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Another member said that much effective work could be accomplished by personal investigation as in the case of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He discovered a similarity in the work of the two Societies with the exception that theirs had the greater claim to official backing, in the fact that it was a human being whose life's burden they were seeking to lighten.
The authorities had displayed a praiseworthy attitude when they co-operated with members of the S.P.C.A. in these personal investigations. He recalled that quite recently, lady members of that Society went round to the various bird shops in the town to look into cases of cruelty and that they were on that occasion accom- panied by a police officer. If the same procedure was adopted in their own case, and members of the Anti-Mui-tsai Society were allowed to accompany a police officer in order to investigate fully a report of cruelty, much of the objectionable features to which reference was made by the Chairman in his speech would cease.
Election of Committee.
After further discussion it was agreed to incorporate this suggestion as well as the one for a penalty clause, in the main body of proposals. In their revised form, the proposals were then put to the meeting and passed, the meeting giving full powers to the Executive Committee to present them at the proper time before the authorities. The revised Articles of Constitution of the Society, which had been in the hands of members for some time, were also passed.
The election of members of the Executive Committee was then proceeded with, and some 30 members were appointed. The Chairman proposed the appointment of Mr. J. D. Bush as Hon. English Secretary. The post was a responsible one, and Mr. C. G. Anderson, who recently resigned from it owing to pressure of business, deserved the thanks of the Society for the able manner in which he had filled it.
Mr. J. D. Bush was unanimously appointed Hon. English Secretary, and Mr. Ngan, Hon. Chinese Secretary.
Before the meeting terminated, the Chairman said it was their unanimous hope that the aims of the Society would soon be realised, and he urged the newly-elected members of the Committee to do their best to bring this about. The mui-tsai system had existed in their midst as an evil. It was always condemned and put out of the law by the Chinese Nationalist Government in a recent edict and he hoped that the Government of this colony which had been responsible for many beneficial reforms would not be long in falling into line and dealing with a practice which admittedly had many evils.
Enclosure 4 in No.
Report on the working of the Female Domestic Servants Ordinance, 1923.
The objects of this Ordinance were mainly two: the first to make it quite clear that the payment of money to the parent or guardian or employer of a female child confers no rights in the child and to strengthen the existing powers given to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs under Ordinance 4 of 1897; and the second to reinforce the law dealing with cruelty to children. So far there is nothing in the Ordinance which was not provided for in existing legislation. What is new is the prohibition under Section 4 of the taking into employment of mui-tsai as defined in the Ordinance. 2. It may be said at once that the payment of money is not and never has been recognised as conferring any rights on the person making the payment; and that from the beginning the officers of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs have in every case which has been brought to their notice dealt with the matter solely from the point of view of the interests of the child. It is believed that by now this principle is well understood: certainly no one attempts to dispute it and the claim to the services of a female domestic servant is always based on the argument that the girl is happy and does not wish to leave her employment.
3. One prosecution was brought under Section 6 of the Ordinance in 1928. There were none in previous years. Even if prosecutions for ill-treatment of children brought under the Offences against the Person Ordinance of 1865 are included the total is insignificant. As a rule Chinese are particularly kind to children and the disgrace of being hailed to court to answer a charge of cruelty to a child is one which all dread.
4. No prosecutions have been brought under Sections 4 and 5 of the Ordinance, and no information is available as to the number of mui-tsai who
may have been taken into employment in the Colony since the Ordinance was passed, though Chinese opinion in general considers that the number of mui-tsai employed has tended to decrease especially in upper class households. It would in practice be all but impossible to prove in any particular case that the payment of money which alone differentiates a mui-tsai from any other domestic servant had in fact been made.
5. On the general question it might be possible to meet criticism by maintaining as is done in China to-day that as such payments confer no right to the services of the mui-tsaig the distinction between mui-tsai and domestic servants or between mui-tsai and adopted daughters has in fact ceased to exist and that there are now no mui-tsai in South China. It would in short be a simple matter to abolish mui-tsai by abolishing the name, and by substituting the title "adopted daughter" to direct public attention to another and less invidious aspect of the system. It would, however, serve no useful purpose to deny that there are still mui-tsai in Hong Kong as well as in China. This has been made inevitable by the history of the past five years which have witnessed a state of disorder and distress in Kuangtung and else- where unsurpassed since the Taiping Rebellion. Those who have had experience of famine relief work will realise that it is seldom the desire for money which induces parents in China to part with their children and that the alternative may quite well be starvation. Until some measure of prosperity has returned to the countryside it will prove very difficult to put a stop to the practice of transferring children from
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