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the cause. He sought to bring the attention of the public to the problem by instituting a court action against three women for forcing their children to carry loads likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury.
The facts of the case were stated before the Magistrate by the Assistant Superintendent of Police:
Dr. Aubrey, whilst going down from the Peak... met the defendants with their children carrying baskets filled with lime and earth to the Peak. Two of the boys, one of whom was crying, were eleven and thirteen years. Dr. Aubrey telephoned the police, who arrested the defendants. Enquiries solicited information that the women had been engaged by a coolie sub-contractor on Third Street to carry lime, earth and sand up to the Peak at sixteen cents a picul. The women naturally made their children assist them, as it would increase their earnings. One child was carrying sixty pounds of earth, another two baskets of lime and a third carried thirty-two pounds of lime. He, himself, had tested the weight, and from his own experience thought the loads were too heavy for the children.*
Dr. Aubrey told the court he did not bring the case to have a heavy penalty inflicted on the women. His purpose was to bring the practice to public attention and also so that other coolies would realise such practices were not allowed.
The Magistrate observed that the only way to stop the practice was to have legislation. Dr. Aubrey pointed out that ultimately the contractors ought to bear the responsibility as they were well aware that some children would be carrying the loads. In this case the contractors could not be found. The Assistant Superintendent of Police suggested that if the women were discharged with a caution, the matter would soon be circulated among the other coolies. The Magistrate accordingly discharged the women.
The case did attract public attention. The Hong Kong Telegraph in an editorial reminded its readers that they had all seen "the heartless manner in which boys and girls of tender years are forced to carry loads