214
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4. At page 8 of that Report, beginning with the words "The Scheme which I suggest," Mr. RUSSELL indicated the safeguards which in his opinion the position of the children in question required, and the powers which should be given by law to the Registrar General to enable him to give the children the protection which their position demanded.
5. The draft of the Bill now enclosed was carefully revised by Mr. RUSSELL, and I think I may safely assume that, in his opinion, it will, if passed, attain the object for which it is intended. As, however, it may be thought that it gives un- constitutional powers to the Registrar General, His Excellency the Governor will probably desire to consult the Secretary of State, before the measure is further proceeded with. No doubt the powers which the Bill proposes to confer are ex- ceptional, but the circumstances with which it deals are exceptional also.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
The Hon. W. H. MARSH, C.M.G.,
Colonial Secretary.
FREDERICK STEWART, Registrar General.
Enclosure 3.
Report by the Attorney General.
The proposed measure provides that the Registrar General may summon before him any person whom he reasonably suspects of having in his custody any adopted daughter or female servant between the age of 6 and 16 with a view of disposing of her as a prostitute. There is no definition of what should constitute reasonable grounds of suspicion, and I.think the provision confers too much arbi- trary power to be exercised without the safeguard of publicity by the Registrar General.
The measure provides for the summoning of the kind of persons above men- tioned and for calling upon them to give reasonable security against the pawning or selling of the child, but it does not say what shall be done with the person or the child if the security is not forthcoming, and indeed it is difficult to see what could be done in such case.
Section 3 appears to give a very extraordinary power to the Registrar General to interfere with the domestic affairs of the Chinese population and a kind of power which could not possibly be efficiently exercised by a Government department especially as nothing is provided touching what is to be done with a child who has been set free under the provisions of the section.
Section 4 is objectionable as giving the judges duties and powers which are in no proper sense of the word judicial.
May 18th, 1885.
(13)
EDWARD O'MALLEY.
Secretary of State to Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G., Hongkong.
(Copy.)
Hongkong.
No. 51. SIR,
'
DOWNING STREET,
12th September, 1885.
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 243, of the 26th of May last, submitting for my consideration a Bill "for the prevention of abuses connected with Child Adoption and Domestic Service," together with a Report by the Attorney General, objecting to the proposed measure on various grounds and suggesting that the existing laws on the subject afford sufficient protection.