140
Appendix 3 (B).
A member of the Commission Rev. Mr. Wells made a visit of inspection to one of the halts where people carrying loads to the Peak were resting.
He reports as follows:
"Having heard that children were carrying loads to the Peak, I made a visit to one of their halts. A number of women and children were sitting down, and my attention was first called to a boy who seemed to be very weak, if not ill. He was eating a cake, but seemed to have little appetite for it, the time was about 9.30 a.m. His mother was sitting beside him, evidently somewhat anxious about him, 1 asked his age, and she said about nine or ten (Chinese reckoning). On being asked which burden the boy was carrying, she pointed to many loads and said "that one," adding "there are many more, ask them." I looked about and saw a very small boy, he was eight years of age, (English reckoning, say about 6 years), he was with his mother, and she said that he must work, or he would not have food to eat. The mother was a widow and came to Hongkong to get work, and finding that the boy could also get work, had set him to earn what he could. He had two loads of twenty two catties (29 lbs. each), these loads he took one by one, carrying each a short distance, and then returning for the other. Further enquiry elicited information to the effect that he had his breakfast at 5 a.m., and began to carry at a place near the central market, on the sea front, at six a.., and had got so far, his work would be finished at about five p.m. He could earn eight cents for a day's work, carrying fifty eight pounds (forty four catties) weight of coal to the Peak. It was stated that he could only work about ten days a month, and that women could only work about twenty days. The child earned eight cents a day, or eighty cents a month, but he had to get some lunch, and it was said that this might cost three cents a day, so that his clear earn- ings would only be about fifty cents a month. This sun seems hardly sufficient to pay for medicine for him, if, as seems probable, he should have occasional sicknesses. It seems to be a wicked way to use the time and energy of such a child.
Other boys and girls of ten, eleven and twelve years of age were in the neigh- bourhood at work, it was said that a twelve year old girl could earn twelve cents a day. A general conversation with men and women was held, and it transpired that they get eighteen cents for a load of one hundred catties (133 lbs.), and that a man could carry two loads, and a women about 150 catties, the man would earn thirty-six (36) cents a day, and a women in good health about twenty-seven (27)
cents.
The problem of the formulation of a plan for the protection of these children is a difficult one to solve. It seems as if the small load system might be stopped at the starting point, contractors and employers should not be allowed to make up child burdens. The lowest load might be fixed at fifty catties, and they might be informed that only strong children of full age should be allowed to carry the materials or goods. If necessary the system might be attacked gradually, and the weight and age limit be reached by slower steps.
If young children can earn so little, they would be much better employed in schools where they could learn a little about books, and what they teach, and if it were possible to give them some industrial training as part of their school train- ing so much the better. It might be possible to teach a little about the cultivation of flowers and plants, the manufacture of small toys, or even elementary work that would be useful for their future life as artisans, and even perhaps enable them to earn a few cents a day after a short time."