112
CARL T SMITH
system must be abolished. On this there can be no compromise.
At the third reading of the Bill the Hon. Mr. P. H. Holyoak, elected representative of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce on the Legislative Council, also deplored the image of Hong Kong created by the discussion of the mui tsai question. He referred to the "gross misrepresentations of fact made throughout the press at Home". He described it as "a malicious campaign that should not remain unchallenged in defence of the fair name of the Colony and the good Government which it represents."
The Hon. Mr. E. V. D. Parr referred to the united action of Christians and the labour unions:
The support of the Bill came from a most extraordinary combination of bodies. Anyone who knows anything of the inside history of the Colony could say perfectly well that support of the Bill is — I hesitate to describe it — perhaps it is best to describe it as a fake. There can be nothing in common or in sympathy between the labour unions and the YMCA and they join together on this occasion for reasons far different from any consideration for the welfare of the mui tsai.
What these reasons were he did not state.
The Daily Press viewed these remarks in the Legislative Council as attempts to defend the Council and the Hong Kong Government for allowing the system to prevail so many years without taking any action either to ameliorate the practice or to abolish it. The speeches also clearly showed the real position of the Government to the Bill:
If we had ever entertained any doubts of the Government's real attitude toward the Bill which it has been obliged to father, it would certainly have been dissipated by the wonderful unanimity shown by Unofficial Members in attacking the measure and scoffing at its sponsors. The speakers imputed unworthy motives — including a desire for cheap advertisement, political intrigue and even malice to those who, without any hope of reward, sacrificed time, energy, money and even position, in order to help those who could not help themselves."7
The editor concluded that the views expressed by Chinese Christians and union members, rather than those of the elite establishment,