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Appendix 4.
Appendix 3 (B).
A member of the Commission Rev. Mr. Wells anade a visit of inspection to one of the halts where people carrying loads to the Peak were resting.
He reports as follows:-
“Having heard that children were currying loads to the Peak, I made a visit to one of their balts. A number of women and children were sitting down, and my attention was first called to a boy who seemed to be very weak, if not ili. He was eating a cake, but seemed to have little appetite for it, the time was abour 9.30 a.m. His mother was sitting beside him, evidently somewhat anxious about him, I asked his age, and she said about nine or ten (Chinese reckoning). On being asked which burden the boy was carrying, she pointed to inany loads and said "that one," adding "there are many more, ask then." I looked abou and saw a very small boy, he was eight years of age, (English reckoning, say abou 6 years), he was with his mother, and she said that he must work, or he would not have food to eat. The mother was a widow and came to Hongkong to get work, and finding that the boy could also get work, had set him to earn what he could. He had two loads of twenty two catties (29 lbs. each), these loads he took one by one, carrying each a short distance, and then returning for the other. Further enquiry elicited information to the effect that he had his breakfast at a.m., and began to carry at a place ocar the central market, on the sea front. at six a.m., and had got so far, his work would be finished at about five p.m. He could earn eight cents for a day's work, carrying fifty eight pounds (forty four catties) weight of coal to the Penk. It was stated that he could only work about ten days a month, and that women could only work about twenty days. Th child earned eight cents a day, or eighty cents a month, but he had to get some lunch, and it was said that this might cost three cents a day, so that his clear earn- ings would only be about fifty cents a month. This sain seems hardly sufficien to pay for medicine for him, if, as seems probable, he should have occasioni sicknesses. It seems to be a wicked way to use the time and energy of such a chill.
Other boys and girls of ten, eleven and twelve years of age were in the neigh bourhood at work, it was said that a twelve year old girl could earn twelve cents a day. A general conversation with men and women was held, and it transpired that they get eighteen cents for a load of one hundred catties (133 lbs.), and that a man could carry two loads, and a women about 150 catties, the man would earn thirty-six (36) cents a day, and a women in good health about twenty-seven (27)
cents.
The problem of the formulation of a plan for the protection of these children is a difficult one to solve. It seems as if the small load system might be stopped at the starting point, contractors and employers should not be allowed to make up child burdens. The lowest load might be fixed at fifty catties, and they might be informed that only strong children of full age should be allowed to carry the anaterials or goods. If necessary the system might be attacked gradually, and the weight and limit be reached by slower steps.
age
If young children can earn so little, they would be touch better employed in schools where they could learn a little about books, and what they teach, and if it were possible to give them some industrial training as part of their school train- ing so much the better. It might be possible to teach a little about the cultivation of flowers and plants, the manufacture of small toys, or even elementary work that would be useful for their future life as artisans, and even perhaps enable them to earn a few cents a day after a short time."
General.
I should like, in conclusion, to make a few general observations in elaboration of those coutained in the draft report. At the outset, let me say that I am as anxious as anyone else in this Colony to see the hard lot of some of the poor children in this Colony improvel, and I am sure that all the Chinese here will do everything possible towards that end. But we must take facts as they exist, and not allow our sentiments to affect our considered judgement. Owing to its proximity to the Kwongtung Province, there is a constant flow of Chinese of all classes into this Colony, most of whom come here in order to find work to keep themselves from starvation. The present conditions of the two Kwongs further aggravates the situation. The children who are earning wages are essential to the "scheme of things" in the daily life of the poor, and without them it would mean so much less income to feed the family. One would like to cut down as much as possible the working hours of these children, but unfortunately there is a limit beyond which one cannot go without doing more harm than good. As a rule these children do piece-work; they are paid according to the amount of hours of work they put in. If, for instance, you halve their working hours of suy, 70 hours a week, you would reduce their income by 50%; and where there is more than one child earning such wages it may mean the loss of the wherewithal to pay
rent.
There has been a great deal of talk about "sweated labour" in Hongkong. Except a few isolated cass which one may come across here and there, the work which the children in the Colony are doing caunot be so described. The work is hard no doubt, but where it constitutes the alternative to starvation, it should be allowed, if greater harm is not to be wrought. The struggle for existence in China is intense, and the children who work in the interior are mostly worse off than those earning wages in Hongkong. That is why the Commission do not recommend the total prohibition of child labour, but rather suggest its regulation.
This brings me to the question of compulsory education in the Colony. The idea is very attractive, but a little consideration will show that it cannot be worked, Situated, geographically, as Hongkong is, with its door ever open to the teeming millions from China, the problem of accommodation alone will be found to be most difficult of solution. Then there would be the question of expense which would be enormous, and the difficulty of training the large number of teachers that would be required. Even if all these difficulties could be surmounted, then there would be the question of feeding and clothing the thousands of children who would have to give up their work, upon which they at present depend for their mainten- ance, in order to attend school. I should like, however, to see every child receive some education, if possible; but such should be achieved not by legislation but by voluntary attendance at Continuation Classes in the evening or on Sundays.
(Signed) CHOW SHOU SON.
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