52
1
Consul Hausser,
(Confidential Print 11426, p. 14.)
32
18. Ma Chin Shuo, Swatow, 1909.
This man was a British subject of Chinese descent, who had been January 20, 1910. arrested by the Chinese authorities in 1908, detained for several months at a magistrate's yamen in the interior and finally released after much correspondence. In 1909 His Majesty's consul at Swatow requested the local authorities to counterseal a passport to enable him to travel in the interior. They refused, on the ground that he was a Chinese subject and had never divested himself of his Chinese nationality. The case was referred to the Viceroy at Canton, who also refused. He referred to the Law of Nationality and pointed out that Ma Chin Shuo, according to the regulations, must notify the local authorities of his intended change of nationality and that such change of nationality came into effect only on receipt of the sanction of the board.
Mr. Max Muller,
•
ber 6, 1910. (Confidential Print 11426, No. 3.)
19. Ho Pak-ki, Hankow, 1910.
This man was arrested in the French concession at Hankow on the No. 298, Septem- charge of stabbing a police constable. After his arrest he produced a certificate of birth in Hong Kong and claimed to come under British protection. He had no "British subject certificate," issued to those who have resided in Hong Kong three continuous years before the date of the - certificate. and he had never applied at the British consulate to be registered as a British subject. The consul-general telegraphed to Hong Kong to enquire whether he was entitled to protection, and on receiving a reply in the affirmative, he took jurisdiction over the case. Mr. Fraser then summoned Ho Pak-ki for failure to register and reprimanded his guardian for not seeing that his ward had the proper papers to prove his status. He explained that he had decided to take jurisdiction because he doubted whether any system existed in Hong Kong to warn persons in this position of the steps requisite to secure British protection and recogni- tion. The Governor, however, explained that, judging from the number of applications received for certificates, the fact that such certificates were necessary for Anglo-Chinese going to China from Hong Kong was well known.
Colonial Office, January 7, 1910. [Treaty, No. 869.]
"
[Note.--No conflict of jurisdiction took place in this case because the man had been arrested, not by the Chinese authorities, but by the authorities of the French concession.]
20. Liang Tóu, Hong Kong, 1910.
This man was born and resided in the new territory at Kowloon, which had been leased to the British Crown as an extension of the Colony of Hong Kong in 1898. He committed a murder in the new territory and fled across the frontier into Chinese territory, where he was arrested by the Chinese authorities. The Viceroy of Canton refused to accede to a demand for his rendition to Hong Kong and claimed that, being a Chinese subject he should be tried by the Chinese authorities in China.
It was found that the Law Officers of the Crown had ruled, on the 27th September, 1899, that persons inhabiting the new territory at the time of the transfer were to be regarded as British subjects for all purposes. This opinion was not communicated to the Chinese Government, and in a case which arose in 1905 it was decided to omit from the reply that was being sent to the Chinese Government any reference to the fact that the inhabitants of the leased territory must be regarded as British subjects. The legal aspect of the question was carefully considered in the Treaty Department and by Sir E. Davidson, and the decision come to was embodied in a letter to the Colonial Office as follows:
"In September 1899 the Law Officers of the Crown expressed the opinion that persons inhabiting the leased territory at the time of its cession, as well as persons born therein during the continuance of the lease, should be deemed to be British subjects. This view was not, however, communicated to the Chinese Government at the time, and even had it been it would not have affected the national status of such
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