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Colonies to abolish the system of girl slavery in Hong Kong within one year." The assurance given by Mr. Churchill during question-time in Parliament lacked nothing in precision:-
(
A
I desire to make it clear (to the House) that both the Governor and I are determined to effect the abolition of the system at the earliest practicable date, and I have indicated to the Governor that I expect the change to be carried out withi
year.
Parliament and press were satisfied with Mr. Churchill's promise that within one year this hoary old system of slavery would have disappeared.
"
The
What do we find? After seven years the Anti-Mui Tsai Society of Hong Kong, gathering, we are told, in large numbers under its chairman, reviewed the situation. chairman, Mr. Yeung Shui-chuen, first stated that the results of their six years' effort had been "insignificant," that when Mr. Churchill's ordinance was issued the owners were for a time a little less cruel to their Mui Tsai slaves, and that he himself then had hopes "that this inhuman system would be abandoned once for all." But," he said, every month letters reached the society reporting the ill-treatment of the Mui Tsai," whilst the numbers of Mui Tsai slaves appealing to the society, coupled with personal visits, demonstrated the fact that "cruelty shows an increase." The chairman continued: 'According to private estimates there are about 10,000 Mui Tsai in Hong Kong, and according to the in- vestigation of some six years ago there were in Hong Kong and on the mainland total of 8,653 Mui Tsai.
"
Perhaps almost as astonishing as the increase in the number of Mui Tsai slaves is the increase in the price of a Mui Tsai. A fortnight after the meeting of the Anti-Mui Tsai Society the editor of the South China Morning Post" drew public attention to a case of fraud in the police court, where it emerged from the evidence that one of the parties had purchased a Mui Tsai for 150 or 160 dollars, whereas, according to Mr. Charles Roberts, the price in 1922 was 40 to 60 dollars for a child of four years old, unless purchased for prostitution, when the price was higher.
It is useless now to argue that the Mui Tsai system is not slavery, for it falls quite easily within the definition of a slave to which Great Britain and thirty other States have appended their signature in the League of Nations Slavery
Convention. The Anti-Mui Tsai Society of Hong Kong has placed on record the following comparison between a Mui Tsai and a slave:-
A slave is bought with money.
A Mui Tsai also is bought with money.
A slave is not paid for labour.
A Mui Tsai also is not paid for labour.
A slave can be resold.
A Mui Tsai also can be resold.
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The breakdown of Mr. Churchill's abolition scheme is alleged to be due to the failure of the Hong Kong Govern- ment to carry out the stipulations of the ordinance, particu- larly with regard to registration. According to the ordinance issued by Mr. Churchill, it was an obligation on the Colonial Government of Hong Kong to prepare and keep up to date a register of Mui Tsai. No such registration appears to have been carried out at all. The editor of the "South China Morning Post suggests that the reason why the ordinance has not been carried out in this respect is because
"under British law slavery of any kind is not recognised. The regis- tration of Mui Tsai suggests the recognition of an illegal bondage system, and may be a reason for the authorities' hesitation to enforce the provision made in part 3 of the ordinance." But it is surely a grave matter to have left the British Parliament and public opinion under the impression for nearly seven years that this had been done and the Mui Tsai slaves set free.
Confronted with this deplorable situation, the Anti-Mui Tsai Society is petitioning the Government for certain specified reforms, and is holding meetings in Hong Kong in support of petitions to the Government, The immediate reforms being pressed include the following:-
(a) A declaration of freedom for all Mui Tsai on reach- ing the age of 18.
(b) The payment of wages to Mui Tsai, beginning at 6d. a week for Mui Tsai up to 14 years, and 1s, a week for Mui Tsai from 15 up to 17 years.
(c) The registration in Government departments of all deeds covering transactions.
But these demands fall very far short of the promise given to Parliament by Mr. Churchill in 1922.-Yours, &c.,
JOHN H. HARRIS.
Denison House, Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London, S.W. 1, January 10.
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