unts n is
ng
500
Hey
4%
d.
SOUTH CHINA MORNING
MODERN
SANITARY
APPLIANCES
such as-
BATHS, LAVATORY
BASINS, FLUSH
TOILETS, SOAP AND SPONGE HOLDERS, TOWEL RAILS,
MIRRORS AND
TUMBLER HOLDERS,
ETC.
C. E. Warren &
Co., Ltd.
China Building. Tel. 20969.
1277
POST. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1.930.
passed laws for the protection of children, but these are not being fully enforced. According to the Industrial Employment of Children Ordinance of 1922, no person shall employ a child un- der the age of ten years in any factory, children must not be employed in dangerous trades and children under twelve years of age must not be employed carrying coal or building ma- terial or debris. According to other Regulations, no females or children of either sex are per- mitted to take part in proces- sions unless they are seated on platforms or ride on horses. This regulation is not precisely "industrial:" it was apparently designed to exclude women and children from political or other risks. Nevertheless it may be used as a weapon by reformers. Even to-day; despite the Ordin- ances, children may be seen staggering under heavy weights, particularly in funeral proces- sions, wherein. some of them mere babies, they ride neither on horses nor platforms but in fact carry the platforms. Ut course, we shall be met with the old economic argument, that these children must work be- f cause their parents are too poor g to support them in idleness or N send them to school. We can-
The Dorning Post not, however, indulge indefinite-
28TH YEAR. HONGKONG.
No. 7,363.
O satisfy us es with Thy mercy; that w may rejoice and be glad all our days. Pe. 90:14.
ly these distressing faults in our economic state. At some point the economic problem must be attacked. Overpopulation, high rents, high cost of living, sweat- ed labour-if these defy refor mative pressure, then in the last resort it must be applied at the other end. When analysed the Protection of Children. aleged necessity for very young
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1930.
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children to earn their living be- come less convincing. If, ac- The Society for the rescue of cording to their parents, they Mui-tsai displays a pleasing de- are employable at seven years, termination to continue its la- and the law stipulates ten or bours, and the figures quoted at twelve years, that means provi- the annual meeting of members sion for five years at the most. on Saturday indicate that there According to the 1921 Census, is still great need for vigilance. there were in Hongkong and According to the Society's ori-Kowloon (not including the Newä ginal estimate, there are about Territories), under 50,000 Chin-S 8,000 mui-tsai in Hongkong, but ese children under the age of v the total registrations under the fourteen, the year classes being t new Ordinance number only more or less equal (about 3,500). T 4,299. The remainder are prob- If we add a third, to compensate ably by now "adopted daugh- for omissions and for increase ters, a convenient term of since, the total
becomes ap- evasion which, however, does proximately 70,000, or 5,000 in not necessarily mean any im- each year-class. These figures, provement in the lot of the little however, include the children slaves. The fact that cases of of the wealthy. Calling them cruelty are still being discovered one-third, we reduce the totals is significant; and, unfortunate- again to 50,000 (3,500 in each ly, only a small percentage of year-class) who are too poor to the brutality comes to light. attend school or must assist Readers will have been struck their parents. Of the fourteen by the comparative paucity of classes, classes 1 to 5 are too the Society's results. During young to work even if their last year only 56 mui-tsai cases parents want them to, which re- were dealt with by the Society, duces our total (50,000 less and only three convictions were 17,500) to 32,500. Those be- obtained. It is, however, inter-tween 12 and 14 years of age esting to note that 43 cases may also be excluded and allow- arose from complaints made by ed to work until provision can be the mui-tsai themselves, indicat-made for them. By the employ- ing an encouraging awakening ment of vigilant inspectors we of the children to their position. might also compel parents to The Society's work suffers great-maintain at home the sixth and ly from the timidity of the pub-seventh classes, reducing the lic. Reports are made to the total further by 7,000 to 18,500. Society, but the informers, fear-Free schools, orphanages and ful of personal reprisals, will not such institutions to appear publicly. Some stiffen-date these should not be beyond ing of moral fibre is necessary, the community's means. or, alternatively, more inspectors should be employed, by Govern- B ment or by the Society, so as to permit observation of cases of M suspected ill-treatment. Since 28 half of the mui-tsai are now 01 "adopted daughters," however, st the Society's status is somewhat h doubtful. While the slavery'v evil still requires combatment, th the principal evil is cruelty; and, ti cruelty not being confined to to mui-tsai, the task of prevention T is one for a Society for the Pro-o tection of Children. Such a So- ciety was formed last year, but appears to be largely ornamental. According to the friends of the mui-tsai, the companion society employs but one inspector, a young lady, and the charge is made that its members are neither genuine nor enthusiastic. "There is a difference in thoroughness," said one of the speakers, and it would certainly appear that if the Society for the Protection of Children is do- ing anything, it is content to ac-s complish good by stealth. It is d
ar
Je th
a pity that these two societies should not co-operate. Some months ago we urged an amal- gamation. There is no reason why the Society for the Protec- tion of Children should not also le condemn the mui-tsai system, an and the members of the Anti- in Mui-tsai Society would reinforce the combined organisation with sto the enthusiasm which the newer gu body needs. That there is work be for all friends of children in Hongkong should need no em- phasis. Compared with the wh friends of animals, these other Wo humanitarians are lamentably an Fa inactive. The Government has wit
an
ve
accommo-
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DIAL AD V
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