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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
Section 7 is therefore repealed. Some of its provisions are repro- duced in the new section 18 of the principal Ordinance which is to be enacted by section 7 of this Ordinance. That section will provide that in every prosecution under section 6 of the principal Ordinance the magistrate shall find whether the acts or omissions proved, if any, amounted to gross cruelty, and if he so finds the accused must be sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine. The provision that medical evidence must be called is omitted.
4. Section 8 of the principal Ordinance provides that the provisions of the Offences against the Person Ordinance, 1865, and of the Protection of Women and Girls Ordinance, 1897, shall as hitherto apply to mui tsai. To provide that an enactment in force is still in force is, to say the least, unusual, but the insertion of this section in the Ordinance in committee was justified by the desirability of drawing public attention to the fact that mui tsai were within the protection of the two Ordinances referred to. It was also perhaps useful as impliedly preserving certain rights of guardianship conferred on the Secretary for Chinese Affairs by section 32 of the Protection of Women and Girls Ordinance, 1897. It has, however, been thought desirable to deal specifically with these rights of guardianship, as is explained in paragraphs 12 to 15 below. It therefore seems unnecessary to retain section 8 of the principal Ordinance on the statute book.
5. Section 9 (1) of the principal Ordinance enables the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, upon the death of the employer of any mui tsai, to make any order which he may think fit regarding the transfer of such mui tsai to a new employer. The object of this provision was to give the Secretary for Chinese Affairs power to make the best arrangement for the mui tsai possible in all the circumstances of the case. It was never intended that this power should override the right of a mui tsai to be restored to her parent or other natural guardian, or the general right of the parent or other natural guardian of a mui tsai under the age of eighteen to have the girl restored to his or her custody. Section 4 of this Ordinance, therefore, inserts in section 9 (1) of the principal Ordinance words which make it quite clear that the provisions of section 10 of the principal Ordinance are to prevail over those of section 9 (1) in case of any conflict.
6. Section 5 of this Ordinance makes in section 11 of the principal Ordinance the same amendment as section 4 of this Ordinance makes in section 9 (1) of the principal Ordinance.
7. Section 6 of this Ordinance repeals section 13 (2) of the principal Ordinance because in future it will be illegal to bring any unregistered mui tsai into the Colony, and accordingly no provision can be made for the registration of mui tsai so brought in.
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