"supervision accentuates in some respects" rather than relieves the hardships of the "servitude of the inmates?
"One of the objects of the prosecution of inmates of unlicensed brothels is, we know, to compel them to enter legalised houses. It is, however, a serious question whether passing from an unlicensed to a licensed house is not too often a step downwards in the career of a prostitute. Foreigners know but very little on the subject, but it is only reasonable to conclude that the status of Chinese prostitutes, miserable as it appears to us, is subject to a great many palliations from causes partly inherent in the nature, education, want, and idea of the women themselves and partly due to that unwritten law of custom which is so powerful in China. Any foreign system, benevolently designed for their good, is likely to strike wide of the mark.
"This position can be illustrated by taking the case of the keepers – Now under every system, and whether here or on the mainland, these people doubtless form a race of rapacious harpies. But within the empire, they are only tolerated, and here when not licensed, they carry on an illegal business and are subject to prosecution. But give a license to such a class, and let her pay for it, and how can she regard herself otherwise than as a favored instrument of Government – holding a passport to fortune and a charter to make it as quickly and as large as she can? The accustomed and familiar restraints are removed, and the artificial checks incident to Government supervision are of that kind which can be most easily evaded.
The preambles to the Ordinances in question declare their object to be "the better prevention of Contagious Diseases", and the Ordinances themselves contain no provision for the protection of Chinese women, or for conferring any other benefit whatever on the Chinese community. The ordinary law, if properly enforced, either is sufficient to prevent slavery in the Colony – as was affirmed by the late Governor – or it ought to be made so. Your Lordship will, we hope, agree that a legal measure is to be judged by its avowed aim and general tendency, and not by anything done by Officials external to its purpose. And about what that purpose is, there can be no doubt. As Sir J.P. Hennessy wrote to Lord Kimberley under date of November 13th, 1880, the real purpose of the brothel legislation in Hong Kong has been, in the odious words so often used, "the provision of clean Chinese women for the use of British Soldiers and sailors in the Colony."