CO129-466 - Individuals - 1920 — Page 217

1

and that Mr. Long at that time ex-

of

pressed his appreciation at Mr.

Appleton's attitude in bringing the

matter privately to his notice, and

promised to have it investigated.

This was done and a telegram was

received from Hong Kong giving &

brief summary of the position and

promising a despatch on the subject.

The substance of the telegram was

communicated to Mr. Appleton. [bt

I am afraid that when the despatch

arrived his interest in the matter,

which had only appeared/in Mr.Long's

personal correspondence, was overlooked in due course received and the texts. the gist of the Governor's reports et

ALKOT

(23769/18)

I fear them is rathe prevarication

ביזו

<

I think it will be bet

at all.

we dist not so harf to Ms A.

Burd

*Coats

that time was as follows:-

The

Governor stated quite definitely that

the law of the Colony does not recognise

the existence of any servile status what-

ever.

According to his statement,

custom of purchasing female domestic

the

servants ("mui tsai") exists all over

China, and many households in Hong Kong

have

افة

215

have such servants;

but the law of

the Colony does not recognise the

purchase as conferring any title or

right whatever, the girls are

absolutely free in law as against

the purchasers, and in cases of ill-

treatment they are removed. A later

report from the Officer Administering

the Government of the Colony states

that there have been no attempts

either in the North or the South to

deal by legislation with the ques-

tion of "mui tsai", and that the

universal practise in this matter

ریال

In the cines · What that was

S.of s

remains unchanged throughout China.

dist not corvmater amy ground for action. If you care to see the despatches I

will give instructions for them to

be shown to you at any time when

it will be convenient for you to

make an appointment to come and

discuss the matter with the Hong

Kong Department.

I may add that we have

recently