CO129-514-2 Mui Tsai system- suggested regulations and possible abolition 9-1-1929 - 16-5-1929 — Page 78

12.

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in this Colony. The Chinese community could certainly not be expected to assist in such circumstances, and I do not suppose that the Anti Tui-tsai Society would be at all help- ful. It is not possible to say what the exact number or even the approximate number of mui-tsai in this Colony may be; but I have been very definitely assured by the leaders of the Chinese community that the number is not increasing, but is diminishing.

13.

It must be remembered that the Po Leung Kuk is not so much a home, as a temporary refuge, where girls can remain until they are restored to their relatives. It would

be quite impossible to obtain additional accommodation for this purpose, and many girls of the class now kept at the Po Leung Kuk have no home or relatives to go to, and something in the nature of a school, or even a reformatory, would be

required for their accommodation. At present orphanages and

convents will accept a limited number of girls of this kind,

but even now it often happens that these institutions have no

vacancies; and, if the number of homeless girls increases to

any extent the problem of their disposal and the difficulty

of supervising them will be extremely serious.

14.

You enquire what is the legal position under

the Female Domestic Servants Ordinance, No.1 of 1923, of the

mui-tsai acquired outside this Colony and imported since the

enactment of the Ordinance, whether their employers accompany

them or are already resident in the Colony. I am advised,

in reply to this question, that Sections 4 and 5 of the

Ordinance apply only to acquisition within the Colony. It is impossible to make acquisition in China an offence.

Sections 6 to 11 of the Ordinance apply to all mui-tsai

within the Colony, wherever and whenever acquired. If Part

III of the Ordinance were brought into force, registration

would