988121
P
[[:
519
NIC
respectable Chinese would wish to get a mui tsai in an illegal
manner, that is without the consent of her parents. Abuses do of course exist, and those we are trying to stop. It
would be quite simple to prohibit all re-transfers of mui tsai without the consent of the parents, and such a step would be supported by the Chinese. I hesitate however, to recommend such
a step because I believe we should discover very few cases.
The Chinese know that such retransfers are contrary to their
custom, and any such retransfers would be made secretly and with-
out witnesses.
6.
I trust that the home authorities understand that the mui
taai system is a system whereby persons of the upper and middle class obtain domestic servants. No poor people have mui tsai, It has no connection whatever with the prostitute question, nor with "flying the white pigeon" which is merely a branch of fraud, nor with the industrial employment of children. If we were to abolish the mui tsai system tomorrow, Chinese prostitution, the frauds known as "flying the white pigeon" and the methods of employing children other than as domestic servants, would remain absolutely as they were before.
***
Ixive
8th May, 1921.
(Sd.)
S. B. C. Ross,
Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
LA
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