Branches in Shanghai on due date shall be available for payment of Imperial Maritime Customs duties at all or any of the treaty ports of China, the authorities of which shall be instructed by Imperial Edict accordingly or shall be available in such other manner as stated in the Bonds.

10.—No further loans shall be issued by the Chinese Imperial Government until a period of six months has elapsed after the issue of the total amount of this loan.

11. All bonds and coupons and payments made and received in connection with the service of this loan shall be exempt from Chinese taxes and imposts forever.

12. All details necessary for the prospectus and connected with the service to the bondholders of the interest and repayments of the principal of this loan, not herein explicitly provided for, shall be left to the arrangement of this Syndicate who shall issue and are hereby authorized to issue a prospectus of the loan as soon as possible after the signing of this agreement. The Imperial Government of China will instruct the Chinese Ministers in London and Berlin in communication with the Commissioner of Chinese Customs in London to co-operate with the representatives of the Syndicate in any matters requiring conjoint action; and the Chinese Minister in Berlin will sign the prospectus of the loan as required by the rules of the Berlin Stock-Exchange.

13. The Syndicate hereby takes the loan firm at the price of ninety-four per cent net on the nominal principal to the Chinese Government and will hold the net proceeds namely fifteen millions and forty thousand pounds sterling to the order of the Chinese Government in London as soon as possible after the signing of this Agreement, and in such instalments and at such dates as the provisions of the Prospectus shall admit. The sum of eight million pounds sterling shall be made so available not later than the sixth day of May

next.

14. In the event of any extraordinary political or financial crisis taking place in Europe within six months by which the markets and the prices of existing Government stocks are so violently affected as to render the successful issue of the balance of this loan impossible on the terms herein named the Syndicate have the right to withdraw from their contract with the Chinese Imperial Government which shall in that case become null and void so far as regards the balance of this loan then unissued.

15. The provisions of this Agreement shall immediately after signature and before the issue to the public of the prospectus of the loan, be confirmed and sanctioned by an Imperial Edict, which shall be officially communicated by the Tsungli Yamen to the Minister for Germany and Chargé d'Affaires for Great Britain in Peking.

16.—The English and German Syndicates shall take the loan in equal shares and without responsibility for each other.

17.-Triplicate sets of this agreement are executed in English and Chinese, one set to be retained by each contracting party. In the event of any doubt arising regarding the interpretation of the contract the English text shall be accepted as the standard.

18. Signed by the contracting parties this 10th day of the second month

of the twenty second year of the Emperor Kuang Hsu, being the twenty third day of March one thousand eight hundred and ninety six Western Calendar.

• Less interest at 5 per cent on £6,000,000 calculated from first April to the first day of the month of its issue, Western Calendar.

The same payment of eighty thousand five hundred and seventy nine pounds six shillings and eight pence shall be repeated on the twentieth day of each month of the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety seven Western Calendar and of each succeeding year until the twentieth day of March one thousand nine hundred and thirty two inclusive that being the last payment when the loan will be extinguished.

(Sgd.) E. G. Hillier. (Sgd.) FRANZ Urbig.

NUMBER 1896/3.

DENMARK (Great Northern Telegraph Company), GREAT BRITAIN (Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Company, Ltd.) AND CHINA.

Convention regulating the relations between the Chinese Telegraph Administration and the companies.*-July 11, 1896.

THE Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration, hereinafter called the Administration, on the one part, and the Great Northern Telegraph Company of

*Text as printed in Hertslet, p. 1140. Printed also in Recueil, p. 183. In connection with this convention see the following telegraph conventions: With Great Northern, May

Copenhagen, and the Eastern Extension, Australasia, and China Telegraph Company (Limited), hereinafter called the Companies, on the other part, being desirous of facilitating international telegraphic communication, have decided to conclude a Convention, with a view to regulate the relations between the Administration and the Companies. Consequently, the following stipulations have been agreed on, and, under date below given, signed by the Administration represented by its Director-General Sheng Hsuen Huai, and by the Companies represented by their respective managers in China, viz., Mr. J. Henningsen and Mr. W. Judd, all three duly furnished with full and special powers for this purpose.

ARTICLE I.-1. The total charge per word fixed in francs in the annexed Table stipulated in Article XI of the present Convention for telegrams exchanged terminally between China, on the one side, and Europe (Russia excepted), America, and, when transiting Europe, all other countries beyond Europe on the other side, is to be the same by the routes of the Companies viâ India (Madras), and viâ Russia in Asia, as by the routes of the Administration viâ Russia in Asia.

2. This equalisation of total charges shall be effected by the necessary regulation of the Administration's terminal charge viâ Russia in Asia, and of the Companies' cable charges respectively between China and India (Madras), and between China and Russia in Asia.

3. For the same telegrams as described under Section I in this Article viâ other routes, present and future, across the land frontiers of China the Administration undertakes, when concluding, renewing, or revising Telegraph Conventions, to fix their proportion of the total charges in such manner that the total charges collected for the said telegrams viâ such routes at the time of the concluding, renewing, or revising of such Conventions shall in no case be lower than the total charges collected for the same telegrams when exchanged by the normal routes above described under Section 1 of this Article.

The Companies on their side undertake a corresponding obligation for the same telegrams viâ all routes, present or future, established beyond the termini of their systems in India and in Russia in Asia.

4. The stipulations under Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this Article shall apply equally to telegrams exchanged terminally between the British Colony of Hong Kong, on the one side, and Europe (Russia excepted), America, and, transiting Europe, all other countries beyond Europe on the other side.

5. With regard to the telegrams specified under Sections 1, 3, and 4 of this Article transmitted by other routes, present or future, than those specified under Sections 1 and 3 of this Article, the Administration and the Companies reciprocally undertake to do all in their power to protect the joint interests established by the present Convention, and to carry to the Joint Purse stipulated in Article II of the present Convention all revenues accruing to the Administration or to the Companies from the said traffic coming under Sections 1 and 3 of this Article,

13, 1897 (No. 1897/3, post); with Great Northern and Eastern Extension, October 26, 1900 (No. 1900/6, post); with Great Northern, and with Eastern Extension, October 22, 1902. See also the agreement of the British Government with the Eastern Extension, April 23, 1901 (No. 1901/1, post). See also Note to this document, post, p. 67.

and passing any of their lines, excepting the revenue accruing to their lines in Europe.

II.-1. The total revenue of the proportions of the total charges of the Administration and of both Companies for all telegrams coming under Article I, Sections 1, 3, and 5, as fixed in the Table stipulated in Article XI of the present Convention, whichever be the route followed, shall be carried to a Joint Purse account and divided between the Contracting Parties in the following proportion, viz. :

One-third to the Administration, one-third to each of the two Companies,. provided always that each of the Contracting Parties shall bear its own working

expenses.

2. Considering this division of revenue the Administration undertakes to levy no additional terminal charge for telegrams specified in Section 1 of Article I of the present Convention, forwarded viâ the cables of the Companies. This also applies to the same telegrams transmitted by the existing route via Saigon-Moulmein, as defined in the Table stipulated in Article XI of the present Convention.

3. The Administration, as well as the Companies, shall maintain their sections of the routes mentioned in Article I of the present Convention in good condition.

III.-The Companies renounce the special charges hitherto levied on their telegraph lines by land and sea between the Kowloon boundary and Hong Kong, in accordance with the Agreement dated the 21st January, 1884, between the Administration and the Eastern Extension, Australasia, and China Telegraph Company (Limited); and the Administration renounces the special charges hitherto levied on their telegraph lines by land and sea between Woosung and Shanghai and between Sharp Peak and Foochow, in accordance with the Agreement dated the 19th May, 1883, between the Administration and the Great Northern Telegraph Company of Copenhagen, and in accordance with Agreements dated the 7th May, 1883, and the 17th October, 1884, between the Administration and the Eastern Extension, Australasia, and China Telegraph Company (Limited).

IV.-1. The collection of the charges mentioned in Article I of the present Convention shall take place at the same rate of exchange of the coin in which the charges are collected by the Administration and by the Companies at their stations in China and at Hong Kong.

2. To this end the Administration and the Companies shall annually at the end of the foreign calendar year determine the average value of that coin in francs, and this value shall serve as the rate of exchange for the collection of charges and for the settlement of accounts during the year following.

3. Should the Administration and the Companies be unable to agree on the average value of that coin in francs, the question shall be referred for settlement to the Manager of one of the leading foreign banks at Shanghai.

V. For telegrams transiting China, and exchanged between Europe (Russia excepted), America, and, when transiting Europe, all other countries beyond Europe, on the one side, and all other countries on the other side, the Administra

tion undertakes, when concluding, renewing, or revising Telegraph Conventions, to fix a transit charge which shall not be less than its terminal charge at the time. collected for telegrams described under Sections 1 and 3 of Article I of the present Convention.

VI. The Contracting Parties recognise the principle of collecting charges and settling accounts at the actual silver equivalent of international charges fixed in gold, and undertake in each case when so requested by the other Administrations concerned with whom they have concluded Telegraph Conventions, also to apply this principle to the collection and settlement of such international charges. VII. For international telegrams exchanged by the Companies' cable routes with other countries than those specified in Article I of the present Convention, the Administration undertakes to establish an uniform terminal charge in francs, which shall not be higher than the average of the terminal charges which are fixed, or shall be fixed, for such traffic when sent by the other telegraph routes of China.

VIII.-1. The Administration and the Companies undertake to fix equal charges on their respective lines between Shanghai, Foochow, Amoy, Hòng Kong, for telegrams exchanged terminally between these ports.

2. The Administration as well as the Companies undertake to transmit between all the said ports all terminal telegrams handed to their offices, and the total charges collected for these telegrams by the two Contracting Parties shall be divided in the following manner, viz. :—

The Administration's share is the total of the charges collected for all telegrams exchanged terminally between Shanghai and Foochow, between Shanghai and Amoy, and between Foochow and Amoy.

The Company's share is the total of the charges collected for all telegrams exchanged terminally between Hong Kong, on the one side, and Amoy, Foochow, and Shanghai on the other side.

3. International telegrams other than those provided for in Article II of the present Convention, and which pass between the above four stations, are not comprised in the division stipulated in the present Convention, but each of the Contracting Parties retains its own revenue for such telegrams. However, they agree to fix equal charges for such telegrams.

IX. 1. The Administration and the Companies shall at all their controlling stations keep correct abstracts of all telegrams specified in Article II and in Article VIII of the present Convention.

2. A Controller of the Administration at the Companies' stations at Shanghai, Foochow, Amoy, and Hong Kong, and a Controller of the Companies at the Administration's controlling stations, present and future, shall have free admittance to the offices, in order to check and control the correctness of the journals, abstracts, and accounts as far as necessary for the purposes of the present Convention.

3. The appointment of Controllers is in each case subject to the approval respectively of the Administration or the Companies to whom they are accredited, which shall also have the right to demand their recall if considered necessary.