new political entity came into being and thà the old Government of the Province was nou existent during these 10 days? As Governor General, Chai had, probably before thi rebellion, some control over the public funds That control he retained temporarily aftt his manifesto, and up to the time of hi Anal departure from the city. But he neve assumed to act otherwise that as Head b the Province and by virtue of his appoint ment by the Provincial Assembly,
True, by virtue of his position he purporte during the short time that he remained i office to altot certain sums to the purpose of the Hеw movement. But there wa nothing in this temporary control to ous the general ownership of the taxpayer.
Money in the Treasury remained th public funds of the Province. Money tha had passed out could I think be followe up and recovered by the Province while i still remained in the hands of its servant and agents.
The next proposition, that the rebellion in Kwangtung was put down by the forces o the Central Government, is I think equall; untenable. True, the President made hast to publish a counter-blast to the manifest issued by Chan. But all the evidence show that the insurrection in Canton collapsed b its own inherent weakness; and before th arrival of the troops of the central power.
If there was any seizure of the public pro perty of the Province by any new de fact Government, and it seems to me that nothin of the sort ever took place, even then th rights of property and of possession wer never divested or defeated by such wrongfu seizure, and the Province asserted a contre it had never really lost on the fight o Chan and the appointment of ⚫ loya Governor.
Next, as to the suggestion that revenu received by the Treasury during the 16 day of the revolt became the property of th insurgents.
The evidence shows that no special sub scriptions or contributions were received fo the purposes of the rebellion, The note issued were those which had already been printed and were being kept in the Treasur for the general purposes of government.
It appears that the administration was ne disturbed the Treasury clerks remained a their posts, the department pursued th even tenor of its way, ordinary payment were made and ordinary revenue brough in, as in the days before the manifesto. suppose that the different department. Customs, Excise and Post Office, continue to exercise their normal functions.
How can it be maintained that revenue so collected was in any way contributed to or ear-marked for any special political purpose:
The next question I have to consider is whether the offence charged against the fugitive is one of a political character.
The test is whether, to adopt the definition given in R. v. Castioni, the acts on which the charge is based were in furtherance of, and done intending to be in furtherance of, a political object.
It is not denied that there was a political rising in Canton: a dispute between two parties in the State to which was to have the Government in fts own bands.
Again, it is I suppose unquestioned that if the fugitive had applied the money, the subject matter of this charge, to subsidise the rebellion his conduct, though probably a crime in China, would be held is our Courts a political offence and not the subject of extradition. However, I will deal with this point, and with the next, that the fugitiva was not a servant of the Kwangtung Govern- ment, when I come to analyse the charges themselves.
His Lordship next dealt with the point that there was no specific charge laid under Chinese law. He thought the answer to this must be that there was nothing before the Court to show that the charges were not statements in English of equivalent offences under Chinese law. Stealing, embezzlement and fraudulent conversion were statements of English crimes which might readily have their counterparts in the criminal systema
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