Ports, on the seaboard, on rivers, inland waterways, land routes or land frontiers, as enumerated in the Hu Pu and Kung Pu Tse Li (Regulations of the Boards of Revenue and Works) and Ta Ch'ing Hui Tien (Dynastic Institutes), may remain; a list of the same, with their location, shall be furnished to the British Government for purposes of record.

Wherever there are Imperial Maritime Custom-Houses, or wherever such may be hereafter placed, Native Custom-Houses may be also established; as well as at any points either on the seaboard or land frontiers.

The location of Native Custom-Houses in the Interior may be changed as the circumstances of trade seem to require, but any change must be communicated to the British Government, so that the list may be corrected; the originally stated number of them shall not, however, be exceeded.

Goods carried by junks or sailing-vessels trading to or from Open Ports shall not pay lower duties than the combined duties and surtax on similar cargo carried by steamers.

Native produce, when transported from one place to another in the Interior, shall, on arrival at the first Native Custom-House after leaving the place of production, pay duty equivalent to the export surtax mentioned in Section 7.

When this duty has been paid, a certificate shall be given which shall describe the nature of the goods, weight, number of packages, &c., amount of duty paid, and intended destination. This certificate, which shall be valid for a fixed period of not less than one year from the date of payment of duty, shall free the goods from all taxation, examination, delay, or stoppage at any other Native Custom-Houses passed en route.

If the goods are taken to a place not in the foreign settlements or concessions of an Open Port, for local use, they become there liable to the Consumption Tax described in Section 8.

If the goods are shipped from an Open Port, the certificate is to be accepted by the Custom-House concerned, in lieu of the export surtax mentioned in Section 7.

Junks, boats, or carts shall not be subjected to any taxation beyond a small and reasonable charge, paid periodically at a fixed annual rate. This does not exclude the right to levy, as at present, tonnage (Chuan Chao) and port dues (Chuan Liao) on junks.

Sec. 4.-Foreign opium duty and present likin-which latter will now become a surtax in lieu of likin—shall remain as provided for by existing Treaties.

Sec. 5. The British Government have no intention whatever of interfering with China's right to tax native opium, but it is essential to declare that, in her arrangements for levying such taxation, China will not subject other goods to taxation, delay, or stoppage.

China is free to retain at important points on the borders of each provinceeither on land or water-offices for collecting duty on native opium, where duties. or contributions leviable shall be paid in one lump sum; which payment shall cover taxation of all kinds within that province. Each cake of opium will have a stamp affixed as evidence of duty payment. Excise officers and police may be employed

in connection with these offices; but no barriers or other obstructions are to be erected, and the Excise officers or police of these offices shall not stop or molest any other kind of goods, or collect taxes thereon.

A list of these offices shall be drawn up and communicated to the British Government for record.

Sec. 6.—Likin on salt is hereby abolished and the amount of said likin and of other taxes and contributions shall be added to the salt duty, which shall be collected at place of production or at first station after entering the province where it is to be consumed.

The Chinese Government shall be at liberty to establish salt reporting offices at which boats conveying salt which is being moved under salt passes or certificates may be required to stop for purposes of examination and to have their certificates visé'd, but at such offices no likin or transit taxation shall be levied and no barriers or obstructions of any kind shall be erected.

Sec. 7.-The Chinese Government may recast the Export Tariff with specific duties as far as practicable, on a scale not exceeding 5 per cent. ad valorem; but existing export duties shall not be raised until at least six months' notice has been given.

In cases where existing export duties are above 5 per cent. they shall be reduced to not more than that rate.

An additional special surtax of one half the export duty payable for the time being, in lieu of internal taxation and likin, may be levied at time of export on goods exported either to foreign countries or coastwise.

In the case of silk, whether hand or filature reeled, the total export duty shall not exceed a specific rate equivalent to not more than 5 per cent. ad valorem. Half of this specific duty may be levied at the first Native Custom-House in the interior which the silk may pass and in such case a certificate shall be given as provided for in Section 3, and will be accepted by the Custom-House concerned at place of export in lieu of half the export duty. Cocoons passing Native Custom-Houses shall be liable to no taxation whatever. Silk not exported but consumed in China is liable to the Consumption Tax mentioned and under conditions mentioned in Section 8.

Sec. 8.-The abolition of the likin system in China and the abandonment of all other kinds of internal taxation on foreign imports and on exports will diminish the revenue materially. The surtax on foreign imports and exports and on coastwise exports is intended to compensate in a measure for this loss of revenue, but there remains the loss of likin revenue on internal trade to be met, and it is therefore agreed that the Chinese Government are at liberty to impose a Consumption Tax on articles of Chinese origin not intended for export.

This tax shall be levied only at places of consumption and not on goods while in transit, and the Chinese Government solemnly undertake that the arrangements which they may make for its collection shall in no way interfere with foreign goods or with native goods for export. The fact of goods being of foreign origin shall of itself free them from all taxation, delay, or stoppage, after having passed the Custom-House.

Foreign goods which bear a similarity to native goods shall be furnished

by the Custom-House, if required by the owner, with a protective certificate for each package, on payment of import duty and surtax, to prevent the risk of any dispute in the interior.

Native goods brought by junks to Open Ports, if intended for local consumption-irrespective of the nationality of the owner of the goods-shall be reported at the Native Custom-House only, where the Consumption Tax may be levied.

China is at liberty to fix the amount of this (Consumption) tax, which may vary according to the nature of the merchandise concerned, that is to say, according as the articles are necessaries of life or luxuries; but it shall be levied at a uniform rate on goods of the same description, no matter whether carried by junk, sailing-vessel, or steamer. As mentioned in Section 3, the Consumption Tax is not to be levied within foreign settlements or concessions.

Sec. 9.-An excise equivalent to double the import duty as laid down in the Protocol of 1901 is to be charged on all machine-made yarn and cloth manufactured in China, whether by foreigners at the Open Ports or by Chinese anywhere in China.

A rebate of the import duty and two-thirds of the Import Surtax is to be given on raw cotton imported from foreign countries, and of all duties, including Consumption Tax, paid on Chinese raw cotton used in mills in China.

Chinese machine-made yarn or cloth having paid excise is to be free of Export Duty, Export Surtax, Coast-Trade Duty, and Consumption Tax. This Excise is to be collected through the Imperial Maritime Customs.

The same principle and procedure are to be applied to all other products of foreign type turned out by machinery, whether by foreigners at the Open Ports or by Chinese anywhere in China.

This stipulation is not to apply to the out-turn of the Hanyang and Ta Yeh Iron Works in Hupeh and other similar existing Government works at present exempt from taxation; or to that of Arsenals, Government Dockyards, or establishments of that nature for Government purposes which may hereafter be erected.

Sec. 10.—A member or members of the Imperial Maritime Customs Foreign Staff shall be selected by each of the Governors-General and Governors, and appointed, in consultation with the Inspector-General of Imperial Maritime Customs to each province for duty in connection with Native Customs Affairs, Consumption Tax, Salt and Native Opium Taxes. These officers shall exercise an efficient supervision of the working of these departments, and in the event of their reporting any case of abuse, illegal exaction, obstruction to the movement of goods, or other cause of complaint, the Governor-General or Governor concerned will take immediate steps to put an end to same.

Sec. 11-Cases where illegal action as described in this Article is complained of shall be promptly investigated by an officer of the Chinese Government of sufficiently high rank, in conjunction with a British officer and an officer of the Imperial Maritime Customs, each of sufficient standing; and in the event of its being found by a majority of the investigating officers that the complaint is well founded and loss has been incurred, due compensation is to be at once

paid from the Surtax funds, through the Imperial Maritime Customs at the nearest open port. The High Provincial Officials are to be held responsible that the officer guilty of the illegal action shall be severely punished and removed

from his post.

If the complaint turns out to be without foundation complainant shall be held responsible for the expenses of the investigation.

His Britannic Majesty's Minister will have the right to demand investigation where from the evidence before him he is satisfied that illegal exactions or obstructions have occurred.

Sec. 12 The Chinese Governent agree to open to foreign trade, on the same footing as the places opened to foreign trade by the Treaties of Nanking and Tientsin, the following places namely:

Ch'angsha in Hunan; ‡

Wanhsien in Szechuen;

Nganking in Anhui;

Waichow (Hui-chow) in Kuangtung; and

Kongmoon (Chiang-mên) in Kuangtung.§

Foreigners residing in these Open Ports are to observe the Municipal and Police Regulations on the same footing as Chinese residents, and they are not to be entitled to establish Municipalities and Police of their own within the limits. of these Treaty ports except with the consent of the Chinese authorities.

If this Article does not come into operation the right to demand under it the opening of these ports, with the exception of Kongmoon, which is provided for in Article X, shall lapse.

Sec. 13.-Subject to the provisions of Section 14, the arrangements provided for in this Article are to come into force on the 1st January, 1904.

By that date all likin barriers should be removed and officials employed in the collection of taxes and dues prohibited by this Article shall be removed from their posts.

Sec. 14. The condition on which the Chinese Government enter into the present engagement is that all Powers entitled to most-favoured-nation treatment in China enter into the same engagements as Great Britain with regard to the payment of surtaxes and other obligations imposed by this Article on His Britannic Majesty's Government and subjects.

The conditions on which His Britannic Majesty's Government enter into the present engagement are:

(1.) That all Powers who are now or who may hereafter become entitled to most-favoured-nation treatment in China enter into the same engagements;

(2.) And that their assent is neither directly nor indirectly made dependent on the granting by China of any political concession, or of any exclusive commercial concession.

Sec. 15. Should the Powers entitled to most-favoured-nation treatment by China have failed to agree to enter into the engagements undertaken by Great Britain under this Article by the 1st January, 1904, then the provisions of the

See Japanese treaty of 1903, Article 10, § 2.

§ See Kongmoon Customs Regulations of March 25, 1904.

Article shall only come into force when all the Powers have signified their acceptance of these engagements.

Sec. 16.-When the abolition of likin and other forms of internal taxation on goods as provided for in this Article has been decided upon and sanctioned, an Imperial Edict shall be published in due form on yellow paper and circulated, setting forth the abolition of all likin taxation, likin barriers and all descriptions of internal taxation on goods, except as provided for in this Article.

The Edict shall state that the Provincial High Officials are responsible that any official disregarding the letter or spirit of its injunction shall be severely punished and removed from his post.

ARTICLE IX.||—The Chinese Government, recognizing that it is advantageous for the country to develop its mineral resources, and that it is desirable to attract foreign as well as Chinese capital to embark in mining enterprises, agree within one year from the signing of this Treaty to initiate and conclude the revision of the existing Mining Regulations. China will, with all expedition and earnestness, go into the whole question of Mining Rules and, selecting from the Rules of Great Britain, India, and other countries, regulations which seem applicable to the condition of China, she will recast her present Mining Rules in such a way as, while promoting the interests of Chinese subjects and not injuring in any way the sovereign rights of China, shall offer no impediment to the attraction of foreign capital or place foreign capitalists at a greater disadvantage that they would be under generally accepted foreign Regulations.

Any mining concession granted after the publication of these new Rules shall be subject to their provisions.

ARTICLE X.-Whereas in the year 1898 the Inland Waters of China were opened to all such steam-vessels, native or foreign, as might be especially registered for that trade at the Treaty ports, and whereas the Regulations dated the 28th July, 1898, and Supplementary Rules dated September, 1898, have been found in some respects inconvenient in working, it is now mutually agreed to amend them and to annex such new Rules to this Treaty. These Rules shall remain in force until altered by mutual consent.

It is further agreed that Kongmoon shall be opened as a Treaty port, and that, in addition to the places named in the special Article of the Burmah Convention of the 4th February, 1897, British steamers shall be allowed to land or ship cargo and passengers, under the same regulations as apply to the "Ports of Call" on the Yang-tsze River, at the following "Ports of Call ": Pak Tau Hau (Pai-t'u k'ou), Lo Ting Hau (Lo-ting k'ou), and Do Sing (Tou-ch'êng); and to land or discharge passengers at the following ten passenger landing stages on the West River:-Yung Ki (Jung-chi), Mah Ning (Ma-ning), Kau Kong (Chiuchiang), Kulow (Ku-lao), Wing On (Yung-an), How Lik (Hou-li), Luk Pu (Lu-pu), Yuet Sing (Yüeh-ch'eng), Luk To (Lu-tu), and Fung Chuen (Fêngch’uan).

See American treaty of 1903, Article 7.

¶ See American treaty of 1903, Article 12, and Japanese treaty of 1903, Article 3. For Regulations and Supplementary Rules, see No. 1898/17, ante. For Kongmoon Customs Regulations, March 25, 1904, see No. 1904/1, post. For West River Regulations, July 30, 1904, see No. 1904/3, post.