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I have the honor to report - in the absence of the opinion of the Honorable The Attorney General's that I see great difficulty in arriving at the truth whether an emigrant to the Straits Settlements is legally bound under an agreement to repay the sum advanced him for his passage on arrival at his destination.
The amount is so small ($6 to $8 to Singapore, $10 to $12 to Penang) that it would render a written agreement unnecessary.
From all I can learn on the subject, a poor man wishing to leave his home and work elsewhere has his passage subscribed for by his relations and friends who are of the very poorest class of people. He probably does repay them from his subsequent earnings, for, if he has wife and children behind him, he very likely has a parent or other relative to whom he sends his savings.
It is well known that Chinese Emigrants remit large sums of money out of the Country where they earn their livelihood, this fact being a source of complaint in the Australian Colonies and America.
With regard to the woman, she seems to have left her husband, and fell into the hands of a man in Hong Kong, who took her to Singapore of her own free will. When there...