THE
56
14
QUARTERL
SLAVE MARKET NEWS
Vol. 1. No. 37.
Registered as a Newspaper.
APRIL, 1933.
PRICE TWOPENCE. Post free.
SLAVERY IN HONG KONG.
By Lieut.-Comdr. H. L. HASLEWOOD, R.N.
Various Women's Considerable interest has been aroused by the disclosures in the last issue of the Slave Market News. Societies are actively working in the matter; further questions have been put in the House of Commons, and comments in the Press have appeared, together with the valuable work individuals nave been able to achieve by drawing the attention of their M.P.s, Bishops and other influential people to these matters.
Undoubtedly it was a great shock to most readers to find that the Mui Tsai system was still being carried on to such a great extent, coupled with the disclosure that the law itself in Hong Kong allowed a girl to be bought and sold under the subterfuge of adoption. That it is a subterfuge there can be no doubt. At the end of this article appears correspondence with the Colonial Office. From this it is apparent that Colonial Officials themselves recognise that so-called adoption is merely another method of ob- taining a Mui Tsai; and yet registration of these so-called adopted daughters has never taken place.
Published in this issue is a translation of a Deed of Adoption or Presentation.
Those who remember the wording of the ordinary Deed of Sale for a Mui Tsai will see that the Deeds are practically identical in text. The girl is bought. The transaction is carried through by a middleman or broker. Obviously, a purely commercial transac tion. It is true that the onus is placed on the purchaser to prove that the girl purchased is an adopted daughter and not a Mui Tsai. But as there is no registration, no one knows that the transaction has taken place, and the question of the onus does not arise under normal circumstances.
The girl thus bought is therefore entirely at the mercy of the purchasers, and she is subject to all the disgraceful conditions and abuses we have learnt of in the Mui Tsai system.
It is surely necessary to repeat and repeat again that only public opinion will force the Colonial Office into action. The answers in the House and in correspondence imply that the Government is apparently quite content with conditions as they are. I would submit that it is the duty of everyone of us individually to press for legislation which shall enforce the regis- tration of every girl obtained by purchase.
As far as the known existing Mui Tsai are concerned, the three inspectors, excellent as is their individual work, are quite insufficient to carry out the work efficiently, and here again, we must press for an increased number of inspectors, including more
women.
The Under-Secretary of State.
Colonial Office.
Mui Tsai in Hong Kong.
Ref. No. 92612/32.
5, SYDNEY BUILDINGS,
BATH.
March 15th, 1932.
Sir,
I have to thank you for your letter of February 18th. Many features in connection with the Mui Tsai system and kindred transactions involving the sale and purchase of girls remain highly unsatisfactory, and I beg that you will give very careful considera- tion to the points I bring forward.
The quotation you give from the Offences Against the Person Ordinance, 1865, immediately after section 45, contains the following:-
45A. (1) Every person who takes any part, or attempts to take any part, in any transaction the object or one of the objects of which is to transfer or confer, wholly or partly, the possession, custody or control of any minor under the age of eighteen years for any valuable consideration shall be deemed to be guilty of an offence against this section, unless such person proves beyond reasonable doubt that the transaction was bona fide and solely for the purpose of a proposed marriage, or adoption, in accordance with Chinese custom.
Stripped of its official and legal language, the above act authorises and makes legal the sale and purchase of a girl for "adoption under the Chinese custom.
The type of a so-called adoption was shown in the "Deed of Presentation." a copy of which I forwarded you in my letter of February 8th, and this Deed plainly showed that the girl was sold.
But to consider the status of a girl thus adopted by purchase as genuine is, as I have constantly pointed out. a sub- terfuge and a prostitution of the honourable custom of genuine adoption, a status which is clearly defined in the Adoption of Children Act, 1926. Official answers have denied this in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
I must now refer you to the Straits Times of January 27th, 1932, and the speech of the Acting Secretary for Chinese Affairs in moving the first reading of the Bill, "An Ordinance relating to Mui Tsai in the Straits Settlements.
nomer.
a mis- 'Adoption."
Amongst
You will notice that he goes to considerable length to show that so-called adoptions are a subterfuge, and "adoption
He includes in the proposed registration all girls and children obtained by purchase. "Presentation," or He says, "The definition is drawn, too, in order to overcome the fiction that the girl is an "adopted daughter." Chinese, adoption is a recognised and widely practised custom, due to the necessity of always having a son to carry on the male line. for the purpose of ancestor worship. But for this purpose daughters are useless, and the adoption of daughters is not a custom recog- nised in China. There are exceptions to this rule, but we cannot legislate for them'
In view of this statement. I would draw your special attention to the concluding words of the section of the Ordinance quoted above on the first page of this letter.
Again he says:-"Under such conditions, the use of the term "adopted daughter" is one of convenience, not of fact. So closely are adopted daughters associated with Mui Tsai that the Anti-Mui Tsai Society of Hong Kong, at a meeting held in October, 1928, suggested that adopted daughters should be registered at the same time and in the same manner as admitted Mui Tsai."
Again: "The root of the trouble is that the Chinese, like ourselves, are extremely fond of an euphemism. A girl is not called bluntly slave girl' or 'pei nu,' but a little sister' or 'Mui Tsai.' But this does not alter the facts. The girl is sold or given, even
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