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Answer. The present Committee merely find out all they can about these girls and then make a report to the Registrar General. If they make any recommendations it is for him to act on them or not.
Question.
You would prefer that the majority of the Board should decide what is to be done with any girl whether the Registrar General is opposed to it or not?
Answer. Yes.
The same class of evidence is continued on page 27. See also pages 31, 32, 33, where it is made clear that the main question on which the Chinese wish to be able to control the Registrar General is this question of marriage. At page 33, at the bottom of the page, will be found Mr. Ho Fook's opinion as to the result of the Government refusing to grant the Society power to over-rule the Registrar General by the majority of votes. He says: "The Society will throw up the whole thing."
At page 38, Mr. WAI LONG SHAN confirms Mr. WAI YUK and Mr. Ho Fook, as to the desire of the Society to get the control of the Registrar General in the disposal of the women and girls.
I would further in this connection call attention to a remark of Dr. Ho Kai, to be found at p. 99 of the Blue Book:
"That is not exactly it. The Registrar General has the power, even if this Ordinance is passed, to place the girls where he likes; but once he makes use of the Pó Léung Kuk, sends a girl there, according to the provisions of that Ordinance, then the Committee is over the Registrar General.”
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25. It seems to me abundantly clear from the perusal of the Chinese evidence that the object of the Chinese in petitioning for and supporting this Ordinance is that if it is passed, and if the Registrar General becomes Chairman of the Permanent Committee, the majority of that Committee, composed entirely of Chinese, shall be able to control the Registrar General, not in matters of detail connected with the detective work of the Society, nor in matters of finance or of the internal management of the Home, but in the vital matter of the ultimate disposal of the women and girls sent there, their transfer to other custody, their adoption, or marriage.
26. The Ordinance as passed will place the Registrar General in that position, as the Chinese understand it, and as I understand it, and my proposal in Committee of Council was to amend section 9 by removing him from that position. There is no objection to his remaining in the position, if, as suggested by Dr. EITEL, (see page 98 of the Blue Book) a power of veto were given him in all cases, (subject to an appeal to the Governor) in which a positive duty is imposed on him personally by Ordinance 11 of 1890.
27. To conclude, I have objected and object to clause 9 of the Ordinance, and to the appointment, under it, as a member of the Permanent Committee of the Pó Léung Kuk of the Registrar General because by Ordinance 11 of 1890 there is imposed on him, and on him alone, the duty and responsibility of disposing of all women and girls dealt with by him under that Ordinance and who have to be provided for in the Home, and he must provide for them by marriage or adoption. Hitherto he has in all such matters acted and been able to act with the most perfect independence, and has had the aid and assistance of the Pó Leung Kuk Committee, but has not been in any way bound to follow it if it did not command his approval. This Ordinance now before Your Lordship is sought for by the Chinese in order that the Registrar General's independent action may be fettered, that instead of being outside and above their Committee, he may be in it and of it, and bound by its votes and opinions, and in this special matter of the disposal of the women and children committed to its care, the Ordinance is so framed as to make him a mere member of the Pó Leung Kuk Committee with a casting vote as Chairman at most, and without any power of veto, no matter what the decisions of the majority may be. I submit that this is wrong, that if for any reason it is desirable that the Registrar General should be a member of the Board, he should have an express power of veto, subject to appeal to the Courts, or to the Governor. But I contend that it is a grave mistake to put him on the Board in any form. His independent position ought to be maintained. If there must be a European Chairman let the Captain Superintendent of Police be the man. He has no special duties as regards women and children, and there would be a certain fitness in the appointment considering the primary duties of the Society.
28. I will not urge upon Your Lordship the unwisdom of leaving it in the power of a Chinese Society, however excellent, and of their Officers to represent themselves on the mainland and before the Chinese Officials, as a quasi-government department, under a Government Official. I simply call Your Lordship's attention to that phase of the subject.
29. I pray Your Lordship to return the Ordinance to Hongkong for amendment in the directions indicated by me, and to recommend to this Government either to remove the Registrar General from the Governing Body of the Pó Léung Kuk, or to invest him with powers adequate to his duties and responsibilities to the women and girls under his care.
30. May I ask Your Lordship to give instructions that any reply you may think fit to make to this letter may be communicated to me without delay on its receipt by the Government here. Your Lordship's reply to the letter dated 12th January last of the Unofficial Members on the question of the cost of the administration, although dated the 21st April last did not reach the hands of the Senior Unofficial Member until the 2nd instant.
I have the honour to be,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient, humble Servant,
M. Whitehead
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