1917

THE BRITISH COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH CHINA
2T
destination, impedes the free circulation of commodities and injures the interests of
trade, hereby undertake to discard completely those means of raising revenue with
the limitation mentioned in Section 8.
The British Government, in return, consent to allow a surtax, in excess of the1
Tariff rates for the time being in force, to he imposed on foreign goods imported by
British subjects, and a surtax in addition to the export duty on Chinese produce
destined for export abroad or coastwise.
It is clearly understood that after lehin barriers and other stations for taxing
goods in transit have been removed, no attempt shall be made to revive them in any
form or under any pretext whatsoever; that in no case shall the surtax on foreign
imports exceed the equivalent of one and a half times the import duty leviable in
terms of the Final Protocol signed by China and the Powers on the 7th day of Sep¬
tember, 1901; that payment of the import duty and surtax shall secure for foreign
imports, whether in the hands of Chinese or non-Chinese subjects, in original packages
or otherwise, complete immunity from all other taxation, examination or delay ; that
the total amount of taxation leviable on native produce for export abroad shall, under
no circumstances, exceed 7| per cent, ad valorem.
Keeping these fundamental principles steadily in view, the high contracting
parties have agreed upon the following methods of procedure:—
Section 1.—The Chinese Government undertake that all barriers of whatsoever
kind, collecting lehin or such like dues or duties, shall be permanently abolished on all
roads, railways, and waterways in the Eighteen Provinces of China and the Three
Eastern Provinces. This provision does not apply to the Native Custom-houses at
present in existence on the seaboard or waterways, at open ports, on land routes, and
on land frontiers of China.
Section 2.—The British Government agree that foreign goods on importation, in,
addition to the effective 5 per cent, import duty as provided for in the Protocol of 1901-
shall pay a special surtax equivalent to one and a half times the said duty to comr
pensate for the abolition of lekin, of transit dues in lieu of lehin, and of all otheA
taxation on foreign goods, and in consideration of the other reforms provided for in
this Article; but this provision shall not impair the right of China to tax salt, native
opium and native produce as provided for in Sections 8, 5, 6 and 8.
The same amount of surtax shall be levied on goods imported into the Eighteen
Provinces of China and the Three Eastern Provinces across the land frontiers as on
goods entering China by sea.
Section 3.—All Native Custom-houses now existing, whether at the Open Ports,
on the seaboard, on rivers, inland waterways, land routes or land frontiers, as
enumerated in the Hu Pu and Kung Pu Tse Li (Regulations of the Boards of Bevenue
and Works) and Ta Ch’ing Hui Tien (Dynastic Institutes), may remain; a list of the
same, with their location, shall be furnished to the British Government, for purposes
of record.
Wherever there are Imperial Maritime Custom-houses, or wherever such may
be hereafter placed, Native Custom-houses may be also established ; as well as at any
points either on the seaboard or land frontiers.
The location of Native Custom-houses in the Interior may be changed as the
circumstances of trade seem to require, but any change must be communicated to the
British Government, so that the list may be corrected; the originally stated number
of them shall not, however, be exceeded.
Goods carried by junks or sailing-vessels trading to or from open ports shall not
pay lower duties than the combined duties and surtax on similar cargo carried by
steamers.
Native produce, when transported from one place to another in the interior, shall,
on arrival at the first Native Custom-house, after leaving the place of production, pay
duty equivalent to the export surtax mentioned in Section 7.
When this duty has been paid, a certificate shall be given which shall describe the
nature of the goods, weight, number of packages, etc., amount of duty paid and
intended destination. This certificate, which shall be valid for a fixed period of not