5363-17
Enclosure 2 in No.
Attorney.General's Chambers,
Hong Kong. 19th February, 1923.
Report on Ordinance No. 1, of 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.*
* No.
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, without any payment, unless the Secretary for Chinese Affairs sees some grave objection in the interests of the mui-tsal to such restoration. For instance, he might refuse permission to restore a girl to the custody of a mother who was living an immoral life.
13. Section 11 provides that every mui-tsai shall, as hitherto, have the right to apply to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, and that upon any such application the Secretary for Chinese Affairs may make any order which he may think fit regarding the custody, control, employment and conditions of employment of the mui-tsai.
14. Part III of the bill will not come into operation until such date as may be fixed by proclamation of the Governor in Council. This is provided in section 17.
15. Section 12 gives a wide power of making regulations.
16. Section 13 deals with the question of registration.
17. Sub-section (2) of section 13 provides that every person who has a mui-tsai in his employment in the Colony at the date of the coming into operation of Part III must register such mui-tsai within six months after that date.
18. Sub-section (2) of section 13 provides that every person who at any time has in his employment a mui-tsai brought into the Colony after the date of the coming into operation of Part III must register such mui-tsai within two weeks after her arrival in the Colony.
Phut.