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or between these two Powers and China. Copies of the aforesaid arrangements have been exchanged between Russia and Japan.

ART. III.-In case any event of such a nature as to menace the abovementioned status quo should be brought about, the two High Contracting Parties will in each instance enter into communication with each other, for the purpose of agreeing upon the measures that they may judge it necessary to take for the maintenance of the said status quo.

In faith of which the undersigned, duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this convention and set their seals thereto.

Done at St. Petersburg, June 21 (July 4), 1910, corresponding to the 4th day of the 7th month of the forty-third year of Meiji.

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In connection with this convention, see the Treaty of peace between Japan and Russia, September 5, 1905 (No. 1905/8, ante), and the treaty between Japan and China, December 22, 1905 (No. 1905/18, ante): see also the Russo-Japanese political conventions of July 30, 1907 (No. 1907/11, ante), and July 3, 1916 (No. 1916/9, post).

The following is the translation (as printed in Am. Int. Law Journal, Supplement, 1910, p. 279) of the note addressed by the Chinese Government to the several Powers in reference to this convention, under date of July 21, 1910:

"The Imperial Government having carefully perused the new Russo-Japanese Convention, concluded on July 4, 1910, copies of which were handed to the Wai-wu-pu by the Russian and Japanese Ministers, the following acknowledgment, dated July 21, has been sent to them:

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Since the convention expressly states that each of the high contracting parties engage to respect and maintain the treaties, conventions, and other arrangements concluded between China and Japan, between China and Russia, and between Japan and Russia, it therefore accords with and confirms the principles of the engagements made between Japan and Russia by the Treaty of Peace in 1905, and those of the Treaty and Agreement made between China and Japan relating to matters in the three eastern provinces. For by Article 3 of the Russo-Japanese Treaty of Peace, Russia and Japan mutually engage to restore entirely and completely to the exclusive administration of China all portions of Manchuria, and declare that the Imperial Governments have not in Manchuria any territorial advantages or preferential or exclusive concessions in impairment of Chinese sovereignty, or inconsistent with the principle of equal opportunity; and by Article 4 Japan and Russia reciprocally engage not to obstruct any general measures common to all countries which China may take for the development of the commerce and industry of Manchuria. In the same year Japan and China named their plenipotentiaries, and agreed upon and concluded Articles at Peking, based upon the Treaty of Peace concluded at Portsmouth, and relating to matters in the three Manchurian provinces, whereby the opening of Manchuria becomes an accomplished fact.

"The Imperial Government will therefore in the future act in accordance with the principles declared in the Russo-Japanese Treaty of Peace, and execute the provisions of the Treaty and Agreement with Japan, maintaining with increased efforts such matters as measures arising from the exercise of China's rights of sovereignty, the principle of equal opportunity, and the development of the commercial and industrial prosperity of the three Manchurian provinces, with a view to the promotion of the best interests of all parties.'

"A copy of the above acknowledgment has been presented to the governments of all the countries with which China enjoys treaty and diplomatic relations."

NUMBER 1910/2.

BELGIUM (Banque Sino-Belge), FRANCE (Banque de l'Indo-Chine),
GERMANY (Deutsch-Asiatische Bank), GREAT BRITAIN (Chartered
Bank of India, Australia and China, and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation), JAPAN (Yokohama Specie Bank), RUSSIA (Russo-Chinese
Bank), THE NETHERLANDS (Netherlands Trading Society), THE
UNITED STATES (International Banking Corporation) AND CHINA.
Agreement for a loan of taels 3,500,000 to the Shanghai Taotai.—August 4, 1910.
This agreement made between His Honour Tsai Nai-Hwang Taotai of
Shanghai for himself and his successors hereinafter called the Taotai of the one
part and the

Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation,
Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China,

Deutsch-Asiatische Bank,

Russo-Chinese Bank,

Yokohama Specie Bank,

Banque de l'Indo-Chine,

International Banking Corporation,

Netherlands Trading Society,

Banque Sino-Belge,

hereinafter called the Banks of the other part, WITNESSETH AS FOLLOWS:

1.-The Banks agree to lend to the Taotai and the Taotai contracts to borrow from the Banks the sum of Tls. 3,500,000 Shanghai Sycee (Taels Three million Five Hundred Thousand Shanghai Sycee) payment and repayment of the same to be made in Shanghai in Taels of Shanghai Sycee. The proceeds of the Loan will be applied in the first place to the payment of Native Bank Orders in the hands of the Banks issued by the Cheng Yuan, Chien Yü and Chao Kang Banks totalling Tls. 1,399,529.41 as per list handed to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and later checked and adjusted by Messrs. Shao Gin Tow and J. C. Ferguson on behalf of the Taotai, and in the second place to ensure the prompt payment by the above named Native Banks and other Native Banks of dishonoured Native Orders still in the hands of the Banks or foreign firms, and further, to render assistance to the Native money market in order to restore confidence generally.

2. His Excellency Chang Ren-tsing, Viceroy of the Liang Kiang at Nanking, has reported in a Memorial to the Throne the Taotai's proposals to borrow the above sum of Tls. 3,500,000 from the Banks and the purpose for which the money is to be used. An Imperial Edict sanctioning His Honour the Taotai's proposals has been communicated by the Wai Wu Pu to the Legations concerned. 3. The above sum of Tls. 3,500,000 is lent by the Banks in the following proportions:

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4.—The Taotai shall hand to the Banks not later than ten days after date of this Agreement, Bonds in Shanghai Taels of the total amount of the Loan, viz:— Shanghai Tls. 3,500,000.-sealed with the Official Seal of the Taotai, as evidence that he and his successors are bound thereby. The form and amount of the Bonds shall be settled by the Banks in consultation with the Taotai.

5.-In view of this money being lent by the Banks in the interests of the trade of Shanghai the Banks have fixed the rate of interest at 4% per annum to be payable half yearly from the date of this agreement. The principal shall be repaid in four weekly instalments in 1915 as follows:

Tls. 875,000 on or before the 14th July, 1915
Tls. 875,000 on or before the 21st July, 1915
Tls. 875,000 on or before the 28th July, 1915
Tls. 875,000 on or before the 4th August, 1915
completing full repayment on the 4th August, 1915.

Bonds for the amount repaid shall be returned to the Taotai for cancellation.
Interest on above instalments will be allowed for at the rate of 4% per

annum.

6.—The Taotai of Shanghai for himself and his successors hereby unconditionally guarantees and declares himself responsible for the due repayment of the principal and payment of interest on this Loan.

7. Twenty-one copies of this Agreement are executed in English and Chinese, one copy to be retained by the Viceroy, one by the Governor at Soochow, one by the Wai Wu Pu, one by the Taotai, nine by the Banks, and eight by the Legations concerned.

In the event of any question arising as to the meaning of this contract the English text shall rule.

Signed at Shanghai by the contracting parties this Twenty-ninth Day of the Sixth Month of the Second Year of the Emperor Hsuan Tung being the Fourth Day of August Nineteen Hundred and Ten Western Calendar. [Here follow signatures in behalf of the Banks]

[Chinese Seal]

NUMBER 1910/3.

RUSSIA AND CHINA.

Memorandum of agreement concerning the provisional Sungari River trade Regulations, the provisional regulations of the Harbin River customs, the Sansing customs, and the Lahasusu customs barrier.*—August 8, 1910.

According to the terms of the 18th Article of the Russo-Chinese treaty of the 7th year of Kuang Hsü (1881)† the Chinese Board of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Legation at Peking have mutually agreed upon the following memorandum:

ARTICLE I.—The provisional regulations ‡ relating to the inspection of vessels navigating the Sungari River and of goods imported and exported, which are attached to this memorandum, are hereby approved and copies of the same have been drawn up in Chinese, Russian, and English, and signed by duly authorized Chinese and Russian officials who attest their accuracy. If any doubt should in future arise as to their accuracy the English text will be taken as authoritative. (NOTE: Whenever allusion is made in the regulations to the Chinese boundary or to the Russian boundary (zone of) one hundred li or fifty versts, this shall be understood to refer to the boundary between the Chinese and Russian Empires.)

ARTICLE II. Within three weeks after the signing of this memorandum the regulations referred to in Article I shall be published and put into operation by the Harbin commissioner of customs.

ARTICLE III.-During the time when the said regulations are in force if any additions or alterations are to be made, and if special rules have to be published Translation from the Chinese text. Another translation is printed in Customs, vol. I, P. 280. The English text of the provisional regulations, annexed to the agreement, is that of the Harbin customs notification of August 23, 1910 (reprinted in Customs, vol. I, p. 282), which also gives the Chinese and Russian texts. A Russian text is also printed in Soglashenia, p. 102.

In connection with this agreement, see also the experimental regulations for the establishment of customs houses in Manchuria, July 8, 1907 (No. 1907/10, ante).

For the text of the St. Petersburg treaty of 1881, see Customs, vol. I, p. 168, or Hertslet, p. 483.

The regulations thus agreed upon were published in a Customs notification (No. 18) issued by the commissioner of customs at Harbin on August 23, 1910, and became effective August 29, 1910, in substitution for those which had been in force since July 1, 1909, in accordance with the Customs notification (No. 5) issued on June 26, 1909.

By a notification (No. 73) of May 19, 1914, the commissioner at Harbin gave notice, "in accordance with instructions received from the Inspector General of customs, that the said Provisional Regulations will continue in force until the question of their revision shall have been settled by the Governments of China and Russia. From the 7th August next, however, they will be modified to the extent required by the abolition of the Russo-Chinese frontier Free Zone." The commissioner had under date of May 6, 1914 (No. 72), given notice that "the Chinese Government also has now decided on the abolition of the Free Zone. Accordingly, all goods sent from China to places in the former Russian Free Zone, as well as all goods imported from Russia to places in the former Chinese Free Zone, will be liable to Customs Duty and treated in the same way as ordinary Exports and Imports. . .

In further reference to the abolition of the free zone, see Note 2 (on page 650) to the Experimental Regulations for the establishment of customs houses in Northern Manchuria, July 8, 1907 (No. 1907/10, ante).

whether new or extended to apply to the Sungari River, China and Russia will take action after mutual consultation.

ARTICLE IV.-As the Chinese customs station will be established at the port of Harbin within the territory of the Chinese Eastern Railway it is mutually agreed that if in future there shall be important matters requiring mutual consultation no precedent shall be established (for other localities).

ARTICLE V. All materials required for construction and maintenance by the Chinese Eastern Railway shall be passed free of duty by all customs offices on the Sungari River. The articles required for the railway guards shall be included in the above.

ARTICLE VI.—If foodstuffs are shipped in boats by the Sungari River to Harbin for direct export to foreign countries whether in bags or loose, whether transferred directly from the boats to the railway cars or temporarily stored at the Chinese customs house, or in the warehouses under the control of the Chinese Eastern Railway, or in warehouses under the control of the Chinese customs, when these goods pass the branch customs stations of Man-chou-li or Sui-fen-ho, they shall be exempt from a second payment of export duty. The exact method of procedure shall be agreed upon between the commissioner of customs at Harbin and the Chinese Eastern Railway Administration within the present year. All foodstuffs from the river directly exported without storing in warehouses will pay the proper export duty either at Man-chou-li or at the Sui-fen-ho branch customs station. But if after the arrival of the goods at Harbin, they are stored at the customs station, or in the warehouses conrolled by the Chinese customs, or in the warehouses controlled by the Chinese Eastern Railway, they shall pay duties on being landed at the Port of Harbin. On all goods from the Sungari region having through bills of lading for exportation at Manchou-li or Sui-fen-ho any excess export duty shall be returned according to the regulations in force at Man-chou-li and Sui-fen-ho, regardless of whether the goods have or have not been detained at Harbin. But it is noted that up to the present there have been no such goods and therefore it is proper to wait for further investigation of the facts. If there are any such goods, the commissioner of customs and the Chinese Eastern Railway administration will determine the method of procedure.

ARTICLE VII.-All the goods specified in Article 14 of the Regulations for the land Traffic, appended to the St. Petersburg treaty of 1881 shall be exempt from the payment of duty at the customs stations of the Sungari River in accordance with the provisional regulations in force at Man-chou-li and Sui-fen-ho.

ARTICLE VIII.-Up to the end of the present term for navigation tonnage dues shall be collected as before. From the time when the monthly tonnage statements for the use of the shipping during the present period are issued the tax shall be determined by the customs commissioner of Harbin in consultation with the chairman of the Chinese Eastern Railway Steamer Company. The total amount fixed must not be more than one-fourth greater than the actual tonnage receipts in the period commencing with the 14th day of the 5th moon of the 1st year of Hsuan-t'ung, which is June 18, 1909, Russian calendar (i. e.,

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