664651-1887-Commercial-Treaty-Great-Britain-and-Hellenes — Page 3

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 2ND JULY, 1887.

ARTICLE VI.

No duties of tonnage, harbour, pilotage, lighthouse, quarantine, or other similar or corresponding duties of whatever nature, or under whatever denomination, levied in the name or for the profit of Government, public functionaries, private individuals, corporations, or establishments of any kind, shall be imposed in the ports of the dominions and possessions of either country upon the vessels of the other country which shall not equally and under the same conditions be imposed in the like cases on national vessels in general. Such equality of treatment shall apply reciprocally to the respectivė vessels, from whatever port or place they may arrive, and whatever may be their place of destination.

ARTICLE VII.

In all that regards the coasting trade, the stationing, loading, and unloading of vessels in the ports, basins, docks, roadsteads, harbours, or rivers of the dominions and possessions of the two countries, no privilege shall be granted to national vessels which shall not be equally granted to vessels of the other country; the intention of the Contracting Parties being that in these respects also the respective vessels shall be treated on the footing of perfect equality.

ARTICLE VIII.

Any ship of war or merchant-vessel of either of the Contracting Parties which may be compelled by stress of weather, or by accident, to take shelter in a port of the other, shall be at liberty to refit therein, to procure all necessary stores, and to put to sea again, without paying any dues other than such as would be payable in a similar case by a national vessel. In case, however, the master of a merchant-vessel should be under the necessity of disposing of a part of his merchandize in order to defray his expenses, he shall be bound to conform to the regulations and tariffs of the place to which he may have come.

If any ship of war or merchant-vessel of one of the Contracting Parties should run aground or be wrecked upon the coasts of the other, such ship or vessel, and all parts thereof, and all furniture and appurtenances belonging thereunto, and all goods and merchandize saved therefrom, including any which may have been cast into the sea, or the proceeds thereof if sold, as well as all papers found on board such stranded or wrecked ship or vessel, shall be given up to the owners or their agents when claimed by them. If there are no such owners or agents on the spot, then the same shall be delivered to the British or Hellenic Consul-General, Consul, Vice-Consul, or Consular Agent in whose district the wreck or stranding may have taken place, upon being claimed by him within the period fixed by the laws of the country; and such Consuls, owners, or agents shall pay only the expenses incurred in the preservation of the property, together with the salvage or other expenses which would have been payable in the like case of a wreck of a national vessel.

The goods and merchandize saved from the wreck shall be exempt from all duties of Customs, unless cleared for consumption, in which case they shall pay the same rate of duty as if they had been imported in a national vessel.

In the case either of a vessel being driven in by stress of weather, run aground, or wrecked, the respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents shall, if the owner or master or other agent of the owner is not present, or is present and requires it, be authorized to interpose in order to afford the necessary assistance to their fellow-countrymen.

ARTICLE IX.

All vessels which, according to British law, are to be deemed British vessels, and all vessels which; according to Hellenic law, are to be deemed Hellenic vessels, shall, for the purposes of this Treaty, be deemed British and Hellenic vessels respectively.

ARTICLE X.

The Contracting Parties agree that, in all matters relating to commerce and navigation, any privi- lege, favour, or immunity whatever which either Contracting Party has actually granted or may here- after grant to the subjects or citizens of any other State shall be extended immediately and uncondi- tionally to the subjects or citizens of the other Contracting Party; it being their intention that the trade and navigation of each country shall be placed, in all respects, by the other on the footing of the most favoured nation.

ARTICLE XI.

It shall be free to each of the Contracting Parties to appoint Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice- Consuls, and Consular Agents to reside in the towns and ports of the dominions and possessions of the other. Such Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, however, shall not enter upon their functions until after they shall have been approved and admitted in the usual form by the Government to which they are sent. They shall enjoy all the faculties, privileges, exemptions, and immunities of every kind which are or shall be granted to Consuls of the most favoured nation.