Directory_and_Chronicle_1912 — Page 208

COMMERCIAL TREATY BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND CHINA

-185

be permanently abolished on all roads, railways and waterways in the nineteen Provinces of China and the three Eastern Provinces. This provision does not apply to the native Customs offices at present in existence on the seaboard, at open ports where there are offices of the Imperial Maritime Customs, and on the land frontiers of China embracing the nineteen Provinces and the three Eastern Provinces.

Wherever there are offices of the Imperial Maritime Customs, or wherever such may be hereafter placed, native Customs offices may also be establishe 1, as well as at any point either on the seaboard or land frontiers.

The Government of the United States agrees that foreign goods on import- ation, in addition to the effective five per cent. import duty as provided for in the Protocol of 1901, shall pay a special surtax of one and one-half times the amount of the said duty to compensate for the abolition of lekin, of other transit dues besides lekin, and of all other taxation on foreign goods and in consideration of the other reforms provided for in this article.

The Chinese Government may recast the foreign export tariff with specific duties as far as practicable, on a scale not exceeding five per cent. ad valorem ; but existing export duties shall not be raised until at least six months' notice has been given. In cases where existing export duties are above five per cent., they shall be reduced to not more than that rate. An additional special surtax of one-half the export duty payable for the time being, in lieu of internal taxation of all kinds, may be levied at the place of original shipment, or at the time of export on goods exported either to foreign countries or coastwise.

Foreign goods which bear a similarity to native goods shall be furnished by th Customs officers, if required by the owner, with a protective certificate for each pack age, on the payment of import duty and surtax, to prevent the risk of any dispute in the interior.

Native goods brought by junks to open ports, if intended for local consumption, irrespective of the nationality of the owner of the goods, shall be reported at the native Customs offices only, to be dealt with according to the fiscal regulations of the Chinese Government.

Machine-made cotton yarn and cloth manufactured in China, whether by foreigners at the open ports or by Chinese anywhere in China, shall as regards taxation be on a footing of perfect equality. Such goods upon payment of the taxes thereon shall be granted a rebate of the import duty and of two-thirds of the import surtax paid on the cotton used in their manufacture, if it has been imported from abroad, and of all duties paid thereon if it be Chinese grown cotton. They shall also be free of export duty, coast-trade duty and export surtax. The same principle and pro- cedure shall be applied to all other products of foreign type turned out by machinery

in China.

A member or members of the Imperial Maritime Customs foreign staff shall be selected by the Governors-General and Governors of each of the various provinces of the Empire for their respective provinces, and appointed in consultation with the Inspector-General of Imperial Maritime Customs, for duty in connection with native Customs affairs to have a general supervision of their working.

Cases where illegal action is complained of by citizens of the United States shall be promptly investigated by an officer of the Chinese Government of sufficiently high rank, in conjunction with an officer of the United States Government, and an officer of the Imperial Maritime Customs, each of sufficient standing; and, in the event of it being found by the investigating officers that the complaint is well founded and loss has been incurred, due compensation shall be paid through the Imperial Mari- time Customs. The high provincial officials shall be held responsible that the officer guilty of the illegal action shall be severely punished and removed from his post.

If the complaint is shown to be frivolous or malicious, the complainant shall be held responsible for the expenses of the investigation.

When the ratifications of this Treaty shall have been exchanged by the High Contracting Parties hereto, and the provisions of this Article shall have been accepted by the Powers having Treaties with China, then a date shall be agreed upon when