6 -
the invidious duty of picking and chosing between
those who are and those who are not allowed to
alter the status of their mui-tsai would sooner or
later necessitate such an inquiry into private
life as would arouse a storm of indignation among the
Chinese population of the Colony. The opportunity
After
offered by an official ceremony of this kind would
no doubt be freely taken, especially by the more
considerate employers of mui-tsai, and probably by
many others.
The Chinese members of Legislative
Council consider that a scheme on these lines would
provide a new and improved method of registration namely a registration of the alteration of the status
of mui-tsai and would at least give us more or less
a complete list of the mui-tsai in the Colony. the ceremony, whatever its nature, the mui-tsai would
become a domestic servant, or even in some cases an
adopted daughter (young-nui) without any change of
domicile being necessary. It would, of course, be no part of this scheme that the Secretary for Chinese Affairs should attempt to keep track of chu-nin-mui or of yeung-nui after the formal ceremony had taken place at his office. Any such attempt would be bound to fail, because, in order to succeed, it would have
to embrace all chu-nin-mui and yeung-nui, and it would
consequently fall by its own weight.
if
7. I feel that in this matter the Hong Kong Government is faced by nothing better than a choice of evils. If, on the one hand, we persist in our
present
6.