CO129-522-6 Mui Tsai System 13-12-1929 - 31-12-1930 — Page 45

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parents to recover their daughters have been disallowed,

and in six out of the eight cases the girl, at her own

earnest request, has been permitted to remain registered

with her employer. To take one such case as an example, Tsau Kuk, a little girl of ten, resisted most strongly her natural mother's attempt to recover her from her employer. She was very happy where she was, and well treated, whereas she feared her natural mother

would only sell her elsewhere. As for her father, at the sight of him she burst into tears and flatly

refused to go to him.

Other such instances could be given, as where Cheung Hing, aged 15, contented and well cared for at her employer's home, declined to go back to a mother who she said would try to take her abroad.

5.

I mention these cases to show that the lot of a mui-tsai is by no means necessarily the unhappy one that some have stated. The mien and general appearance of many a mui-tsai whom the Secretary for Chinese Affairs has observed of late being registered in his department go far to refute such hasty generalisations. That cases of cruelty and ill-treatment do from time to time come to light is unfortunately only too true. It has always been, and it will continue to be, the policy of this Government to deal firmly with such

Since the 1st of December, 1929, eleven convictions have been obtained on charges of cruelty, though it was not found in every case that the girl

was a mui-tsai.

cases.

in one case gross cruelty was found

by