Directory_and_Chronicle_1931 — Page 263

TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND SIAM

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nationality, it must previously come to an understanding with the French Govern- ment.

So far as the Provinces of Siem-Reap, Battambang, and Sesupon are concerned, the Siamese Government undertakes to keep there none but the Police Contingents necessary for the maintenance of order. These contingents shall be recruited exclusively on the spot, from among the native inhabitants."

VII.-In future, in the Siamese portion of the Mekong Basin, if the Royal Government wishes to construct ports, canals, railways (especially railways intended to connect the Capital with any point in that basin), it will come to an agreement with the French Government, if such works cannot be exclusively executed by Siamese and with Siamese capital. The same would naturally apply to the working of the said enterprises. With regard to the use of the ports, canals, and railways in the Siamese portion of the Mekong Basin, as well as in the rest of the Kingdom, it is understood that no differential rights shall be established, contrary to the principle of commercial equality included in the Treaties signed by Siam.

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VIII. In execution of Clause VI. of the Convention of October 3, 1893, plots of land of a superficial area to be determined shall be ceded by the Siamese Govern- ment to the Government of the Republic at the following points situated on the right bank of the Mekong:-Xieng-Kheng, Mong-Kheng, Mong-Sing; on the right or left bank-Mong-Dahan, Kemmarat, and the mouth of the Nam-Mong. The two Gov- ernments will come to an understanding to clear the course of the Nam-Moun, be- tween its confluents with the Mekong and Pimun, of the obstacles which hinder navigation. In case of those works being found impossible to execute, or too costly, the two Governments will concert together for the establishment of communication by land between Pimun and Mekong. They will also come to an understanding for the construction between Bassak and the frontier of Louang-Prabang, of the railway lines which may be recognised as necessary owing to the innavigability of the Mekong.

IX.-It is from the present moment agreed that the two Governments will facilitate the establishment of a railway connecting Pnom Penh and Battanbang. The construction and working shall be undertaken either by the Governments themselves, each undertaking the portion which is on its territory, or by a Franco-Siamese Com- pany accepted by the two Governments. The two Governments are agreed on the necessity of carrying out work for the improvement of the course of the river between the Great Lake and Battanbang. With that object in view, the French Government is ready to place at the disposal of the Siamese Government the technical agents it may require, both for the execution and maintenance of the said works.

X.-The Government of his Majesty the King of Siam accepts the list of the French protegés such as they exist at the present moment, with the exception of the persons whose licences may be recognised by both parties as having been illegally obtained. A copy of these lists will be communicated to the Siamese authorities by the French authorities. The descendents of the protegés thus maintained under French jurisdiction shall not have the right to claim their licence if they do not be- long to the category of persons described in the following Clause of the present Convention.

XI.-Persons of Asiatic origin born in a territory subject to the direct domina- tion, or placed under the Protectorate of France, except those who took up their residence in Siam previous to the time when the territory on which they were born was placed under that domination, or that Protectorate, shall have the right to French protection. French protection will be granted to the children of those persons, but it shall not extend to their grandchildren.

XII.-So far as concerns the jurisdiction to which, for the future and without -exception, all French subjects and all French protegés shall be subjected to in Siam, the two Governments agree to substitute for the existing regulations the following:

1. In criminal matters, French subjects or French protegés shall only be amenable to French judicial authority.

2. In civil matters, all actions brought by a Siamese against a Frenchman or French protegé, shall be heard before the French Consular Court. All