2
M
160
To this institution mui tsai who are ill treated are
removed penuing investigation and other arrangements
for their welfare.
institution composed of Chinese gentlemen of high
There is a Committee of this
standing, some of whom meet every day to advise the Secretary of Chinese Affairs, one of the leading Bong Kong Officials, on all the cases which are
Ieported to the institute.
Quite recently as an
experiment it has been arranged that a Committee of
Chinese ladies should be associated with the Chinese
elders in dealing with cases of mul teal.
It
should be mentioned here that these Chinese gentry who
have devoted so much time and labour to the protection
of women and children, have noticed with indignation
the misrepresentations made as to the system of mui
tsal by persons whose zeal antilely outruns their
comprehension of the position.
With the general syste of mui tsal as
explaine. above (to which it should be added that
marriages are usually arranged for these gills by
their employers when the proper age is reached, and
friendly relations maintained after marriage)
propagandists over here constantly mix up the question
of what in Europe we should call the white slave
traffic. This is an entirely different question,
with which Government has to deal as best it can, and
it is a very difficult question in China. But to
bring in cases of this sort in order to condemn the
custom of mui tsai is unfair to that customs and con'
the issue. A number of prostitutes no doubt come
from the class of mui tsai as from all other of t~
of the poorer classes, but no proof whatever has
prod