Directory_and_Chronicle_1920 — Page 66

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TIENTSIN TREATY, 1858

to guard the ship. They shall either live in a boat of their own, or stay on board the ship, as may best suit their convenience. Their food and expenses shall be supplied them from the Custom-house, and they shall not be entitled to any fees whatever from the master or consignee. Should they violate this regulation, they shall be punished proportionately to the amount exacted.

Art. XXXVII.-Within twenty-four hours after arrival, the ships' papers, bills of lading, etc., shall be lodged in the hands of the Consul, who will within a further period of twenty-four hours report to the Superintendent of Customs the name of the ship, her registered tonnage, and the nature of her curgo. lf, owing to neglect on the part of the master, the above rule is not complied with within forty-eight hours after the ship's arrival, he shall be liable to a fine of fifty taels for every day's delay; the total amount of penalty, however, shall not exceed two hundred taels.

The master will be responsible for the correctness of the manifest, which shall contain a full and true account of the particulars of the cargo on board. For presenting a false manifest, he will subject himself to a fine of five hundred taels; but he will be allowed to correct, within twenty-four hours after delivery of it to the customs officers, any mistake he may discover in his manifest without incurring this penalty. Art. XXXVIII.-After receiving from the Consul the report in due form, the Superintendent of Customs shall grant the vessel a permit to open hatches. If the master shall open hatches, and begin to discharge any goods, without such permission, he shall be fined five hundred taels, and the goods discharged shall be confiscated wholly. Art. XXXIX —Any British merchant who has cargo to land or ship must apply to the Superintendent of Customs for a special permit. Cargo landed or shipped without such permit will be liable to confiscation.

Art. XL. No transhipment from one vessel to another can be made without special permission, under pain of confiscation of the goods so transhipped.

Art. XLI.—When all dues and duties shall have been paid, the Superintendent of Customs shall give a port-clearance and the Consul shall then return the ship's papers, so that she may depart on hier voyage.

Art. XLII.—With respect to articles subject, according to the tariff, to an ad valorem duty, if the British merchant cannot agree with the Chinese officer in affixing its value, then each party shall call two or three merchants to look at the goods, and the highest price at which any of these merchants would be willing to purchase them shall be assumed as the value of the goods.

Art. XLIII.-Duties shall be charged upon the net weight of each article, making a deduction for the tare, weight of congée, &c. To fix the tare of any a:ticles, such as tea, if the British merchant cannot agree with the Custom-house officer, then each party shall choose so many chests out of every hundred, which being first weighed in gross, shall afterwards be tared, and the average are upon these chests shall be assumed as the tare upon the whole; and upon this principle shall the tare be fixed upon other goods and packages. If there should be any other points in dispute which cannot be settled, the British merchant may appeal to his Consul, who will communicate the particulars of the case to the Superintendent of Customs, that it may be equitably arranged. But the appeal must be made within twenty-four hours or it will not be attended to. While such points are still unsettled, the Superintendent of Customs shall postpone the insertion of the same in his books.

Art. XLIV. Upon all damaged goods a fair reduction of duty shall he allowed proportionate to their deterioration. If any disputes arise, they shall be settled in the manner pointed out in the clanse of this Treaty having reference to articles which pay duty ad vlorem.

Art. XLV.-British merchants who may have imported merchandise into any of the open ports, and paid the duty thereon, if they desire to re-export the same, shall be entitled to make application to the Superintendent of Customs, who, in order to prevent fraud on the revenue, shall cause examination to be made by suitable officers, to see that the duties paid on such goods, as entered in the Custom-house books, correspond with the representations made and that the goods remain with their original marks unchanged. He shall then make a memorandum of the port clearance