ment she may expect to receive from her master.
(4) The owner should report to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs at any time if a mui tsai is leaving the Colony, if she is going to marry, or she reaches the age of 18, when she may secure her full freedom.
and imprisonment if they employ or sell her for prostitution.
fine.
The Government should also proclaim a law strictly forbidding the selling and purchasing of girls without the presence
and proof of a solicitor, proving that the girl is adopted and purchas- ed as a daughter. A breach of this law should be penalised with imprisonment, while persons (5) In case any mui tsai should directly connected with the unlaw- happen to pass through and stayful deal should be liable to a heavy in Hongkong for over two weeks, the master or mistress should re- port the fact to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, and when the girl leaves the Colony, should report the fact to the same office. For those of the mui tsai who stay in Hongkong for over a month, the master or mistress should give her up to the Po Leung Kuk, awaiting the coming of the girl's parents to claim her.
(6) Wages should be fixed for the mui tsai, as follows. From 12 to 14 years old, 50 cents a month; from 15 to 17, $1 a month; whilst those who are over 18 can work as a free maid-servants under a for- mer master or mistress, or go to other employment, but must first report to the Secretary for Chin- ese Affairs, stating that the age has been reached.
Annual Report.
The annual report of the Anti- Mui Tsai Society was then read by Mr. K. Y. Ngan. He said:
Ladies and gentlemen, your pre- sence at this meeting to-day has filled us all with extreme pleasure, and I am sure your showing up here now proves the very deep in- terest and concern you always en- tertain in the cause and affairs of this Society. Since the general meeting we convened in July of last year, more than a year has elapsed; but I am glad to say that all the time those on the com- mittee have done their very best in carrying on the work of the So- ciety and, above all, in promoting its worthy cause; and what they have done may partly have been evinced by reports in newspapers, (7) All mui tsai who are ill-while part of it had to be kept: treated, not registered, or delayed in Hongkong for over the given period should be entrusted to the Po Leung Kuk, and the latter should advertise in the newspapers for the parents or near relatives to come and claim her. The Po Leung Kuk should execute this duty free for the mui tsai's parents.
Regulations for Adopted Daughters.
(1) Parents of all adopted daughters should register the names of the latter not more than six months after the promulgation of the law. After that period those who want to register should be required to furnish proof from a solicitor, confirming that the girl is adopted.
(2) The deed of the adoption should be tendered to the Secre- tary for Chinese Affairs, who should place on it a mark confirm- ing that the girl is an adopted daughter.
(3) The adopted daughter should be present during the regis- tration, to enable her to under- stand her future position as a daughter of the family.
(4) The parents of the adopted girl should provide the latter with an education similar to that given to their own daughters.
(5) A heavy fine should be im- posed on those who employ an adopted daughter as a mui tsai,
secret and confidential when cir- cumstances so required. We al- ways take to heart the heavy bur- den on our shoulders and at the same time bear in mind the hard conditions of the mui tsai. In this you will join us in showing sympathy.
I regret to say that we have not succeeded in influencing the Gov- ernment to put through the regis- tration of mui tsai with the proper. authorities, and consequently this cursed system has not yet been wiped out from the community. Reports of cruelty and ill-treat- ment to mui tsai are no less often heard than before. As our at- tempt failed at the eradication of this evil, we have now directed our efforts to cope with it by way of diminishing the individual of cruelty. We have advertised in two vernacular papers to the effect that all suppressed mui tsai who have been badly treated by their masters or mistresses may appeal to this Society and make the complaint to the chairman, who would then bring their grievances before the Government and have them redressed. The
cases
complainants may state their names and addresses, which the Society will undertake to keep confidential. At this juncture, I have the pleasure to mention that the expenses involved in such ad- vertising for the whole year have
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