Convention., October 28, 1867

Convention.

The undersigned, having met to consider the memorial of the land-renters at Yokohama to the foreign representatives, dated July 15, 1867, requesting that the Japanese government may be called on to resume the control and management of the municipal affairs of the foreign settlement at Yokohama, have agreed to recommend to the Japanese government the adoption of the following measures, as being essential, under present circumstances, to insure the maintenance of order and health within the said foreign settlement:

• That an office to be called the land and police office be formed under the Japanese government-at Yokohama, and placed in charge of a foreign director, who will be subordinate to the governor of Kanagawa.
• The said director, acting under the authority of the governor of Kanagawa, shall see to the repair, cleanliness, and efficiency of all the streets and drains in the foreign settlement at Yokohama. He shall be authorized to receive such complaints relative to police or the state of drains and thoroughfares as may properly be ad dressed by foreigners to the local government direct, and in the name of the governor of Kanagawa will prosecute foreigners before their own authorities for nuisances or any infringement of public order.
• The said director, acting under the authority of the governor of Kanagawa, will have the charge and the direction of all foreigners who may be employed as police for the maintenance of security and order within the foreign settlement of Yokohama, or for the repression of disorderly conduct on the part of foreigners within the port of Kanagawa. Whenever a subject or citizen of a treaty-power is arrested in the commission of an offense by the said director, or any foreigner or Japanese acting under his orders, or the orders of the governor of Kanagawa, the person so arrested must be conveyed at once to the consul of his nation, who will take steps for the detention of the offender until he can be prosecuted.
• The governor of Kanagawa, acting with the advice and assistance of the said director, and with such advice as he may obtain from foreign consuls, will exercise jurisdiction—both criminal and civil—over the subjects of China, and the subjects and citizens of other non-treaty powers residing within the said settlement, or within the port of Kanagawa.
• The land-rents payable by foreigners will be collected by the said director as soon as they become due, for and on account of the governor of Kanagawa and the said director, acting in the name of the governor of Kanagawa, will be empowered, to sue foreigners for default of payment before their own authorities.
• The undersigned undertake to instruct their respective consuls to confine within the narrowest limits compatible with public convenience the number of licenses issued by them to their respective subjects or citizens as sellers of foreign spirits or liquors, or as keepers of houses of entertainment within the foreign settlement, or within the port of Kanagawa. A copy of every license will be furnished by the consul, as soon as it is issued, to the governor of Kanagawa, and the said director will inform against any person who sells liquors or keeps a, house of entertainment without the license of his authorities.
• The Japanese government will make arrangements for the safe storage, at reasonable rates, of gunpowder or other explosive substances imported into the port of Kanagawa, and the undersigned will take the necessary steps to prevent their respective subjects or citizens from using any other place for the storage of these dangerous substances.