Registration.
No person
to have an
unregistered mui-tsai
in his
employment.
No person
to have in his
employment any female
domestic
servant under 10, except a registered mui-tsai.
Remuneration
of mui-tsai.
Coming into operation of
Part III.
General Penalty.
Consent.
22
(2) All regulations made under this Ordinance shall be laid on the table of the Legislative Council at the first meeting thereof held after the publication in the Gazette of the making of such regulations, and if a resolution be passed at the first meeting of the Legislative Council held after such regulations have been laid on the table of the said Council resolving that any such regulation shall be rescinded, or amended in any manner whatsoever, the said regulation shall, without prejudice to anything done thereunder, be deemed to be rescinded, or amended as the case may be, as from the date of publication in the Gazette of the passing of such resolution.
13.—(1) Every person who at the date of the coming into operation of this Part shall have a mui-tsai in his employment in the Colony shall register such mui-tsai in the prescribed manner within six months after the date of the coming into operation of this Part.
(2) Every person who shall at any time have in his employment in the Colony a mui-tsai who shall have been brought into the Colony after the date of the coming into operation of this Part shall register such mui-tsai in the prescribed manner within two weeks after the arrival of such mui-tsai in the Colony.
(3) It shall be lawful for the Secretary for Chinese Affairs in his absolute discretion to refuse to register any particular mui-tsai and to remove any particular mui-tsai from the register.
14. Subject to the period allowed for registration, and subject to the provisions of section 9, no person shall have in his employment an unregistered mui-tsai.
15. Subject to the period allowed for registration, and subject to the provisions of section 9, no person shall have in his employment any female domestic servant under the age of 10 years unless such servant is a registered mui-tsai.
16. Every mui-tsai of or over the age of 10 years shall be entitled to such wages for her services as shall be prescribed.
17. This Part shall not come into operation until such date as may be fixed by proclamation of the Governor in Council.
PART IV.
18. Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 7, every person who contravenes or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or of any regulation made thereunder shall be liable upon summary conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars.
19. No prosecution under this Ordinance shall be commenced without the consent of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
Passed the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, this 15th day of February, 1923.
M. FLETCHER,
Clerk of Councils.
Assented to by His Excellency the Governor, the 15th day of February, 1923.
CLAUD SEVERN,
Colonial Secretary-
23
Enclosure 2 in No. 13.
Attorney-General's Chambers,
Report on Ordinance No. 1, of 1923.
Hong Kong. 19th February, 1923.
1. I have examined the accompanying Ordinance intituled An Ordinance to regulate certain forms of female domestic service, and I am of opinion that the Ordinance is one which is not contrary to the Governor's instructions.
2. This Ordinance was introduced on the instructions of the Secretary of State, and is an attempt to deal with the mui-tsai problem. It follows closely the terms of the Secretary of State's telegram of the 24th November, 1922.*
3. Section 2 is declaratory. Payment to a parent or guardian by an employer who thereby obtains the custody of the child has never in this Colony conferred any rights upon such employer as against the parent or guardian, and has never conferred on such employer any right of retaining possession as against the child herself, but many persons have ignorantly imagined that such rights could be transferred.
4. Broadly speaking, a mui-tsai is defined as a female domestic servant whose employer obtained her services by means of a payment to any one. Paragraph (ii) of the definition is intended to cover two cases. One is the case where a girl has been transferred by one employer to another, and the second is the case where an employer has died and the care of the household has devolved on, e.g., his son or widow.
5. Section 4 provides that no person shall hereafter take into his employment any mui-tsai. This of course will not prevent any one from employing under an ordinary contract for service a girl who was formerly employed as a mui-tsai.
6. Section 5 provides that no person shall hereafter take into his employment any female domestic servant under the age of 10 years. This is intended to prevent evasion, as in the case of a child under 10 it might be difficult to prove that she was a mui-tsai.
7. Section 6 deals with the treatment of mui-tsai. It provides that no employer of a mui-tsai shall overwork or ill-treat such mui-tsai or subject her to any punish- ment to which he might not reasonably subject his own daughter. It also requires the employer to provide sufficient food and clothing, and in case of illness, such medical attendance as the employer might reasonably have been expected to provide for his own daughter.
8. Section 7 was introduced on the motion of an unofficial member. It is intended to emphasise the seriousness of cruelty and to ensure the infliction of an adequate penalty for gross cruelty.
9. Section 8 was also introduced on the motion of an unofficial member. It seems scarcely necessary. Apparently its object is to remind the public of the penal provisions of the two Ordinances referred to.
10. Part of the policy of the Ordinance is to prevent transfers of mui-tsai from one employer to another. It is, however, obviously necessary to provide for the case of the death of an employer, and, in that event, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs will under section 9 have power to make any order which he may think fit regarding the transfer of a mui-tsai to, e.g., the widow of the former employer.
11. Sub-section (2) of section 9 requires every person who becomes the actual employer of a mui-tsai, by reason of the death of the former employer or for any other reason, to report such fact within one week.
12. Section 10 provides that every mui-tsai who wishes to be restored to her parents or guardians, and every mui-tsai under the age of 18 whose parents or guardians wishes such mui-tsai to be restored to their custody, shall be so restored,
* No. 12.
A