THE HONGKONG Telegraph, Saturday, MARCH 20, 1988.
THE
HOME
"COMMON DELIVERY
COLD
IS A
PUBLIC DANGER!
Don't regard a cold with lightness as it frequently leads to something much more serious and is so often passed on to the whole family...
For these two reasons your first duty is to keep as fit as possible and your second duty is to have on hand something which will, at the first signs, "nip your cold in the bud."
Let
CINNAQUINT
THE LIGHTNING cold and INFLUENZA CURE BE YOUR SAFEGUARD,
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Pas
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MARCH
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Nelson Eddy'
Lawrence Tibbett
Tito Schipa
Karl Erb
Kirsten Flagstad
of
your 1938
Vauxhall T
Mui
A
Tsai- Pathetic
THE highly developed western idea of in- dividualism is prac- tically ignored in old
If you are going home on leave, Cathay, save perhaps.
this must interest you.
the amongst
You can arrange to stop ashore minority. rat home-and- drive-away in your!
own Vauxhall,
We assist you in this connection without any trouble or complica
tion to yourself
delivered to you at home and subsequently in Hongkong.
Catalogue & Full Particulars from
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Stubbs Rd.
Phone 27778/9
The
Thus
educated
coolies take the place of draft animals, and human labour pathetically attempts to substitute for the efficiency of machine.
the
Impersonalism is carried
to even greater heights; for
the
individual
does not
count to any large extent,
and consequently, there is a
for
the
ready market" children of the poor.
Hongkong, being as it is physically a part of China,
has shared its social evils,
and the mai-tsai problem is
one which the Government
has been endeavouring to
Thongkong Telegraph. solve for the past fifteen
SATURDAY, March 20, 1938.
COMMUNITY'S SAFEGUARDS
years.
It is perfectly obvious to every resident of the Colony that a adopted
mui-toai is not an
daughter, but nothing more than
a "domestic slave."
Dr. S. N, Chau has put before She is a "pathetic outcrop of the chairman of the Urban China's economie faults, the dis- Council a series of very vital posable part of a surplus popu- At the age of four or questions. They concern the lation." future health of this Colony. five years, or even less, she is natural They are all important; but transferred from her what strikes the non profes-parents or guardians to another sional mind as being rarst es- family on payment
of money,
sential are those relating to the and she becomes the property of source of epidemic and the the purchaser, subject to cer- future prevention of such dis-tain laws of the land.
astrous visitations as the pre-
sent smallpox plague. It is not
Before the Female Domestic
Outcrop
of Poverty
T.
www.
從二年十二月古风
·by
PAUL GREGORY
中人夏鹹派
B
此人至姓
t
人一幅負責追究,毋得異言恐口無影特立 姓换点一任買主如有山萬水低各安天命 至於阿好來匯如何或有自行进返等事中 人價兩訖此乃三方言明兩家尤肯日後改 三日 言明身價港紙玖拾中人錢在內 賣與李府為好啦女現年七歲生于八月十 立契人陳福因家貧
立契人陳福薟
中
將親女阿好
一名,
her marriage, he has secured the free service of numerous years. for but a small outlay.
**
IT may be interesting to record here the facts regarding the purchase of a mui-tsai
As in other commercial trang- actions, a bill of sale is, of course, essential. This docu- ment is executed by three par- tics, namely, the intermediary, the purchaser, and the seller of the child.
As in negro slavery in Ame- rica previous to the Civil War, the little girl is never a party to the transaction which settles the fate of her whole life.
The writer has been success- ful in obtaining a copy of such a -bill of sale which is typical of the kind, and has reproduced it on this page. Freely translated, it reads as follows:
the maker of this deed for the sale of my daughter, being in need of funds, have decided to sell my YOURE daughter Al-holi, aged
the
sove:1. who was born on thirteenth day of the eighth moon, to Mrs. Lee who has served to have
bald
úa-
her and who has subsequently me the purchase price of II.K.$90, Including the remunera- tion of the middleman. In case of any calamity, each party half ac- quicace to the decreo. of Heaven. Should there be any mystery as to the origin of the girl, or should she run away, the intermediary is held responsible to search for her and to restore her to her lawful owner without fail. To avoid any of the unreliability of a verbal promise, this deed is made as proof. Sign- ed; Clian Fok, Cheung
im. Lel Leung-sil. Dated on #
Shing-
lucky day in the twelfth moon (1913)." [See note below.) For the information of the reader, it may be stated that such a form of bill of salo is no longer in vogue in the Colony, as the parties to the transaction wish to avoid the corroborative evidence of buying and selling mui-taai, and hence, in order to get around the Government re- gulations, a "deed of presenta- tion" is made instead.
A few of these little domestic
drudges may be well treated by
their masters and mistresses, but many are treated with vary- ing degrees of cruelty. There are homes where the mistresses have their little slaves stay up
until late at night, so that they five.
likely to be denied that the Service Ordinance of 1923 was
It was reported that a mui-tadi THE keeping of mui-tsal is the tortured with studied brutality.
heavy influx of Chinese refugees passed in Hongkong, most Chi-
was
poor
sometimes have less than hours sleep; in others, they are cheapest form of domestic: There is a common Cantonese and the consequent overcrowd- nese never awoke to the idea could be bought for sums vary- Ernest. Lough, etc.
ing in Hongkong are related to that it illegal to keep ing from $100 to $150 practical- labour; for after the purchase verse which whilst it has to be slightly expurgated in the Eng- some extent to the incidence of mui-tsai or "little sisters." ly anywhere at any time, but price has been paid, the
lish version, yet gives a vivid smallpox. But there have been
It was due to the enforcement owing, however, to the various child is entirely at the disposal although unpleasant picture of similar epidemics in the past
regulations in force designed to of her purchaser, in so far as Complete descriptive catalogue sent on request. when there was no such thing vants in 1929 which brought have naturally fluctuated a great treatment are concerned.
of the registry of domestic ser prohibit the practice, the prices her food, clothing and general the hardships of these poor little
drudges: refugee problem. The a theory was heen advanced, and about a considerable decrease in deal and steadily declined, In- She can be made the house- it is offered here only in the the number of reputed mai-tani deed, at the present time, due to hold drudge and forced to toil
und it
was confidently hoped the plight of the Chinese hinter incessantly, thus taking the ble investigation, smallpox
time be completely radicated. winter disease and being a Chater Road. highly contagious, is spread
through the use of unclean!
4
S. MOUTRIE & CO., LTD. hope that it may, that no that the entire system might in land and the general depression place of a hired servant.
York Building
SANDEMAN
SHERRY & PORT
OBTAINABLE EVERYWHERE.
COUNT
THE
TELEGRAPHS"
EVERYWHERE
.XX
*
1:
*
After
clothing. Becauso Ignorant AN investigation made under healthy, can be picked up for as to be of benevolent disposition,
were
Government auspices about people so often attempt to con-
1928 revealed that there were ceal smallpox, because they probably do not understand the approximately 9,000 mui-tsai in benefits of fumigation and dis- the Colony, although less than infection, it is suggested that half
Tegistered. Such the germ
of the disease may figures as these accounts for the remain alive in cast-off and difficulty in abolishing such a stored winter garments, to time-established institution, and, make an unexpected reappear- moreover, because of the great with the advent of cold need at the time, it is to be sure weather and the necessity for that each girl was sold at a good more clothing. If this is so it price.
ance
seems highly probable that, one
contaminated garment left, for
instance, in a pawn-broker's weeks. There were only half a establishment, might cause the dozen survivors out of 50 or 60 infection of numbers of per- souls.
sons.
These stories are told to in-
This may sound unlikely, but diente
the dificulty of the
of trade resulting from the war, the hardships of those long a good-sized girl, physically years, if her purchaser happens little as thirty dollars or even she may be given in marriage as less.
the kit-faal wife of some man of lowly station, without demand- As a result of the low prices
ing much in the way of now prevailing for little girls and the sad plight of their san-ka-ngan or "body price." parents, who are often in many As for the less fortunate cases homeless refugees a verif- mui-tsai, she may be sold at nhle glut of the market has re puberty as either a concubine or sulted. Many who never thought a courtesan at a correspondingly of keeping mui-ìsni before now
in
"Mui-tsai sì, Taam kau-yi,
Team to kin-t'au, taai-tuk-si, Lo-ye sik-faan, nei sik ni. Lo-ye min ch'oup, nei min tei, Lo-ye K'am-p'ei, nei k'am soh-yi." “Tiny mui-leci
Carrying with her) a chair, Upon arriving at the bridge..
head, she sits forlornly there; Whilst the master eats rice, you
eat filth
Whilst the maater sleeps on o
bed, unu sleep on the floor Whilst the master covers himself up with a warm quilt, 'you must cover yourself with a thin strate rain-cont."
[All names given in this bill seize upon the iden with alacrity, higher price. Thus
the of sale are fictitious and refer the owner to no particular person: and as a result these pathetic whole transaction,
Any domestic slaves are stated to be has nothing to lose; for in addi- resemblance to names of living on the increase in Chinu. tion to the price obtained for persons. is entirely accidental.]
BETTER MEMORIES
the story of a well-known Cana-authorities in tracking such an dian physician at busy epidemic to its source as much Quarantine Station is recalled in as to bring to the public's atten- DEAL yourself out a pack of cards,
looking at each face when this connection. He had heard, tion the necessity of exercising dealt. Then try to remember the
card in its correcti he said, that a number of In the utmost caution where the value of cach dians had become infected with danger of contagion is known to order of dealing.
It is possible that you may be able smallpox in his district. Inves-exist. It appears that the pre-
memory can
blue, brown, og grey, and how are
Can you Names and Faces? stand are does he possess? How
Remembered in the Suneral sparkling.
is
Are they medium, or dull? How are the cars they, big or little? What type of are his fecih? Does he remind you tigating, he found that they sent epidemic is on the wane, to recollect correctly only the first
three or four cards. With a little remembering names and faces, the tail is he and how much do you think
of anyone else you know? Just how. had been in contact with two but precautions cannot yet be practice
this number can be in- chances men who had been first afflicted. relaxed. And, in view of the creased c
are that you have never he weighs? Has he any particular until it is quite earned the rules nor spent the bodily characteristics which stand gradually such out-feasible with some mental method und going, into the cases of danger of another these two he found that they break even after the six months eventually to remember the order of It really tune and effort in practice. out prominently, and by which you
boils down to this: "Is Apply this same method to people and names?"
worth my while to had dug up certain old graves of Hongkong's "summer," it a whole pack of fifty-two cards..
to remember, faces can identify him the next time you
see him? near the Quarantine Station would probably be a wiec policy that you meet and it is astounding
continue vaccination here how men
he trained and
It is more important to remember 4 Clear Picture presumably with the object of to
faces than names, for a name by Qiscovering some sort of loot, throughout the reasonably safe cultivated.
itself An outstanding and valuable fen-
is useless whilst recognition of Glance away, and, see if you have. 4 clear-cut impression for The graves were those of small- period of warm weather.
It has been suggested, and ability never to forget a face. It is without showing the slightest in- knew at the time int there was
ture with some publle men is their face means a personal contact. It made pox patients who had died
s embarrassing to pass a person your brain to file away.
Now, suppose we met and you several years
before, and the the idea is worth consideration, not too much to say that often a
terest, if you actually know him." - theory was that the micro- that every person newly-arrived great deal of their success hinges on
Why do we forget faces? Because, tion leading to my capture, but there £1,000, reward offered for informa- when we meet organism had survived though in Hongkong should be required this ability. It is simply a sign of
person we make noj ween people say record at all of that person in our were no photographs of my face. only the bones of the victims to produce a certificate of vac-mental laziness
cination as he or she alights they can never remember.
James Farley,
brain. Occasionally, some eccentric available, do you think you could the Postmaster- or unusual feature and a few rags of their clothing from the train or disembarks General of the United States, has a impress his charge person will recognise, me 'on the street à month remained inside the rotting.cof from the steamer; and, more- remarkable
memory, and can call
on almost inter? anyono, but then the majority of t
Some
people can remember faces over, that all residents be re- thousands of persons by name whom our fellow creatures do not carry but not names. You may
see the he has not seen for months or even theng, swoonin Then there is the Instance quired to carry such
is the *Repetition once characteristics on person Vet Mr. Farley was not born them, vel for remembering facial Image has been repeated many years.
Krontest factor in remembering. The of the amallpox epidemic tificate with them and, if they with a remarkable memory, but de- aten Far North mining camp, fail to produce it, to submit to veloped it to help him in his work. the face of a new acquaintance; to Umes while the name was heard though the facts in this the free attentions of vaccina-dant
Simple Rules
make a mental picture of tid features but once If at all case are not authenticated, Inition patrols, It" would bd, an
of the
the face. Any deformities or if the meeting is casual, you will defally not paywany, particular attention to themiddle of a severe winter enormous undertaking, and Just as a person can acquire skill irregulariile should be
and YouWIII. DAYSIAM AL- antičnk to KIELTEDEST NEtifally, you
fins.
a cor-
The
smallpox broke out in thi zoom costly too but sucit,precate in/plying over any sort of game, noted. he
Some of
plately isolated settlement), It is tions, it seems, are wor sold, though no new-coniar, had; when. Carrived in the place for eight on hundr
so can a person develop his memory
Questions? for other people by following certain syömiself are, thead?What kin simple rules mind by constantly price of a hose does, he hayd-straight, thent at Admi