An Address given at the Conference of the British Commonwealth League on 5th June, 1929, by Mrs. H. L. Haslewood.
Child Slavery in Hong Kong.
The Mui Tsai System.
Before beginning to tell you about the Child Slavery in Hong Kong, I want to ask you all to divest your minds entirely of China. We are not dealing with China, nor are we responsible for any part of it except the one small British Colony of Hong Kong, which is, roughly, thirty square miles
in area.
This colony is under the direct control of the Colonial Office, and has been, ever since we acquired it nearly a It is in hundred years ago, for it was ceded to us in 1842. the same position with regard to China, that Gibraltar is in with regard to Spain; that is to say that Great Britain alone is responsible for its Government, and for the framing of its laws.
On a Sunday evening in October, 1919, a sermon was preached in the Cathedral of Hong Kong which was destined to have far-reaching results. Now this sermon came as a great shock to my husband and myself who had come recently to the colony, my husband having been appointed some months previously as Superintendent of the Naval Chart Depot.
I think you will understand our feelings if I give you a quotation from that sermon. The preacher said:
"
We British people claim that justice flourishes under our flag, yet here in this colony we allow the slavery of small
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