27
Enclosure 1.
A BILL
ENTITLED
An Ordinance for the prevention of abuses connected with Child Adoption and Domestic Service. WHEREAS it is expedient to make further provision
for the prevention of adopted female children and female servants from being brought up in the Colony for the purpose of prostitution; Be it enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-
1. It shall be lawful for the Registrar General, as Pro- tector of Chinese, to summon before him any person whom he reasonably suspects of having in his custody any adopted daughter, or female servant, between the age of six and sixteen inclusive, with the view of disposing of her as a prostitute; and it shall also be lawful for the Registrar General, in his discretion and after due inquiry, to call on any such person who has the custody of any such female child to give reasonable security that such child shall not be sold, pawned, or otherwise disposed of for any immoral purpose, and that the absence of such child from the Colony shall be duly accounted for.
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2. For the better carrying out of the preceding section, it shall be lawful for the Registrar General to require the production before him of any female child under adoption or domestic service; and also to summon any person who can give information as to the treatment of such child by her adopted parents or master, under a penalty not exceed- ing two hundred dollars.
3. It shall be lawful for the Registrar General, in the interests of any female child, to make a written application to a Judge in Chambers for a writ of Habeas Corpus, with the view of taking away such female child from any person who has no legal claim to her custody, and whose retention of her is prejudicial to the child's interest and liberty.
4. It shall be lawful for any person considering himself aggrieved or affected by any action of the Registrar General under this Ordinance to appeal in a summary way to a Judge in Chambers against any decision which the Regis- trar General may give under this Ordinance; and the Judge may confirm the decision of the Registrar General, or may order in writing the same to be annulled.
5. This Ordinance shall come into operation on a day to be hereafter proclaimed by the Governor.
213
No. 45.
SIR,
Enclosure 2.
Letter from the Registrar General.
REGISTRAR GENERAL'S OFFICE,
HONGKONG, May 6th, 1885.
Referring to previous correspondence. in connexion with Child Adoption and Domestic Service, I have the honour to enclose the draft Bill on the subject, that it may be forwarded for the consideration of the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
2. Lord KIMBERLEY on the 18th of March, 1882, in a despatch to Governor Sir J. POPE HENNESSY (See Command Paper 3185 of 1882) called attention, in paragraphs 17, 18, and 19, to the perilous position of adopted children and of children employed in domestic service, and desired that he should be furnished with a report thereon, after a full and trustworthy enquiry into the facts.
3. This work was entrusted to Mr. Justice RUSSELL, then Registrar General and his Report is dated the 18th of July, 1883.