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tions are approved) with moneys granted by Government, I think it would be well to grant the request of the Society, and have its position and status defined by law in the same way as was done in the case of the sister institution, the Tung Wa Hospital. If this be approved, I shall be glad to place myself in communication with the Acting Attorney General and give him all the information he may require for drafting an Ordinance.
In conclusion I have only to remark that the work which the Pó Léung Kuk does gratuitously, and for the performance of which it has received little or no recognition from the Government and that portion of the public which is ignorant of its working, is much appreciated by the Chinese residents of the Colony, as is shown by the large sum which they have subscribed towards it, and to point out that if it were not for the existence of the Society and the hearty manner in which its members co-operate with this office in endeavouring to suppress kidnapping and other kindred offences and in providing a refuge for destitutes and rescued women and girls, the burden which it now voluntarily undertakes would have to be entirely borne instead of being shared by Government. This would most certainly entail an increased expenditure for the salaries of those who would have to be employed to carry on the duties now so excellently performed by the Society and necessitate the placing on the annual estimates of a large sum for the maintenance of destitutes and others, and in the end the work would not be so effectively or so satisfactorily performed as at present.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
Honourable W. M. GOODMAN,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
J. H. STEWART LOCKHART,
Registrar General.
Enclosure No. 1.
WAI T'ING-PAN (), LAU Tsó-IN (L), CH'AN WAI-HI (R), SHAM Ü-FAI (*), No Ü-Ü (£), TONG PING-LUN (), WONG K'AI-MING (E), and Tám KWOK-YING (H), Directors of the Pó LEUNG KUK present a petition praying that the Government will be pleased to devise some means of making a grant to the Society which will enable it to meet its expenditure, and requesting that such emendations be made to the laws at present in force as will give petitioners the power to perform their duties and establish the institution on a firm and lasting basis.
2. The Pó Léung Kuk was established in the Mo Yan year (1878-79) by the Directors of the Tung Wa Hospital. In the Kang Yan Year (1890-91), a petition was presented by the Directors to the Government asking that regulations might be framed under which they might perform their duties.
3. In the Ting Hai Year (1887-88), owing to the large increase in the work of the institution, it was resolved at a public meeting to reserve the old lecture hall of the Tung Wa Hospital for the use of the Pó Léung Kuk.
4. Since then, thanks to the unsparing efforts of the officers of the Govern- ment and to their fatherly protection, large numbers of men, women and boys and girls have been rescued from being kidnapped, and there is no Chinese either here or elsewhere who does not feel deeply grateful.
5. But however thorough is the protection which is afforded, the evils of kidnapping are more and more on the increase.