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Regulations for the Enforcement of the Currency Law, January, 1914.

ARTICLE 1.-The National coins must be used as medium in the transaction of any financial dealing in the country. Special regulations in the Currency Regulations must also be observed.

ARTICLE 2.-The Government shall exchange the silver dollars coined by the old mints with the national coins and remint the dollars. Within a certain period, the old dollar shall possess the same value as the yuan, but as to the length of that period, a Provisional Order shall be issued to fix it.

ARTICLE 3.—The Government shall recall all the old silver pieces of the different denominations, old copper pieces and remint them, but within a certain fixed period, the old coins shall be allowed to be circulated at the market prices.

*If the old coins are used to pay taxes, every month all the public offices shall issue notices fixing the current rate of the coins at which the offices shall receive old coins. The offices shall take as the current rate an average of the exchange rates of the previous month. The period for the circulation of the old coins shall be fixed by a Provisional Order.

ARTICLE 5.-If taxes are remitted with silver bullion or if any person wants the Government to mint silver coins for him, in the calculation one dollar shall contain 65.4 candareens. The bullion of other fineness and weight shall be converted according to a table to be attached.

ARTICLE 6.-In the public offices where the receipts and expenditures are calculated in taels, the amount should be converted into the term of yuan in accordance with Article 4. At places where the receipts and disbursements consist of copper coins and cash, the public office shall report to the Ministry of Finance the actual sum of receipts and disbursements with the request for permission to convert the coins into the term of yuan.

ARTICLE 7.-In the collection of various revenues and taxes, Articles 5, 6 and 7 shall be observed. In the calculation, the li shall be the smallest of denominations. All the decimal fractions of the li shall be treated thus:—when the figure is 4, it shall be discarded, and when it is 5, it shall be considered as one to be added to the other integers.

ARTICLE 8.-When the debts among the people are calculated in the term of taels, they should be converted into the term of the national coin. Where the old subsidiary coins are involved, Article 6 shall be observed in the conversion into the national coins. If the sums in the deeds, contracts and promissory notes are not converted into the term of yuan, and if any lawsuit arises, the exchange rate on the day of the promulgation of these regulations shall be considered as a standard.

ARTICLE 9. Within the domain of China, no one shall object to the use of the national

coins.

ARTICLE 10.-If anybody disregards Article 4 of the Law for the National Currency and Article 9 of the regulations for the enforcement of the Law for the National Currency, the party concerned may bring a lawsuit against him, and when convicted, a fine from 10 dollars to 1,000 dollars shall be imposed on the offender. Any official or any member connected with the government enterprises who commits the same offence, is liable to pay a fine of from 50 to 3,000 dollars after the same procedure has been observed.

ARTICLE 11.-The area and the date for the enforcement of these regulations shall be fixed by a Provisional Order.

This law and the accompanying regulations are understood to have been approved by the interested banks as a basis for the monetary reform contemplated by the currency loan agreement. On August 10th, 1918, however, the Government promulgated, and the Ministry of Finance simultaneously communicated to the representatives of the British, French, Japanese and Russian banks, the following regulations governing the issue of gold currency notes, and rules governing the organization of the Currency Bureau (as printed in translation in the Peking Leader of August 13th, 1918):

Regulations Governing the Issue of Gold Currency Notes.-August 10, 1918.

ARTICLE 1.-With a view to facilitating international trade and preparing for the adoption of a currency system with a gold basis the bank or banks appointed by the Currency Bureau shall be allowed to issue gold currency notes.

ARTICLE 2.-The unit of the gold currency shall be one gold dollar which shall contain 0.752318 Kungfun of pure gold, that is, 2.01688 candareen of Kuping tael.

One tenth part of a gold dollar shall be called a "Chao," one hundredth a “fen,” one thousandth a "li," etc.

ARTICLE 3.-The denominations of the gold currency notes shall be: one dollar, five dollars, ten dollars, twenty dollars, fifty dollars and one hundred dollars.

The Government may order the bank or banks appointed by the Bureau to issue gold

*[?ARTICLE 4.]

currency notes of smaller denominations, such as five-chao (half a dollar) two-chao (one fifth of a dollar) and one-chao (one tenth of a dollar) and the Government Mint may be ordered to mint copper coins of one "fen" denomination.

ARTICLE 4.-Before the coinage of such gold dollars the holder of the gold currency notes may remit the money to other cities in this country or to foreign countries through the specified banks and after the coinage of such gold dollars, the holder of such gold currency notes may exchange them for gold coins as well as remit them to any city in the country or to any foreign country.

The gold currency notes may be exchanged at the specified banks for foreign gold coins or gold bullion. All ornaments made of pure gold shall be considered equivalent to sterling gold and they shall be valued according to the quantity of pure gold they contain.

ARTICLE 5. The proportionate value of the gold currency notes and the national currency now in circulation will necessarily not always be the same. But it shall be made known to the public by notifications issued by the specified banks from time to time, and gold currency notes and current silver coins in circulation or silver bullion may be exchanged at the said banks at the notified value.

ARTICLE 6.-The specified banks shall have an adequate gold reserve against the amount of notes issued. This gold reserve shall either be in our national gold dollars, or gold bullion, or foreign gold coins deposited with the exchange banks in both Chinese and foreign commercial ports. The public shall be notified by the specified banks once every ten days about the amount of the gold reserve and the places where this reserve is deposited.

This gold reserve shall be subject to the inspection of the special delegates of the Currency Bureau at any time.

ARTICLE 7.-The gold currency notes may be used in public and private dealings at the proportionate value as notified from time to time by the specified banks.

The use of the gold currency notes shall not be restricted.

ARTICLE 8.-The specified banks may deposit and carry on other forms of business with the gold currency notes.

ARTICLE 9.-These Regulations shall be enforced from the date of promulgation.

The Rules Governing the Organization of the Currency Bureau, August 8, 1918. ARTICLE 1-The Currency Bureau shall be under the direct control of the Premier and take charge of the following affairs:

(1) Those in connection with currency.

(2) Those in connection with the issue of notes.

(3) Other matters in connection with currency.

ARTICLE 2.-The_following officers shall be appointed to the Currency Bureau: One Director-General: this post shall be held by the Minister of Finance concurrently.

One Governor: to be specially appointed.

One adviser: to be engaged.

An unlimited number of honorary advisers: to be engaged.

ARTICLE 3.-In the Currency Bureau, departments shall be established and members appointed to manage the affairs of their respective departments. But before the establishment of such departments, an Investigation Committee shall be appointed with a certain number of members, which shall be decided upon by order of the Bureau.

ARTICLE 4.-For copying documents and the management of miscellaneous affairs, clerks shall be employed in the said Bureau.

ARTICLE 5.-All the Mints, Printing Offices, Paper Factories, and the Superintendents of the Banks under the control of the Ministry of Finance shall be under the supervision and direction of the Currency Bureau.

ARTICLE 6.-The Currency Bureau may issue orders independently or, in important matters, may ask for the issuance of Cabinet orders, or it may issue jointly with the Ministry of Finance.

ARTICLE 7.-The Currency Bureau shall be established for a period of ten years. ARTICLE 8.-The Regulations governing management of affairs in the Currency Bureau shall be drafted separately.

ARTICLE 9.-These Rules shall be enforced from the date of promulgation.

The banks have not yet exercised their option under the currency loan agreement, although the time limit fixed by Article XVII has from time to time been extended by the Chinese Government.

NUMBER 1911/3.

THE NETHERLANDS AND CHINA.

Consular convention relative to the possessions and colonies of the
Netherlands.*-May 8, 1911.

Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands and His Majesty the Emperor of China, believing that, independent of the treaty of commerce and navigation between the Netherlands and China, it is desirable that a special convention should define the rights, duties, powers, privileges, exemptions and immunities of Chinese consular officers in the Dutch possessions or colonies, in order to conclude said convention, have named as their plenipotentiaries, to wit:

Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands François Beelaerts van Blokland, Esquire, Knight of the Orders of the Dutch Lion and of Orange-Nassau, invested with the third class of the first grade of the Order of the Double Dragon, her envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to His Majesty the Emperor of China;

His Majesty the Emperor of China: Lou Tseng Tsiang, invested with the first class of the second grade of the Order of the Double Dragon, Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau, of the Order of Saint Stanislas, his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands,

Who, after having communicated to each other their full powers, found in® good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I. The consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents of China shall be admitted into the ports of the Dutch possessions beyond the sea or into the Dutch colonies where reside or may reside officers of the same class of any other foreign nation.

ARTICLE 2.-The consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents of China shall be considered as commercial agents, protectors of the commerce of their nationals within their consular jurisdiction.

They shall reside in the ports of the Dutch possessions beyond the sea or in the Dutch colonies indicated in their commissions, and will be subject to the laws of those possessions or colonies, both civil and penal, save such exceptions as the present convention establishes in their favor.

ARTICLE 3.-Before being admitted to the exercise of their functions and enjoying all their powers, privileges, exemptions and immunities therewith connected, the consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents must present to the Government of Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, a commission, indicating their consular jurisdiction and their place of residence.

*Translation from the Staatsblad, 1912, No. 280. Tung Tiao Yueh, vol. I, p. ment, post, p. 860.

French text as printed by the Netherlands Government in French text printed also in Customs, vol. II, p. 352; Hsuan 44; Izviestia, 1912, vol. V, p. 67. See also Note to this docu

The government of the possession or colony shall deliver to them, free of cost, the exequatur duly countersigned, necessary for the exercise of their functions; and upon having produced this document, the said consular officers of every grade shall be entitled to the protection of the government and to the assistance of the local authorities to insure to them the free exercise of their functions.

The Government of the Queen reserves unto itself the right to withdraw the exequatur or to have it withdrawn by the government of the possession or colony, stating the reasons for such action.

In case of the death, incapacity or absence of the consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents, their consular students, their chancellors or secretaries, after their official character shall have been notified to and approved by the competent authority, shall by full right be admitted to administer temporarily the affairs of the respective posts; during the entire period of this temporary incumbency, as far as their position as non-commercial foreigners may warrant, in conformity with Article 15, they shall enjoy all the rights, powers, privileges, exemptions and immunities accorded to the incumbents themselves.

ARTICLE 4.-The consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents are authorized to display above the outer door of their residence an escutcheon with the arms of their government, bearing the inscription: Consulate-General, or Consulate, or Vice-Consulate or Consular Agency of China.

It is well understood that these external marks may never be interpreted as conferring any right of asylum, nor as an indication that the residence and the dwellers therein may not be proceeded against by the territorial courts of justice.

ARTICLE 5.-It is understood that the archives and documents relating to consular affairs shall be protected against searches, and no authority and no magistrate may enter the archives nor seize documents nor gain possession of them in any manner and under any pretext whatever.

ARTICLE 6.-The consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents are not invested with any diplomatic powers.

No petition may be addressed to the Dutch Government except through the medium of the diplomatic agent accredited to The Hague.

In case of urgency, the consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents may have direct recourse to the governor of the colony or possession by proving the urgency and stating the reasons for which the petition might not be addressed to the subordinate authorities, or by proving that previous petitions addressed to these authorities had not been acted upon.

ARTICLE 7.-The consuls-general and consuls may appoint consular agents in the ports mentioned under Article 1.

These consular agents may be Chinese or Dutch subjects, or nationals of any other country residing, or entitled by the terms of the local laws to reside, in the port where the consular officer is appointed. These consular agents, whose appointment shall be submitted to the approval of the governor of the possession or colony, shall be provided with a commission issued by the consul under whose authority they are to exercise their functions.

The governor of the possession or colony may at any time, by notifying to the

consul-general or consul the reasons for such action, withdraw from the consular agents the approval above referred to.

ARTICLE 8. The passport issued or certified by the consular officers in no way exempts the bearer from the obligation to be provided with all documents required by the local laws or regulations for traveling or establishing himself in the possessions or colonies, and in no way diminishes the right of the government of the possession or colony to order the removal or to prohibit therein sojourn of any individual provided with a passport.

ARTICLE 9.-All operations regarding the salvage of Chinese vessels wrecked on the coasts of the Dutch possessions or colonies shall be directed by the consulsgeneral, consuls, vice-consuls or consular agents of China.

The intervention of the local authorities shall take place solely to maintain order, to protect the interests of the salvors if they are not part of the wrecked crews, and to insure the execution of the regulations made for the entry and exportation of property recovered.

In the absence of and until the arrival of the consuls-general, consuls, viceconsuls or consular agents, the local authorities shall, moreover, take all necessary measures for the protection of individuals and property recovered.

It is furthermore agreed that the property recovered shall be exempt from customs duties unless it is admitted for consumption in the country.

ARTICLE 10.-The consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls or consular agents may request the assistance of the local authorities for the arrest, detention and imprisonment of deserters of Chinese merchantmen or war vessels. To this end they shall address to the competent authorities a written request for the deserter, and if it is proven by the registers of the vessel, the enrollment list of the crew, or by any other authentic document, that the men claimed were part of the crew, the surrender of the deserters may not be refused them, unless the individual in question is a Dutch subject.

The local authorities shall be obliged to exercise all their power to cause the arrest of the deserters; and after the arrest, the latter shall be placed at the disposal of said consular officers, and they may be detained upon the request and at the expense of those claiming them, to be afterward returned on board the vessels to which they belong or sent on board another vessel of the same nation. But, if these deserters are not returned within four months, reckoned from the date of their arrest, they shall be set free and may never again be arrested for the same cause.

It is understood, however, that the surrender of the deserter who has committed a crime, violation or infraction against the law, shall be withheld until the tribunal of the possessions, colonies or of the mother-country before which the case is to be tried shall have rendered its decision and the latter have been carried out.

ARTICLE 11.-Whether of their own free will or under compulsion, Chinese vessels put into port, such damages as they may have suffered at sea shall be settled by the consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuis or consular agents of China, unless stipulations to the contrary were entered into between the ship-owners, shippers and underwriters.

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