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it be agreed to by all the delegates present at the meeting. If the delegates do not unanimously agree upon any question submitted to the board the matter shall be referred to the two governments for consideration and mutual decision and pending, or failing, such mutual decision by the two governments, the status quo ante the decision or resolution of the board shall be maintained;

(e) the minutes and resolutions of the board shall be reported immediately after their adoption to the Transvaal government and the government of the province and shall not be given effect to for ten days after being so reported, unless the two governments have specially agreed otherwise in respect to any specific questions or resolutions. If neither government notify the board expressing disapproval of such resolutions within such period of ten days, then the same shall be considered as approved and effect shall be given thereto;

(f) both governments shall give the board all such powers, facilities, and assistance, whether by enacting new laws, regulations or otherwise, as may be necessary for the efficient and expeditious carrying out of this part of the convention;

(g) the office and other expenses of the board, but not the remuneration of the individual members, shall be borne by the administrations of the C. F. L. M. and the C. S. A. R., in equal shares;

(h) the board shall be constituted before the first day of July, 1909.

27. With respect to import traffic to the Transvaal no port, municipal, or other charges at the said port shall be increased nor shall railway rates be increased over the C. F. L. M., nor shall any of the existing facilities be withdrawn or lessened by legislation or by any regulations or other means unless the board shall previously have agreed to.

28. Neither administration shall, without agreement with the other, impose railway rates for conveyance of the products of the soil or of the industry of the Transvaal or of the province (as the case may be) so as to defeat the intention of Part 3 of this convention providing for the interchange of products of the soil and of the industry between the Transvaal and the province.

29. When capital expenditure becomes necessary for effecting improvements to the said port or for increasing the facilities in connection with the import and export traffic, the members of the board shall in consultation prepare an estimate of such expenditure, and also a

scheme for raising the capital and executing the improvements. Such capital shall be raised on the most favorable terms possible. Neither of the two governments shall, however, be bound to adopt the recommendations of the board.

30. For the purpose of economy and efficiency, the engines, trains, and running staffs in charge thereof, shall not be restricted to the lines of the administration to which they belong, but may, so far as the two governments mutually agree, be run over the railway lines of the other administration.

31. The administration of the C. S. A. R. shall include any authority in whom the management and control of the railways in the Transvaal are for the time being vested.

PART 3.

Commercial intercourse and customs.

32. The products of the soil or of the industry of the province of Mozambique shall not be liable to the payment of any import, export. or transit duties in the Transvaal and, vice versâ, the products of the soil or of the industry of the Transvaal shall not be liable to any import, export, or transit duties in the province of Mozambique.

33. Notwithstanding the provisions of the last preceding articles

(a) liquors distilled and fermented liquors made in the province of Mozambique shall be subjected on entering the Transvaal to the highest import duties of liquors imported from oversea, and, vice versâ, liquors distilled and fermented liquors made in the Transvaal shall be subjected to the highest import duties on liquors imported from oversea on entering the province of Mozambique.

(b) the products of the industry of the Transvaal will only be admitted free of duty into the province of Mozambique and the products of the industry of that province will only be admitted free of duty into the Transvaal, if the elements or chief constituent parts thereof are the products of the soil of the Transvaal or of that province, as the case may be.

For the purpose of this article distilled liquors and fermented liquors shall mean liquors containing more than three per cent. of proof spirit, equivalent to 1.716 degrees centigrade.

34. Subject to the provisions of the last preceding article, products of the soil or of the industry of the province shall, if brought into the

Transvaal, only be liable to the lowest tax, municipal or otherwise, imposed in the Transvaal on any similar article, whether produced in the Transvaal or not, and, vice versâ, products of the soil or of the industry of the Transvaal shall, if brought into the province, only be liable to the lowest tax, municipal or otherwise, imposed in the province on similar articles, whether produced in the province or not.

35. Merchandize of any origin or nationality imported through Lourenço Marques and bound for the Transvaal shall be entirely exempt from any charges whatsoever, excepting port and warehousing charges and the charges now known as industrial contribution. This article shall, however, be subject to the provisions of article twenty-seven of this convention.

36. Goods ex-bond and ex-open stocks within the Lourenço Marques district shall be admitted into the Transvaal upon payment of the duties. in force in the Transvaal at the time of entry thereto, such duties being estimated on the oversea value of goods in the case of goods under the ad valorem classes.

For the purpose of this article, importers will be required, on arrival of the goods at Lourenço Marques, to pay the Transvaal duties to the Transvaal customs, or to satisfy such customs as to the due payment of those duties. Importers will be required to produce, when necessary, proofs to the satisfaction of the Transvaal customs as to the values of the goods, and to furnish any further information which may be required for the protection of the Transvaal revenue. In the case of goods on which Transvaal customs have been paid not entering the Transvaal, the amount so paid will be refunded by the Transvaal customs to the importers.

37. With respect to goods imported into the Transvaal and exported therefrom through the port of Lourenço Marques, no higher export duties shall be imposed, either in the Transvaal or in Lourenço Marques, than are levied on similar goods exported through the ports of the Cape Colony and Natal.

38. No higher duties or other taxes shall be levied in the Transvaal on goods imported thereto through the port of Lourenço Marques than are levied on similar goods imported into the Transvaal through the ports of the Cape Colony and Natal.

39. It shall be lawful to re-export from the bonded warehouses in Lourenço Marques and merchandise imported thereto, and the said merchandize shall be exempt from any export or reexportation duty, and

shall only be liable to the payment of warehouse charges and fees of port dues. The provisions of this article shall apply only to such mer chandize as the Portuguese customs authorities are satisfied has been bonâ fide ordered for the Transvaal.

PART 4.

Miscellaneous.

40. If, on the establishment of a union of the South African colonies, the Transvaal becomes a party to such union, the government of the union shall take the place of the Transvaal government for all purposes of this convention, but in such event the provisions of this convention shall apply only to the areas originally contemplated.

41. This convention shall continue for ten years from the date hereof, and shall thereupon cease if either government has given one year's notice to the other of its intention to terminate it. If no such notice has been given, the convention shall continue from year to year until either government shall have given one year's notice to the other of its intention to terminate it.

42. This convention shall be executed both in the Portuguese language and in the English language.

Thus done at Pretoria under my hand under the public seal of the Transvaal, on behalf of the government of the Transvaal, this first day of April, 1909.

SELBORNE,
(L. s.)
Governor of the Transvaal.

[The Portuguese version is signed by THOMAZ ANTONIO GARCIA ROSADO.]

CONSULAR CONVENTION BETWEEN JAPAN AND THE NETHERLANDS CONCERNING THE COLONIES AND POSSESSIONS OF THE NETHERLANDS.

Signed April 27, 1908.

His majesty the Emperor of Japan and her majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, deeming it desirable that, independently of the treaty of commerce and navigation between Japan and the Netherlands, a special convention should determine the rights, duties, powers, privileges, exemptions and immunities of the Japanese consular officers in the posses

sions or colonies of the Netherlands, have named, for their plenipotentiaries, in order to conclude the said convention, to wit:

His majesty the Emperor of Japan: Sato Aimaro, Jushii, decorated with the second class of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun, etc., his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at The Hague;

And her majesty the Queen of the Netherlands: Jonkheer R. de Marees van Swinderen, knight of her order of the Netherlands Lion, etc., her minister of foreign affairs;

Who, after having communicated to each other their full powers, found in good and proper form, have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE 1.

Consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, and consular agents of Japan shall be admitted into all the ports of the possessions beyond the sea or colonies of the Netherlands where agents of the same class of any other foreign nation reside or shall reside.

ARTICLE 2.

Consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, and consular agents of Japan shall be considered as commercial agents, protectors of the commerce of their nationals in their consular districts. They shall reside in the ports of the possessions beyond the sea, or colonies of the Netherlands, indicated in their commissions and shall be subject to the laws, civil as well as penal, of these possessions or colonies, save in the exceptions established by the present convention in their favor.

ARTICLE 3.

Before being admitted to the exercise of their functions and to the enjoyment of all the powers, privileges, exemptions and immunities, which appertain thereto, the consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents shall present to the government of her majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, a commission indicating their consular districts and the places of their residences.

The government of the possession or colony shall deliver to them, without any expense, the exequatur, duly countersigned, necessary for the exercise of their functions; and upon the exhibition of this, the said consular officers of every grade shall have the right of protection from the government and assistance from the local authorities to assure the free exercise of their functions.

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