18. These Regulations may be revised or amended by the Corean authorities and the competent foreign authorities by common consent, and in such manner as experience shall prove to be necessary. Signed this 16th day of October, 1897 (1st year of Kwang-Mu), at the Foreign Office at Seoul. MIN CHONG-MUK, Minister of Foreign Affairs. HORACE N. ALLEN, Minister Resident and A. DE SPEYER, Chargé d'Affaires de Russie en V. COLLIN DE PLANCY, Chargé d'Affaires de J. N. JORDAN, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul- F. KRIEN, Kaiserlich Deutscher Konsul. REGULATIONS governing Trade on the Yang-tsze-Kiang.— Peking, August 1898. ART. 1. Former Regulations Rescinded. The revised Regulations of Trade on the Yang-tsze Kiang (1862), having been amended, and the substance of their provisions having been incorporated in the present Yang-tsze Regulations, the said revised Regulations of Trade on the Yang-tsze Kiang are hereby abrogated, together with the Port and Customs Regulations thereon dependent. 2. Ports, Stages, and Passenger Stations.-The merchant-vessels of the Treaty Powers are authorized to trade on the Yang-tsze Kiang at the following Treaty ports: Chinkiang, Nanking, Wuhu, Kiukiang, Hankow, Shasi, Ichang, and Chungking; and to land and ship goods in accordance with special regulations at the following non-Treaty ports: Tatung and Anking, in Anhwei; Hukow, in Kiangsi; Lukikow and Wusueh, in Hukwang. Shipment or discharge of cargo at any other points on the river is prohibited, and any violation of the prohibition will be dealt with in accordance with the Treaty provisions applicable to clandestine trade along the coast; but passengers and their baggage may be [1898-99. XCI.] 4 G landed and shipped at any of the regular passenger stations (at present consisting of Kiangyin and Ichang, in Liang Kiang, Hwangtze kang, and Hwangchow, in Hukwang); passengers' baggage must not contain articles subject to duty, and the presence of dutiable articles will render the whole liable to confiscation. 3. Three Classes of Vessels.-Merchant-vessels trading on the river are to be divided into three classes: First Class. Sea-going vessels trading for the voyage up river beyond Chinkiang; Second Class. River steamers running regularly between any of the river ports or Shanghae and any river port; Third Class. Small craft (lorchas, papicos, junks, &c.) These three classes of vessels will be dealt with according to Treaty and the Rules for the ports traded at. 4. Sea-going Vessels.-Sea-going vessels trading no further up river than Chinkiang will be dealt with at Chinkiang in every respect like vessels trading at other coast ports; but sea-going vessels on a voyage further up river than Chinkiang become thereby vessels trading on the river of the first class set forth in the preceding Article; such merchantmen, whether steamers or sailingvessels, must deposit their registers with the Consul, or, if Consularly unrepresented, with the Customs at Shanghae, Woosung, or Chinkiang, where the Customs, on receipt of a Consular application or a deposit of papers, will issue a certificate to the vessel, to be called the "Special River Pass," on which shall be entered the vessel's name, flag, registered tonnage, general cargo, and armament. The vessel may then proceed up river and at whatever Treaty port she trades must report and clear, load and unload eargo, and pay dues and duties in the same manner as at other Treaty ports along the coast. On return to the port that issued it-Chinkiang, Woosung, or Shanghae-the "Special River Pass" is to be surrendered to the Customs, and the Customs, on having ascertained that all dues and duties have been paid and all other conditions satisfied, will then issue the "Grand Chop" to enable the vessel to procure her register and proceed to sea. 5. River Steamers. Any steamer intended to trade regularly on the river may deposit her register at the Consulate at Shanghae, or, if Consularly unrepresented at the Custom-house, when the Customs, on the receipt of a Consular application or on the deposit of the register, will issue a certificate, on which shall be entered the vesssel's name, flag, registered tonnage, and armament, to be called the river pass," that shall be valid during the current year; such river pass must be renewed every year either at Shanghae or at Hankow or Ichang in the case of river steamers trading above those aces, and not returning to Shanghae. River-pass steamers will report and clear, load and discharge, and pay dues and duties in accordance with the Customs Regulations of the port concerned; their tonnage dues are to be paid at the ports which issue or renew the river pass (Shanghae, Hankow, or Ichang). Infringement of River Port Regulations will be punished by the infliction of the penalties in force at other Treaty ports; for a second offence the river pass may be cancelled and the steamer refused permission to trade thenceforward above Chinkiang. Any steamer not provided with a river pass, if proceeding above Chinkiang, will come under the rule affecting sea-going vessels laid down in Article 4, and will be treated accordingly. 6. River Pass Steamers' Cargo.-The former Regulation having been abrogated which made it obligatory to deposit coast-trade duties simultaneously with paying export duties, river pass steamers will now pay duties in the same way as vessels at other Treaty ports along the coast-that is, export duties at the port of departure before shipment of exports, and import or coast-trade duties at the port of discharge before release of imports; and similarly they will ship, tranship, and discharge cargo after report, examination, and issue of permit, in the same way as vessels at Treaty ports along the coast. When tea is landed by a river-pass steamer, the consignee, instead of paying coast-trade duty, may deposit a bond for the amount; on proof of reshipment within a year, the bond will be cancelled. When reshipped tea is relanded at another port, e.g., reshipped at Hankow and relanded at Shanghae, a new bond will be required in lieu of coast-trade duty, to be cancelled on subsequent reshipment; and so on. 7. Small Craft (Lorchas, Papicos, Junks, &c.) : (a.) Lorchas, &c., owned by foreigners, if provided with registers, and entitled to fly national flags, are required to take out a special river pass either through the Consulate or from the Customs direct at Chinkiang if proceeding further up the river. They will report, work cargo, and pay duties like other sea-going special riverpass vessels. (b.) Papicos, &c., owned by foreigners, but not provided with registers or entitled to fly national flags, are to take out Customs registers at the port they belong to, and report, work cargo, and pay duties in the same way as lorchas. (c.) Chinese junks chartered by foreigners are only available for conveying foreign-owned cargo from Treaty port to Treaty port; they must take out special junk papers at the Customs, to be obtained in exchange for bonds executed at and deposited with the Customs, and the conditions of the bond being that the cargoes are bona fide foreign property, and will be landed and pay duty at a Treaty port, and the penalty that if the cargoes fail to be so landed and pay duty, no chartered junk will thereafter be cleared for the foreigner in question. Such junks to report, work cargo, and pay duties in the same way as lorchas, papicos, &c. 8. Cargo Certificates.-Special river-pass merchantmen, riverpass steamers, and lorchas, papicos and junks, &c., must apply to the Customs at the port of departure for a cargo certificate ("tsung tan "), which, on the vessel's arrival at the port of destination, must be handed in to the Customs before permission to discharge can be given. The vessel will be responsible for the duties on all goods entered on the said cargo certificate, and not landed on permit at port of discharge. 9. Miscellaneous.-Any trading-vessel falling in with a revenue cruiser or Customs boat on the Yang-tsze Kiang is to produce her papers for inspection if examination of them is required. Vessels unprovided with proper papers will be dealt with under the Treaty Articles penalizing clandestine trade along the coast. The Customs may seal the hatches of any vessel trading on the Yang-tsze, and may place Customs officers on board to accompany her on the trip, whether up stream or down. Special river-pass vessels of the first class are not required to anchor to exhibit their papers at the intermediate ports passed and not traded at. 10. Yang-tsze Customs and Port Regulations.-The adoption and promulgation of new regulations for vessels trading on the Yangtsze having rendered meaningless sundry Customs and Port Regulations which guided procedure under the former system, and having necessitated the substitution of fresh Regulations and different practice under the system now introduced, the ports concerned (Shanghae, Chinkiang, Nanking, Wuhu, Kiukiang, Hankow, Shasi, Ichang, and Chungking), will proceed forthwith to arrange and publish new Rules and Regulations, and these are, on the one hand, to facilitate trade, and, on the other, to protect revenue and prevent smuggling. The above Regulations are open to revision when and if necessary. BRITISH REGULATIONS concerning the Importation of Arms and Ammunition into Siam.-Bangkok, April 29, 1899. UNDER and in pursuance of the provisions of "The Siam Order in Council, 1889,"* Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously * Vol. LXXXI, page 431. pleased to approve the "Regulation for the peace, order, and good government of Her Majesty's subjects being within the dominions of the King of Siam," of which a copy is annexed hereto. Foreign Office, June 30, 1899. SALISBURY, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Regulations. Ir any British subject brings, or causes to be brought from abroad by sea, any arms or ammunition for fire-arms into the Kingdom of Siam, and the same have not been specifically reported by the master on the manifest of the vessel delivered at the customhouse; or if any person removes, or attempts to remove, or causes to be removed from any vessel or place, or in any other way brings or imports into the Kingdom of Siam any arms or ammunition from abroad without the permission of the Siamese Government having been first granted to him in writing through the Director-General of Customs, and without first having passed a proper entry thereof the Custom-house, such person shall be guilty of smuggling, and shall be liable for each offence to a penalty not exceeding 100l., or to imprisonment not exceeding three months, or to both such punishments, and such arms and ammunition shall be forfeited to the Siamese Government; and the master of the importing vessel who shall have failed to report the same on the manifest shall also be liable to a penalty not exceeding 100l., or to imprisonment not exceeding three months, or to both such punishments: Provided that fire-arms and ammunition brought into the Kingdom of Siam by a passenger in his baggage for his own private or personal use shall be detained on arrival by the officers of Customs until a permission shall be granted by the Siamese Government through the Director-General of Customs for their admission, when they shall be released and delivered to the owner without such report on the manifest or entry. Given under my hand and seal at Bangkok, this 29th day of April, 1899. (L.S.) GEORGE GREVILLE, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General. |