CO129-468 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1921 [6-8] — Page 594

1

Enclosure /.

Copy.

538

Hongkong, 4th August, 1921.

The Honourable

Mr. S. B. C. Ross, O.B.E.

Sir,

A

We have the honour to submit, for the

information of His Excellency the Governor, e report on the

result of the mass meeting which was held at the Taiping

Theatre on Saturday the 30th July, to discuss the "Mui-tsai"

question.

2.

The enclosed cuttings from the "Hongkong

Daily Preas" of the 1st and 2nd August give a fairly

accurate account of the proceedings, although they have

omitted two or three speeches of some importance, which

omissions will, however, be repaired to some extent in this report. We took the extracts from this paper, because it is the organ which is avowedly and uncompromisingly opposed to the Mui-tsai system, so that it could not be said that we had chosen a paper in any way sympathetic to

our attitude.

3.

It may be well here to point out that the men reported by the "Daily Press" as being present with only "one garment about their loins," were menial servante of the Theatre, who were attracted to the auditorium by the animated discussions following the Chairman's opening address, and they took the back-seats, away from the

audience proper.

4.

The "Daily Presa" was correct in saying that no attempt to control the speakers was made by the Chair to keep them strictly to the questions before the meeting, or to impose a time-limit on the speeches. We

purposely