CO129-533-10 Position of prostitution in Hong Kong 16-1-1931 - 19-9-1931 — Page 46

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importance to the alienation of the owners of brothel

property. There would be the usual cry of vested interests

and the Government would be accused of bad faith, I do not

think that that should deter the Government from taking

The

the action referred to if it is otherwise desirable. What

I do fear is the danger of shaking the loyalty of the

Chinese community as a whole and their confidence that the

Government will respect Chinese customs generally.

risk may have to be run, but I think that it is a real one.

It must be remembered that the Chinese do not view pro sti-

tution as we do. They look upon it with a more leni ent

eye, though excess is reprobated just as excess in other

forms of self-indulgence is reprobated.

Prostitutes are

not social outcasts to the same extent as in "Western"

countries.

concubine.

A prostitute often becomes a highly respectable

In some of the highest class Chinese brothels

I understand that a girl will often keep herself for one

man. I realise that this is a very difficult defence to

make, especially as the English public do not always re alise

the delicacy required in ruling an alien civilisation.

14.

The following list of some of the principal

enactments on the subject may be of some use:-

1.

Ordinance No.10 of 1867, The Contagious Diseases

Ordinance, 1867: Licensing of brothels, registrat-

ion of inmates, and compulsory medical examination

and detention in hospital.

2.

Ordinance No.19 of 1889:

Compulsory medical

examination and detention in hospital abandoned.

3. Ordinance No.11 of 1890, and the registration

regulations made thereunder and gazetted on the 7th

April, 1891.