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Comm 1.5
CONFIDENTIAL.
Copy
HE
D
27/02
7 MAY
470
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG. 20th. March, 1919.
My Lord,
46037/18.
In reply to Mr. Long's Confidential
Despatch of 26th. October, 1918, I have the honour to inform
Your Lordship that there have been no attempts either in the
North or the South to deal by legislation with the question
of "mui tsai", and that the universal practice in the matter
remains unchanged throughout China.
2.
The Code of the Tsing Dynasty contained
regulations legalising the position of the slave, and it is
presumably to the repeal of these that reference is made in
the article in the Hongkong Weekly Press of February 2nd., 1918,
to which you call attention. These regulations were repealed
20 or 30 years ago, and the writer of the newspaper article
appears to have had a very vague knowledge of his subject.
No effort was made at the time of the Tientsin Floods to
restrict the sale of children: there was however some dis-
-cussion on the question of child stealing.
3.
-
While mui taai receive no wages and in
my opinion it would be impracticable to establish and enforce
any system of wages - they are fed, clothed, housed, and some-
-times educated: no small payment for one who would otherwise
exist on the border of starvation, if at all. In bad times
when mui tead are less freely acquired, those for whom a home
cannot be found are even drowned. If a transfer is effected,
RIGHT HONOURABLE
the
VISCOUNT MILNER, G.C.B.,
&C..
&0.
&C...
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