CO129-551-2 Mui Tsai system 30-11-1934 - 22-11-1935 — Page 88

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Envelos...

The Honourable

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Castern COLONIAL

The Colonial Secretary.

OF

Sir,

No.

88

Hong Kong, 21st March, 1935.

I have the honour to reply to your letter of

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the 14th March 1935 (No.1961/1910), enquiring "whether the

Committee sees any objection to the immediate introduction of amending legislation with a view to ensuring that any girl on attaining the age of eighteen shall automatically

cease to be a mui-tsai, in accordance with the first of

Sir George Maxwell's suggestions".

The Committee considers that children between

eighteen and twenty-one need the protection of the guardian-

ship of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs at that period

probably more than during their earlier years. The Committee fears that the adoption of Sir George Maxwell's suggestion

may have the effect of depriving these children of that

guardianship. The powers and duties of the Secretary for

Chinese Affairs, as legal guardian of these children, have

still to receive much further consideration. The Committee

hopes that any immediate decision that might alter the

position may be deferred for the present.

I have, dc.;

(S) F. H. Loseby,

Chairman,

たり

Mui-tsai Committee.