16
considered that these were matters of technical, as disting-
-uished from political, detail, and might properly be made
without previous reference to the Secretary of State, the
legislation being urgent. The various additions are ex-
-plained below in their proper places.
6.
Under the principal Ordinance a requisition for the
extradition of a fugitive criminal who was a subject of China,
was required to be made by "some officer of the Chinese Govern-
-ment", and a fugitive criminal could not be surrendered
unless a certain engagement were given by the "Chinese Govern-
-ment" : see sections 6 and 4(3) of the Chinese Extradition
Ordinance, 1889.
17. In section 2 of that Ordinance "Chinese Government" was
defined as including the Viceroy or other officer administer-
-ing a Provincial Government. Doubts arose as to the appli-
-cability of this phrase to the present government of the
province of Kwong Tung, because it was arguable that a pro-
-vincial government which did not admit the authority of the
particular central government which was contemplated by the
Ordinance was not a provincial government within the meaning
of the Ordinance. The point was actually taken by one
fugitive but no decision was given as the Canton Government
eventually withdrew its demand.
8. Accordingly, the present Ordinance substitutes the term
"Chinese authority" for the term "Chinese Government" through-
-cut. The new term "Chinese authority" is defined by para-
graph (a) of section 2 of the Ordinance as meaning "any per-
-scn declared by the Governor to be or to represent the person
or persons actually exercising authority in any province or
other territory which, in the opinion of the Governor, forms
er at any time has formed part of the Republic of China".
9.