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NUMBER 1907/17.

RUSSIA (Chinese Eastern Railway Company) AND CHINA. Agreement in regard to the working of the telegraph lines of the Chinese Eastern Railway.*-October 7, 1907.

Agreement made the 1-st day of the 9-th moon of the 33-rd year of the reign of Kwang-Hsu corresponding with the 7-th day of October 1907 between the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration (hereinafter called the Telegraph Administration) of the one part and the Chinese Eastern Railway Administration (hereinafter called the Railway Administration) of the other part.

Whereas the forwarding or permitting others to forward public telegraph messages within the Empire of China is an Imperial prerogative administered by the Telegraph Administration,

and whereas the concession granted by the Imperial Chinese Government to the Railway Administration permits the latter to erect and work such telegraph lines as may be necessary for the working of its railway system, restricting, however, the use of such telegraph lines to the special requirements of the railway service,

and whereas it is considered to be in the mutual interests of the two Administrations to have an understanding regarding the working of the telegraph lines within the sphere comprised under the concession granted to the Railway Administration,

It is therefore mutually agreed upon between the parties hereto, each of them agreeing for and in respect of the acts and observances in and by this agreement made and expressed to be made obligatory upon it, as follows:

ARTICLE 1.-A. In order to facilitate the exchange of telegraphic traffic, the Telegraph Administration will connect the more important railway stations with its own local telegraph stations.

B. At the actual railway stations the Railway Administration undertakes to accept and transmit telegraph messages from the public and will, for those messages destined for places on the railway, or within the Russian Empire, when forwarded exclusively over the Railway and Russian Telegraph lines, charge such rates as may be fixed by the Russian Government, but on all such traffic (both forwarded and received) the Railway Administration will credit the Telegraph Administration a terminal fee of two Mexican Dollar cents per word, it being, however, understood that messages dealing exclusively with the railway service are exempt from all tax, as well as messages to or from Russian telegraph stations transiting the Chinese Eastern Railway telegraph system.

C. All other traffic handed in at the railway stations will be transmitted to the Telegraph Administration's nearest public telegraph station, and on such traffic

*Text as printed in Soglashenia, p. 57.

In connection with this agreement see also that of May 23, 1907 (No. 1907/4, ante), and Note to this document, post, p. 681.

(as well as on that under B specified traffic if handed over to the Telegraph Administration) the Railway Administration will credit the Telegraph Administration full further transmission less five Mexican Dollar cents per word, these five cents being considered as the fee due to the Railway Administration for handling this traffic.

D. The Telegraph Administration will at its various public offices accept telegrams for all places on the railway and will, at its nearest telegraph station, transmit such messages to the Railway Administration for further transmission and credit it five Mexican Dollar cents per word for all such traffic.

ARTICLE II.-The Railway Administration undertakes under no circumstances to establish competition, by lower rates or other means, against the Telegraph Administration, except for traffic destined for those places which are specified in Article I under B when forwarded exclusively over the Railway and the Russian lines.

ARTICLE III.-The rules laid down in the International Telegraph Convention and the Service Regulations attached thereto as to the general treatment of telegraphic messages shall be followed by the contracting parties with regard to all messages handled by them.

ARTICLE IV-Special accounts of all telegraphic traffic exchanged shall be kept at the stations where such exchange takes place, these accounts to be compared and checked daily.

All telegrams referring to the service or to the settlement of accounts shall be transmitted free of charge.

The settlement of accounts shall take place at the end of each month, and the resulting balance shall be paid two months after the end of the month in account to the Railway Administration in Harbin or to the Telegraph Administration in Shanghai.

The month shall be reckoned according to the European Calendar.

ARTICLE V. The collection of charges at all the stations as well as the liquidation of the mutual accounts shall be made in Mexican Dollars.

As regards outpayments to Telegraph Administrations beyond China, the collecting rate shall be agreed upon between the contracting parties during the month preceding each quarter on the basis of the average rate of exchange during the three months preceding that during which the rate is fixed.

ARTICLE VI. During the rebuilding or repairs of any part of the lines. belonging to the Telegraph Administration or when it is found necessary to inspect the lines or telegraph stations near the railway, the employés, whether foreign or Chinese, of the Telegraph Administration shall be entitled to a free pass (1-st, 2-nd, or 3-rd class as the case may be) with all trains over the section under construction, repairs or inspection.

The free pass to be returned to the Railway Administration as soon as the work is completed.

All instruments, stores and telegraph material emanating from and destined for telegraph stations belonging to the Telegraph Administration and situated within the sphere of the railway shall be transported by the Railway Administration at three-quarters of the ordinary freight for their respective kinds, but shall

nevertheless be forwarded with the same despatch and care as if paying full freight.

ARTICLE VII.-Neither the Telegraph Administration nor the Railway Administration will engage into their service any person who is engaged or who has within three months previously been engaged on the staff of the other Administration, without in each case obtaining the special consent of the latter.

ARTICLE VIII.-All telegraph lines constructed by the Russian Government in the North of Manchuria outside the railway territory will, at the signing of the present convention, be handed over to the Telegraph Administration at a price mutually agreed upon between the two contracting parties.

ARTICLE IX. In case that the Japanese and the Russian railway system or railway telegraphs in Manchuria should be connected, it is understood that the Railway Administration will only allow bona fide railway service telegrams to be exchanged over the two systems.

ARTICLE X.-Should there be any discussion regarding the interpretation of the sense as expressed in this agreement, the English text shall, in all cases, be held as the correct one.

The present agreement shall come into force from the 1-st of November 1907 and will remain in force until twelve months after one of the contracting parties shall have given notice of the intention to modify or to abrogate it.

This agreement shall be confirmed by the Russian Minister to Peking and the Chinese Foreign Office.

In witness whereof the undersigned duly authorized to this effect have signed the present agreement.

Done at Peking in the English language and in the Chinese language. Two expeditions, duly compared and found to be in agreement, have been signed in each of these languages on the 7-th day of the month of October 1907 corresponding with the 1-st day of the 9-th moon of the 33-rd year of the reign of KwangHsu.

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With the text of this agreement as given in Soglashenia is printed the following letter to the Russian Minister in behalf of the Chinese Telegraph Administration:

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"Sir:

"In connection with the Telegraph Convention made between the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration and the Russian Chinese Eastern Railway Administration, which

convention was ratified by Your Excellency and the Wai-wu-pu on the 15th of October, 1907, I hereby on behalf of the Director General of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration beg to confirm the additional verbal arrangement made regarding the future working of the two existing Harbin-Mihailo-Semenovsk telegraph wires, viz.:

"While the two wires in question are the actual property of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration and are under its absolute management and control, it is hereby agreed that if the Railway Administration at a future date should for the sake of the exchange of bona fide service telegrams, consider it necessary to lease one of the two wires, the Telegraph Administration will agree to place one of these wires at the disposal of the Railway Administration on conditions hereafter to be agreed upon between the two parties concerned. "I have the honor, etc.

"(Signed)

F. N. DRESING, "Foreign Adviser and Chief Superintendent Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration."

NUMBER 1907/18.

INTERNATIONAL AND CHINA.

Conventions and declarations of the First and Second Hague Peace Conferences.— July 29, 1899, and October 18, 1907.

[The international acts concluded at the First Peace Conference at The Hague, under date of July 29, 1899, and those concluded at the Second Conference, under date of October 18, 1907, appear not to have such a particular interest in reference to China as to warrant their inclusion in the present compilation. The texts (in English translation) are to be found in The Hague Conventions and Declarations of 1899 and 1907, edited by James Brown Scott (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Division of International Law: New York: Oxford University Press; 1915), and in Malloy, pp. 2016-2057, and 2220-2389. The action taken by the Chinese Government in reference to the several acts of those conferences is indicated by the following table (condensed from those given in Scott, op. cit., pp. 229 and 240):

(I) Convention I of 1899 for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes.†
Signature, July 29, 1899; ratification, November 21, 1904.

Convention I of 1907 for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes.†
Signature, October 18, 1907; ratification, November 27, 1909.

(II) Convention II of 1907 respecting the Limitation of the Employment of Force
for the Recovery of Contract Debts.
Adherence, January 15, 1910.

(III) Convention III of 1907 relative to the Opening of Hostilities.

Adherence, January 15, 1910.

(IV) Convention II of 1899 respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land.

Adherence, June 12, 1907.

(China neither signed nor adhered to the similar convention of 1907.) (V) Convention V of 1907 respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land.

Adherence, January 15, 1910.

(VI) Convention VI of 1907 relating to the Status of Enemy Merchant Ships at the Outbreak of Hostilities.

(China neither signed nor adhered.)

In connection with the conventions for the pacific settlement of international disputes, it is to be noted that China is a party to the following conventional acts with particular Governments: With Brazil, Arbitration Convention, August 3, 1909 (No. 1909/5, post); with the Netherlands, Treaty providing for obligatory arbitration, June 1, 1915 (No. 1915/9, post); with the United States, Arbitration Convention, October 8, 1908 (No. 1908/14, post), and Treaty for the advancement of the general cause of peace, September 15, 1914 (No. 1014/10, post).

(VII) Convention VII of 1907 relating to the Conversion of Merchant Ships into War-Ships.

(China neither signed nor adhered.)

(VIII) Convention VIII of 1907 relative to the Laying of Automatic Submarine Contact Mines.

(IX)

(X)

(China neither signed nor adhered.)

Convention IX of 1907 concerning Bonibardment by Naval Forces in Time of War.
Adherence, January 15, 1910.

Convention III of 1899 for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Prin-
Iciples of the Geneva Convention.

Signature, July 29, 1899; ratification, November 21, 1904.

Convention X of 1907 for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva Convention.

Signature, October 18, 1907, and ratification, November 27, 1909, under reservation of Article 21.

(XI) Convention XI of 1907 relative to certain Restrictions with regard to the Exercise of the Right of Capture in Naval War.

(XII)

(China neither signed nor adhered.)

Convention XII of 1907 relative to the Creation of an International Prize Court. (China neither signed nor adhered.)

(XIII) Convention XIII of 1907 concerning the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval War.

Adherence, January 15, 1910, with reservation of paragraph 2 of Article 14, paragraph 3 of Article 19, and Article 27.

(XIV) Declaration 1 of 1899 to prohibit the Launching of Projectiles and Explosives from Balloons.

Signature, July 29, 1899; ratification, November 21, 1904.

Declaration XIV of 1907 prohibiting the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosives from Balloons.

Signature, October 18, 1907; ratification, November 27, 1909.

(XV) Declaration 2 of 1899 concerning Asphyxiating Gases.

Signature, July 29, 1899; ratification, November 21, 1904.

(XVI) Declaration 3 of 1899 concerning Expanding Bullets.

Signature, July 29, 1899; ratification, November 21, 1909.
(XVII) Final Act of the First International Peace Conference at The Hague.
Signature, July 29, 1899.†

Final Act of the Second International Peace Conference at The Hague,
Signature, October 18, 1907.+]

NUMBER 1907/19.

CHINA.

Experimental regulations for the collection of duty on native and foreign goods shipped to the new ports in Manchuria.*-November 19, 1907.

I. All foreign goods which have paid the regular import duty at Tientsin, New-chwang, Antung, or Dalny, as well as all native goods which have paid the coast-trade half-duty (except such as may be sent into the interior either under transit pass or by paying likin, as may still be done at the discretion of the owner and under the old regulations) and which are intended for transhipment to any of the newly opened ports in Manchuria, will be given a special certificate

* Translation, as printed in For. Rel., 1908, p. 127, from Chinese text.

In connection with these regulations, see the additional agreement between Japan and China, December 22, 1905 (No. 1905/18, ante), particularly Article 1.

The final acts being summaries of the proceedings of the conferences, are not conventional agreements and accordingly are not ratified.

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