interdicted, and that the authorities of the two States shall agree upon the arrangements necessary to prevent or punish any infractions of these provisions. I avail, &c.,

Sir G. Petre.

COUNT DE VALBOM.

(Inclosure 7.)-Sir G. Petre to the Count de Valbom.

M. LE MINISTRE,

Lisbon, June 11, 1891. WITH reference to the understanding between Her Britannic Majesty's Government and the Government of His Most Faithful Majesty on the subject of the importation of ardent spirits to either bank of the Zambezi and the Shiré, I have the honour to inform your Excellency that Her Majesty's Government agree that the said importation by those rivers, whether in the British or Portuguese sphere, shall be interdicted, and that the authorities of the two States shall agree upon the arrangements to prevent and punish infractions of this provision.

Count de Valbom.

I avail, &c.,

GEORGE G. PETRE

SIR,

No. 234.-The Marquess of Salisbury to Mr. W. E. Goschen. Foreign Office, June 19, 1891 WITH reference to Sir G. Petre's despatch of the 24th February last relative to the case of the James Stevenson, I desire to make the following observations :—

:

His Excellency's refusal to admit the claim for compensation. advanced by Her Majesty's Government was based on the assumption that the vessel was proved to be guilty of a contempt for the sovereignty of Portugal in Portuguese waters, shown by her wilfully passing their station on the south bank of the Ruo without stopping to be visited by the officials, in spite of three shots being fired as a warning to her to bring-to.

The statements upon which the Portuguese Government rely, and upon which they seek to justify the action of their authorities, are made by Portuguese officers and local officials, who are admittedly worthy of credit. On the other hand, Her Majesty's Government rely on the evidence of the British subjects on board the steamer, including several thoroughly reliable and independent witnesses, whose testimony is equally to be trusted.

The Portuguese Government, in stating that the case is proved against the vessel, treat the evidence of their own officers as conclusive; Her Majesty's Government, on their part, think that the evidence on both sides gives correctly the impression of the

witnesses, but that it shows an irreconcilable conflict as to what actually occurred.

It is easy to understand that persons on board and on shore may have differed as to the position of the vessel when the alleged shots were fired; but Her Majesty's Government cannot admit that it is proved that the Portuguese version is correct in spite of the contradiction of the British crew and passengers.

Apart from this controverted point, there are two distinct grounds upon which Her Majesty's Government found the claim for compensation :

In the first place, it is clearly proved, both by the evidence of the Portuguese and British witnesses, that the James Stevenson was boarded by a Portuguese naval officer (the Midshipman Senhor Manuel Barba de Menezes) after she had anchored within the waters of the British Protectorate. This violation of British territorial waters constitutes an undoubted breach of international law. It was an act which cannot be justified, and for which reparation is clearly due.

Secondly, even if the vessel had been in fault, as is contended by Portugal, the Portuguese authorities exceeded the limits of action warranted by the alleged offence. Senhor du Bocage states that if she had stopped she would merely have been subjected to an examination of the cargo; the default of which she was supposed to be guilty was, therefore, a breach of Customs Regulations. It would have been a strong measure, under these circumstances, to have seized the vessel on her return voyage, and it would be difficult to adduce sufficient justification for the seizure; but there was absolutely no justification for the arrest and prolonged imprisonment of the captain and officers, who were practically treated as criminals. The Portuguese officers dealt with the case, not in a judicial but in a hostile spirit, and treated the subjects of a friendly Power in a manner altogether incommensurate with the alleged offence.

I have to request you to address a note to the Minister for Foreign Affairs as a formal reply to Senhor du Bocage's communications of the 5th and 16th February, embodying these observations, and stating that, in making the moderate demand of 1,4507. as compensation for the injured officers, Her Majesty's Government consider that they are reducing within the most moderate limits a claim based on a palpable violation of British territorial waters, and on the almost vindictive treatment of British subjects for an unproved offence. I am, &c.,

W. E. Goschen, Esq.

SALISBURY.

No. 241.-The Marquess of Salisbury to Sir G. Petre.

SIR,

á

Foreign Office, June 22, 1891. I TRANSMIT herewith copy of a despatch from the High Commissioner for South Africa respecting the case of the Countess of

Carnarvon.

Sir G. Petre.

I am, &c.,

SALISBURY.

(Inclosure 1.)-Governor Sir H. Loch to Vice-Consul
Smith-De la Cour.

(Telegraphic.)

Cape Town, May 22, 1891. IF Countess of Carnarvon is released at once, British South Africa Company bind themselves to abide by any decision that may be arranged by the London and Lisbon Cabinets with reference to the whole transaction, and to pay whatever amount may be decided on by the two Governments.

(Inclosure 2.)-Vice-Consul Smith-De la Cour to Governor Sir H.

Loch.

(Telegraphic.)

"COUNTESS OF CARNARVON

Lourenço Marques, May 23, 1891. "handed over to me to-day.

SIR,

No. 244.-The Marquess of Salisbury to Sir G. Petre.

Foreign Office, June 23, 1891. I HAVE pleasure in expressing to you my approval of your exertions in connection with African affairs, and of the tact and conciliatory spirit which you have shown during the long and difficult negotiations which have resulted in the conclusion of the recent Convention with Portugal. I am, &c., Sir G. Petre.

SALISBURY.

PORTUGUESE DECREE, making Alterations in certain Customs Duties in the Province of Mozambique.—Lisbon, January 29, 1891.

(Translation.)

WHEREAS it has been represented to me by the GovernorGeneral of the Province of Mozambique that it is imperative that certain customs duties in force in the Custom-houses at Lourenço Marques and Inhambane should be increased, while others should be

reduced, not only at the Custom-houses referred to, but also in all parts of the province, with the exception of the district of Cape Delgado, and that this should be carried out independently of a general reform of the Customs Tariffs in force in the said colonial possession;

In conformity with the proposition of the Commissioner charged with the study and reform of colonial customs duties;

Having heard the Consultative Committee of the Colonies, in view of a vote of the Council of Ministers, and by virtue of the faculty conferred upon me by § 1 of Article 15 of the First Additional Act to the Constitutional Charter of the Monarchy;"

I hereby decree as follows:

ART. 1. Alcohol, pure or prepared spirit, liquors, and any other kind of distilled beverages, as also gunpowder, guns, and gunbarrels, revolvers, pistols, and pistol-barrels shall be subject, in the Custom-houses of the districts of Inhambane and Lourenço Marques, to the duties fixed in the Table annexed to this Decree; and the same shall be accounted for to the Minister and Secretary of State of the Marine and Colonial Department.

2. Tobacco in leaf or manufactured shall, in the Custom-houses of the Province of Mozambique, with the exception of the district of Cape Delgado, be subject to the duties indicated in the Table alluded to in the preceding Article.

3. Alcohol and pure spirit, the produce of the continental part of the kingdom, shall enjoy a differential benefit of 50 per cent. of the duties specified, provided it be of wine, and of a strength not exceeding 60 degrees centigrade.

4. The production of rectified alcohol shall be subject, in the districts of Inhambane and Lourenço Marques, to the tax of 300 reis fixed under No. 1 of the Table annexed to this Decree.

5. The merchandise mentioned in Article 1 of this Decree, when brought to the Custom-houses of the districts of Inhambane and Lourenço Marques, and having proceeded from other districts of the Province of Mozambique, will be subject to a payment of the difference between the duties already paid thereon and those fixed by this Decree. The same procedure will be followed at the Custom-houses aforesaid, as well as at others in the Province of Mozambique, as regards tobacco coming from the district of Cape Delgado.

6. The products described under Nos. 1 to 4 of the Table annexed to this Decree, which, at the date of the publication of the Decree in the "Diario do Governo," are already in the Customs

Vol. L, page 1274.

Published in the "Diario" of January 31 1891.

warehouses at Inhambane and Lourenço Marques, or which are on their way to those destinations, will be dealt with according to the Tariffs hitherto in force.

The products described under Nos. 5 to 7 of the aforesaid Table, which are already in the Customs warehouses in any part of the Province of Mozambique, or are on their way thither (the district of Cape Delgado being excepted in both cases) shall be dealt with in accordance with the terms of Article 38 of the Preliminary Rules respecting Customs of the said province, annexed to the Decree of the 30th July, 1877.*

7. All legislation to the contrary is hereby revoked.

The Minister and Secretary of State for the Marine and Colonial Department is charged with the execution of this Decree.

At the Palace, on the 29th January, 1891.

ANTONIO JOSÉ ENNES.

THE KING.

TABLE referred to in the Decree of this date, and which is an integral part of the said Decree.

Marine and Colonial Department, January 29, 1891.

ANTONIO JOSÉ ENNES.

ACT of the Hawaiian Islands, to regulate Chinese Immigration. [Chap. 28.]

[December 20, 1887.]

Be it enacted by the King and the Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom :

§ 1. In this Act "Chinese" means any person born of Chinese parents, and any native of China or its dependencies, or of any island in the China Seas, born of Chinese parents.

* Vol. LXXIII, page 374.