57
actually is a case where a well known pirate not only makes
his base in Hong Kong and invests his ill gotten fortune
in the Colony, but when he is at last caught by the police, he is able to obtain his release on payment of $10,000.
The Canton Government can afford to be blandly courteous
in its communication on the subject, when it has been
provided with such an admirable retort to any further
complaints regarding Bias Bay.
4.
5.
As regards the extradition question, I am
grateful for the Attorney General's opinion enclosed with
Your Excellency's despatch No.307. I see that Sir Joseph
Kemp agrees with my view that it is for the Governor and
not for the Courts to decide whether the requisition is
properly made by an officer of the Chinese Government, for
he says that "no doubt the Courts in Hong Kong would act
on a certificate from the Governor on such a point".
In reply to the questions in paragraph 6 of
his opinion, I would say that the requisition would
probably be signed by General Li Chai-sum as chairman of
the Provincial Government of Kwangtung and, subject to
instructions from His Majesty's Minister, I would have no
hesitation in advising Your Excellency to sign a certific-
ate that His Majesty's Government recognize him as the
officer administering a provincial government of the
republic of China, for the purpose of carrying out the
treaties between Great Britain and China. My reasons for
doing so are already fully set out in my despatch to you,
No.305 of August 5th.
6.
In addition, I would point out that no one
has been more insistent than Your Excellency in urging
the maintenance of treaty rights, if necessary by force,
and