17
6. This step, which was advocated by the District Watch Committee, has proved to be of great value. The ladies, who are very diligent and take an interest in their work, visit the homes of every registered Mui Tsai and get in touch with the families.
7. Details of every visit are recorded, unreported changes of addresses are investigated, due payment of wages is enquired into and where necessary cautions are given.
8. The general public is well aware of the importance attached by Government to the proper care of Mui Tsai, and from time to time we have received communications, which are always immediately followed up. A number of such anonymous communications proved to be baseless, and were probably prompted by spite, but in some cases they led to the discovery of an unregistered Mui Tsai.
9. During the year thirty-nine prosecutions were brought under the Mui Tsai Ordinance with thirty-eight convictions. These prosecutions, which included one for non-payment of wages, were mainly for employment of unregistered Mui Tsai. No case arose for prosecution of an employer on the ground of ill-treating a registered Mui Tsai,
10. The help of the Po Leung Kuk and the Salvation Army Home has again been ungrudgingly given to this department.
11. It should also be recorded that a happy co-operation has existed between this department and the Society for the Protection of Children in cases of hardship, arising from poverty or any other cause, in which children have been affected.
12. Under the Women and Girls Protection Ordinance (4 of 1897) fifteen prosecutions were brought with eighteen convictions These were cases of harbouring or procuring.
13. Under Section 45A of Ordinance 2 of 1865, twenty-four cases were brought on charges connected with trafficking in
niners and thirty-two convictions were obtained.
3
―
16. In the case of women and children (including males under the age of 16) the decrease was from 37,661 to 18,122 passed by the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs. These figures were influenced by the quota system enforced in Malaya.
detained for enquiries as
17. Twenty-nine women were compared with thirty-six in 1930.
18. Assisted emigration was mainly confined to Muntok and Deli in the Dutch East Indies. It showed a total decrease from 8,316 to 3,817, passed by the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, Of these 3,817, 502 did not sail, so the total actual figure was 3,315.
19. A striking feature which may suitably be noted under this heading of Emigration was the very large number of persons repatriated from Malaya, and to some extent from British North Borneo, who passed through the hands of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. The totals were 23,637 from Penang, 3,482 from Singapore, and 1,195 from Sandakan. Every one of these repatriates was met and arrangements made to house them while in Hong Kong and send them on, with passages paid and a sum of money in hand, to their homes in the country. This work could not have been done without the willing and capable co-operation of the Tung Wah Hospital to whom a debt of gratitude is due. Some of the batches of repatriates numbered over 1,000 at one time and it says a great deal for the Tung Wah Hospital organization that the work was smoothly carried through. The expenses of such work are of course charged to the repatriating Government,
CHINESE BOARDING HOUSES.
(Ordinance 23 of 1917). (Table VII).
20. During the year nine convictions were obtained under the ordinance as compared with ten in 1930. These convictions were mainly for failing to keep the register properly and having excess of boarders.
14. For a fuller report on the work of the Po Leung Kuk, see Annexe A of this report.
EMIGRATION.
(Ordinance 30 of 1915).
(Tables V and VI).
15. Emigration, both of Assisted Emigrants and of Women and Children, showed a marked decrease as compared with the year 1930, see Tables V and VI,
}
PERMITS. (Ordinance 1 of 1845).
(Ordinance 22 of 1919).
21. 2,381 permits to fire crackers were issued, of which 1,664 were for weddings and the remainder for birthdays, shop openings, etc. Seventy-four permits were issued for theatrical performances.
22. Other permits issued were twenty-five for religious ceremonies and five for processions.
18
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.