CO129-532-4 Mui Tsai system- resolution and correspondence with private individuals 27-10-1930 - 24-6-1931 — Page 27

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is that no new mui tsai shall be created

in,or imported into, Hong Kong, and that the

existing mai tsai who have all been registered

shall know that they are free to leave their

employers if they want to, and shall be paid

wages and properly treated.

In effect, the

in H. (Cong)

status of the registered mui tsai has had

taint

any suggestion of a servile tint removed, and

is now that of a free paid domestic worker.

2. In the circumstances, it seems

unnecessary to comment on the second paragraph

of your letter of 12th January. It is

sufficient to point out that since the enactment

of the Hong Kong Ordinance No. 1 of 1923,

it has quite definitely been illegal

for any employer to acquire a young girl

in Hong Kong as a mui tsai by making a

payment to her parents or guardians.

3. As regards the suggestion that

the registration of the existing mui tsai

has been defective because the number

registered is so much less than the figure of

10,000, which was an unofficial estimate

made