3
emigrants and it may be noted that the
boarding houses are under Government control
under Sections 42-46 of the Asiatic Emigration
Ordinance No. 30 of 1915 (copy herewith)
In view of the complete denial of the Hong
Kong authorities I think we may take it that
there is no serious abuse in this regard.
Sir Miles Lampson is, however, uneasy
about the suggestion that it is usual for the
recruiters who go to China to persuade far
more Chinese to come to Hong Kong than have
any chance of being actually engaged. It is
probably true that this is the practice as the
1
recruiting Company must have some reserve to
cover the would-be emigrants who decline engage-
ment at the last minute or who are found unfit.
If the statementsof the Hong Kong authorities are
correct, it does not seem to be a great hardship
hee of charge
on the men as they are kept in Hong Kong and
their only expense is their fare to the
Colony and even that is sometimes paid for
them. In any case, it is difficult to
see how Hong Kong could prevent this. If labourers
in China are persuaded that there are good
chances of employment being obtained in Hong Kong,
it would be very hard for the Hong Kong Govt.
to prevent their coming to the Colony.
system of licensed recruiters might be theoreti-
cally possible, but it would be very easy to
evade