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considered necessary in dealing with the question of births. By the Statute the parents of a child are compelled to give the required information only after being requested so to do by the Registrar. Section VII of the Ordinance omits the words "upon being requested so to do" and thus renders it compulsory upon parents of children born within the Colony to provide such information under the penalty provided for failure to do so.
Section VIII affords... The parents at the ... This departure from the principle of the Imperial Act was justified by the peculiar and suspicious character of the Chinese population, especially its lower classes. There is no reason to suppose that they will object to the operation of the Ordinance when they are made to understand its purposes; but, at first, their instinct will be rather to conceal the births of their children from the authorities than to announce them, and it is essential, therefore, to the working of the Ordinance that they should be made aware that such concealment will subject them to a pecuniary penalty. The Registrar General and his Officers have not at their command such means of information as would enable them to ascertain any large proportion of the births.