82
was made in the colony to carry out abolition, in spite of the fact that the Colonial Secretary who succeeded Mr. Churchill in office, the Duke of Devonshire, cabled out to the Governor, Sir Edward Stubbs, "No compromise.'
}}
This was ignored, and Registration, without which it was not possible to discover the numbers and the where- abouts of these unhappy children, was not even attempted. At last, in the autumn of 1928 news reached me that far from being abolished, the Mui Tsai system was in full force; that when cases of buying children came into courts, no fine or punishment was imposed for the purchase, and that the number of slaves had increased, and their price had risen.
Many questions were put in Parliament last session, and the excuse given was that the influx of Chinese from the mainland had made it difficult to know if they had Mui Tsai with them or not." It was not admitted that the Ordin- ance had not been carried out, just as the sale of human beings was not admitted in 1920-1922.
"
Had registration been in force, the difficulty of ascer- taining if Mui Tsai were being brought to the colony, could have been checked at the landing-places.
Public opinion has been stirred anew by these unsatis- factory replies. On Thursday, May 23rd last, another pro- clamation, identical with that of 1922, was issued in Hong Kong, and published in the Chinese press. Could any more striking proof be found of the broken pledge and the dishonoured word?
Had the first proclamation been translated into fact, the second one would never have been necessary. A mere proclamation alone can never hope to achieve the abolition of the system. No evil can be abolished by merely declar- ing that it is illegal. It must obviously be followed by legislation, which in its turn must be enforced. The present danger is that the proclamation may lead people who are not fully acquainted with the facts, into believing that the system is ended. Whereas it may easily become a dead letter, as the other did, and of no practical use whatever.
One of the reasons why a proclamation is so ineffective is that the Mui Tsai are for the most part unable to read or write, and are easily terrorised into silence. Many of them, indeed, most of them, scarcely ever go out at all, and have no idea that their freedom has been announced, the news of which never reaches them.
Is it conceivable, in any case, that a small child would march off to the British Police station, or to the Office of the Secretary for Chinese affairs, as the proclamation advises? Who has ever seen an ill-used child in this country reporting itself at the office of the Home Secretary, or in Whitehall!
Some months ago, a small girl slave in the colony, who had been brutally ill-treated, and then turned out of doors by her owner, was found wandering miserably in the streets of Hong Kong, in such a bruised and wounded condition that she had to be taken to the hospital.
The only practical way of dealing effectively with the whole problem is to start registration immediately, with a view to obtaining the number and the whereabouts of the Mui Tsai, of which the Government are at present in ignor- This was provided for in the Ordinance of 1923, but has never been attempted.
ance.
As to the argument brought forward still by people in the colony, and here at home, in defence of the system, that "it is unwise to interfere with an old Chinese custom," this has been at last, I am glad to say, completely cut from under their feet.
Canton, on the adjoining mainland, has recently drawn up a comprehensive scheme for the freedom of the Mui Tsai, The most stringent regulations have been issued by the Cantonese Government, and severe penalties have been imposed for any evasion of the law. They have recognised registration as a first step in the abolition of the system, and full provision for it is made in their Ordinance.
Our duty now is to press for definite action to be taken in British Hong Kong for the abolition of this Mui Tsai
83
Page 80Page 81