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Clause is the main clause in Part II of the Bill,the part which is to come into operation at once. It provides that no person shall hereafter take into his employ- ment any mai-tsai. That, of course, will not prevent anyone taking into his employment as a hired servant a girl who was formerly a mui-tsai. Clause 5 provides that no em- ployer shall hereafter take into his employment any female domestic servant under the age of ten years. That is intended to prevent evasion because in the case of children under 10 it would be very difficult to prove that they were or were not mui-tsai. Clause 6 provides that every employer of a mui-tsai must provide the girl with sufficient food and clothing and medical attendance in case of illness, and that no employer of a mui-tsai shall overwork or ill-treat a mui-tsai or subject her to any punishment to which he might not reasonably subject his own daughter. That, I think, really expresses a duty already recognised by all good employers, who, as I said before, are in a large majority.
That brings us to Part III of the Bill-the postponed part. Clause 7 gives a power of making regulations. The regulations that are at present proposed have been published in draft with this Bill. They deal with registration and also with notice of the death of the employer of a mui-tsai and with the wages of mui-tsai. Clauses 8 and 9 require re- gistration, and prohibit the employment of unregistered_mui-tsai. Part of the policy of the Bill is to prevent transfers of mui-tsai from one employer to another, but it is obvious, of course, that the case of death must be provided for, and section 11, whilst prohibiting transfers, provides that on the death of an employer the Secretary for Chinese Affairs may make any order which he may think fit for the transfer of such mui-tsai to a new employer. No doubt in the ordinary way in the case of death of an employer he would give the child over to the care of the widow if she were a fit and proper person and the conditions of employment were sufficiently good to justify that order. Sub-clause (2) of the clause provides that when any person becomes the actual employer in fact of a mui-tsui owing to death or for any other reason, such new employer must report that fact within one week. Clause 12 provides that every mui-tsai of or over the age of 10 years may leave her employment at any time without any notice and without any payment to any person. That clause again is merely declaratory, as at the present moment such girls have the right to do so. Clause 13 provides that every mui-tsai under the age of 18 who wishes to be restored to her parents, and every mui-tsai under 18 whose parent wishes the mui-tsai restored to his or her custody, shall be so restored unless the Secretary for Chinese Affairs sees some grave objection. That clause, too, is largely declaratory, ex- cept that it gives the Secretary for Chinese Affairs a right to enquire into the case in the interests of the girl herself. For example, as I have said in the "Objects and Reasons", he might refuse permission to restore a girl to the custody of a mother who was living an immoral life.
Clause 14 provides that every mai-tsai of or over the age of 12 and under the age of 18 shall have the right to apply to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and upon such application the Secretary for Chinese Affairs may make any order he may think fit in re- gard to the custody, control, employment and conditions of employment of the applicant. That is largely declaratory, too, because, of course, every mui-tsai has that right at present, and no doubt the Secretary for Chinese Affairs will be prepared to listen to any application by a mui-tsai whether she be under 12 or over 18 or between those ages. Clause 15 is the wages clause. The wages proposed are given in Regulation 7 of the Draft Regulations. They may seem small by English standards, but, or course, they must be judged by local standards and in view of local conditions.
I think that is all, Sir that I wish to say as regards the details of the Bill. In conclusion I only wish to say that the Government fully recognises the difficult and deli- cate nature of this legislation and the Secretary of State is prepared to consider care- fully and sympathetically any representations the Chinese community may wish to make before Part III is brought into operation.
carried.
THE COLONIAL TREASURER seconded the first reading of the Bill. which was
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Enclosure 3 in No. 13.
EXTRACT FROM THE HONG KONG HANSARD, LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL : SITTING OF
8TH FEBRUARY, 1923.
THE MUI-TSAI BILL.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the second reading of the Bill intituled, An Ordinance to regulate certain forms of Female Domestic Service.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded.
IION. MR. II. E. POLLOCK, K.C. said--Your Excellency,-As the Senior Unofficial member of the Legislative Council, I have been asked by my British Colleagues to address this Council on the subject of this Bill. What I am saying, therefore, must be regarded as our joint views. The Senior Chinese Unofficial Member will address the Council on behalf of himself and his Chinese Colleagues. I should add that the Chinese Members of Council concur in and support what I am about to say, and that we British Unofficial Mem- bers also concur in what the Senior Chinese Unofficial Member is about to say on behalf of the Chinese members. We regret to find that a great deal of misunderstanding has gathered round this subject. The mui-tsai system is neither so benevolent as the more extreme of its supporters have sought to maintain, nor, on the other hand, is it so wholly wanting in good points as the opponents of the system would have us believe, and we are content to accept the following language of the Attorney General, in moving the first reading of this Bill"Many of the mui-tsai-I think the majority—are contented with their lot and are fairly well off.'
We, therefore, start with a system which viewed as a whole, has not worked badly; which has been practised in China for several thousands of years right up to the present time, and which has its root in a superfluity of daughters due to the ancestor wor- ship imposed on a man's oldest son as a filial duty (medical science not yet having dis- covered any means whereby a parent can select the sex of the child whom it is desired to bring into the world.) Whilst, however, we regret to find that the evils of the working of the system have been grossly exaggerated to the detriment of the good name of this Colony, we agree with all the provisions for the protection of mui-tsai from ill-treatment which are contained in the present Government Bill, and are prepared, as will presently appear, to make those provisions against cruelty even stronger than they are at present.
Clause 2 of the Bill is all-important, and may justly be regarded as the charter of freedom of the mui-tsei, for it shatters at one blow the mui-tsai system, as defind by Chin- ese custom, and as it has existed for some thousands of years. The "certain persons" referred to in that clause as the persons who have "erroneously supposed that the pay- ment of money in return for the transfer of a female child confers certain rights over her" are the three or four hundred millions of Chinese who compose the inhabitants of China.
Clause 6 which provides for the good treatment of mui-tsai is, as far as it goes. good; but it does not go far enough, and we shall suggest, in Committee, with the view of protecting mui-tsai from gross cruelty the insertion of the following clause :-
"In every prosecution for overwork or ill-treatment of a mui-tsai medical evidence shall be given before the Magistrate trying the case as to the injuries received by such mui-tsai, and the magistrate shall find whether such ill-treatment amounted, in his opinion, to gross cruelty or not”.
"In the event of such Magistrate finding that such ill-treatment amounts to gross cruelty, the offender shall not be given the option of paying a fine but shall be sentenced by the Magistrate to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year.”
In our view the strict enforcement of such a clause against gross cruelty to mui-tsai is what is really required, and a few cases of imprisonment with hard labour as a punish- ment for gross cruelty to mui-tsai would, in our opinion, do more to protect them than any
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