Note 1

In Soglashenia, p. 85, are printed a Russian translation of the note from Prince Ch'ing to the Russian Minister at Peking, under date of June 23/July 6, 1907, proposing these regulations, and the reply of the Russian Minister, under date of June 25/July 8, 1907, accepting them; and there is also printed a further exchange of notes, of which the purport is indicated by the following translation of the note addressed by Prince Ch'ing to the Russian Minister under date of July 2/15, 1907:

"On July 25/July 8 last, I had the honor to receive your communication in which you said: On this day I had the honor to inform you, Honorable Prince and Dignitaries, that the Imperial Russian Government had expressed its consent to the establishment of Chinese customs houses at the terminal points of the Chinese Eastern Railway, on the basis of rules adopted for the period of one year. I now deem it my duty to state to you that the Imperial Russian Government is seriously solicitous that any special privileges which may in future be granted to goods conveyed into Manchuria through the port of Dalny (Dairen) should be extended to goods brought into Manchuria over the land frontier. Therefore all privileges granted to goods brought through the port of Dalny, and not provided for in the treaties on maritime trade or the agreement for the construction of the South Manchurian Branch, shall be granted also to the goods introduced into Manchuria over the railroad via frontier points. I deem it my duty to communicate the foregoing to you, Honorable Prince and Dignitaries, in compliance with instructions from my Government.'

"In connection with the foregoing communication the ministry under my charge deems it its duty to inform your Excellency that it has taken careful note of the contents thereof and has taken the matter under advisement."

Note 2

The reference is to the regulations for trade by land, annexed to the St. Petersburg treaty of February 12/24, 1881, between Russia and China (for which see CUSTOMS, Vol. 1, p. 188, or HERTSLET, p. 483), Article 1 of which provided for a dutyfree zone of fifty Russian versts, one hundred Chinese li, or approximately thirtythree miles) on either side of the frontier. These zones were subsequently abolished. See, in this connection, the following translation (from the Russian text as printed in Izviestia, 1912, vol. vi, p. 74) of a note addressed by the Russian Minister at Peking to the Wai Chiao Pu under date of August 24/September 6, 1912:

Abolition of 50-verst duty-free frontier Zone.-September 6, 1912

"On October 25/November 7, last year the Imperial Russian Government handed to the Chinese delegate its counter-proposals for the revision of the St. Petersburg treaty of 1881, which up to the present still remain without answer. The repeated reminders of the Imperial Government as to the necessity, in the interests of the trade of both countries, of coming to a conclusion of the negotiations already commenced for the revision of the said treaty, have not led either to the receipt of the consent of the Chinese Government to the Russian counter-proposals or to any other new proposals regarding the question. The attempt of the Imperial Government to come to an agreement with the Chinese Government regarding the date up to which the St. Petersburg treaty should be left in force has likewise remained without result.

"Such a situation reacts in the most injurious manner on the Russo-Chinese overland trade which, having a biennial or even triennial turnover, has need of settled procedure more than any other trade. The continued uncertainty as to how long the existing system of trade relations on the frontier of Russia and China will last, evokes just complaints from all sides.

"In view of the above, having come to the conclusion that the Chinese Government is either unable or unwilling to negotiate a revision of the St. Petersburg treaty, and considering that the Chinese Government has not availed itself of the right to a revision of trade regulations conveyed under Article 15 of the said treaty, the Imperial Russian Government, desirous of establishing a sound system for Russo-Chinese over

land trade, hereby declares that it is compelled to consider the St. Petersburg treaty of 1881 as remaining in force for a further period of ten years, i.e. to 7/20 August, 1921, in conformity with the stipulations contained in Article 15 of the treaty.

"Of the proposals communicated by the Chinese delegate in August last year, the Imperial Government has taken note of the desire of the Chinese Government to abrogate the special privilege of duty-free trade in the fifty-verst zone on each side of the land frontier between Russia and China. The Imperial Government recognizes that under the present conditions when along the land frontier a series of populated districts has grown up, the existence of a fifty-verst free zone, established at a time when the frontier was uninhabited, has become in many places abnormal. This is confirmed by the series of difficulties which have arisen latterly as to the true meaning of the privileges connected with the existence of this zone.

"Desiring to meet the above mentioned wish of the Chinese Government, expressed through its delegate for the revision of the St. Petersburg treaty, and recognizing the inconvenience of leaving the question of the fifty-verst privileged zone without decision for ten years, the Imperial Russian Government hereby informs the Chinese Government that the privileged zone on the Russian side of the land frontier between Russia and China will be abolished from 1/14 January, 1913.

"It goes without saying that the Imperial Government will not object to the simultaneous abolishment of the privileged fifty-verst zone on the Chinese side of the frontier."

No. 20

JAPAN AND RUSSIA

Political Convention.'-July 30, 1907

The Government of his Majesty the Emperor of Japan and the Government of his Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, desiring to consolidate the relations of peace and good neighbourhood which have happily been re-established between Japan and Russia, and wishing to remove for the future every cause of misunderstanding in the relations of the two Empires, have agreed upon the following provisions:

ARTICLE I. Each of the High Contracting Parties engages to respect the actual territorial integrity of the other, and all the rights accruing to one and the other Party from the treaties, conventions and contracts in force between them and China, copies of which have been exchanged between the Contracting Parties (in so far as these rights are not incompatible with the principle of equal opportunity), from the treaty signed at Portsmouth on the 5th of September (23rd of August), 1905,2 as well as from the special conventions concluded between Japan and Russia.

1 MACMURRAY, vol. 1, p. 657, translation from the French text as printed in Traités et Conventions, p. 60. French text printed also in the Russian Yellow-Book, Documents relatifs à la Conclusion entre la Russie et le Japon de la Convention politique du 17/30 juillet, 1907 (St. Petersburg, 1907); HERTSLET, p. 619; Am. Journal Int. Law, Supplement, 1907, p. 396 (French text and translation).

See also the Russo-Japanese conventions of July 4, 1910 (No. 30, post), and of July 3. 1916 (No. 38, post).

2 No. 12, ante.

ART. II. The two High Contracting Parties recognise the independence and the territorial integrity of the Empire of China and the principle of equal opportunity in whatever concerns the commerce and industry of all nations in that empire, and engage to sustain and defend the maintenance of the status quo and respect for this principle by all the pacific means within their reach.

In witness whereof, the undersigned, duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this Convention and have affixed their seals.

Done at St. Petersburg, the 30th day of the 7th month of the 40th year of Meiji, corresponding to the 30th (17th) of July, 1907.

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 exempting them from the payment of further duty, and this is irrespective of how such goods are to be transhipped to their destination. This special certificate will be stamped in accordance with regulations, and will be good for two months only.

Whenever such certificates are applied for, a signed declaration must be presented showing to what port the goods are consigned, and stating that in case evidence of the arrival of the goods in the port mentioned is not forthcoming within the two months limit, the applicant will be willing to forfeit three times the amount of the half-duty. In order to avoid the trouble of

1 MACMURRAY, vol. I, p. 683; 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. 13, ante), particularly Article 1.

preparing a guarantee on each occasion, however, it will be permissible to draw up a bond of a similar nature which will hold for a year, and to deposit the same in the Customs-house. Such bond, if presented by a foreigner, must be sealed by a consular officer, and if presented by a Chinese, must be sealed by the Commissioner of Customs. If a yearly bond is not furnished, then a signed declaration made for each shipment will suffice. The forms for these bonds and declarations shall be determined upon by the Imperial Maritime Customs.

II. In all cases where goods are shipped to the newly opened ports under special certificate, such goods must correspond exactly with the declaration.

In case of any discrepancy or of the shipment of any goods not on the declaration, not only will the Customs-house where such declaration was made collect a fine amounting to three times the half-duty levied upon the entire shipment, but the goods which have been shipped to the newly opened port will there be confiscated.

No. 22

JAPAN AND CHINA

Agreement for a Chinese-Japanese joint stock lumber company for the exploitation of the Yalu timber.—May 14, 1908

NATUNG, a Minister of the Chinese Wai-wu, and Baron GONSUKE HAYASHI, Minister Plenipotentiary of Japan, being duly authorised thereto by their respective Governments, have drawn up Regulations for a joint Chinese and Japanese Timber Company, as provided for in Article X of the Supplementary Manchurian Agreement of 1905, as follows:

ARTICLE I.-An area shall be marked out on the right bank of the Yalu, extending from Maoerhshan to Erhshihszetaokou and measuring 60 li inland from the main stream. (A delegate shall be appointed by the Fengtien province to define the area and put up boundary marks conjointly with a Japanese delegate.) The gathering of timber within the area will be carried on with the joint capital and under the joint management of China and Japan. As a beginning, both countries shall appoint officers who shall open offices and commence work. At the end of a year, when all arrangements have been completed and agreed on, the two countries shall invite their merchants to take up the enterprise.

1 Translation as printed in CUSTOMS, Vol. II, p. 760, from the Chinese text. Printed also in MACMURRAY, vol. 1, p. 731.

2 No. 13, ante.

ART. II. The joint Chinese and Japanese Timber Company shall be styled the Yalu River Timber Company.

ART. III. The capital of the Company shall be $3,000,000, of which China and Japan shall each contribute half.

ART. IV. The head office of the Company shall be established at Antung, and the Company, upon report to the Superintendent, shall open branch offices wherever they are deemed necessary.

ART. V. The Company shall protect the existing Chinese timbercutting industry. Except the area to be marked out in accordance with Article I and in which the Company shall cut timber, all places beyond its boundaries, as well as the forests of the Hun River, shall continue as before to be worked by Chinese wood-cutters. These shall apply to the Company for loans wherewith to carry on their industry, and all timber cut by them with the exception of sleepers for the railway companies in Kiangsu and Chekiang provinces, and timber for the use of the inhabitants along the river, which shall be purchased direct from the said wood-cutters-shall be sold exclusively to the Company. In the disposal of timber, the Company shall sell at market prices, and shall not create a monopoly.

ART. VI. When the Chinese Government, or Government offices, purchase under huchao timber which has either been felled by the Company or bought from wood-cutters, the Company shall sell at cost price.

ART. VII. The Company shall be allowed to carry on their business for a term of 25 years, on the expiration of which, if the Chinese Government shall be satisfied with the working of the Company, a petition may be sent to the Chinese Government for an extension of the term.

ART. VIII. The Company shall have one Superintendent who shall be the Taotai of the Eastern Circuit, appointed by the Governor of Fengtien; and two Managers, one Chinese and one Japanese, whose appointments shall be made by their respective countries. Other assistants, skilled employés, etc., shall be appointed by joint selection and consent of the managers. The managers shall not employ persons of other nationalities in connexion with wood-cutting in the assigned area without the approval of the Superintendent.

ART IX. The Company shall, at the end of each year, prepare a report on the year's business and a statement of receipts and expenditure, to be submitted to the proper authorities of the two countries.

ART. X. After the expenditure of the Company shall have been deducted from the receipts, five per cent. of the net profit shall be appropriated to the Chinese Government, and the remainder shall be distributed among the shareholders of the two countries. The disbursements of the Company shall be under due control, and periodical estimates of salaries and other expenditure shall be submitted to the Superintendent for his approval.