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CARL T SMITH
Mr. Chow Shou-son came to the floor again to chide the Protection Society for not being as aggressive in placing its views before the public as had the Anti Mui Tsai Society.
At the conclusion of the meeting a resolution was passed that the Chamber of Commerce was not in favour of the proposed Bill at its second reading.
In a letter Mr. M. K. Lo wrote to the Daily Press after the meeting, he expressed dissatisfaction with the tone of the meeting. As one of the persons appointed by the Protection Society with full powers to forge out with the Secretary of Chinese Affairs and representatives of the Anti Mui Tsai Society draft terms to be submitted to Government for the abolition of the system, he felt he had been placed in an invidious position. Now that the majority of the representatives of the Society on the committee had signed the agreement, the meeting of the Chamber with nearly all the members of the Protection Society present had passed a resolution that the system should continue. They should have been fully aware of this position when he was appointed to the committee for he had clearly stated it in a letter to the Secretary of the Protection Society. He mentioned that the news account, which stated the resolution at the recent meeting was passed unanimously, was in error; he had voted against it.
The meeting came in for further attack when the editor of the Daily Press asked why a commercial organization like the Chamber of Commerce was discussing a social question. He described the meeting as one of employers of mui tsai who cannot be regarded as disinterested parties.
A European correspondent to the paper said the well-to-do opponents of abolition were so aroused not because the Bill will put an end to an old custom but because it would deprive a group of pampered women of servants over whom they had complete control. Any inconvenience the change may bring to their mode of life will be taken out on their husbands.
The Kai Fong Meeting at Tung Wah Hospital
Several days after the Chamber of Commerce meeting, the Kai Fong called a meeting at the Tung Wah Hospital to rally opposition to the Bill. They did not count, however, on the organizational and political strategy of those in favour of the Bill. The group packed the meeting by rallying the members of the Chinese churches, the YMCA,