1926

AGREEMENTS RESPECTING TIBET
Signed at Lhasa, 7th September, ]904
Whereas doubts and difficulties have arisen as to the meaning and validity of the
Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1890, and the Trade Regulations of 1893, and as to the !
liabilities of the Tibetan Government under these agreements; and whereas recent!
occurrences have tended towards a disturbance of the relations of friendship and good'
understanding which have existed between the British Government and the Government |
. of Tibet; and whereas it is desirable to restore peace and amicable relations and to
resolve and determine the doubts and difficulties as aforesaid, the said Governments |
have resolved to conclude a Convention with these objects, and the following Articles j
have been agreed upon by Colonel F. E. Younghusband, C.I.E., in virtue of full powers
vested in him by His Britannic Majesty’s Government and on behalf of that said
Government, and Lo-Sang Gyal-Tsen, the Ga-den Ti-Rimpoche, and the representatives .
of the Council of the three monasteries Se-ra, Dre-pung, and Ga-den, and of the
-ecclesiastical and lay officials of the National Assembly on behalf of the Government
of Tibet: —
I. —The Government of Tibet engages to respect the Anglo-Chinese Convention of
1890 and to recognise the frontier between Sikkim and Tibet, as defined in Articled,
of the said Convention, and to erect boundary pillars accordingly.
II. -—The Tibetan Government undertakes to open forthwith trade marts to which ,
... all British and Tibetan subjects shall have free right of access at Gyangtse and Gartok,
as well as at Yatung.
The Regulations applicable to the trade mart at Yatung, under the Anglo-Chinese
. Agreement of 1893, shall, subject to such amendments as may hereafter be agreed upon
by common consent between the British and Tibetan Governments, apply to the marts
above mentioned.
In addition to establishing trade marts at the places mentioned, the Tibetan
Government undertakes to place no restrictions on the trade by existing routes, and to
consider the question of establishing fresh trade marts under similar conditions if
development of trade requires it.
III. —The question of the amendment of the Regulations of 1893 is reserved for
•separate consideration, and the Tibetan Government undertakes to appoint fully
authorised delegates to negotiate with representatives of the British Government as
to the details of the amendments required.
IY.—The Tibetan Government undertakes to levy no dues of any kind other than
those provided for in the tariff to be mutually agreed upon.
V. —The Tibetan Government undertakes to keep the roads to Gyangtse and
Gartok from the frontier clear of all obstruction and in a state of repair suited to the
needs of the trade, and to establish at Yatung, Gyangtse and Gartok, and at each of
the other trade marts that may hereafter be established, a Tibetan Agent who shall
receive from the British Agent appointed to watch over British trade at the marts in
question any letter which the latter may desire to send to the Tibetan or to the Chinese
authorities. The Tibetan Agent shall also be responsible for the due delivery of such
- communications and for the transmission of replies.
VI. —As an indemnity to the British Government for the expense incurred in the
despatch of armed troops to Lhasa, to exact reparation for breaches of treaty obligations,
and for the insults offered to and attacks upon the British Commissioner and his
following and escort, the Tibetan Government engages to pay a sum of Pounds five
hundred thousand, equivalent to Rupees seventy-five lakhs, to the British Government.
The indemnity shall be payable at such place as the British Government may
from time to time, after due notice, indicate, whether in Tibet or in the British districts
of Darjeeling or Jalpaiguri, in seventy-five annual instalments of Rupees one lakh each
on the 1st January in each year, beginning from the 1st January, 1906.
VII. —As security for the payment of the above-mentioned indemnity, and for the
f ulfilment of the provisions relative to trade marts specified in Articles II., III., IV., and