120
17. If you see no objection to the foregoing proposals, I request that you will take steps for amending the Ordinance accordingly; but if you have alternative
any or additional suggestions to make, I should be glad if you would favour me with them at an early date.
18. I should like to be assured that sufficient power is given to the Registrar- General and his staff for fully investigating the cases of Chinese women on their first arrival in the Colony. If you are of opinion that the powers given and the facilities for enquiry in case of doubt are insufficient, you should suggest measures for giving greater powers to the officers in question.
19. I should also be glad to know whether it would not be desirable that liability should be attached to the landlord of premises used as a brothel, the keeper of which has been convicted of breaking the law.
20. Any cases of cruelty practised by the brothel-keepers on the inmates of the brothels can, I presume, be adequately dealt with under the existing law. I shall be glad to know whether or not you share this view.
21. I am informed that there is at Singapore, as in other large towns, a class of men living upon the earnings of prostitutes, and accustomed to treat these women with brutality. I am not aware whether this evil is prevalent in Hong Kong, but if so, I would ask you to consider whether it is feasible to legislate on the lines of the Imperial Vagrancy Act of 1898 (61 and 62 Vic. cap. 39), which imposes a severe penalty on a male person habitually living on the profits of prostitution.
22. With reference to the last paragraph of the despatch under acknowledgment, I am still of opinion that it is desirable for the Colonial Government to secure the services of a lady doctor, to be engaged mainly--and possibly exclusively-in dealing with women who are suffering from these special diseases. It will be necessary that she should have a knowledge of Chinese, and (unless you see strong objection to such a course) she should be, for the purposes of the Protection of Women and Girls Ordin- ance, an officer of the Registrar-General's Department, so as to have full power of visiting brothels.
23. I should be glad to receive a report from you on this subject, with suggestions as to the precise duties and emoluments which should be attached to such an appointment.
I have, &c.,
28461.
No. 32.
HONG KONG
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
28461.
12
No. 33.
FEDERATED MALAY STATES.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN to HIGH COMMISSIONER SIR C. B. H. MITCHELL.
(No. 110.)
Downing Street, May 11, 1899.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Sir J. A. Swettenham's confi- dential despatch of the 8th of September last* (which, so far as this Department is concerned, need no longer be regarded as confidential), forwarding a memorandum by the Resident-General, together with other papers, relating to the spread of venereal diseases and the condition of brothels in the Native States.
2. I have to refer you to my Straits despatch, No. 121, of the 28th ultimo,† con- veying to you my decision with regard to these questions, as far as the Colony is concerned; and I request you to inform the Resident-General that I have carefully considered his memorandum, but I consider that legislation in this matter in the Native States should follow the lines laid down in the Colony. I think it, however, desirable that the amendments which have suggested should be made in the law of the Colony should not be introduced into the Native States until sufficient time has elapsed to enable some experience to be gained of the working of the amended law.
3. I do not understand why Mr. Hare considers that it is not possible, in the absence of any law providing for the registration of brothels, to adopt efficient means for protecting the inmates. As I have stated in my despatch of the 28th ultimo,† I gather from the reports of the Protector of Chinese, as well as of the Registrar-General at Hong Kong, that at least as much rescue work has been done in the Colonies concerned since the abolition of registration as in the preceding years. I do not, therefore, under- stand why similar results should not be obtained in the Native States under the enact- ments already in force for the protection of women and girls, which are based upon the Straits Settlements Ordinance.
4. I propose in due course to lay the correspondence which has passed on this subject before Parliament, and I request that you will inform me by telegraph whether you or the Resident-General have any objection to the inclusion in such correspondence of the despatch under acknowledgment and its enclosures.
I have, &c.,
N
!
PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE
Reference :-
T
C.O. 882
6
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
SIR,
MR. CHAMBERLAIN to GOVERNOR SIR H. A. BLAKE. (Confidential.)
Downing Street, May 11, 1899.
Is my despatch, No. 83,* of this date, I have stated fully and frankly my views as to the questions of venereal disease and brothel slavery in Hong Kong. I wish to supplement that despatch by the following observations.
2. It may well be that the most effective check on existing evils would be found, as lias always been contended on the side of the Colony, in renewing the repealed Ordinances, but I wish you to understand, and I wish you to give your officers to understand, that I have no intention of allowing the repealed Ordinances to be held out as the only remedy, or the fact that they have not been renewed to be pleaded as an excuse for not taking active measures in other directions.
3. Especially I do not admit that legal registration of brothels is the one and only preventive of brothel slavery, and the Registrar-General and the police must be held responsible for dealing effectively with this abuse with such powers as are now given them or as may be given them in future.
4. If there is any weakness in the staff of the police or the Registrar-General's Department, either in regard to numbers or to the character of the men employed, or to the supervision at present exercised over them, I should gladly consider any proposals from you which would increase the efficiency of the administrations specially charged with this most important and delicate duty.
I have, &c.,
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
• No. 31.
11454.
SIR,
No. 34.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN to Governor Sir C. B. H. MITCHELL.
(No. 142.)
Downing Street, May 25, 1899.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 134, of the 12th ultimo, respecting suggested legislative measures for checking the prevalence of venereal disease in the Colony and in the Native States, and in reply to refer you to my Straits despatch, No. 121, of the 28th ultimo,† and my Native States despatch, No. 110, of the 11th instant.§
I have, &c.,
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
• No. 25.
† No. 28.
+ No. 30.
§ No. 33.
1817
27261.
122
No. 35. CEYLON.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN to Lieutenant-GoveRNOR SIR E. N. WALKER.
(No. 169.)
SIR,
[Copy to War Office June 10, 1899.]
Downing Street, June 9, 1899.
I HAVE had under my consideration Sir West Ridgeway's despatch No. 372 of the 12th November last,* forwarding the draft of an Ordinance "for preventing the spread of Contagious Diseases among the Military Forces stationed in the Island."
2. As regards the fifth paragraph of that despatch, I have to point out to you that it appears from the Army Medical Returns that the total average admissions per thousand for venereal diseases during the nine years preceding 1888, when the Contagious Diseases Ordinance was repealed, were 323-8; and for the nine years following 1888, 312-67.
3. I am not satisfied that there is any sufficient reason for introducing the Ordinance submitted in the despatch under reply, which under any circumstances I could not have
• sanctioned without considerable modification. No new legislation appears under existing power of closing circumstances to be necessary; but you should give instructions that the brothels conferred by Ordinance No. 5 of 1889 should be exercised in all cases where brothels are reasonably suspected of being special centres of disease, and where the inmates are not in the habit of attending hospitals when suffering from disease. I have, &c.,
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
* No. 26.