CO129-522-6 Mui Tsai System 13-12-1929 - 31-12-1930 — Page 62

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He

have nevertheless returned to his house.

maintains, with much reason, that these girls are

no longer his mui-tsai; but nevertheless under the

Hong Kong law, as it stands, he will have to

register them. He is unwilling to do this; and

one of the girls has already left his household and

has not been heard of since.

4. The plain facts are these.

mui-tsai in this Colony.

There are

There are deeds under

which they have been bought. There are persons

who have sold them and there are persons who have

bought them.

Moreover, there is no doubt that

the mui-tsai themselves, as well as those who

bought and those who sold them, all three parties in

fact, consider that there is a status of mui-tsai

and that it is a status from which it is possible

that a girl should be released. I understand it,

however, to be the policy of His Majesty's Government

that, wherever the status of mui-tsai exists in this

Colony, Government supervision and control are

necessary; and, according to the view of the

Attorney General, no "manumission" by an employer can remove the necessity for supervision and control, because no manumission can alter the relationship between a mui-tsai and her employer, unless such employer actually ceases to employ the girl as a domestic servant.

5.

It seems to me that this is an intolerable

position, and that, if we maintain it, registration is bound to fail. The Chinese members of

Legislative Council are unanimously and strongly of

opinion