CO129-453 - Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1919 [1-3] — Page 494

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the mui tsai is provided for, and her parents too have at least a temporary respite from starvation.

4.

At present the legal freedom of a maidservant to leave or change her employment on giving notice is only limited by the authority of the Becretary for Chinese Affairs conferred under Section 32 of Ordinance 4 of 1897. In addition, her practical freedom to do so is conditioned by her youth and inexperience and inability to fend for herself. It must be remembered that mui taai are very largely children who have not reached years of discretion and need to be protected from the clutches of procuresses whose business it is to entice inexperienced mui taai away to be trained as prostitutes and ultimately sold into prostitution., There being, then, no recognition

of servile conditions, it would appear that no action is

called for which might tend to upset the organization of

a vast number of families.

I have the honour to be,

My Lord,

Your Lordship's most obedient,

humble servant,

Alur Sevem

Officer Administering the Government.