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predecessors had not done, his words so encouraged them that they felt emboldened to undertake the task, in which they succeeded far beyond their anticipations. Had it not been for his kindly advice and assistance. no subscription would ever have been attempted. As it is well known, a sum of over $30,000 was raised. If the Chinese Community were formerly backward in subscribing towards the Society, they have now more than compensated for past omissions in this respect, and have enabled the Society to have a fund of its own, which, if aided by the Government, will be sufficient to relieve it from being a burden on the Tung Wa Hospital, which has so long maintained it. The Committee of the Hospital cannot be expected to do the work for ever, and, as a matter of fact, the accommodation which it has so charitably afforded the Society is not at all suitable. The girls have to live in the Hospital, and complaints have often been made of their disturbing the patients. Besides, the girls, having to live near the sick, run a risk of catching disease.
Having obtained funds, the Society is now in a different position from that which it occupied when it was dependent on the Tung Wa Hospital for the maintenance and housing of the girls entrusted to its care. For this reason and also because the constitution of the Society as laid down in the Rules approved by the Secretary of State has not proved itself best adapted to meet the objects for which the Society was formed, the Society desires that its position and status as laid down in those Rules should be altered so as to be in conformity with the form which the Society has gradually assumed, and which practice has proved to be the most effective for carrying on the work of the Society. That form is laid down in the draft Ordinance incorporating the Society. The main difference between that Ordinance and the present Rules of the Society is that in the former a responsible Government Officer is made President of the Society, whereas the Society has hitherto by its constitution been free from all official connection, though, as a matter of practice, it has acted in concert with the Registrar General. We consider it very desirable that the connection between the Government and the Society should be clearly laid down in an Ordinance, and that the Society should not, as at present, be able to act independently of the Government. If the Society is associated with the Government in the manner we propose, we feel sure that it will gain more confidence among the public, and kidnappers will be afraid of molesting the families of the Committee in the interior. Another difference between the present Rules and the Ordinance is the establishment of a permanent Committee. In practice, it has been found absolutely necessary to consult former members of Committee, whose experience and position entitle their opinion to greater weight than the Committee elected from year to year, who are often inexperienced and want guidance. We consider the creation of a permanent Committee of well known Chinese residents will not only inspire confidence among the public, but will also help to increase the efficiency of the Society.
Objections have been made in certain quarters to the secret manner in which the Society conducts its operations. From the very nature of the Society, the chief object of which is to aid the Government in detecting and suppressing the crime of kidnapping, it is necessary that its work, to a certain extent, should not be carried on too openly, or else it would defeat its own ends. But so far as the premises of the Society or its records or the girls entrusted to its care or the inquiries of the Committee are concerned, the Committee have nothing to hide, and have never attempted to act with secrecy. All their acts are known to the Government, and they have never objected to admit to their meetings or to the inspection of their premises, any respectable person whose object is not to spy out the land, but who wishes to see how their work is carried on or to give a helping hand in the rescue of poor women and girls saved from a fate almost worse than death.
In conclusion we hope that you will see your way to aiding the Society by requesting the Government to place it on a more satisfactory footing, and to grant it a sum of money, so that a suitable Home may be built, and the girls no longer made to live in the centre