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produced in which she was called an adopted daughter.
Of course under the main part of the section the magistrate
would have to find that the girl was a mui tsai unless
there was evidence to the contrary
sufficient to discharge
the onus laid on the accused by the section.
12.
The proposed new section 22 will enable the
magistrate to estimate the age of a mui tsai even though
no evidence is called on the point. Such a provision is
obviously necessary.
Precedents in principle may be
found in section 27 of Ordinance No. 4 of 1897, and in
section 1(3) of the Street Betting Act, 1906, and section
141 of the Education Act, 1921.
13.
Section 32 of the Protection of Women and Girls
Ordinance, 1897, Ordinance No. 4 of 1897, previous to its
amendment by Ordinance No. 21 of 1929, provided that "No
parent or person acting in the place of a parent who has
voluntarily parted with a girl for the purpose of adoption
into another family, or who has received money for parting
with the custody of such girl for any purpose, shall be
deemed to be entitled as of right to the custody of such
girl as her parent or as the person acting in the place
of her parent, and the legal guardianship of such girl shall
be vested in the Secretary for Chinese Affairs".
provisions appeared to be in conflict with some of the
provisions of the Female Domestic Service Ordinance, 1923.
14.
These
In the first place it might have been argued that the
declaratory clause of the later Ordinance, i.e., section 2,
negatived the right of guardianship conferred on the
Secretary for Chinese Affairs by section 32 of Ordinance
No. 4 of 1897 where a parent had received money for parting