the unselfish nature of his relations with the Pó Leung Kuk, but the fact remains he has warmly espoused the cause of the Society, and as its champion and advocate the public may be inclined to see in him a prejudiced Chairman. That he should be on the Committee no one will dispute, but that he should be its Chairman no one outside the Government would pretend to urge. If Mr. LOCKHART has any spirit he will ask to be relieved of the honourable but for him invidious position. Unless a new Chairman unconnected with the Bill for the incorporation of the Pó Leung Kuk be appointed, the Unofficial Members of Council nominated to serve on it should respectfully decline to do so, if but to mark their scuse of the grave mistake made in the selection of Chairman.
Extract from "Daily Press" of 29th May, 1893.
The Bill for the Incorporation of the Pó Léung Kuk, read a first time at the meeting of the Legislative Council on Thursday, differs in several respects from the original Bill, some of the amendments proposed by the Honourable C. P. CHATER and Honourable T. H. WHITEHEAD in the recently published reports of the Committee appointed to investigate the subject having been adopted. For instance, annual subscriptions are provided for; it is laid down that all persons apprehended by the Society's officers are to be sent or taken to a Police Station; and a suspending clause has been introduced. A number of the honourable gentlemen's recommendations have, however, been disregarded. The most important of these is with regard to the Registrar-General's connection with the Society. The Bill provides that the Society shall be governed by a Permanent Board of Direction of which the Registrar-General is to be ex officio the President. Mr. CHATER in his report says he feels strongly that it is inadvisable that the Registrar-General should be a member of the governing body; that he should be outside it as the authority to whom all questions under debate should be submitted. Mr. WHITEHEAD strongly deprecates the inclusion of the Registrar-General in the governing body, pointing out that that officer must have in all respects the final and decisive word in all dealings by the Society with women and girls entrusted to its care, and should be entirely outside it and above it and should not be mixed up in the debates and discussions of the Committee. One of the reasons given by the honourable gentleman for this opinion is that as regards our relations with the Chinese Authorities on the mainland the Registrar-General's connection with the Society would involve the danger of the acts of the Pó Leung Kuk being identified as the acts of the Government. The principal reason advanced is, however, that the Registrar-General would be liable to be placed in a minority and overruled, which would be an unbecoming position for any high officer of the Government, and an impossible position for the officer specially charged with the protection of women and girls by Ordinance No. 11 of 1890. To show that the danger here indicated is not a shadowy one Mr. WHITEHEAD refers to certain passages in the evidence given before the Committee and in the discussions of the members. For instance, a question arose as to what would happen in the event of a difference of opinion occurring between the Registrar-General and the Pó Leung Kuk as to the disposal of a girl in marriage. Mr. STEWART-LOCKHART maintained that if a marriage were arranged by the Pó Leung Kuk of which he disapproved, he, as Dr. Ho Kai said—“I think that answer is wrong. Registrar-General, could stop it."Once the girl is placed in the Pó Leung Kuk the power of the Registrar-General "is to cease altogether and all questions which arise shall be decided by a majority of votes." Mr. WAI YUK, the witness under examination at the time, was of the same opinion as Dr. Ho Kai. The latter gentleman did not mince the matter at all; in reply to a question propounded by Mr. CHATER, "Suppose the Registrar-General were in a minority?" he laconically replied, "Well, he would have to give way." Mr. Ho Fook, examined as a witness, said:"It would not be right that the other members of the Board should be the mere tools of the Registrar-General. They "ought to have a voice in the matter and everything should go by the majority. I make the suggestion not because the Chinese have no faith in the present Registrar-General, because it is quite otherwise, but because they do not know, of course, "what sort of a man may succeed him." The same gentleman referred to a case where the Registrar-General had objected to some action of the Society, and he said:That is why the Chinese want this Ordinance passed, so as to prevent this "happening again." There are other passages of a similar tenor in the evidence and it is abundantly clear that the idea of the Chinese is that with regard to the discharge of his duties under the Women and Girls Protection Ordinance the Registrar-General is to be brought into subjection to the Pó Leung Kuk. The Bill, by making the Registrar-General a member of the Board of Direction liable like any private member to be outvoted, virtually carries out this idea. Leaving out of consideration any question of dignity, such a policy as this is fraught with the gravest possible danger. It is unfortunate that the Pó Léung Kuk cannot be allowed to carry on its useful and praiseworthy work as a private charitable organisation, in the same way that similar work is carried on in other parts of the world, but if it must be incorporated and placed on the basis of a Government Department care must be taken not to allow it to compromise the independence of the Registrar-General's Department. Grave doubts are entertained in some quarters as to the constitutionality of that Department, and even the strongest upholders of the present arrangement may well tremble if it is to be subordinated to the Pó Leung Kuk.
Extract from "Daily Press" of 5th June, 1893.
The Registrar-General's Office has been frequently discussed and more than once proposals for its abolition have been advanced, but hitherto it has been held by the community as well as by the Secretary of State, that "the Registrar-General's Office should not be merged in any other, but hold its present distinct position, as being intended for, and only concerned with, the special needs of the Chinese population." A different aspect is put on the matter, however, now that it has been practically decided that the Registrar-General is to cease to be an independent officer and is to become subordinate to the Pó Léung Kuk, If he is to be maintained simply as English Secretary and adviser to a Chinese Society, then the question arises whether an officer drawing a much lower salary might not do for the post. Let us not be misunderstood on this point. We write in no spirit of hostility to the Pó Leung Kuk nor do we entertain any distrust of our Chinese fellow residents who exercise the control of that body. We would willingly see a much larger measure of self-government accorded to the Chinese community than is at present enjoyed, but we say that the Registrar-General, instead of being constituted the servant of any Chinese organisation, ought to remain superior to and independent of all such organisations in the same way and to the same extent as the President of the Local Government Board in England is superior to and independent of the various Municipal Councils and other local bodies with whose doings his department is specially concerned. With the sacrifice of his independence the Registrar-General necessarily becomes incapacitated to discharge the functions of adviser to the Government in matters affecting the Chinese and to act as the channel of communication between the Chinese and the Government, and the principal functions hitherto discharged by him will accessarily have to be discharged by the Colonial Secretary, with the assistance possibly of a Chinese Secretary. The post of Registrar-General, therefore, cannot fail to receive close attention from the Retrenchment Commission.
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