BIRTH CONTROL PROPAGANDA IN HONG KONG,
за
44 ENID
Birth control propaganda among the Chinese in Hong Kong has recently taken a turn that has caused great indignation among the better element of the population. A few weeks ago the Chinese Government issued from Canton, the southern capital, a decree banning the sale of contraceptives "in the interest "of public morality"
the promotion of public morality being one of chief ideals of the New Life Movement which is rapidly making a profound change in the life of China.
Within a few days after the issue of this decree an announcement was made by the "the Eugenics League" of Hong Kong, an organisa- tion for the promotion of birth control, that it intended to promote contracep- tives in the southern provinces of China, thus going directly counter to the law of the country. And the strangest feature of the whole situation is that the moving spirit in this propagandist movement is a prominent Hong Kong Government official, Mr. R.D. Forrest, who at present occupies the position of Secretary for Chinese Affairs, a position which gives him unlimited control over everything relating to the local Chinese population. He is the President of the Hong Kong Rationalist Association, and the vice-Chairman of this Association has just been appointed to one of the highest positions in the Police Service, a position held for many years by an exemplary Catholic.
Another objectionable form of this birth control propaganga which has recently begun is the diffusion of propagandist literature in Chinese among the poor of the Colony. There has been great indignation among Catholic parents when they have found that in their absence distributors came to their houses and put this literature into the hands of the younger members of the family.
The foundation of this propagandist association, and its present out- burst of activity, both occurred during periods when, owing to changes of office there was no Governor in the Colony. On the previous occasion Mr. Forrest started the society by sending circulars from the address of the office of the Colonial Secretary, and this has created the impression in the eyes of many Chinese that it has official sanction. It is for this reason, and or account of the association with it of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, that the attempt to undermine the efferts of the Chinese Government has aroused such feeling.