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18 of the principal Ordinance which is enacted by section
7 of this Ordinance. That section provides 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
that medical evidence
option of a fine. The provision
must be called is omitted.
5.
Section 8 of the principal Ordinance provided that
the provisions of the offences against the Person
Ordinance, 1865, and of the Protection of Women and Girls
Ordinance, 1897, should 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 perhaps 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 13. to 16 below. It therefore seems
unnecessary to retain section 8 of the principal Ordinance
on the statute book.
6.
Section 9(1) of the principal Ordinance enabled the
Secretary for Chinese Affairs, upon the death of the
employer of any mui tsai, to make any order which he
might think fit regarding the transfer of such mui tsai