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(3) Mui-tsai are not always sold; some poor people, having too many children and being unable to support them all, may present some to well-to-do families in order to enable them to be properly brought up and married off.
(4) It can truthfully be said that about ninety or even ninety-five per cent. of the mui-tsai in Hong Kong are well treated. Those employers who overwork or otherwise ill-treat their mui-tsai would not be deterred by registration, and the only remedy would seem to be imprisonment without the option of a fine in case of gross cruelty. If there are cases of ill-treatment of mui-tsai there are also cases of ill-treatment of one's own children; a cruel hearted person in a rage loses the sense of discrimination. Il-treatment of children is not the fault of a system, but of individuals. The illustration that to take measure merely for preventing cruelty to mui-tsai, without abolishing the system, resembles leaving the poison in the system, is not as convincing as the one that to get rid of a boil on the head one does not cut off the head.
(5) Before the Bill, with its present irksome conditions, becomes law, some people may send their mui-tsai to the interior to be sold, or given away, or kept with friends. With the already over-populated state of the country, the con- dition of the mui-tsai would become worse, as a direct outcome of the legislation. (6) If mui-tsai of or over the age of eighteen are suddenly released from con- trol, when control is more than ever desirable, they may misuse their freedom in all sorts of ways; and so to free them would in reality mean the removal of necessary and salutary control.
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(7) The abolition of mui-tsai would not do away with kidnapping of children, but on the contrary, would increase the sale of girls to evil-disposed persons as daughters." These girls are brought up as daughters without being re- quired to do domestic work; some with such tender care that their hands are not exposed to hard labour in order not to coarsen then! The object is obvious. (8) If the Bill is passed, the Government will be faced with the stupendous task of finding accommodation or employment for the large number or mui-tsai who may seek emancipation, or whose employers may voluntarily surrender them to the Government. If the Government does not take charge of all these girls, they must perforce make their employers continue to keep them. Thus, whatever may be the change in the name of the mui-tsai, they can have no change in their position, and it may further be said that they are kept in such a position with the approval or even the authority of the Government.
(9) To enforce the provisions of the Bill, particularly that part relating to inspection and registration, means the employment of a large army of inspectors and detectives for domiciliary visits, and for inspection work upon the arrival and departure of all the trains and steamers which bring in and take out thousands of people every day. This would be costly to the Government, and vexatious to the people.
These, Sir, are the views of those who ask for the withdrawal of the Bill. There is, besides, another section of the Chinese Community who, while advocating the ultimate abolition of the mui-tsai system, consider that the time is not yet, and in any case strongly deprecate registration. Now, I have given, to the best of my ability, the arguments put forward by the various parties, for and against the measure. The English Secretary of the Anti-mui-tsai Society has also sent me a letter giving a gist of the views of his Executive Committee on the Bill, which I have handed to the Honourable the learned Attorney-General for his consideration. I am, however, asked to say here that what they recommend constitutes the irreducible minimum. In effect, they support the Bill, with certain proposed amendments which, they consider, should strengthen it. My Chinese colleague and I have also received from the Chinese Labour Unions, the Chinese Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A., the Chinese Christian Union, and the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce written representations which we have likewise turned over to the Government.
The
Having divested myself of the task imposed upon me by the two sides, of restating their opinions here, I will endeavour to express the views of my Chinese colleague and myself. We feel that where there is a divergence of opinion it is not enough for a Member of this Honourable Council merely to express the views, however impar- tially, of the people whom he represents. He should also weigh the value of con- flicting arguments, endeavour to unravel the web of confusion woven by the disputa- tion, and from his own judgment. In expressing our own conclusion-our honest convictions-it would be necessary for me to go over some of the ground already traversed, but I know I can count upon a patient hearing. crux of the matter seems to us to be whether રી mui-tsai is a slave or not. If she is, we should not tolerate the system for even one day longer in this Colony; but this point is disposed of by clause 2 of the Bill. Still, in spite of such a definite pronouncement from the Government, we cannot get away from the fact that cases of cruelty have from time to time come to light. We there- fore consider that the mui-tsai need special protection by the Government. While I abhor cruelty to children and consider a fine, however heavy, totally inadequate for offenders, I agree with those who hold that the present Bill would not deter the small number of people, who are by nature cruel, from ill-treating their mui-tsai. For such people I advocate a long term of imprisonment with hard labour. I strongly deprecate, as do all my Honourable Unofficial colleagues, the introduction of registration. Endless inconvenience and trouble would be caused to the people by requiring them to register their mui-tsai, to report any change of address, and wherever they leave the Colony with a mui-tsai, even temporarily. I do not agree with the supporters of the Bill that registration in this case would not cause undue inconvenience, judging by the smooth working of the laws governing the registration of births, schools, companies, and medical practitioners. This is arguing on totally wrong premises. A little thought will convince any impartial person that it is one thing to have, for instance, a birth or a school registered, and quite another to have to
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