CO129-514-3 Mui Tsai system- correspondence 27-8-1929 - 21-11-1929 — Page 34

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of Kwangtung meant to enforce the regulations strictly and

without fear or favour! However I feel convinced that Mr.

Lai was speaking his honest opinion. If you want an

official despatch from me I could write the bare statement

that responsible official of the Canton Municipality had

informed me that in his opinion the Canton authorities have

no intention to enforce Dr. Wu's regulations, but on the

whole it would be difficult for me to quote Mr. Lai in the

circumstances.

Mr. Lai told me that he appreciated the difficulties

of the position in which you find yourself. He said that

he felt that however much the Chinese population of Hong

Kong would understand you publishing "paper tiger"

regulations, and then dealing only with glaring instances

of cruelty and all cases actually brought to the notice of

the Courts as he understood was the case at the present

it was impossible for you to take that line as it was not

in comformity with British practice. I agreed with him,

although I think that actually it would be happiest to deal

with purely Chinese customs in Chinese ways. I remember

that when I was District Officer at Weihaiwei I advocated

strongly taking powers to make foot-binding a criminal

offence. That was in 1914, when the custom was still

fashionable. The Weihaiwei Chinese objected that they were

not in a position to set the fashions in China and could not

find husbands across the border for unfashimable daughters,

and the C.O. ruled that we must not interfere with Chinese

social customs, however repellent to us, except by persuasion.

Hong Kong cannot well set the fashion for Kwangtung! If

Hong Kong must abolish mui tsais it would really be much

better to get the social reformers to agitate for a strict

enforcement of the Canton regulations in Kwang tung

otherwise