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settled; they
are inserted so as to make the ordinance accord with the draft
schedule of crimes already submitted to His Excellency.
In preparing the Ordinance I have
confined it to the case of persons
accused of crime; for
it seems
undesirable for the authorities of the Colony to enquire into the sufficiency of a conviction obtained in China, as it would be unavoidable,
if the ordinance, following the Imperial Extradition Act, were to
provide for the surrender of criminals who have been already convicted, and for accepting documentary records as sufficient proof of
the guilt of the fugitive.
It is
probably unnecessary to add that the term "Magistrate" is by Ordinance 1 of 1867 declared to mean
in all ordinances "either of the
Police Magistrates", and that I
used it here in that sense.
(Signed) John Bramston
Attorney General
(True Copy)
(Signed) J. Smitt
Acting Colonial Secretary