It is understood that this stipulation shall not apply to the subjects of the country where the desertion takes place.

ARTICLE XV.

The High Contracting Parties agree that, in all that concerns commerce and navigation, any privilege, favour, or immunity which either Contracting Party has actually granted, or may hereafter grant, to the Government, ships, subjects, or citizens of any other State, shall be extended immediately and unconditionally to the Government, ships, subjects, or citizens of the other Contracting Party, it being their intention that the trade and navigation of each country shall be placed, in all respects, by the other on the footing of the most favoured nation.

ARTICLE XVI.

Each of the High Contracting Parties may appoint Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, Pro-Consuls, and Consular Agents in all the ports, cities, and places of the other, except in those where it may not be convenient to recognise such officers.

This exception, however, shall not be made in regard to one of the Contracting Parties without being made likewise in regard to every other Power.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, ProConsuls, and Consular Agents may exercise all functions, and shall enjoy all privileges, exemptions, and

immunities which are, or may hereafter be, granted to Consular officers of the most favoured nation.

ARTICLE XVII.

The subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties shall enjoy in the dominions and possessions of the other the same protection as native subjects in regard to patents, trade-marks, and designs, upon fulfilment of the formalities prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XVIII.

Her Britannic Majesty's Government, so far as they are concerned, give their consent to the following arrangement :

The several foreign Settlements in Japan shall be incorporated with the respective Japanese Communes, and shall thenceforth form part of the general municipal system of Japan.

The competent Japanese authorities shall thereupon assume all municipal obligations and duties in respect thereof, and the common funds and property, if any, belonging to such Settlements, shall at the same time be transferred to the said Japanese authorities.

When such incorporation takes place the existing leases in perpetuity under which property is now held in the said Settlements shall be confirmed, and no conditions whatsoever other than those contained in such existing leases shall be imposed in respect of

such property. It is, however, understood that the Consular authorities mentioned in the same are in all cases to be replaced by the Japanese authorities.

All lands which may previously have been granted by the Japanese Government free of rent for the public purposes of the said Settlements shall, subject to the right of eminent domain, be permanently reserved free of all taxes and charges for the public purposes for which they were originally set apart.

ARTICLE XIX.

The stipulations of the present Treaty shall be applicable, so far as the laws permit, to all the Colonies and foreign possessions of Her Britannic Majesty, excepting to those hereinafter named, that is to say, except to

India.

The Dominion of Canada.
Newfoundland.

The Cape.

Natal.

New South Wales.

Victoria.

Queensland.

Tasmania.

South Australia.

Western Australia.

New Zealand.

Provided always that the stipulations of the present Treaty shall be made applicable to any of the abovenamed Colonies or foreign possessions on whose behalf notice to that effect shall have been given to the Japanese Government by Her Britannic Majesty's Representative at Tôkiô within two years from the date of the exchange of ratifications of the present Treaty.

ARTICLE XX.

The present Treaty shall, from the date it comes into force, be substituted in place of the Conventions respectively of the 23rd day of the 8th month of the 7th year of Kayei, corresponding to the 14th day of October, 1854, and of the 13th day of the 5th month of the 2nd year of Keiou, corresponding to the 25th day of June, 1866, the Treaty of the 18th day of the 7th month of the 5th year of Ansei, corresponding to the 26th day of August, 1858, and all Arrangements and Agreements subsidiary thereto concluded or existing between the High Contracting Parties; and from the same date such Conventions, Treaty, Arrangements, and Agreements shall cease to be binding, and, in consequence, the jurisdiction then exercised by British Courts in Japan, and all the exceptional privileges, exemptions, and immunities then enjoyed by British subjects as a part of or appurtenant to such jurisdiction, shall absolutely and without notice cease and determine, and thereafter all such jurisdiction shall be assumed and exercised by Japanese Courts.

ARTICLE XXI.

The present Treaty shall not take effect until at least five years after its signature. It shall come into force one year after His Imperial Japanese Majesty's Government shall have given notice to Her Britannic Majesty's Government of its wish to have the same brought into operation. Such notice may be given at any time after the expiration of four years from the date hereof. The Treaty shall remain in force for the period of twelve years from the date it goes into operation.

Either High Contracting Party shall have the right, at any time after eleven years shall have elapsed from the date this Treaty takes effect, to give notice to the other of its intention to terminate the same, and at the expiration of twelve months after such notice is given this Treaty shall wholly cease and determine.

ARTICLE XXII.

The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at Tôkiô as soon as possible, and not later than six months from the present date.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms.