84
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, shall be assumed as the value of the goods.
To fix the taro on any article, such as teu-if the English Merchant cannot agree with the cus tom-house officer, then each party shall choose so many chests out of every hundred, which being tared,
EXTRAORDINARY.
XIII. Disputes between British Subjects and Chinese. WHENEVER a British subject has reason to com- plain of a Chinese, he must first proceed to the will thereupon inquire into the merits of the case, Consulate, and state his grievance. The Consul and do his utmost to arrange it amicably. In like manner, if a Chinese have reason to complain of a British subject, he shall no less listen to his com-
first weighed in gross, sharts shall be plaint and endeavor to settle it in a friendly man-
and the average tare upon assumed as the tare upon the whole, and upon this principle shall the tare be fixed upon all other goods in packages.
If there should still be any disputed points which cannot be settled, the English Merchant may ap- peal to the 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 on the same day, or it will not be regarded. While such points are still open, the Superintendent of Customs will delay to insert the same in his books, thus affording an opportunity that the merits of the case may be duly
tried and sifted.
VIII Manner of paying the Duties.
Ir is herein-before provided that every English vessel that enters any one of the five Ports, shall pay all Duties and Tonnage Dues before she be permitted to depart The Superintendent of Cu- stoms will select certain Shroffs, or banking esta blishments of known stability, to whom he will give licences, authorizing them to receive Duties from the English Merchants on behalf of Government, and the receipt of these Shroffs for any moneys paid them shall be considered as a government Voucher. In the paying of these duties different kinds of foreign money may be made use of, but as foreign money is not of equal purity with sycee silver. the English Consuls appointed to the diffe- rent ports will, according to time, place, and cir cumstances, arrange with the Superintendents of Customs at each, what coins may be taken in pay ment, and what per centage may be necessary to make them equal to standard or pure silver.
IX. Weights and Measures.
ner. If an English merchant have occasion to dress the Chinese authorities, he shall send such ad- dress through the Consul, who will see that the language is becoming; and if otherwise, will direct it to be changed, or will refuse to convey the ad- dress. If unfortunately any disputes take place of such a nature that the Consul cannot arrange them amicably, then he shall request the assistance of a Chinese officer that they may together examine in- to the merits of the case, and decide it equitably. Regarding the punishment of English criminals, the English Government will enact the laws necessa- ry to attain that end, and the Consul will be empowered to put them in force; and regarding the punishment of Chinese criminals, these will be tried and punished by their own laws, in the way provided for by the correspondence which took place at Nanking after the concluding of the peace, XIV. British Government Cruizers
anchoring within the Ports.
An English government cruizer will anchor within each of the five Ports, that the Consul may have the means of better restraining sailors and others, and preventing disturbances. But these government cruizers are not to be put on the same footing as merchant vessel, for as they bring no merchandize and do not come to trade, they wil
of course pay neither dues nor charges. The resi- dent Consul will keep the Superintendent of Cus- toms duly informed of the arrival and departure of such government cruizers, that he may take his measures accordingly.
IV. On the Security to be given for British Merchant Vessels.
SETS of balance yards for the weighing of goods,glish Vessel entered the Port of Canton, that a It has hitherto been the custom, when an En- of money weights, and of measures, prepared in exact conformity to those hitherto in use at the custom-house of Canton, and duly stainped and sealed in proof thereof, will be kept in possession of the Superintendent of Customs, and also at the
British Consulate, at each of the five Ports, and these shall be the standards by which all duties shall be charged, and all sums paid to government. In case of any dispute arising betwen British Mer- chants and Chinese Officers of Customs regarding the Weights or Measures of goods, reference shall be made to these standards, and disputes decided accordingly,
X Lighters or Cargo Boats. WHENEVER any English merchant shall have to load or discharge cargo, he may hire whatever kind of Lighter or Cargo-boat he pleases, and the sum to be paid for such boat can be settled between the parties themselves without the interference of Go- vernment. The number of these boats shall not be limited, nor shall a monopoly of them be gran- ted to any parties. If any smuggling take place in them, the offenders will of course be punished ac. cording to law Should any of these boat-people, while engaged in conveying goods for English Mer- chants, fraudulently abscond with the property, the Chinese authorities will do their best to apprehend them; but at the same time, the English Merchants must take every due precaution for the safety of their goods.
XI. Transhipment of Goods. No English merchant ships may tran-ship goods without special permission: should any urgent case happen where tran-shipment is necessary, the cir cumstances must first be transmitted to the Consul who will give a certificate to that effect, and the Superintendent of Customs will then send a Special officer to be present at the tran-shipment. If any one presumes to tran-ship without such per- mission being asked for and obtained, the whol of the goods so illicitly tran-shipped, will be con- fiscated.
XII. Subordinate Consular Officers. Ar any place selected for the anchorage of the English merchant ships, there may be appo subordinate consular officer of approved go con duct to exercise due control over the sear others. He must exert himself to
rels between the English seamen and
the utmo importance. Shout
kind un anner
take ace.
his best to an
0 on shore to walk
to recompany them.
Chinese Hong-Merchant stood security for her, and all duties and charges were paid through such Se curity Merchant. But these Security Merchants being now done away with, it is understood that the British Consul will henceforth be security for all British merchant ships entering any of the
aforesaid five Ports.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, VICTORIA Hongkong July 21st. 1843. General Order by His Excellency the Governor &c.
THE Barracks at West Point being about to be vacated by the Wing of Her M's
der that the Ground in the neighbourhood 55th Regiment now stationed there—in or-
may be levelled and drained agreeable to the recommendation of the medical Committees which have lately assembled to enquire in- to the cause of the prevailing sickness at that location His Excellency the Gover nor is pleased to direct that the barrac be placed in charge of Captain Ed the Assistant Quartermaster General, and that, as a temporary measure, an establish- ment of seven (7) Chinese Watchmen on the pay of $6 each per mensem shall be maintained for the safety of the Buildings and Barrack Furniture. ·
rds
By Order. GT BROOKE
L. H. M. 55 Regt. Military Secretary,
70 we had only time to ins
endatory of the new which reached us
In our short parag Chinese Tariff. just on the
After atter reason to alle sed and but
In the Chinese Tariff we have no aiming at incompatible ends, as in most European Tariffs. We do not see as is ordinarily the gase, a scale of duties, part of which for revenue purposes. are imposed for protective objects, and part
In framing the Chinese Tariff reference has been had to vital truths, and general principles, as educed by the soundest philosophy of political and social economy. The congruity and unity of its purpose-the co-herence of its parts, and its simplicity as a whole, renders this strikingly apparent.
To illustrate our position, we may say, its purpose is the only legitimate one which can justify the levying of any duty, viz; ro- venue. Every part of this Tariff having that single object in view and none other. It is soul-gladdening to perceive that the selfish influences of Western Civilization are as yet unknown to the Commercial le- gislation of China. Here we have no at tempt to bolster up oligarchic interests, nor sickly manufactures, the reckless disregard of the claims of millions for the sake of a few.
Then as to its simplicity-it contains only forty eight items. Our own Tariff before its revision by Sir Robert Peel, specifically taxed Eleven hundred and fifty two articles. With all the late important ameliorations in the British Tariff there is still sufficient to cause its just condemnation, not only for its false principles, but also for its length and complexity.
We are pleased to see that our recom- mendation of assimilating, if possible the new Chinese, to the plan of the Prussian Tariff has been, pursued(*). In both the a maximum duty. In both the assessments principle has been to charge ten per cent as
are few, in the Prussian forty three, in the Chinese forty eight, and in each the unit of charge (les unites sur lesquelles portent les DROITS as the French say in their Tariff) is weight, except that in the Chinese Tariff the elements of number and value are in a few cases judiciously substituted, but only where strict adherence to the Prus- sian system would have operated disadvan- geously to British interests; as has of late been found when exporting heavy cotton concessions made by this Treaty may be in goods to the Zoll Verein. The value of the
some measure judged of, when we recollect vernment have been endeavouring, (the last for the last eighteen months the Home Go-
accounts report unsuccesfully) to conclude, a Commercial Treaty with Portugal, by missible at more than double the duties which British Manufactures should be ad-
levied by the Chinese Tariff; and so much was this considered a boon, that the British Goverment offered, so far to reciprocate as to reduce the duty on the staple of Portu- gal-WINE by some three fifths.
It is almost to be wished that China had stipulated for a general diminution of the
ormons duties wnich we now levy on her products, or some equivalent concession on her Staple, TEA But her contempt of foreign relations and inter-national commu- nion forbade such requirements from us.
The publication at home of the Chinese Tariff will diffuse the liveliest satisfaction. The free trader will exult in the practical adopt n of the true principles of Political Economy by one third of the Human race ommercial relations with the other (†) The Anti Corn law leag Dumphantly to the free a
the Chie
officers will 4
may
to the kal
ft and for which it con agrously with most of the existing
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