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}
Enclos-
ure 1.
14
In passing ordinance on above lines you should make it quite clear that there will be no compromise on 1st and 2nd provisions but that I will carefully and sympathetically con- sider any representations which the Chinese may wish to make before the Proclamation bringing the 3rd part into force is issued.
My Lord Duke,
No. 13.
DESPATCH FROM GOVERNOR TO SECRETARY OF STATE.
DEVONSHIRE
6th March, 1923.
I have the honour to forward for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure the following Ordinance intituled :—
An Ordinance to regulate certain forms of female domestic service, No. 1
of 1923*.
2. The customary report by the Attorney General is attached. I enclose also the Enclos- Hansard report of the proceedings in the Legislative Council in connection with the pas- ures 2, 3, sage of the bill.
& 4.
3. The Ordinance embodies the instructions contained in Your Grace's telegram of the 24th November, with the modification that all the necessary clauses are included in Part II, with the exception of those which deal with registration and the payment of wages.
4. With reference to Your Grace's telegram of the 9th December, I would refer to the concluding paragraph of my despatch No. 224 of the 10th June last in which I expressed the opinion that it would be unnecessary to take special measures for the pur- pose of accommodating mui-tsai who might desire to leave their employment. The mui tsai as a class enjoy a standard of comfort and well-being much superior to that obtain- ing in their own homes and there is little likelihood that they will be persuaded against their better judgment to exchange the sheltered security of their present life for the hardships which await them in the world outside. Two weeks have elapsed since the widely advertised passing of the Ordinance, and not one application has yet been made to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. The methods of dealing with any such applications that may be made hereafter will depend on their number. If they are, as I should ex- pect, very few, each individual case can be dealt with 'adhoc'. If they should be very numerous some comprehensive scheme must be devised but at present it seems that it would be waste of labour to make elaborate arrangements to meet a situation which seems most unlikely to arise.
Enclosure 1 in No. 13.
REPORT ON ORDINANCE No. 1 of 1923.
I have, etc.,
R. E. STUBBS.
ATTORNEY GENERAL'S CHAMBERS, Hong Kong, 19th February, 1923.
1. I have examined the accompanying Ordinance intituled An Ordinance to re- gulate certain forms of female domestic service, and I am of opinion that the Ordinance is one which is not contrary to the Governor's Instructions.
*Not printed.
15
2. This Ordinance was introduced on the instructions of the Secretary of State, and is an attempt to deal with the mui-tsai problem. It follows closely the terms of the Secretary of State's telegram of the 24th November, 1922.
3. Section 2 is declaratory. Payment to a parent or guardian by an employer who thereby obtains the custody of the child has never in this Colony conferred any rights upon such employer as against the parent or guardian, and has never conferred on such employer any right of retaining possession as against the child herself, but many persons have ignorantly imagined that such rights could be transferred.
4. Broadly speaking, a mui-tsai is defined as a female domestic servant whose em- ployer obtained her services by means of a payment to any one. Paragraph (ii) of the definition is intended, to cover two cases. One is the case where a girl has been trans- ferred by one employer to another, and the second is the case where an employer has died and the care of the household has devolved on, e.g., his son or widow.
5. Section 4 provides that no person shall hereafter take into his employment any mui-tsai. This of course will not prevent any one from employing under an ordinary con- tract for service a girl who was formerly employed as a mui-tsai.
6. Section 5 provides that no person shall hereafter take into his employment any female domestic servant under the age of 10 years. This is intended to prevent evasion, as in the case of a child under 10 it might be difficult to prove that she was a mui-tsai.
7. Section 6 deals with the treatment of mui-tsai. It provides that no employer of a mui tsai shall overwork or illtreat such mui-tsai or subject her to any punishment to which he might not reasonably subject his own daughter. It also requires the employer to provide sufficient food and clothing, and in case of illness, such medical attendance as the employer might reasonably have been expected to provide for his own daughter.
8. Section 7 was introduced on the motion of an unofficial member. It is intended to emphasise the seriousness of cruelty and to ensure the infliction of an adequate penalty for gross cruelty.
9. Section 8 was also introduced on the motion of an unofficial member. It seems scarcely necessary. Apparently its object is to remind the public of the penal provisions of the two Ordinances referred to.
10. Part of the policy of the Ordinance is to prevent transfers of mui-tsai from the employer to another. It is, however, obviously necessary to provide for the case of the death of an employer, and, in that event, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs will under sec- tion 9 have power to make any order which he may think fit regarding the transfer of a mui-tsai to, e.g., the widow of the former employer.
11. Sub-section (2) of section 9 requires every person who becomes the actual em- ployer of a mui-tsai, by reason of the death of the forvier employer or for any other rea- son, to report such fact within one week.
12. Section 10 provides that every mui-tsai who wishes to be restored to her parents or guardians, and every mui-tsai under the age of 18 whose parents or guardians wishes such mui-tsai to be restored to their custody, shall be so restored, without any pay- ment, unless the Secretary for Chinese Affairs sees some grave objection in the interests of the mui-tsai to such restoration. For instance, he might refuse permission to restore a girl to the custody of a mother who was living an immoral life.
13. Section 11 provides that every mui-tsai shall, as hitherto, have the right to apply to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, and that upon any such application the Secre- tary for Chinese Affairs may make any order which he may think fit regarding the custody, control, employment and conditions of employment of the mui-tsai.
14. Part III of the bill will not come into operation until such date as may be fixed by proclamation of the Governor in Council. This is provided in section 17.
15. Section 12 gives a wide power of making regulations.
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