CO129-533-10 Position of prostitution in Hong Kong 16-1-1931 - 19-9-1931 — Page 43

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do hold, I believe, though of course I cannot speak for

them, that that system is a safeguard against trafficking

offences.

9. There is one section in Ordinance No.4 of

1897 which deals with disease. Section 12 makes it an

offence for the keeper of a brothel to permit any woman

suffering from any contagious disease to be in the brothel

for the purpose of prostitution. The maximum penalty is

a fine of $500 and imprisonment for one year.

The knowledge

Cases under

of the keeper is to be presumed until disproved, and proof

that any woman in a brothel is or was suffering from venereal

disease is to be sufficient prima facie proof that she is

or was there for the purpose of prostitution.

this section were fairly frequent at one time, chiefly on

information given by men in the naval and military services.

The man would report sick, he would be taken to the brothel

indicated by him, the inmates would be paraded, and he would

be asked if he could identify the girl. If he identified

the girl, the mistress would be advised to have the girl

medically examined. The services of a government medi cal

officer would be offered, and would, I gather, always be

accepted unless the brothel had its own private medi cal

attendant. Sometimes the mistress would be advised to

send the girl to the Government Hospital, and again I gather

that this advice would always be accepted. Sometimes she

might be advised to have the other inmates also examined,

and again she would agree. Since 1889 there has been no

power to compel medical examination, or transference to a

hospital, but the advice referred to above would naturally

have very great weight in view (1) of the power possessed