5363-6
Despatch from the Governor of Hong Kong to the Secretary of State
for the Colonies.
(Received 24th July, 1922.)
[Answered by No.
ן.
Government House,
Hong Kong. 10th June, 1922.
SIR,
With reference to your telegram of 21st March* and to the con- nected correspondence, I have the honour to transmit to you a copy of a report by a Joint Committee of the Society for Protection of Mui-Tsai and the Anti-Mui-tsai Society on the methods which should be adopted to effect the abolition of the system.
*No.
2. I regret that I cannot regard the suggestions of the Joint Committee as affording a satisfactory solution of this difficult question. So far from providing for the abolition of the mui-tsai system in a year or so, as is your desire, the proposals involve its continu- ance for nearly twenty years and—what is to my mind an insuperable objection the definite recognition of the system by Government.
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3. To say that a mui-tsai is to remain in the service of her employer until she has worked off the " money advanced to her parent seems to me to introduce at once the status of slavery. In short the draft ordinance submitted by the Committee treats the money paid to the parents of the mui-tsai as a purchase price which entitles the employer to regard the girl as his property until it is repaid either by work or in cash (see paragraph VIII b.)
4. Such an arrangement would be in direct opposition to the previous policy of this Government which has been to refuse to regard the payment of money to the parents as conferring any proprietary rights in the girl and in my opinion if it were adopted many of the criticisms of this Government which have been made without adequate knowledge of the facts might be repeated with full justification.
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5. I attach no importance to the argument of the Committee that mui-tsai keeping is a very old practice and that the interests of the owner cannot be entirely ignored." Persons who have employed mui-tsais (I object to the use of the word owner in present circumstances, though I think it would be correct if the proposals of the Committee were adopted) have always known that in the eye of the law the payment made to the parent has conferred no right of property. If they chose, with this knowledge, to pay money for something which the law did not recognise they did so at their own risk. The law as it stands at present would not support them in an attempt to retain control of a girl against her will, on the ground that money had been paid for her, and I should object most strongly to any alteration of the law which placed them in a better position in this respect than heretofore.
6. I submit that more drastic action is required if the system is to be abolished. I am not prepared to put forward cut and dried proposals at the moment. It would take some little time to work out exact details and you have asked me to submit my suggestions before I leave for England. I would ask permission therefore to submit the broad lines of the scheme which I think should be adopted. If the general principles meet with your approval, the details can be elaborated by the Secretary for Chinese affairs in consultation with members of the Chinese Community
7. I advise that legislation should be introduced on the following lines:
(a) A declaratory clause should set out the fact that the pay- ment of money to the parent or guardian of a mui-tsai confers no right of property upon the payer.
(6) Employers of mui-tsais must register them at the office of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, the fullest possible particulars being given in each case.
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