CO129-446 - Others & Individuals - 1917 — Page 363

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I have already shown you that the queen in 1845 by proclamation ordered the Civil and Military officers of

358

the colony to enforce the law of England for the abolition of slavery, which entirely disposes of the Chief Justice's contention that we recognised the Chinese ouatom of the buying and selling of servants. But still worse follows. The slave case reported in the Hong Kong press has reached the northern provinces of China and an influential Chinese newspaper has taken up the asse of the Chinese, in an article

Government

published in the "North China Daily News."

In this article (extracts from which I enolose) the Cliter says:- "What strikes us as being remarkable is that the Hong Kong Court had no knowledge of, or overlooked the fact that for some years prior to the formation of a Republic in "China, the purchase and sale of slaves was made a criminal

offence...........

If the possession of slaves is illegal in "China, there can be no question of respecting Chinese "custom in Hong Kong." 11

So flop goes the elaborate defence of slavery set up by the legal fraternity of Hong Kong. Instead of maintaining the customs of China, we are undermining the law of China, by maintaining slavery in Hong Kong. Instead of leading China

in political morals relating to this trade in human beings, we

e lagging dolefully behind. In fact, the only place in the