IL—Regarding the alleged dis obedience to Government order:
This charge is based on the fact that when Mr. Liang Jen-che was appointed by the Provincial Govern ment to, be the presiding judge of the Provisional Court, the defendant had not let him take up his duty as a presiding judge. This may be due to a misunderstanding on the art of the Government of the term "Ting Tsang" contained in the original Chinese text of the Rendition Agreemen$ (Art. 1 Par. 8) which is, however, corrected in the Jexchange of notes subsequently made after the Rendition Agreement was signed (Ex. 10). The truth is that there is no such office as presiding Judgeship in the Provisional Court though there are in the Appellate Court: because according to the Rendition Agreement cases involve ing punishment below the fifth degree-and-tawes of contravention of Land Regulation or Municipal Bye-Jaws are to be tried by the Provisional Goust without appeal and '80 there is no occasion for any provisional court to sit with three Judges (Ex. 11). Besides, the number of judges is limited and it would surely have caused much embarrassment to the Court if the present single judge system for the Court of first instance were to be altered in order to satisfy the demand of the Government to institute a presiding: Judgeship. "Had Judge Liang Jen Che waited however, it might have been possible to find a way to meet his wish without causing too much difficulty in the Court's organization and finances.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.