CO129-514-3 Mui Tsai system- correspondence 27-8-1929 - 21-11-1929 — Page 44

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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

deemed to be entitled as of right to the custody of such girl as her parent or as the person acting in the place of her parent, and the legal guardianship of such girl shall be vested in the Secretary for Chinese Affairs." These provisions appear to be in conflict with some of the provisions of the Female Domestic Service Ordin- ance, 1923.

13. In the first place it might be argued that the declaratory clause of the later Ordinance, i.e., section 2, negatives the right of guardianship conferred on the Secretary for Chinese Affairs by section 32 of Ordinance No. 4 of 1897 where a parent has received money for parting with the custody of a daughter. It is submitted that the conflict is only apparent, and that though the rights of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs arise upon such payment they are not conferred by that payment. Further, the rights of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs are conferred solely in the interests of the girl, and in that respect they differ from rights of an employer and even from the rights of a parent or guardian. It is therefore submitted that section 2 of Ordinance No. 1 of 1923 is concerned with such rights as those of an employer and such rights as those of a parent, and not with rights conferred on an officer of the Government to enable him to protect the girl, if necessary, against both her employer and her parent. To make this clear, however, section 8 of this Ordinance proposes to add to Ordinance No. 1 of 1923 a new section 23 which will provide that nothing in Ordin- ance No. 1 of 1923 shall affect any right of guardianship possessed by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs by virtue of the provisions of Ordinance No. 4 of 1897.

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In the second place, while section 32 of Ordinance No. 4 of 1897 appears to give the Secretary for Chinese Affairs the full and unfettered rights of a legal guardian, section 10 of Ordinance No. 1 of 1923 considerably limits his right to refuse to restore a girl to the custody of her parent or natural guardian. The latter section provides that any mui tsai who wishes to be restored to the custody of her parent or natural guardian, and any mui tsai under eighteen whose parent or natural guardian wishes the girl to be restored to his or her custody, shall be restored to such custody unless the Secretary for Chinese Affairs "shall see some grave objection in the interest of such mui tsai to such restoration." The conflict here is real, and no doubt the later enactment would prevail. The proposed new section 23 makes it quite clear that the later enactment is to prevail, as it lays down that in exercising any right of guardianship conferred on him by Ordinance No. 4 of 1897 the Secretary for Chinese Affairs shall comply with the provisions of section 10 of Ordinance No. 1 of 1923.

15. In the third place, section 32 of Ordinance No. 4 of 1897 does negative the right of the parent, in certain circumstances, in a form which is undesirable in view of the provisions of Ordin- ance No. 1 of 1923. That section is, however, about to be amended

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