186
been defrayed through the gen- erosity of Dr. Ma Luk, to whom our hearty thanks are due.
Not in Vain.
This advertising of our cause and appeal to the public has not been in vain, and has carried its weight wonderfully. From time to time we have received reports from complainants calling for our help, and in response
we have never failed to come to their as- sistance. Among these we may mention those who have been freed and returned to the custody of their parents without being re- quired to give a refund to their masters or mistresses.
These are the daughter of Poon Fung Lin, the daughter of Mrs. Kan, and Lau Choi-ying. There have been some cases in which the mistresses tried to demand big sums of money as redemption from the mui tsaï's parents, and through the Society's influence they promised to give up their demands, when some in- stitution intervened with arbitra- tion, making the parents pay half the redemption; these being the cases of So Cheuk-Kiu, Li Hung, and Tse Sham-koo. This was, of course, much against our will and purpose, which always aims at complete emancipation by acting on the Government's instructions without paying any redemption, or any part of it, by the parents.
Very often reports of cruelty had been found true and confirmed by inquiries made by the Society, but the detectives sent by the au- thorities to make the necessary enquiry would return with con- trary reports and entirely different stories. With a view to overcom- ing this difficulty, however, the committee of the society has ap- proached the Government to get permission to allow our English secretary to go together with the detectives to make enquiry into any case dealt with by the So- ciety, so that the real state of affairs may be investigated and a true and reliable report be made. But whether this step of procedure will be approved still remains to be seen.
Support Needed. Meanwhile, should any case of cruelty occur, our committee would have no right to interfere and investigate unless the case should also come to the notice of the police authorities. At a meet- ing of the committee last month, a resolution was unanimously pass- ed that the Government be ap- proached again in order to enforce the registration of mui tsai, so that present ones might be given safe protection, while the sale of innocent daughters as slave girls might also discontinue. This is
what we have done so far in fur- thering our cause, and we now en- list your support and assistance.
As to the financial standing of the society, it is by no means sound as its income depends large- ly on subscriptions from its mem- bers. Some time ago we started to collect the subscription for this year, but the results were poor and rather disheartening. Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Ma Luk and Mrs. Fung Heung-chuen, our efforts were rewarded, for they each donated $50 to the Society's funds. The expenditure of the Society is rather small, since we have only to pay for advertise- ments, printing, and some station_ ery. However, the work of the Society is decidedly burdensome, and it is
to see it up to you through; therefore whether we can achieve our object of getting rid of this inveterate social evil
depends on how you will respond to the appeal voiced by us now.
The Discussion.
The chairman invited discussion
on the proposals he had outlined in his opening address in regard to the registration of both mut-tsai and
adopted daughters.
A member said that they should enforce registration through a penal- ty clause and he pointed out that such had been overlooked in the proposals. He suggested that failure to register within the pre- scribed period of six months be penalised by a heavy fine, to be followed by the giving of complete freedom to the girls without such consideration as compensation to
the owner.
Another member said that much effective work could be accomplished by personal investigation as in the case of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He dis- covered a similarity in the work of the two Societies with the exception that theirs had the greater claim to official backing, in the fact that it was a human being whose life's burden they were seeking to lighten. The authorities had displayed a praiseworthy attitude when they co- operated with members of the S.P. C.A. in these personal investiga- tions. He recalled that quite re- cently, lady members of that Society went round to the various bird-shops in the town to look into cases of cruelty and that they were on that occasion accompanied by a police officer. If the same procedure was adopted in their own case, and members of the Anti-Mui-tsai Society were allowed to accompany a police officer in order to investigate fully a report of cruelty, much of the ob- jectionable features to which refer- ence was made by the Chairman in his speech would cease.
Election of Committee. After further discussion it
was
28
agreed to incorporate this suggestion well as the one for a penalty clause, in the main body of pro- posals. In their revised form, the proposals were then put to the meeting and passed, the meeting giving full powers to the Executive Committee to present them at the proper time before the authorities.
The revised Articles of Constitu tion of the Society, which had been in the hands of members for some time, were also passed.
The election of members of the Executive Committee was then pro- ceeded with, and some 30 members were appointed. The Chairman pro- posed the appointment of Mr. J.D. Bush as
Hon. English Secretary. The post was a responsible one, and Mr. a G Anderson, who recently resigned from it owing to pressure of business, deserved the thanks of which he had filled it. the Society for the able manner in
Mr. J.D. Bush was unanimously appointed Hon. English Secretary, and Mr. Ngan, Hon. Chinese Secretary.
Before the meeting terminated, the Chairman said it was their un- animous hope that the aims of the Society would soon be realised, and he urged the newly-elected members of the Committee to do their best to bring this about The mui-tsai system had existed in their midst as an evil. It was always condemn- ed and put out of the law by the Chinese Nationalist Government in Government of this colony which a recent edict and he hoped that the had been responsible for many bene- ficial reforms would not be long in falling into line and dealing with practice which admittedly had many evils.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.