124 .THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 4TH FEBRUARY, 1880.
者
beings.. For when a girl is bought for domestic ser- vitude, her parents inay come at any time to visit
or inquire after her, and before the contract is half
over, they may redeem her. When the girl is of age, she is to be married, and the parents must,
of necessity, be communicated with, and as to
willingness or unwillingness, the girl herself is
allowed to have her say in the matter. If the master (of a servant girl) is cruel and overbear-
ing and drives her to despair so as to kill herself,
or to run away without leaving a trace behind
her, the parents or relatives of the girl may apply
to the Court, and the master will be prosecuted
and punished. It is for this reason that any
family, which has lost a servant girl, is bound to issue a notification offering a reward for any one
· who will devise means to find her, until she is recovered, for, it is feared that otherwise the
parents will institute proceedings in the matter.
This being the treatinent required, it is evident
that the purchaser has not complete power, but that one half of the power rests in the girls' own
free will. Comparing this system with life-long
slavery, it is evident the two are as different as
heaven and earth. Some time ago the Chinese
Government strictly prohibited the coolie trade,
but has now concluded treaties with Peru, Spain
and other countries, sanctioning free emigration, the reason being that the coolie trade was based .
on deception and kidnapping, but free emigration
is a matter of independent free will. Both (coolie trade and emigration) are to a certain extent mat-
ters of the same nature, yet when they are discrimi- nately examined, the two systems differ as wide as
heaven and earth. Thus also the system of kidnap-
ping girls for purposes of prostitution, and the adop
tion of boys or purchase of servant girls, are also matters of the same nature (as coolie trade and
free emigration). Only it requires some intelli-
gence to be able to distinguish the (turbid) river King, from the (clear) stream of Wei.
7. Some months ago, the Chinese Merchants of Ilongkong presented a petition to Your Ex- cellency, praying for permission to establish a Society for the protection of honest people (women and children), the object being to afford protection to women, girls, and young children generally against the snares of seducers and kid- nappers. It will be seen from this, that Your Petitioners hate that form of wickedness as one hates one's enemy, and cannot bear seeing this class of rogues and vagabonds at liberty to play
their pranks in this humanely governed Endin
Colony. For their practice is to use kidnapping and seduction, cunning and deceit as a source of profit and permanent revenue, and differs from honest and straightforward buying of sons or purchasing of servant girls so widely that there can be no comparison at all. Thus good and evil can be easily distinguished in this case.
8. Some years ago, about the beginning of Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY'S administration, ́ Your Petitioners, seeing immorality flourish to an extra- ordinary degree, to the great injury of public
淫風甚
矣
I
母可以時來問中途亦能收航長大婚嫁須通知其父母允與否亦形本人自言
七数月前港中華高曾
臺前求段一
八年
主人有所殘忍苛待威逼致命或失去無踪其父母及至親之人均可到官追究是以造
非有全權而本人亦半由自主比之終身爲奴者何害壞前者中國嚴禁猪仔今則與 失婢女之家必出賞帖設法訪蕁總要得回而後己因恐其父母追問故也如此看待則買
庇魯日斯巴尼亞等國立約准共招工蓋猪仔則詭計誘拐而來招工則聽其自抛同是一
事而相判泥今之誘拐爲娼與立嗣買婢者其情亦與此類惟智者必能分其涇渭也
買子買婢者大相懸絕於此可以別其良歹 見港中 爲乃拐誘奸低藉此闢利居奇與名正理 董等因 匪徒縱橫於 大英仁愛之地綠以彼等所,任之初 拐之手可見董等嫉惡如瓦断不忍見此等 蒞 保良公會專保護婦女及幼童以免於奸 前 堅
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