5363-45
No.
Telegram from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Governor of
Hong Kong.
(Sent 20th April, 1929.)
[Answered by No. .]
Your despatch of 22nd February.* Mui-tsai. I should be glad of further information as complete as possible on following points by despatch as soon as you can furnish it.
* No.
1. Apparently a primary difficulty is to obtain evidence that particular girls are mui-tsai and to bring home to them their right of personal freedom. A proclamation advertising their rights was issued in 1922. Have any similar proclamations been issued sub- sequently? If not, would it be practicable to issue them regularly or even have notices permanently displayed ?
2. How far is any system of registration possible whether covering all mui-tsai in the Colony or excluding those not domiciled in the Colony.
4. What is the legal position under the Ordinance of mui-tsai acquired elsewhere and imported since date of enactment of Ordinance whether their employers accompany them or are already resident in the Colony.
5. Should addition to s. 4 of Ordinance be enacted so as to provide that no mui-tsai may be brought into Colony for service in that capacity.
6. Can you obtain, e.g. through His Majesty's Consul-General, a copy of the regulations alleged to have been promulgated in Canton abolishing the system and a report on the practical results if any.
7. If importation of fresh mui-tsai cannot be prevented, is it to be understood that you consider effective abolition of the system in Hong Kong must wait until that importation ceases. If not, how can the institution be brought to an end earlier.
8. It was alleged in a leading article in the Hong Kong Morning Post of 6th February, 1929, that the Secretary for Chinese Affairs assists in the recovery of the purchase price in cases of mui-tsai who have run away.
I shall be glad of your observations on this and other allegations in the same article.
9. It is constantly alleged that mui-tsai are a regular source of recruitment for prostitution. Can any further safeguards against this be introduced ?
10. In the unlikely event of a large number of mui-tsai leaving their homes as a result of any measures taken, is it quite impossible to supplement the accommodation in the Po Leung Kuk by temporary arrangements. AMERY.
No.
Despatch from the Governor of Hong Kong to the Secretary of State for
the Colonies.
(Received 20th June, 1929.)
Government House,
Hong Kong,
16th May, 1929.
SIR,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram dated 20th April,* in which you ask me to furnish by despatch as soon as I can further information, as complete as possible, on ten points concerning the mui-tsai question. I propose to take up these points one by one and to deal with each of them, although not in the order in which they are set out in your telegram; but before doing so, I desire to state very definitely that the abolition of the mui-tsai system is the settled and declared policy of this Government. Our difficulty is to ensure that this policy is made effective in practice. This difficulty is due to the fact that Hong Kong, geographically
* No.
157
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