Railway. When hereafter China constructs a railway to the boundary of the Kowloon territory under British control, arrangements shall be discussed.† Expropriation of natives.—It is further understood that there will be no expropriation or expulsion of the inhabitants of the district included within the extension, and that if land is required for public offices, fortifications, or the like official purposes, it shall be bought at a fair price. Extradition. If cases of extradition of criminals occur, they shall be dealt with in accordance with the existing Treaties between Great Britain and China and the Hong Kong Regulations. Chinese war ships.-The area leased to Great Britain as shown on the annexed map, includes the waters of Mirs Bay and Deep Bay, but it is agreed that Chinese vessels of war, whether neutral or otherwise, shall retain the right to use those waters. This Convention shall come into force on the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, being the thirteenth day of the fifth moon of the twentyfourth year of Kuang Hsü. It shall be ratified by the Sovereigns of the two countries, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in London as soon as possible.§ In witness whereof the Undersigned, duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed the present Agreement. Done at Peking in quadruplicate (four copies in English and four in Chinese) the ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and ninetyeight, being the twenty-first day of the fourth moon of the twenty-fourth year of Kuang Hsü. [L. S.] CLAUDE M. MACDONALD, (Seal of the Chinese Plenipotentiary.) NUMBER 1898/12. GREAT BRITAIN (The Pekin Syndicate, Ltd.) AND CHINA (The Yü-Feng Company). Regulations for mining purposes, iron works, and transporting mine products of all kinds in the Province of Honan.||-June 21, 1898. 1.—The Governor of Honan having sanctioned the request of the Yü-Feng Company for the sole right to work all mines around Huai Ching Fu, and in all the hill country in Honan Province north of the Yellow River, the several See the Canton-Kowloon Railway agreement of March 7, 1907 (No. 1907/2,post). Hertslet cites the treaty of June 26, 1858, and the Hongkong ordinances of 1889 and 1897 (Hertslet, pp. 18, 1130, 1149). § Ratifications exchanged at London, August 6, 1898. Text as reprinted in Rockhill, p. 320, from China, 1899, No. 1, p. 191. In connection with these regulations see the memorandum of agreement with the civil governor of Honan and the Chung Yuan Company, November 9, 1914, printed on concessions granted are now transferred for operation to the Pekin Syndicate for the period of sixty years. Mining engineers shall first be sent to find in what township and hills the mines are situated and what they produce, and make maps thereof with explanations inserted, which shall be submitted to the Governor of Honan that he may see that the proposed works are not injurious to the place; and he shall report thereon to the Tsung-li Yamên for record, and at the same time issue a permit for the mines to be opened without the least delay. If mining lands belong to the people, the lease or purchase shall be made by arrangement with the owners for a reasonable price; if it be Government land the tax to be paid on it shall be double the ordinary land tax for that locality. 2. The Governor of Honan has authorized the Yü-Feng Company to negotiate a foreign loan not to exceed 10,000,000 taels. Should the mining engineers employed find this sum insufficient, the Yü-Feng Company may borrow more only of the Pekin Syndicate. 3. All matters of administration, exploitation, employés and finances shall be controlled by the Board of Directors of the Pekin Syndicate, and the chief of the Yu-Feng Company shall co-operate. The Governor of Honan shall be requested to send officials from time to time to inspect the accounts of receipts. and expenditures. 4. Each mine must have one foreign and one Chinese Manager, the foreigner to control the works, the Chinese to attend to all matters between natives and foreigners. Accounts will be kept by the foreign system; receipts and payments of money to be controlled by the foreign Manager and audited by the Chinese Manager. At all mines Chinese should be employed as much as possible. All salaries to be paid by the Syndicate. 5. When prospecting for mines if there be any boring or sinking of pits to examine mineral deposits an arrangement should first be made with the landowner to compensate him for any crops injured. If a mine be opened on private land an arrangement must be made with co-operation of the local officials to lease or buy the land for a reasonable price fair to both parties as a measure to justice. Wherever land leased or bought for mines contains cemetery or mortuary shrines some plan must be devised to avoid them-there must be no excavation. After mines are opened should there be damage to life or buildings from subsidence in the mines, the Syndicate shall make charitable compensation. 6. Wherever mines are worked there shall be paid yearly to the Chinese Government as producer's tax ("lo-ti-shui ") 5 per cent. on the cost of extracting the output of the mines. From the profits shown by the yearly accounts there shall first be paid 6 per cent. interest on the capital employed, and next 10 per cent. shall be set aside as a sinking fund for yearly repayment of capital and consequent reduction of interest payments to sinking fund ceasing when the F. 1210, post, in Note to the final agreement with the same parties, May 7, 1915 (No. 1915/6). In regard to the concessions of the Peking Syndicate in the Province of Shansi, see the agreement of May 21, 1898, attached to the Redemption Agreement of January 21, 1908 (No. 1908/2, post). invested capital is wholly repaid; and from the remaining net profit 25 per cent. shall be paid to the Chinese Government, and the remainder shall go to the Syndicate for its own disposition. In future, wherever foreign capital is used to work coal and iron mines in China this rule for a 5 per cent. Government tax on the output shall be enforced, so that all may be treated alike. This capital being money lent by merchants for mining purposes, the Chinese Government will not in any way be responsible for losses incurred in the business. 7. As the Syndicate will work mines in several places, the accounts and profits of each mine must be kept distinct from the others. The gains of one mine should not be made to off-set the losses of another, and so cause the Government income to suffer reduction. 8. All machinery, materials, and supplies needed for the mines shall, on importation, be subject to the rules in force with the Kai-Ping and other mining Companies, and pay one full duty and a-half to the Maritime Customs, and shall be exempt from all inland likin taxes. The products of the mines, when exported from a sea-port, shall pay export duty according to the Customs Tariff. 9. The Syndicate is to control the mines for sixty years, on expiration of which term all the mines of the Syndicate, whether new, or old, profitable or not, shall, with all plant, materials, buildings, lands, railways, bridges, and all property acquired by the capital of the mines, be handed over gratis to the Chinese Government, and in due time the Yü-Feng Company shall request the Governor of Honan to send deputies to take delivery. 10.—It is important that at each mine measures should be taken to prevent discord between officials and people. For this purpose, the Yü-Feng Company should request the Governor to appoint a deputy, and the Syndicate should nominate one of the gentry. The salaries of both to be paid by the Syndicate. 11.-On first opening the mines foreigners must of course be employed as mining engineers and foremen, but later on the Yü-Feng Company and the Syndicate should arrange to select for such positions any Chinese who may be proficient in mining, engineering, or managing work. For subordinate positions of little responsibility Chinese should be entirely employed, and Honan natives as much as possible, so as to encourage improvement. 12. The miners employed should be chiefly Honan men, and should be paid fair wages. After the mines are open, the Yü-Feng Company and the Syndicate should select from European and American Mining Regulations suitable ones to apply to questions of compensation to miners for injuries while at work, to pensions for the aged after long service, the limit of daily working hours, &c., and obtain for such Regulations the approval of the Governor. 13.-In opening the mines the Syndicate shall establish a school of engineering and mining in some locality convenient to the mines, and there shall be selected twenty or thirty promising youths by the local officials and gentry to study in this school under foreign instructors, and thus prepare for future employment on railways and in mines. The expenses for this school to be met. by the Syndicate. 14. The 10,000,000 silver taels to be loaned to the Yü-Feng Company by the Pekin Syndicate is an estimated sum. After the capital necessary for open ing each mine has been supplied by the Syndicate, the Syndicate will be authorized to print share certificates and conditions for the capital furnished, and fix the time of sale. Chinese merchants who apply for shares within the fixed time shall be allowed to buy of shares for sale any number they wish. 15.-Chinese merchants who wish to buy shares may get them from the Yü-Feng Company, who will procure them at current market rates, or they may themselves buy or sell the shares at pleasure. If any Chinese gentry or merchant shall, within the term of sixty years, acquire three-fourths of all the shares of any one mine, that mine may then be redeemed from the Syndicate, and the Yü-Feng Company shall report upon samé, and direct that shareholder to take charge of the mine. 16. If, within the area authorized for opening mines, there be mines already worked by the people, such private mines shall not be appropriated, but if a proprietor be willing to lease or sell his mine, the Yü-Feng Company and the Syndicate shall offer a reasonable price for it, but no compulsion shall be used. 17. Whenever it may be necessary for any mine to make roads, build bridges, open or deepen rivers or canals, or construct branch railways to connect with main lines, or with water navigation to facilitate transport of Honan coal, iron, and all other mine products from the province, the Syndicate, on reporting to the Governor of Honan, is authorized to proceed with the works, using its own capital, without asking for Government funds. Regulations for the branch railways are to be made in due time. Private land required for the works authorized as above, shall be leased or bought according to the rules already in force with other public Companies. No encroachment of private property shall be allowed, and the local authorities must be applied to for protection. 18. At the end of every year a printed account of profit and loss shall be rendered by each mine to the Yü-Feng Company, and each mine shall appoint one Chinese and one foreign auditor to examine the accounts and certify that they are correct; and a general account of profit and loss for all the mines shall be jointly prepared and submitted to the Governor, who will send copies to the Tsung-li Yamên and Board of Revenue for audit. Payments due to the Government shall be reported at same time. 19. These mines being under the sovereignty of China, should China ever be at war with another country the Syndicate will obey the orders of the Chinese Government prohibiting any aid to the enemy. 20. These Regulations shall be made out both in Chinese and foreign text, each party to have a copy for reference. Signed in Peking on the 21st day of June, 1898, being the 3rd day of the 5th month of the 24th year of the Emperor Kuang-Hsu. |