CO129-449 - Governor Sir May & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1918 [7-9] — Page 258

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marriage, "redeeming her first. If (as more often happens) the marriage is arranged by the employers' side information in advance must be sent to the natural guardians: and after marriage, the natural guardians are free to deal directly

with the husband as their own son-in-law. Ill treatment of a "mui tsai* while in service is looked upon much more seriously by the community than ill treatment of a child of the house. While in the latter case the neighbours might well say it was the business of the parents, in the former they would probably feel it their duty to protest.

The condition of the "mui tsai", it can

safely be said, is generally bettered by the transfer (many

of them are given some education) and is not often made worse:

though the existence of those who misuse and illtreat any-

-thing without the power of resistance must be allowed for,

here as in any other part of the world. The average standard

of treatment of children among the native population may be

lower than that obtaining in Europe; but if so, the service

is a release from worse things, for even the drowing of

surplus girls whom there seams no prospect of supporting is still not unknown in the poorer parts of the country. Poverty

is generally the motive which induces parents to part from

their daughters md service as a maid servant is not in-

-frequently the only alternative to starvation and may be the

best that the most affectionate parents can do for their

child. A great many "mui tsai" come from the districts of

China visited by flood or famine or any other of the troubles

of their unhappy land,

The status thus established is not by any means the status of a 'slave' (no puk): it is governed by a different vocabulary, and the difference is one fully appreciated. The instrument of transfer is a "sung tip" phrase which carefully avoids the idea of the out and out sale of a chattel. The nearest translation of the words in

their

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