In like manner all charges and complaints of a civil nature brought by Japanese Authorities or subjects in China against Chinese subjects or in respect of Chinese property, shall be heard and determined by the Chinese Authorities.

ARTICLE XXII.-Crimes and offenses.-Japanese subjects charged with the commission of any crimes or offences in China shall be tried, and, if found guilty, punished by the Japanese Authorities according to the laws of Japan.

In like manner Chinese subjects charged with the commission of any crimes. or offences against Japanese subjects in China shall be tried, and, if found guilty, punished by the Chinese Authorities according to the laws of China.

ARTICLE XXIII.-Debts-absconding debtors.-Should any Chinese subject fail to discharge debts incurred to a Japanese subject, or should he fraudulently abscond, the Chinese Authorities will do their utmost to effect his arrest, and enforce recovery of the debts. The Japanese Authorities will likewise do their utmost to bring to justice any Japanese subject who fraudulently absconds or fails to discharge debts incurred by him to a Chinese subject.

ARTICLE XXIV.-Surrender of Japanese and Chinese absconding debtors. If Japanese subjects in China, who have committed offences or have failed to discharge debts and fraudulently abscond, should flee to the interior of China or take refuge in houses occupied by Chinese subjects or on board of Chinese ships, the Chinese Authorities shall, at the request of the Japanese Consul, deliver them to the Japanese Authorities.

In like manner if Chinese subjects in China, who have committed offences or have failed to discharge debts and fraudulently abscond, should take refuge in houses occupied by Japanese subjects in China or on board of Japanese ships in Chinese waters, they shall be delivered up at the request of the Chinese Authorities made to the Japanese Authorities.

ARTICLE XXV.-Most favored nation treatment.-The Japanese Government and its subjects are hereby confirmed in all privileges, immunities and advantages conferred on them by the Treaty stipulations between Japan and China, which are now in force; and it is hereby expressly stipulated that the Japanese Government and its subjects will be allowed free and equal participation in all privileges, immunities and advantages that may have been, or may be hereafter, granted by His Majesty the Emperor of China to the Government or subjects of any other nation.

ARTICLE XXVI.-Revision.—It is agreed that either of the High Contracting Parties may demand a revision of the Tariffs and of the Commercial Articles of this Treaty at the end of ten years from the date of the exchange of the ratifications; but if no such demand be made on either side and no such revision. be effected, within six months after the end of the first ten years, then the Treaty and Tariffs, in their present form, shall remain in force for ten years more, reckoned from the end of the preceding ten years, and so it shall be at the end of each successive period of ten years.

ARTICLE XXVII.-Rules and regulations putting treaty in effect.—The High Contracting Parties will agree upon Rules and Regulations necessary to give full effect to this Treaty. Until such Rules and Regulations are brought into actual operation, the Arrangements, Rules and Regulations subsisting be

tween China and the Western Powers, so far as they are applicable and not inconsistent with the provisions of this Treaty, shall be binding between the Contracting Parties.

ARTICLE XXVIII.-English text authoritative. The present Treaty is signed in the Japanese, Chinese and English languages. In order, however, to prevent future discussions, the Plenipotentiaries of the High Contracting Parties have agreed upon that in case of any divergence in the interpretation between the Japanese and Chinese texts of the Treaty, the difference shall be settled by reference to the English text.

ARTICLE XXIX.-The present Treaty shall be ratified by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan and His Majesty the Emperor of China, and the ratifications. thereof shall be exchanged at Peking as soon as possible, and not later than three months from the present date.§

In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms.

Done at Peking this 21st day of the 7th month of the 29th year of Meiji, corresponding to the eleventh day of the sixth month of the 22nd year of Kuang Hsü.

[L. S.]

[L. S.]

HAYASHI TADASU,

Shoshii, Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Sacred
Treasure, Grand Officer of the Imperial Order of the
Rising Sun, Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Ex-
traordinary.

CHANG YEN HOON,
Minister Plenipotentiary, Minister of the Tsungli-yamen,
holding the rank of the President of a Board and
Senior Vice President of the Board of Revenue.

NUMBER 1896/5.

RUSSIA (Russo-Chinese Bank)* AND CHINA.

Contract for the Construction and Operation of the Chinese Eastern Railway.tSeptember 8, 1896.

Between the undersigned, His Excellency Shu King-chen, Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the Emperor of China, at St. Petersburg, acting by virtue of an Imperial Edict, dated Kuang Hsü, 22nd year, 7th month, 20th day (August 16/28, 1896), of the one part, and the Russo-Chinese Bank, of the other part, it has been agreed as follows:

The Chinese Government will pay the sum of five million Kuping taels

* See Note 1 to this document, post, p. 78.

Translation from the French text as printed in Soglashenia, p. 4. French text printed also in Customs, Vol. I, p. 208; Kent, p. 211; Wang, p. 1. See Note 2 to this document, post, p. 78.

§ Ratifications exchanged at Peking, October 20, 1896.

(Kuping Tls.5,000,000.) to the Russo-Chinese Bank, and will participate in proportion to this payment in the profits and losses of the bank, on conditions set forth in a special contract.

The Chinese Government having decided upon the construction of a railway line, establishing direct communication between the city of Chita and the Russian South Ussuri Railway, entrusts the construction and operation of this railway to the Russo-Chinese Bank upon the following conditions:

1. The Russo-Chinese Bank will establish for the construction and operation of this railway a company under the name of the Chinese Eastern Railway Company.‡

The seal which this Company will employ will be given to it by the Chinese Government. The statutes of this Company will be in conformity with the Russian usages in regard to railways. The shares of the Company can be acquired only by Chinese or Russian subjects. The president of this Company will be named by the Chinese Government, but paid by the Company. He may have his residence in Peking.

It will be the duty of the president to see particularly to the scrupulous fulfilment of the obligations of the Bank and of the Railway Company towards the Chinese Government; he will furthermore be responsible for the relations of the Bank and of the Railway Company with the Chinese Government and the central and local authorities.

The president of the Chinese Eastern Railway Company will likewise be responsible for examining all accounts of the Chinese Government with the Russo-Chinese Bank.

To facilitate local negotiations, the Russo-Chinese Bank will maintain an agent at Peking.

2.—The route of the line will be determined by the deputies of the president (named by the Chinese Government) of the Company, in mutual agreement with the engineers of the Company and the local authorities. In laying out this line, cemeteries and tombs, as also towns and villages, should so far as possible be avoided and passed by.

3.-The Company must commence the work within a period of twelve months from the day on which this contract shall be sanctioned by imperial decree, and must so carry it on that the whole line will be finished within a period of six years from the day on which the route of the line is definitely established and the lands necessary therefor are placed at the disposal of the Company. The gauge of the line should be the same as that of the Russian railways (5 Russian feet-about four feet, two and one-half inches, Chinese).

4. The Chinese Government will give orders to the local authorities to assist the Company to the extent of their ability in obtaining, at current prices, the materials necessary for the construction of the railway, as also laborers, means of transport by water and by land, the provisions necessary for the feeding of men and animals, etc.

The Chinese Government should, as needed, take measures to facilitate such transportation.

See Note 3 to this document, post, p. 84.

5. The Chinese Government will take measures to assure the safety of the railway and of the persons in its service against any attack.

The Company will have the right to employ at will, as many foreigners or natives as it may find necessary for the purpose of administration, etc.

Criminal cases, lawsuits, etc., upon the territory of the railway, must be settled by the local authorities in accordance with the stipulations of the treaties.§ 6. The lands actually necessary for the construction, operation, and protection of the line, as also the lands in the vicinity of the line necessary for procuring sand, stone, lime, etc., will be turned over to the Company freely, if these lands are the property of the State; if they belong to individuals, they will be turned over to the Company either upon a single payment or upon an annual rental to the proprietors, at current prices. The lands belonging to the Company will be exempt from all land taxes (impôt foncier).

The Company will have the absolute and exclusive right of administration of its lands. (La Société aura le droit absolu et exclusif de l'administra tion de ses terrains.)

The Company will have the right to construct on these lands buildings of all sorts, and likewise to construct and operate the telegraph necessary for the needs of the line.

The income of the Company, all its receipts and the charges for the transportation of passengers and merchandise, telegraphs, etc., will likewise be exempt from any tax or duty. Exception is made, however, as to mines, for which there will be a special arrangement.

7. All goods and materials for the construction, operation, and repair of the line, will be exempt from any tax or customs duty and from any internal tax or duty.

8. The Company is responsible that the Russian troops and war material, despatched in transit over the line, will be carried through directly from one Russian station to another, without for any pretext stopping on the way longer than is strictly necessary.

9.*-Passengers who are not Chinese subjects, if they wish to leave the territory of the railway, should be supplied with Chinese passports. The Company is responsible that passengers, who are not Chinese subjects, should not leave the territory of the railway if they do not have Chinese passports.

10.-Passengers' baggage, as well as merchandise despatched in transit from one Russian station to another, will not be subject to customs duties; they will likewise be exempt from any internal tax or duty. The Company is bound to despatch such merchandise, except passengers' baggage, in special cars, which, on arrival at the Chinese frontier, will be sealed by the office of the Chinese Customs, and cannot leave Chinese territory until after the office of the Customs shall have satisfied itself that the seals are intact; should it be established that these cars have been opened on the way without authorization, the merchandise would be confiscated.

* See Note 6 to this document, post, p. 90.

§ See Note 4 to this document, post, p. 88.

See Note 5 to this document, post, p. 90.

See the Agreement of October 7, 1907, in regard to the working of the Railway's telegraph lines (No. 1907/7, post).

Merchandise imported from Russia into China by the railway, and likewise merchandise exported from China into Russia by the same route, will respectively pay the import and export duty of the Chinese Maritime Customs, less onethird.

If merchandise is transported into the interior it will pay in addition the transit duty-equivalent to a half of the import duty collected—which frees it from any further charge.

Merchandise not paying the transit tax will be subject to all the barrier and likin duties imposed in the interior.

The Chinese Government must install customs offices at the two frontier points on the line.†

11. The charges for the transportation of passengers and of merchandise, as well as for the loading and unloading of merchandise, are to be fixed by the Company, but it is obliged to transport free of charge the Chinese official letter post, and, at half price, Chinese land or sea forces and also Chinese war materials.

12. The Chinese Government transfers to the Company the complete and exclusive right to operate the line on its own account and risk, so that the Chinese Government will in no case be responsible for any deficit whatsoever of the Company, during the time allotted for the work and thereafter for a further eighty years from the day on which the line is finished and traffic is in operation. This period having elapsed, the line, with all its appurtenances, will pass free of charge to the Chinese Government.

At the expiration of thirty-six years from the day on which the entire line is finished and traffic is in operation, the Chinese Government will have the right to buy back this line upon repaying in full all the capital involved, as well as all the debts contracted for this line, plus accrued interest.‡

If-in case the profit realized exceeds the dividends allowed to the shareholders-a part of such capital is repaid, that part will be deducted from the price of repurchase. In no case may the Chinese Government enter into possession of this line before the appropriate sum is deposited in the Russian State Bank.

The day when the line is finished and traffic is in operation, the Company will make to the Chinese Government a payment of five million Kuping taels (Kuping Tls. 5,000,000).

Kuang Hsü, 22nd year,
8th month, 2nd day.
(Signed) SHU.

Berlin, August 27/September 8, 1896.
RUSSO-CHINESE BANK
(Signed) ROTHSTEIN.

(Signed) PRINCE OUKHTOMSKY.

See the Experimental Regulations for the establishment of customs houses in North Manchuria, agreed upon by an exchange of notes between the Chinese and Russian Governments, July 6 and 8, 1907 (No. 1907/10, post), and the Provisional Regulations for the working of Chinese customs houses at the stations of Manchuria and Pogranichnaya (Suifenho), May 30, 1908 (attached to No. 1907/10, post).

See Note 7 to this document, post, p. 91.