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5363-20
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 delicate nature of this legislation and the Secretary of State is prepared to consider carefully and sympathetically any representations the Chinese community may wish to make before Part III is brought into operation.
THE COLONIAL TREASURER seconded the first reading of the Bill, which was carried.
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.
HON. MR. H. E. POLLOCK, K.C., said: Your Excellency,—As the Senior Unofficial member of the Legislative Council, 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 Members 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."
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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 worship imposed on a man's eldest son as a filial duty (medical science not yet having discovered 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-tsai, for it shatters at one blow the mui-tsai system, as defined by Chinese 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 payment 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
nhabitants of China.
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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 punishment for gross cruelty to mui-tsai would, in our opinion, do more to protect them than any amount of legislation. In order to deal with cases of cruelty by parents to their own children, one would naturally look for some tightening up of the laws against cruelty, rather than for some legislation prohibiting parents from bringing their children into the Colony after the commencement of the Ordinance.
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