PREFERENTIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH CHINA REGARDING RAIL-BORNE TRADE. A special preferential arrangement, which promotes Japanese s Korean trade with Manchuria at the north Korean border, exists virtue of agreements entered into between Japan and China wi respect to goods which pass from Manchuria to Korea or vice vers by rail; that is, goods to or from points in the interior of Kores points elsewhere within the Japanese customs régime) which cros the Yalu Railway bridge between Antung on the Manchurian side Hsin (or New) Wiju on the Korean side. The preference consists a reduction in the Chinese, not the Korean, tariff; but, inasmuch as applies to export as well as to import duties, it is, in respect to the former, equivalent in effect on trade to a reduction of the Korea import duty. The origin and nature of this arrangement are s follows: In the Russo-Chinese agreement of 1896 concerning the Chinese Eastern Railway it was provided that goods enter leaving Manchuria by the railway should enjoy a one-third redu tion of the regular customs duties. In the Chino-Japanese treaty December 2, 1905 (The "Komura" treaty), by which China cofirmed Japan in her possession of the privileges and properties whi Russia had surrendered by the Portsmouth treaty, it was provide that "the Governments of Japan and China engage that in all the relates to frontier trade between Manchuria and Korea most-favore nation treatment shall be reciprocally extended." Japan subs! quently built a first-class railway from the Yalu River to Mukde thus linking up the Korean trunk line with the Manchurian ar Chinese lines and the Trans-Siberian. This having been done, th Japanese asked the Chinese Government for a reduction of the rate of duty upon imports and exports crossing the frontier by this railway similar to that which had been accorded the Russians for rail-bor trade crossing the border of North Manchuria. China made th concession in an agreement of June 2, 1913. This agreement provid for a reduction by one-third of the Chinese import and export dutie for rail-borne goods crossing the Yalu Bridge; but, to be entitled t this reduction, goods passing from Korea must have boarded t railway at points south of Hsin-Wiju, and goods from Manchur must be destined for points beyond Hsin-Wiju.45 The reducti applies both to customs duties and to transit duties, but it can not claimed for goods merely in transit through Manchuria. Theoreti ally the reduced rates apply to and affect equally the goods and tr of any and all shippers. In practice, however, inasmuch as mes of the trade by this route is in Japanese and Korean hands, the special provision affords a distinct advantage to Japanese and Kores trade, in both directions, and not alone locally, in competition wit the generally sea-borne and full-duty-paying trade of foreign mer chants.40 45 This specification was intended to prevent abuse of the privilege by use of Hsin-Wiju as a port år transfer between rail and steamer. 46 "When the one-third reduction in duty on goods imported into Manchuria from or through Chosen wa into effect in 1913 the rail route through Antung [the Chinese fort at the northern end of the bridge] became cheaper for the Japanese exporter than the water route through Dairen or Newchwang." Arnold: Ca mercial Handbook of China (Report on Antung, by Consul John K. Davis), p. 394. 1 KIAOCHOW. 447 vernment. n the German-Chinese customs agreement of 1899 47 it was provided It the whole of the Kiaochow Leased Territory should be a free a; but by the agreement of 1905 8 the free area was limited to a cified restricted area at the port of Tsingtao. The Chinese ritime customs, administered locally by a commissioner of Japan49 nationality, levies the duties payable on goods which pass the indaries of this area, and pays 20 per cent of the receipts to the al government-the remaining 80 per cent going to the Chinese The duties charged on imports to and exports from hinterland which pass through the port are those of the Chinese iff. These duties are specific, according to schedules which have n fixed on the principle of charging 5 per cent ad valorem.50 nese system also provides for the (optional) payment of 2 per The it, or one-half of the customs duty, as commutation of likin, this yment to secure for the importer or exporter a transit pass which supposed to free his goods from the imposition of any other charges. the 1905 agreement (Sir Robert Hart and the German minister, c. 1, 1905), concerning the Tsingtao customs, it was specially ovided that the following goods should be admitted duty free: V a) Articles for arming and outfitting the troops, including uniforms, if directly ered by the military or naval authorities and if accompanied by certificate of the onial government. Riral b) Stores and provisions ordered by the military or naval authorities in anticipation future requirements, if accompanied by certificate of the colonial government. c) Machinery, plant, as well as parts of machinery, implements and tools required manufacturing, industrial, and agricultural purposes; also all building materials, ings, and other articles for public and official works. * * * d) Articles (vehicles and such like) passing to and fro between the free area and side, solely for ordinary repairs; but they are to be reported to the customs officers, it their passing may be noted. (e) All postal parcels imported and destined for private use in German territory, if e duty which has to be taxed in accordance with the attached declaration does not ceed $1 (value $20). The customs are at liberty to examine such parcels and verify clarations as occasion demands. The personal luggage of passengers, declared as not containing dutiable or ntraband goods; it will only be examined in cases where the customs consider it pecially necessary. Manufactures produced within the Leased Territory from raw baterials imported from the hinterland or by sea are, at reshipment, bject only to such duty payment as can be claimed under the hinese tariff on the raw material. When they began their attack on the Germans in 1914, the Japanese Tilitary forces seized the Shantung Railway, and since the fall of singtao they have administered both the Leased Territory and the ilway. For some months, none but Japanese vessels were permitted enter Kiaochow Bay. Subsequently there has been much comlaint that the privileges of duty free entry have been abused and aat opium and arms are being imported into China illegally through he port of Tsingtao. Rockhill: Treaties 49 Ib., p. 46. 10 Before 1914, German. etc., Vol. II, p. 32. The latest revision of the Chinese tariff schedules-intended to render the 5 per cent ad valorem "effectre"-was made in 1918-9. The Russian Government. after securing the lease of Kwant declared the whole Territory a free area. By the Chinese-Janeagreement of May 29, 1907 the whole Territory continues at area. On imports by sea for local consumption and on expors local produce or of merchandise manufactured from produce ra in or imported by sea no duties are collected. Ha Imports passing to, and exports which have originated in hinterand pay the duties of the Chinese tariff including, at op E payment for transit passes. Goo is manufactured within the Lesse Territory from materisis imported from the interior par e duties the same as * * * paid by articles in similar stances in the *** Leased Territory of Kiaochow.” * As at Kiaochow, the customs administration is Chinese. 2 missioner being of Japanese nationality. The customs officer Dairen, with a branch office at Pulantien, the railway stations frontier. The railway to the interior is owned and controlled by Japas) In former years there was much complaint to the effect that Japa imports passing to the interior were being favored both in regard customs charges and in regard to transportation and other faci afforded. BIBLIOGRAPHY. [See also the general works listed on p. 5, and the texts of treaties listed on p. 8344 Japan. The Import Tariff of Japan. (1906.) Japan. The Import Tariff of Japan. (1911.) Japan. Financial and Economic Annual. Tokyo. Japan. Bureau of Commerce and Industry. General View of the Commerce Industry of the Empire of Japan. Paris, 1900. Japan. Department of Finance. Annual Returns of the Foreign Trade of the Ez of Japan. Tokyo. Japan. Department of Agriculture and Commerce. Statistical Reports. Toky Japan. (H. I. J. M.'s Commission to the Panama-Pacific International Exposit Japan. Government of Chosen: Results of Three Years' Administration of Chr since Annexation. Seoul, 1914. Japan. Government of Chosen. Reports on Reforms and Progress in Ch Annually. Japan. Laws and Regulations relating to the Customs of Chosen, compiled by Governor-General of Chosen. Keijo, June, 1912. U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of Manufactures. Tarifi & No. 28, Customs Tariff of Japan (Intro. by Frank R. Rutter); Washington, G ernment Printing Office, 1912. Supplement, Tariff Series No. 28a, 1913. S plement, Tariff Series 28b, 1914. U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor. Report on Trade Conditions in Ja and Korea. (By Raymond F. Crist.) Washington, Government Printing O 1906. U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic C merce. Foreign Tariff Notes. 1 Imperial order of July 30, 1899. Text in Rockhill: Treaties . . etc., Vol. I, p. 370. 62 Rockhill: Treaties etc., Vol. II, p. 144. 3 Agreement of 1907, Sec. A, 7. Rockhill: Op. cit., Vol. II, p. 145. Foreign Relations. Tariff Commission. Japan: Trade during the War. Washington, 1919. of Japan. The Recent Economic Development of Japan. Tokyo, 1915. ld, J. Commercial Handbook of China. U. S. Department of Commerce, Misc. Series No. 84, 2 vols. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1919, 1920. ng, Henry. Korean Treaties. New York, 1919. idson, J. W. The Island of Formosa, Past and Present. glas, R. K. Europe and the Far East. London, 1904. New York, 1903. er, J. W. American Diplomacy in the Orient. New York, 1904. ori, Y. The Foreign Commerce of Japan since the Restoration, 1869-1900. Baltimore, 1904. ald of Asia, The. Tariff of Japan, Revised and Corrected. Tokyo, 1910. ida, S. G. The International Position of Japan as a Great Power. New York, 1905. osita, Y. The Past and Present of Japanese Commerce. New York, 1902. ton, L. Empires of the Far East. London, 1912. 2 vols. Die Japaner in der Weltwirtschaft. Leipzig, 1911. cen, K. ish, Saijiro. ekoshi, Y. nkin, G. A. 1908. Japans Internationale Handelsbeziehungen. Halle a. S., 1902. Japanese Rule in Formosa. London, 1907. The Political and Economic Organization of Modern Japan. Tokyo, utremer. The Japanese Empire and its Economic Conditions. London, 1910. (Revised French edition, Paris, 1919.) ris, J. Japan and Its Trade. New York, 1902. ishofer.. Dai Nihon. Betrachtigung über Gross-Japans Wehrkraft, Weltstellung und Zukunft. Berlin, 1913. ter, R. P. The Full Recognition of Japan. Oxford, 1911. The history of early Dutch colonization is the history of the Du East India and the Dutch West India Companies. The Dutch East India Company, chartered in 1602 by the Net lands States-General, was remarkably successful during the ser teenth century in contending with the Portuguese and the En for the control of the trade with the East. In 1619 the Compan tablished its capital at Batavia, on the Island of Java, where heart of the Netherlands' colonial empire has since remained. I ing the eighteenth century the Dutch East India Company, u pressure from the French and the English, lost important territor At the close of the eighteenth century the company went into liqu tion and the administration of its holdings was taken over by t Dutch Government. During the Napoleonic period all the Du:: colonies were seized by Great Britain, but in the settlement whi followed 1815, the East Indies were restored. Throughout the ni teenth century the center of Dutch colonial interest remained in t islands of Java and Madura, on account of their great commer importance and the large revenue which they yielded the Nethe lands' treasury. Larger in area than the islands named, althou much smaller in population and inferior in commercial importance |