CO129-514-2 Mui Tsai system- suggested regulations and possible abolition 9-1-1929 - 16-5-1929 — Page 106

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Any such rights are expressly declared to

be non-existent in the case of Mui Tsai by the

Hong Kong Ordinance of 1923.

Increased number and increased cruel

treatment of Mui Tsai,

The Governor has recently convened a special

meeting of the District Watch Committee, the body

most representative of Chinese opinion in the Colony,

and including all three Chinese members of the

Legislative Council, to discuss this and other

questions. He was advised by the Committee that

in spite of the great increase in the population of

Hong Kong (1923 estimated 681,000: 1929 estimated

not less than 1,000,000). and not withstanding the

chaos and anarchy prevalent in China during recent

years, there was no reason to believe that the

number of Mui Tsai in the Colony had increased; that cases of cruelty to children (Mui Tsai or others)

were other than rare. The Governor is taking up the

suggestion that there should be instituted in Hong Kong

an organisation similar to the Society for the

Prevention of Cruelty to Children in England, with

Inspectors

the possible employment of Women Inetracters appointed by the Hong Kong Government.

Enforcement of the Ordinance.

The objects of those parts of the Ordinance. which came into immediate operation were mainly two: (1) To make it quite clear that the payment to

a parent or guardian or employer of a female child

conferred