of merchandise. Should there be any difference of opinion between the Portuguese merchant and the Custom-house officer as to the mode by which the tare is to be fixed, each party will choose a certain number boxes or bales from among every hundred packages of the goods in question, taking the gross weight of said packages, then the tare of each of the packages separately, and the average tare resulting therefrom will be adopted for the whole parcel.

In case of any doubt or dispute not mentioned herein, the Portuguese merchant may appeal to the Consul, who will refer the case to the Superintendent of Customs; this officer will act in such a manner as to settle the question amicably. The appeal, however, will only be entertained if made within the term of twenty-four hours; and in such a case no entry is to be made in the Custom-house books in relation to the said goods until the question shall have been settled.

Art. XXXIV.-Damaged goods will pay a reduced duty proportionate to their deterioration; any doubt on this point will be solved in the way indicated in the clause of this Treaty with respect to duties payable on merchandise ad valorem.

Act. XXXV.-Any Portuguese werchant who, having imported foreign goods into one of the open ports of Chrna and paid the proper duties thereon, may wish to re-export them to another of the said ports, will have to send to the Superintendent of Customs an account of them, who, to avoid fraud, will direct his officers to examine whether or not the duties have been paid, whether the same have been entered on the books of the Customs, whether they retain their original markets, and whether the en- tries agree with the account sent in. Should everything be found correct, the same will be stated in the export permit together with the total amount of duties paid, and all these particulars will be communicated to the Custom house officers at other ports.

Upon arrival of the ship at the port to which the goods are carried, permission will be granted to land without any new payment of duties whatsoever if, upon examination, they are found to be the identical goods; but if during the ex- amination any fraud be detected, the goods may be confiscated by the Chinese Govern-

ment.

Should any Portuguese merchant wish to re-export to a foreign country any goods imported, and upon which duties have been already paid, he will have to make his application in the same form as required for the re-exportation of goods to another port in China, in which case a certificate of drawback or of restitution of duties will be granted, which will be accepted by any of the Chinese Custom-house in payment of import or export duties.

Foreign cereals imported by Portuguese ships into the ports of China may be re-exported without hindrance if no portion of them has been discharged.

Act. XXXVI.-The Chinese authorities will adopt at the ports the measures which

they may deem the most convenient to avoid fraud or smuggling.

Act. XXXVII.-The proceeds of fines and confiscations inflicted on Portuguese subjects, in conformity to this Treaty, shall belong exclusively to the Chinese Government.

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