TEAS.-Coarse unfired Japanese tea imported for local consumption.-Since February, 1861, it has been the practice of the Shanghai customs to charge duty ad valorem on tea of this description. Tea imported from Japan for the purpose of being refired and re-exported to a foreign country.-Since the 1st of April, 1861, Japanese tea imported for re-exportation has been dealt with at Shanghai according to the following rule:

Tea imported into this port from Japan for the purpose of being refired and re-exported to a foreign country will be allowed a reduction on the actual weight imported of 20 per cent., on the import duty, and when re-exported a drawback certificate for the entire amount of duty paid will be granted on application in the usual manner, provided that the terms of Article XLV of the treaty between Great Britain and China be complied with, and that the weights, &c., be correctly declared." Brick tea. In the tariff appended to the Russian regulations of 1862, the export duty on Brick tea is fixed at 6 mace per picul.

RULES.

RULE 1. Unenumerated goods.-Articles not enumerated in the list of exports, but enumerated in the list of imports, when exported, will pay the amount of duty set against them in the list of imports; and, similarly, articles not enumerated in the list of imports, but enumerated in the list of exports, when imported, will pay the amount of duty set against them in the list of exports.

Articles not enumerated in either list, nor in the list of duty-free goods, will pay an ad valorem duty of 5 per cent., calculated on their market value.

RULE 2. Duty-free goods.-Gold and silver bullion, foreign coins, flour, Indian meal, sago, biscuits, preserved meats and vegetables, cheese, butter, confectionery, foreign clothing, jewelry, plated-ware, perfumery, soap of all kinds, charcoal, firewood, candies (foreign), tobacco (foreign), cigars (foreign), wine, beer, spirits, household stores, ship's stores, personal baggage, stationery, carpeting, druggeting, cutlery, foreign medicines, glass, and crystal ware.

The above pay no import or export duty, but, if transported into the interior, will, with the exception of personal baggage, gold and silver bullion, and foreign coins, pay a transit duty at the rate of 2 per cent. ad valorem.

A freight, or part freight of duty-free commodities (personal baggage, gold and silver bullion, and foreign coins excepted), will render the vessel carrying them, though no other cargo be on board, liable to tonnage dues.

RULE 3. Contraband goods.-Import and export trade is alike prohibited in the following articles: Gunpowder, shot, cannon, fowling-pieces, rifles, muskets, pistols, and all other munitions and implements of war, and salt.

RULE 4. Weights and measures.-In the calculation of the tariff, the weight of a picul of 100 catties is held to be equal to 133 pounds avoirdupois; and the length of a chang of 10 Chinese feet to be equal to 142 English inches.

One Chinese chih is held to be equal to 14.1 inches English; and 4 yards English, less 3 inches, to equal 1 chang.

RULE 5. Regarding certain commodities heretofore contraband.-The restrictions affecting trade in opium, cash, grain, pulse, sulphur, brimstone, saltpeter, and spelter are relaxed, under the following conditions:

I. Opium will henceforth pay thirty taels per picul import duty. The importer will sell it only at the port. It will be carried into the interior by Chinese only, and only as Chinese property; the foreign trader will not be allowed to accompany it. The provisions of Article IX of the Treaty of Tientsin, by which British subjects are authorized to proceed into the interior with passports to trade, will not extend to it, nor will those of Article XXVIII of the same treaty, by which the transit dues are regulated. The transit dues on it will be arranged as the Chinese Government see fit; nor in future revisions of the tariff is the same rule of revision to be applied to opium as to other goods.

II. Copper cash.-The export of cash to any foreign port is prohibited; but it shall be lawful for British subjects to ship it at one of the open ports of China to another, on compliance with the following regulation: "The shipper shall give notice of the amount of cash he desires to ship, and the port of its destination, and shall bind himself, either by a bond, with two sufficient sureties, or by depositing such other security as may be deemed by the customs satisfactory, to return, within six months from the date of clearance to the collector at the port of shipment, the certificate issued by him, with an acknowledgment thereon of the receipt of the cash at the port of destination by the collector at that port, who shall thereto affix his seal; or, failing the production of the certificate, to forfeit a sum equal in value to the cash shipped. Cash will pay no duty inwards or outwards; but a freight or part freight of cash, though no other cargo be on board, will render the vessel carrying it liable to pay tonnage dues." III. The export of rice, and all other grain whatsoever, native or foreign, no matter where grown or whence imported, to any foreign port is prohibited; but these commodities may be carried by British merchants from one of the open ports of China to another, under the same conditions in respect of security as cash, on payment at the port of shipment of the duty specified in the tariff.

No import duty will be leviable on rice or grain, but a freight or part freight of rice or grain, though no other cargo be on board, will render the vessel importing it liable to tonnage dues.

IV. The export of pulse and bean-cake from Tang-chaw and Newchwang, under the British flag, is prohibited. From any other of the ports they may be shipped, on payment of the tariff duty, either to other ports of China or to foreign countries.

V. Saltpeter, sulphur, brimstone, and spelter, being munitions of war, shall not be imported by British subjects, save at the requisition of the Chinese Government, or for sale to Chinese duly authorized to purchase them. No permit to land them will be issued until the customs have proof that the necessary authority has been given to the purchaser. It shall not be lawful for British subjects to carry these commodities up the Yang-tsze-kiang, or into any port other than those open on the seaboard, nor to accompany them into the interior on behalf of Chinese. They must be sold at the ports only, and, except at the ports, they will be regarded as Chinese property. Infractions of the conditions, as above set forth, under which trade in opium, cash, grain, pulse, saltpeter, brimstone, sulphur, and spelter may be henceforward carried on, will be punishable by confiscation of all the goods concerned.

RULE 6. Liability of vessels entering port.—To the prevention of misunderstanding, it is agreed that the term of twenty-four hours, within which British vessels must be reported to the consul under Article XXXVII of the treaty of Tientsin, shall be understood to commence from the time a British vessel comes within the limits of the port, as also the term of forty-eight hours allowed her by Article XXX of the same treaty to remain in port without payment of tonnage dues.

The limits of the ports shall be defined by the customs, with all consideration for the convenience of trade compatible with due protection of the revenue; also the limits of the anchorages within which landing and discharging is permitted by the customs; and the same shall be notified to the consul for public information.

KULE 7. Transit dues.—It is agreed that Article XXXVIII of the treaty of Tientsin shall be interpreted to declare the amounts of transit dues legally leviable upon merchandise imported or exported by British subjects to be one-half of the tariff duties, except in the case of the duty-free goods liable to a transit duty of 2 per cent. ad valorem, as provided in Article II of these rules. Merchandise shall be cleared of its transit dues under the following conditions:

In the case of imports.-Notice being given at the port of entry, from which the imports are to be forwarded inland, of the nature and quantity of the goods, the ship from which they have been landed and the place inland to which they are bound, with all other necessary particulars, the collector of customs will on due inspection made, and on receipt of the transit duty due, issue a transit-duty certificate. This must be produced at every barrier station and viséd. No further duty will be leviable upon imports so certificated, no matter how distant the place of their destination.

In the case of exports.-Produce purchased by a British subject in the interior will be inspected and taken account of at the first barrier it passes on its way to the port of shipment. A memorandum showing the amount of the produce and the port at which it is to be shipped will be deposited there by the person in charge of the produce. He will then receive a certificate, which must be exhibited and riséd at every barrier on his way to the port of shipment. On the arrival of the produce at the barrier nearest the port notice must be given to the customs at the port, and, the transit dues due thereon being paid, it will be passed. On exportation the produce will pay the tariff duty. t

Any attempt to pass goods inwards or outwards, otherwise than in compliance with the rule here laid down, will render them liable to confiscation.

Unauthorized sale, in transitu, of goods that have been entered as above for a port will render them liable to confiscation. Any attempt to pass goods in excess of the quantity specified in the certificate will render all the goods of the same denomination named in the certificate liable to confiscation. Permission to export produce

BRITISH CONSULATE, Shanghai, 24th March, 1862.

Article IV of Rule No. 5 appended to the tariff of 1858 is rescinded. Pulse and bean-cake may be henceforth exported from Tangchow and Newchwang, and from all other ports in China open by treaty, on the same terms and conditions as are applied to other native produce by the regulation bearing date of the 5th December last; that is to say, they may be shipped on payment of tariff duty at the port of shipment, and discharged at any Chinese port on payment of half duty with power to claim drawback of the half duty if re-exported." By order:

* Notification.

WALTER H. MEDHURST,

Consul.

+ See Chefoo Convention, Section III, Article 4.

which cannot be proved to have paid its transit dues will be refused by the customs until the transit dues shall have been paid. The above being the arrangement agreed to regarding the transit dues, which will thus be levied once and for all, the notification required under Article XXVIII of the treaty of Tientsin for the information of British and Chinese subjects is hereby dispensed with.

RULE 8. Foreign trade under passport.—It is agreed that Article IX of the treaty of Tientsin shall not be interpreted as authorizing British subjects to enter the capital city of Peking for the purpose of trade.

RULE 9. Abolition of the meltage fee. It is agreed that the percentage of tael two mace, hitherto charged in excess of duty payments to defray the expenses of melting by the Chinese Government, shall be no longer levied on British subjects.

RULE 10. Collection of duties under one system at all ports.-It being by treaty, at the option of the Chinese Government, to adopt what means appear to it best suited to protect its revenue accruing on British trade, it is agreed that one uniform system shall be enforced at every port.

The high officer appointed by the Chinese Government to superintend foreign trade will, accordingly, from time to time, either himself visit or will send a deputy to visit the different ports. The said high officer will be at liberty, of his own choice, and independently of the suggestion or nomination of any British authority, to select any British subject he may see fit to aid him in the administration of the customs' revenue, in the prevention of smuggling, in the definition of port boundaries, or in discharging the duties of harbor master; also in the distribution of lights, buoys, beacons, and the like, the maintenance of which shall be provided for out of the tonnage dues.

The Chinese Government will adopt what measures it shall find requisite to prevent smuggling upon the Yang-tsze-kiang when that river shall be opened to trade.

Done at Shanghai, in the province of Kiang-su, this 8th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1858, being the third day of the tenth moon of the eighth year of the reign of Hien Fung.

[L. S.]

[SEAL OF CHINESE PLENIPOTENTIARIES.]

ELGIN AND KINCARDINE.

[Signature of five Chinese Plenipotentiaries.]

JAPAN.

THE TARIFF OF JAPAN.

TRANSMITTED BY CONSUL STAHEL, OF OSAKA AND HIOGO.

In compliance with instructions contained in Department of State circular dated December 1, ultimo, I have the honor to transmit herewith the present import and export tariff of Japan.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,

J STAHEL,

Consul.

Hiogo, March 13, 1882.

Import and export tariff under the new convention of 1866 and subsequent arrangements.