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8. The recent repetition in Mr. J. H. Harris's letter of the charge of slavery seems to make it desirable to assert once more that, whatever may be said against the customs of employing mui-tsai, it cannot, as it exists in Hong Kong, be called slavery, except by a gross misuse of that term. A system of slavery implies that the law, written or customary, definitely recognises and enforces certain rights of ownership in favour of the master as against the slave.
In Hong Kong the law recognises no rights of ownership whatsoever in favour of the employer as against the mui-tsai or as against her parents. If a mui-tsai The status of the mui-tsai is entirely a free status. wishes to leave her employer, there is no legal obstacle to her doing
o at any moment.
8
9. It may be freely admitted that, human nature being what it is, there are possibilities of abuse in every system of employment in which the two parties to the relation are, by reason of the extreme youth or great poverty or ignorance of one of the parties, not on equal terms. Such a possibility does exist in the case of the mui-tsai, and because of this possibility, which in the vast majority of cases is, I believe, only a possibility and not an actual fact, the Government would like to see the mui-tsai system gradually converted into something less open to that possibility.
10. It has however, been found impracticable to proceed otherwise than very slowly. The reasons why more rapid progress is impossible are given above expressly or impliedly, but they are so important that it may be useful to recapitulate them shortly here. They are as follows:
(a) The custom is deep rooted in Chinese family and economic conditions.
(b) Hong Kong with its very large Chinese population cannot break away too far or too fast from Chinese customs.
(c) The great majority of the Chinese live so close to starvation that the too numerous children must find work or die, and they cannot always find work in their own villages.
(d) The existing mui-tsai, whose numbers constantly fluctuate owing to the arrival of new families from China or the departure of Hong Kong families to China, are so numerous that it would be quite impossible to deal with them if they were taken away from their employers.
(e) To enforce drastic measures against the legal sense of the Chinese community would be to invite obstruction in a matter in which obstruction would be peculiarly easy and from a class peculiarly skilled in obstruction.
11. I have given instructions that all cases in which a mui-tsai is concerned and particularly any case of cruelty to a mui-tsai, shall be brought at once to the notice of the Colonial Secretary, in order that I may make personal inquiry into such cases. I shall explore
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further the proposal that there should be instituted in this Colony an organization similar to the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children in England and that in this connection female inspectors, appointed by the Hong Kong Government, might be employed. For the rest I am quite certain that it would be useless, and even detrimental to the cause in view, to attempt to advance ahead of public opinion in China itself, and I do not doubt that the spirit of reform, now wide-spread in China, will before very long address itself practically (and not merely on paper) to the modification of the mui-tsai system. Its disappearance is not, however, to be expected until there is a considerable improvement in economic conditions in China and a less reckless procreation of children among the poorest classes of the Chinese people.
Chinese characters for names in this despatch and its enclosures are given on a separate sheet.*
I have, etc.,
Extract from the
Enclosure 1 in No. 18.
C. CLEMENTI,
Governor, etc.
South China Morning Post," dated 11th April, 1927.
THE MUI-TSAI EVIL. Resuscitation of Local Society.
Committee Formed.
After a considerable lapse of time, the Anti-Mui-teai Society, formed several years ago for the purpose of combating some of the evils of the Chinese domestic service system in Hong Kong, held another general meeting at the Chinese Y.M.C.A. headquarters at Bridges Street on Saturday afternoon. The rainy weather kept many from attending, but there were a sufficient number of the thousand-odd members present for the purpose of carrying through some pressing matters.
A review of conditions since the local Ordinance came into force was given by the Chairman, who expressed dissatisfaction that much of its desired effectiveness had been lost through the apathy of those concerned, and he proposed a large committee of 37 with ample powers to go again into the subject and carry on with the actual work of the Society.
Dr. Yuen Shiu-chuen presided over the meeting, and supporting him were Mr. Ngan Kwan-yue (Hon. Chinese Secretary); Mr. C. G. Anderson (Hon. English Secretary); Mr. Lam Woo (Hon. Treasurer); Mrs. Ma Ying-piu, a well-known local Christian worker; Mr. Mak Mui-sang; Mr. Hung To-fei, Mr. Wong Kam-ying, etc. The Chairman in his opening address, after retracing the history of the movement, said that an annual meeting should have been called according to the original regula- tions, but the period through which they had been passing was exceptional, and many of the thousand-odd members of the Society had left Hong Kong, and in other ways made the work of the Hon. Secretaries difficult in keeping touch. How- ever, it was felt that if the movement was not to peter out, for want of popular attention to an evil which still existed in their midst, it was necessary to call another meeting.
* Not printed.