1926

72
TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND CHINA
scales for goods and silver, the weights and measures agreeing exactly with the i
weights and measures in use at the Canton Custom-house, and hearing a stamp and }
seal certifying this authority. These scales shall be the base of all liquidations of
duties and of all payments to be made to the Chinese G-overnment. They shall be
referred to in case of dispute as to the weights and measures of goods, and the decree
shall be according to the results they show.
Art. XXVII.—Import and export duties levied in China on French commerce
shall be regulated according to the tariff annexed to the present Treaty under the
seal and signature of the respective Plenipotentiaries. This tariff may be revised
every seven years in order to be in harmony with the changes brought about by time
in the value of the products of the soil or industry of the two empires.
By the payment of these duties, the amount of which it is expressly provided
shall not be increased nor augmented by any kind of charge or surtax whatever,
French subjects shall be free to import into China, from French or foreign ports, and
equally to export from China, to any destination, all goods which shall not be, at the
date of the signing of the present Treaty and according to the classification of the
annexed tariff, the object of a special prohibition or of a special monopoly. The
Chinese Government renouncing therefore the right of augmenting the number of
articles reputed contraband or subject of a monopoly, any modification of the
tariff shall be made only after an understanding has been come to with the French j
Government and with its full and entire consent.
With regard to the tariff, as well as every stipulation introduced or to be in- I
troduced in the existing Treaties, or those which may hereafter be concluded, it
remains well and duly established that merchants and in general all French subjects-
in China shall always have the same rights and be treated in the same way as the
most favoured nation.
Art. XXVIII.—The publication of the regular tariff doing away henceforth with
all pretext for smuggling, it is not to be presumed that any act of this nature may
be committed by French vessels in the ports of China. If it should be otherwise,
all contraband goods introduced into these ports by French vessels or merchants
whatever their value or nature, as also all prohibited goods fraudulently discharged,
shall be seized by the local authority and confiscated to the profit of the Chinese
Government. Further, the latter may, if it sees fit, interdict the re-entry to China of
the vessel taken in contravention and compel it to leave immediately after the sette-
ment of its accounts.
If any foreign vessel fraudulently makes use of the French flag the French
Government shall take the necessary measures for the repression of this abuse.
Art. XXIX.—His Majesty the Emperor of the French may station a vessel of war-
in any principal port of the empire where its presence may be considered necessary to
maintain good order and discipline amongst the crews of merchant vessels and tu
facilitate the exercise of the Consular authority; all necessary measures shall be taken
to provide that the presence of these vessels of war shall entail no inconvenience, and
their commanders shall receive orders to cause to be executed the provisons of
Article XXXIII. in respect of the communications with the land and the policing
of the crews. Vessels of war shall be subject to no duty.
Art. XXX.—Every French vessel of war cruising for the protecfon of commerce
shall be received as a friend and treated as such in all the ports of China which it
shall enter. These vessels may there procure the divers articles of refitting and
victualling of which they shall have need, and, if they have suffered damage, may
repair there and purchase the materials necessary for such repair, the whole without
the least opposition.
The same shall apply to French trading ships which in consequence of great
damage or any other reason may be compelled to seek refuge in any port whatsoever
of China.
If a vessel be wrecked on- the coast of China, the nearest Chinese authority, on
being informed of the occurrence, shall immediately send assistance to the crew,
provide for their present necessities, and take the measures immediately necessary