within the limits of the above stated normal amounts determined by the Minister of Finance, are determined by the Board itself.

"8. For the purpose of covering the expenditures incurred by the construction of the Southern Manchurian Line and the commercial port at Talien-wan, and the establishment of steamship service in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, the Company is authorized to issue, according to its needs, upon conditions determined in paragraphs 11 and 12 of the Company's Charter sanctioned by Imperial Ukase of December 4 (16), 1896, supplementary obligations, and that part of the debenture capital which is destined specially for the needs of the port and the steamship service must have separate accounts and books from that of the railway.

"9. During the exploitation of the commercial port at Talienwan as well as the exploitation of the steamship service organized by the Company for the waters of the Pacific Ocean, the Company must institute separate accounts and books from those of the railway as to the income and expenditure.

"Should the gross profit of the commercial port at Talien-wan and from the steamship service prove insufficient to cover the expense of their exploitation, make the annual payments on the debenture capital, specially appointed for the needs of these undertakings, as also to lay aside the obligatory amount of money for the amortization of the fund-the lacking sums may be obtained by the Company from the Russian Government through the Minister of Finance, the per cent to be paid on the guarantee for the debenture capital at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, while all the other payments will be made to the Company upon conditions determined for each individual case by the Minister of Finance. The possible surplus of net profit, that may be left after the payment of all obligatory amounts and the deduction into the reserve fund of the remaining sum from the exploitation of the Talien-wan commercial port and the steamship service, shall be first of all used for the amortization of the debt to the Russian Government, incurred for the commercial port and the steamship service, and only in the years when the Company will have paid off all its debts shall that surplus be added as a supplementary amount to the dividend falling to the shareholders.

"10. Should the Chinese Government deem it necessary to establish, with the consent of the Russian Government, a custom house at Talien-wan for the purpose of collecting the duty on merchandise exported and imported by rail from and to the part of the Liao-tung Peninsula, leased by Russia, the organization

and administration of this custom house shall be entrusted to the Chinese Eastern Railway Company, which will collect the taxes in the capacity of an agent of and for the Chinese treasury, the expenditures for the maintenance of the same to be paid from its profits at a rate annually determined jointly by the company and the Chinese Government. The custom house shall be in the immediate custody of the central administration at Peking, accounts on its operations to be periodically presented to the same. The Chinese Government has the right to appoint a civilian official of Chinese nationality, who shall fill the post of Chinese Agent at that custom house.

"11. In all cases, overlooked in the supplement, the Company shall be ruled by corresponding regulations of the Company's Charter sanctioned by Imperial Ukase on December 4 (16), 1896, and those of the treaties of August 27 (September 8), 1896, and June 24 (July 6), 1898, concluded between the Chinese Government, the Russo-Chinese Bank, and the Board of the Company.

APPENDIX XIII

Identic notes exchanged with regard to railway interests in China. -April 28, 1899.

SIR C. SCOTT TO COUNT MOURAVIEFF.

The Undersigned, British Ambassador, duly authorized to that effect, has the honour to make the following declaration to His Excellency Count Mouravieff, Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Great Britain and Russia, animated by a sincere desire to avoid in China all cause of conflict on questions where their interests meet, and taking into consideration the economic and geographical gravitation of certain parts of that Empire, have agreed as follows:

1. Great Britain engages not to seek for her own account, or on behalf of British subjects or of others, any railway Concessions to the north of the Great Wall of China, and not to obstruct, directly or indirectly, applications for railway Concessions in that region supported by the Russian Government.

2. Russia, on her part, engages not to seek for her own account, or on behalf of Russian subjects or of others, any railway

concessions in the basin of the Yangtze, and not to obstruct, directly or indirectly, applications for railway concessions in that region supported by the British Government.

The two Contracting Parties, having nowise in view to infringe in any way the sovereign rights of China or existing Treaties, will not fail to communicate to the Chinese Government the present arrangement, which, by averting all cause of complications between them, is of a nature to consolidate peace in the Far East, and to serve the primordial interests of China herself.

ST. PETERSBURG, April 28, 1899.

CHARLES S. SCOTT.

SIR C. SCOTT TO COUNT MOURAVIEFF.

In order to complete the notes exchanged this day respecting the partition of spheres for Concessions for the construction and working of railways in China, it has been agreed to record in the present additional note the agreement arrived at with regard to the line Shanhai-kuan-Newchwang, for the construction of which a loan has been already contracted by the Chinese Government with the Shanghai-Hongkong Bank, acting on behalf of the British and Chinese Corporation.

The general arrangement established by the above-mentioned notes is not to infringe in any way the rights acquired under the said Loan Contract, and the Chinese Government may appoint both an English engineer and an European accountant to supervise the construction of the line in question, and the expenditure of the money appropriated to it.

But it remains understood that this fact cannot be taken as constituting a right of property or foreign control, and that the line in question is to remain a Chinese line, under the control of the Chinese Government, and cannot be mortgaged or alienated to a non-Chinese Company.

As regards the branch line from Siaoheishan to Sinminting, in addition to the aforesaid restrictions, it has been agreed that it is to be constructed by China herself, who may permit European— not necessarily British-engineers to periodically inspect it, and to verify and certify that the work is being properly executed.

The present special Agreement is naturally not to interfere in any way with the right of the Russian Government to support, if it thinks fit, applications of Russian subjects or establishments for Concessions for railways, which, starting from the main Man

churian line in a southwesterly direction, would traverse the region in which the Chinese line terminating at Sinminting and Newchwang is to be constructed.

ST. PETERSBURG, April 28, 1899.

CHARLES S. SCOTT.

APPENDIX XIV

German-British Agreement relative to China.-October 16, 1900

Her Britannic Majesty's Government and the Imperial German Government, being desirous to maintain their interests in China and their rights under existing Treaties, have agreed to observe the following principles in regard to their mutual policy in China:

1. It is a matter of joint and permanent international interest that the ports on the rivers and littoral of China should remain free and open to trade and to every other legitimate form of economic activity for the nationals of all countries without distinction; and the two Governments agree on their part to uphold the same for all Chinese territory as far as they can exercise influence.

2. Her Britannic Majesty's Government and the Imperial German Government will not, on their part, make use of the present complication to obtain for themselves any territorial advantages in Chinese dominions, and will direct their policy towards maintaining undiminished the territorial condition of the Chinese Empire.

3. In case of another Power making use of the complications in China in order to obtain under any form whatever such territorial advantages, the two Contracting Parties reserve to themselves to come to a preliminary understanding as to the eventual steps to be taken for the protection of their own interests in China. 4. The two Governments will communicate this Agreement to the other Powers interested, and especially to Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States of America, and will invite them to accept the principles recorded in it.

APPENDIX XV

RUSSIA (Chinese Eastern Railway Company) AND CHINA (Provincial Government of Kirin).

Agreement regarding jurisdiction over Chinese subjects in the railway zone.-July 5/18, 1901.

Under instructions from the Engineer-in-Chief of the Chinese Eastern Railway, his duly authorized representative, Mr. Daniel, has concluded with the Chiang Chun of Kirin at the present time, that is on July 5/18, 1901, and according to the Chinese calendar the 3rd day of the 6th month of the 27th year of the reign of Kuang Hsü, the following agreement, supplementing and amending the agreement concluded on May 19/31, 1899, with ChiangChun Yang of Kirin for the establishment in Harbin of a Principal Department for Foreign and Railway Affairs:

1.-In Harbin, Kirin Province, there is established a Principal Department of Foreign and Railway Affairs. For this purpose, there shall be appointed a special staff of Chinese officials, of whom some shall be stationed permanently in Harbin, while others shall be distributed along the line, so that there shall be one official with each district superintendent, it being provided that these latter officials shall be directly subordinate to and at the disposition of the Harbin Department.

2. The said Department is established for the final settlement of all cases arising in Kirin Province, if these affairs directly or indirectly touch the interests of the Chinese Eastern Railway Company, and also directly or indirectly touch the interests of Chinese subjects, not only those working on the railway, such as employees of various kinds, artisans, laborers, contractors and persons supplying goods to the railway, but also and in the same measure all other Chinese subjects, whether merchants, artisans, domestic servants and other Chinese, temporarily or permanently residing in the leased zone of the railway, even if the nature of their occupation does not have any direct relation to the railway. The Harbin Department, having its officials along the line with the district superintendents, shall entrust to these officials the settlement on the spot with the knowledge of and by agreement with the district superintendent of cases which do not constitute serious violations of Chinese laws and railway regulations; the considera