[ { "id": 298653, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-175 - Sir Kennedy - 1876 [9-12]", "page_number": 4, "title": "CO129-175 - Sir Kennedy - 1876 [9-12]", "content_text": "Despatch.\n\nDale.\n\n203,\n\n28 Nov\n\n209\n\n28\n\n\"\n\n201\n\n29\n\n2016\n\n29\n\nConf.\n\n2.9\n\n↓\n\n209.\n\nG bec\n\n210.\n\nSubject\n\nSite for new Central School.\n\nReturns in connection with brothels, 1897,\n\nCompany Law.\n\nLock Hospital.\n\nFiring of Salute on embarkation of His Excellency.\n\nAppointment of Mr. Beale Lee An as Interpreter at the\n\nRegistrars.\n\nApplication of Postmaster General for Free Quarters.\n\n211\n\n213.\n\nConf\n\n214\n\n215.\n\n#\n\n13\n\n18\n\n27\n\n26.\n\n多\n\n38\n\nConf\n\n219.\n\n29.\n\n*\n\nVacation Leave of Judge Snowden.\n\nPamphlet called \"China & her Apologists!\n\n220\n\n29\n\nThe Governor & the Major General Commanding.\n\nOrdinances no. 9 of 1876.\n\nSubsidiary Silver Coinage\n\nPeny Law Amendment Bill.\n\nComplaint of General Colborne respecting invitations of\n\nMilitary officers to Government House\n\nOrdinance no. 11 of 1876.\n\nMessage Ordinance.\n\nCompensation to Rev. Mr. Hidd\n\nLife Saving Apparatus for Local Humane Society\n\nOpening of Port of Sulu to Foreign Trade\n\n2\n\nwen 7/11", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-175 - Sir Kennedy - 1876 [9-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 299163, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876", "page_number": 2, "title": "CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876", "content_text": "20129\n\n196\n\nOffice Individual.\n\nAdmiralty\n\ndate.\n\n3 Mar\n\nHong Kong.\n\n1846.\n\nVolume IV\n\nContents.\n\nSubject\n\nOrdinance No. PAYS,\n\n4 Oct.\n\nFrans to Lock Hospital.\n\n13 Nov.\n\nCharges against certain Seamen of the 'Frederick'\n\nAgents.\n\nP see.\n\nBlasin of Mr Rawlinson\n\nBoard of Trade in Feb. Findings of Marine Court of Enquiry.\n\n1 Mar.\n\n20 April. Arrival of British Vessels at Hong Kong without having the\n\n1\n\nDeck line marked.\n\n209\n\n4\n\nRocket Life-saving apparatus.\n\n3 May. Supply of Rocket apparatus for local Humane Society.\n\nTreasury\n\n5 Sept. Complaint of Captain Blockley of the \"Nautilus\"\n\nto be. Sentence passed on how new by Naval Court at Manila\n\n30 Oct\n\n20 & Dec.\n\nMisconduct of 2nd Engineer of the \"Ocean\"\n\n19 April. Issue of notes by Prauches of Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank.\n\n3 June\n\nChartered Bank of India, Australia, and China.\n\nRex\n\nRate of exchange of the Dollar for Imperial services.\n\n15 July. Admission of Hong Kong to Postal Union.\n\n21 Aug.\n\nCommunications between Governor & General Commanding", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 308778, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-193 - Governor Hennessy - 1881 [5-7]", "page_number": 118, "title": "CO129-193 - Governor Hennessy - 1881 [5-7]", "content_text": "115\n\n可惜香港則例雖與以利沙伯極嚴之律四生之任須英其互京死相按贊助斷有貧端雖人引院帶等兩外巡理府署督部堂署俱有濟貧之項而竟不懞英京按察使巡理府均未有法辨別窮窘之人堪賙濟與否故確有因强使國家周濟遠人况驎大莫赤子而可不任其死於餞有一切要之理在其間卽照律例而言舉國中司伊連波大人定奪仁愛之道按英例所定必須互相輔助貧人雖兩國律例不同若此而兩國濟人則例俱屬英赤子者亦不少故以各官安樂而言可云幸矣獨不思則例增有頒行貧人則例之局以方便稽查管理或當衆或近衆之處如此可罰銀二十贈各業會居多要之本港所有窮窘之華人而在香港生長爲英國貧人則例之基址按一千八百三十四年人冀動人憐者若在香港内通衢大道該項支消似乎樻多少意者或因督憲用此濟貧之項壯健者欲蒙照顧則必作工此二者歷三百年來乞者或將身體所有瘡瘍軟弱殘壞示可云該濟貧之項雖則爲數無多而照窮窘之華人而論則之維繫二卽肢體殘壞者不用作工可蒙施濟而內第二款第十七節有如此云凡有行其餘則有度支局每歲備督憲濟貧之項惟督憲與十三年所定之例雖烈又大英本土於一千八百例间是一般猛烈而亦未嘗稍備助邮異常之人及巧於欺瞞之無賴子外實無在彼討得錢文者二國家向用待貧人法以利沙伯三十九年及四內貧人院外兩法埃蘭國則專在貧人院内濟乃條則例因衙署頒行事款認貧人有禁止引帶等情而大英本土則合用古昔貧人院五圓又查一千八百五十六年第十四英國律例自以利沙伯皇后迄今有合人情道理查一千八百四十五年第十四條財镧三十四年所立貧人則例大意雖有攔阻之意而肢體殘壞者無怙無恃者患癲病狂者狂者稚助伯極嚴邮之有貧頒人行則照肢以例顧體利則殘沙人必壤伯者皇國例第十歎內定云此則例論及錢債衙門各案所有餉銀費有之餉銀費定云此頒行權用則事及免等例欸情論認百處五十 六債衙有十二權權用等情斷不得阻斷不得使一人無以度活者滯窮人用其所有之權及免捐餉銀費\n\nAl-able to tell a specially plausible story, get a dole. There is further a Charitable Allowance Fund annually included in the Estimates and under the control of the Governor. But as neither Magistrates nor His Excellency the Governor have or can have any means at hand to discrimi-nate between the deserving and the undeserving indigent, there is grave reason to believe that even these very limited funds do more harm than good, as far as Chinese destitutes are concerned, and for this reason no doubt the Governor's Cha-ritable Allowance Fund is mostly used for the charitable institutions of the Missionaries. though many of the Chinese destitutes in the ony were born here and are consequently British subjects, they have, happily for the peace of the Government, no notion of the existence of the Poor Box at the Magistracy or of the Governor's Charitable Allowance Fund, nor have they any idea that, as Lord ELLENBOROUGH (see 4 East's Reports, 108) has established, the law of humanity, to which English Common Law must be assumed to conform, puts the Govern-ment under obligation to afford relief even to aliens and therefore à fortiori to British subjects to save them from starvation,\n\n2.--The way in which the Government hitherto dealt with destitution.\n\nBarbaric, as some of the provisions of the Elizabethan Acts (39th and 43rd) were, and deterrent as the leading principle of the English Poor Law Act of 1834 is, the law of England, from Queen ELIZABETH to the present day, rested on the two humane and rational principles, viz.: relief to the disabled without work and relief to the able-bodied in return for work. To these old pillars on which the Poor Law of England rested for the last three centuries, the Act of 1834 added the establishment of a powerful Poor Law Execu-tive, for purposes of inquiry and control, prohibi-tion and direction. Whether outdoor relief is combined with the old work-house system as in England, or excluded in favour of the work-house test as in Ireland, the one leading idea of the English and Irish Poor Law is that no one in the country can by law remain destitute of the actual ̧ necessaries of life.\n\nThe local laws of this Colony, I regret to say, approach in barbarity the severest provisions of the Elisabethan Acts whilst making no provision whatever for relief even to the disabled, orphans or lunatics. Ordinance No. 14 of 1845, Section 11、17 says, every person who shall beg, or expose any sore or infirmity to view, for the purpose of exciting compassion and obtaining almis,.. shall be liable to a penalty not exceed-ing five Pounds,\" provided this offence is com-mitted in any thoroughfare, or public place or adjacent thereto, within the Colony of Hongkong. Ordinance No. 14 of 1856, recognizes, in a certain legal sense at least, the \"rights of paupers\" by making provision in Section X, that nothing contained in this Ordinance (regarding fees and costs in Equity suits) shall prejudice paupers in respect of their right of proceeding without fee or\n\n往而後已之候則較難故登門行乞但幸平時處堪眠懽嚴冬婦女終日手執京詞▲夜之際山間到之窮窘西洋人每有人之術以安理無賴之流不港縱窘華人亦可分數等首即生長乞人家以托鉢闔港十四萬衆較之尙幸可沿門爲生涯者如瘋疾人化子恆以襤褸形容殘缺肢體爲法或討簞食或乞云爲數無幾蓋國家未嘗設輩不大著以致在澳門香港生長致中華窮窘之人國去家當預備有方黎庶螅無妥理之法故罔克||大公仁以上各等窮窘之華人若以之甚行西苦乞洋人但手耳幸或拐商失人敢内日備饔飧夜濟貧會西洋人所宿而在牢房之輩急需又有聖保祿備牀笫如是者立之妥理濟貧會以身弱莫能傭工舉目無親意欲旋郛而苦乏盤川跬步推舉者或有女流兒女成店專條遣徍鮮薅收留者致往尋工晚歸歇堂濟貧之項備濟若之手衆憫而助之遺往東華醫院棲止义有狂病之人醫院外無安身所者或失醫院爲安居之所故彼巓連客蓋在彼者日賙濟者賴有他們教失職爱起而預其事次郎異省人及有流離失所者又有被拐後蒙救脫拐人總理等又畏無籟之徒藉据房而作不謝之窮窘之西洋人堪蒙其後頻喚金沙小子輩如此作爲而愛母則從旁窺伺慮有巡差見而蠲醒罔敢狂院惟賴有東華醫院而該不得已厠身牢倘不甚苦人耳所有錢文如斯以日若輩每使兒女奔走於中環大道見有西人初入者即追隨有貧人院與及醫院亦無癲行因丈夫長別離或遠遊無耗以致饔殮莫給者如此之人因按察衙門邇來所在巡理府署所有濟貧之費怙恃者或中途盤川不給者三郎凡有事遭意外或擾於病魔或困於煙癖以致之輩非藉名望之人殷實之\n\n直待彼離港是遊事定侍婢案情恐遭追究是以莫敢將女鬻爲待婢將子鬻作螟蛉於身煙所脫原非厚是以除格外艱苦之者\n\nthe hillside or anywhere, but in winter they generally prefer to accept sulkily the hospitality of the gaol where two meals a day and a bed at night are furnished to them, provided they turn in early in the evening and look out in day timel for employment, which eventually takes them away from the Colony.\n\nAs to Macao or Hongkong born Portuguese destitutes, there are always women going about with begging petitions at all hours of the day, calling at private houses, but generally not im-portunate. Deserving Portuguese poor have, however, their ecclesiastical charities to provide for their direst wants, and there is also a Society of St. Vincent de Paul which is a sort of Portuguese Charity Organization Society for the poor in the Colony.\n\nAs to Chinese destitutes there is no provision made by Government, nor by private organization, for dealing with Chinese forms of destitution in a systematic and at the same time humane and rational manner. Chinese destitution, as seen in Hongkong, consists in the first instance of hereditary and professional mendicants, viz., lepers and professional beggars, who use personal rag-gedness and physical debility or deformity as a means to gain a livelihood by begging for food and base cash. They frequently also employ children who dog the steps of strangers, espe-cially in Queen's Road Central, clamouring for \"kumsha,\" whilst they themselves keep a lookout to give timely warning in the rare case of a Constable awaking to his duty of interfering in the matter.\n\nA second class of Chinese destitutes consists of strangers, waifs and strays cast on the community by kidumppers who have been interfered with by the Police and who are then lodged at the Tung-wá Hospital, or of lunatics for whom also there is no other refuge but the Tung-wá Hospital, or of stray orphans, or travellers left penniless en route. A third class of Chinese destitutes consists of men disabled by accident, illness or excessive opium smoking, who have no friends here and no money to return to their ancestral homes, or of women with a larger number of children than they can, in the absence or through the desertion of their husbands, sup-port. and who, especially since the Chief Justice's late judgment on the subject of domestic servitude, are prevented by fear of prosecution disposing of their children for legitimate domestic purposes by arrangement with other families.\n\nFor all these Chinese destitutes, who, in pro-portion to a population of over 140,000 Chinese in the Colony, happily form but a comparatively small number, there is neither poor-house uor dispensary nor hospital, nor even lunatic asylum, provided by the Government. There is indeed the Tung-wá Hospital, but the Committee are so afraid of being burdened with permanent pauper patients, that no poor are admitted into the Hos-pital without recommendation on the part of influential subscribers. There is also a Poor Box of very limited means at the Magistracy, but none but cases of extraordinary misery, or paupers", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-193 - Governor Hennessy - 1881 [5-7].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 308779, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-193 - Governor Hennessy - 1881 [5-7]", "page_number": 119, "title": "CO129-193 - Governor Hennessy - 1881 [5-7]", "content_text": "alumps\n\n211\n\nreward. Section XXIII of Ordinance No. 8 of 1858, which by its title applies to Chinese only, reads mildly enough \"mendicancy in the public highways or streets is hereby forbidden,\" but Section XXVIII provides the following penalties for every offence against Section XXIII,\" a sum not exceeding five dollars; or the offender shall, at the discretion of the Court, receive not more than thirty-six blows nor less than five blows with a rattan, and be deported to his native country, or, with the consent of such offender, to any other place, if His Excellency the Governor shall so decide.” Ordinance No. 6 of 1866, Section XXI of which also applies to Chinese only, provides that every master of a junk bringing into the Colony any persons who shall, in the opinion of the Court before which the offence shall be tried, have come to the Colony for the purpose of mendicancy, or any person suffering from leprosy or any other contagious diseases, shall be liable to pay a fine not exceeding ten dollars and not less than one dollar for every such person so brought by him as aforesaid.\" Ordinance No. 8 of 1876, Section XV enacts, \"any person convicted before a Magistrate of mendicancy in this Colony shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five dollars, or, in default thereof, to imprisonment with or without hard labour, not exceeding twenty-one days, or, in the discretion of the Magistrate, shall be liable to be whipped thirty-six strokes and be sent to his native place.”\n\nThis is therefore all that the Law of Hongkong offers to destitutes, fine and imprisonment with or without hard labour, and, in the case of Chinese, also whipping and deportation to the destitute's native country, or, if the destitute be a native of Hongkong, to that delightfully vague region designated by the Ordinance as \"any other place.\"\n\nNone of these Ordinances defines its terms as relating to the destitute. Some are professedly class legislation, leave it to the Magistrate's discretion to decide what mendicity may be, with what intent a pauper may come to Hongkong, or what purpose a man with a canker in his face may have in walking through the streets, and finally leave it also to the Magistrate's discretion, which practically means his temper, to say when it may please him to fine and imprison or to whip and deport.\n\nThis condition of the law regarding Chinese destitutes, being exclusively repressive and deterrent, is certainly not humane. But it is not even rational, unless poverty and destitution are to be considered as a crime. For if destitution is considered as what it really is, viz. a misfortune, and if we remember that all the world over, whenever the poor are left to private charity, a certain amount of mendicity is inevitable, it will be apparent that it is neither humane nor reasonable for the Government to have no other remedy to offer for the misfortune of its Chinese subjects nor for the natural consequences of such misfortune but that of fine, imprisonment, whipping and deportation. Hongkong was once supposed to be likely to serve as a model Colony to exhibit before the view of the benighted so-called semi-civilized pagans of China the bright example of a Christian Government and a civilized community.\n\nAnd indeed when we compare the state of things in Hongkong with that of England we seem to have something to boast of by way of the blood-bought results of this unchristian mode of dealing with the poor and the destitute. Whilst according to the Statesman's Year-Book for 1880 (p. 243) the number of paupers, exclusive of vagrants and casual poor, in receipt of public relief in the several unions and parishes of England and Wales in 1879, amounting to 800,426, is such that there is at present one pauper to every thirty persons in England and Wales, we have in a population of over 140,000 Chinese in Hongkong not one pauper in receipt of Government or Colonial relief, and the actual number of paupers in the Colony may safely be estimated not to exceed a few hundred.\n\n3.—Dangers to be avoided in dealing with destitutes in Hongkong.\n\nAs regards foreign destitutes, who are aliens, it is obvious that with the aid afforded by the private charity of the various nationalities represented among the residents of Hongkong, under the guidance of their respective Consuls, Government interference would be entirely uncalled for. In the case of non-descript foreign destitutes, disowned by their respective Consuls, and in the case of British destitutes, anything done by the Government over and above what is now being done in furnishing such destitutes with board and lodging in the Gaol, would tend to make the situation of a \"beach comber\" destitute here more eligible than the lot of a hardworking seaman or stoker, and consequently put a premium on loafing and idleness. Portuguese destitutes also may well be left to the care of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul which, in case of special need, will know how to apply to Government for aid.\n\nAs regards Chinese destitutes it may fairly be conceded, that, barbaric as the provisions of such local Ordinances are as those of No. 8 of 1858 and No. 8 of 1876 which authorise whipping and deportation in simple cases of mendicancy, they were no doubt prompted by the danger which does lie near, on account of the proximity of the Chinese frontier, that indiscriminate and lavish aid afforded in Hongkong to destitutes, be it by the Government or by private charity, would practically act like a magnet attracting from all the nooks and corners of the Canton Province swarms of professional beggars and lepers to a Colony like this where money is more plentiful than anywhere in the province of Canton.\n\nPage 212\n\n...\n\n116", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-193 - Governor Hennessy - 1881 [5-7].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 359232, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-270 - Public Offices & Others - 1895", "page_number": 3, "title": "CO129-270 - Public Offices & Others - 1895", "content_text": "# CO 129/270\n\n## Volume F. Contents\n\n| Subject | Date | Office |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Accounts of Post Office Agent at Pakhoi | 16 Jan | Local Post Office |\n| Disinfectants | 19 Jan | Post Office |\n| | 25 Jan | |\n| Post Office Mch | 4 Feb | |\n| Kong Shang Yi Ku Bark | 5 Feb | |\n| Society for Suppression of | 22 Feb | Colonial Office |\n| Fictitious & previously used Stamps. Site for new Offices | | |\n| Company Telegraphic messages | | |\n| Chopping of British Dollar | 26 Feb | |\n| The Opium Fraud | | |\n| Plague at Kowloon | | |\n| Estimates for 1895 | 3 Apr | Audit Office |\n| | 31 May | |\n| Mr. R. R. Bowring | 4 June | K. Humane Society |\n| Gallantry of Mr. W. Stopani | | H. K. & Shanghai BKg Corporn |\n| | | Chartered Bank of India, etc. |\n| | my | Audit Office |\n| R. Humane Society | 26 June | |\n| Chopping of Br. Dollar | | |\n| Mr. C. C. Bowring | | |\n| Mr. Gallantry of M. W. Stopani | | |\n| Trinity House | 20 July | Light keepers, Gap Rock |\n| | 15 Aug | College of Physicians |\n| Report of Sanitary Supt., 1894 | | |\n| | 9 Sept | Dublin Castle |\n| Selection of Warders | | Scottish Office 10 |\n| R. Netherlands Petroleum Coy | 11 Sept | |\n| | | Dublin Castle |\n| Petroleum Tanks | | |\n| Selection of Warders | | |\n| Lloyd's | 22 Sept | Antin barque 30 |\n| Stamping of Insurance Policies | | Selection of Warders | \n4 \n2", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-270 - Public Offices & Others - 1895.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 385778, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-312 - Acting Governor Major Gen Sir Gascoigne Governor Sir Blake - 1902 [7-9]", "page_number": 383, "title": "CO129-312 - Acting Governor Major Gen Sir Gascoigne Governor Sir Blake - 1902 [7-9]", "content_text": "# No. 399\n## Hongkong\n### Government House, CCT Hongkong, 5th September, 1902.\n\nSir,\n\n### Closure In July, 1902\n1. **Closure** 380\n\nI have the honour to transmit for your information the enclosed extract from a letter from the Captain Superintendent of Police relating to the gallantry of Police Constable Counsell of the Water Police in rescuing certain Chinese from a boat which was in distress during a recent typhoon.\n\n2. I have caused Police Constable Counsell to be highly commended for his conduct, and I am informed that the Belilios Trustees have awarded him the Belilios Star, which is the local reward for saving life. I am of opinion, however, that the case is well deserving of the attention of the Royal Humane Society, and I should be glad if you could see your way to recommending Police Constable Counsell for recognition by that Society.\n\n3. I regret that it has been found impossible to comply in every particular with the terms of the enclosure to Colonial Office Circular of the 1st December, 1870, but I transmit herewith as full a statement as I am able to procure. Its accuracy is attested by the Captain Superintendent of Police.\n\nTHE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.\n\nI have the honour to be, Sir,\nYour most obedient\nHumble servant,\nM. J. Gascoigne\nMajor-General,\nAdministering the Government.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-312 - Acting Governor Major Gen Sir Gascoigne Governor Sir Blake - 1902 [7-9].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 423185, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909", "page_number": 588, "title": "CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909", "content_text": "## 586\n\n### i \n\nA 2 (Yunnan). No reply was received to this, or to a further communication in April forwarding the statement of a claim against them for wages by a former employé. The latter letter was returned to me by the Chinese postal authorities at Yunnan-fu, with the endorsement that Borg Brothers had left Hokou some time previously.\n\nIn June I received a letter from them, dated Laokay (Tonquin), stating that an earlier letter had probably gone astray in the post, and requesting to be registered; but enclosing neither particulars nor fees for registration. I have now repeated my request for these particulars, and at the same time I have desired to know whether their place of residence is Hokou (Yünnan) or Laokay (Tonquin).\n\n### Chinese Hospital\n\nThe Chinese authorities propose to build a hospital for Chinese soldiers. The hospital is designed for 150 beds. The site is being selected outside the city, and will be in the medical charge of Dr. Mazzolani. The doctor is now hard at work with his classes in the military college. He has seventy picked students, and appears to be fairly well satisfied with their intelligence and application. He tells me that the provincial authorities in Szechuan have informed Yunnan that they are not at all pleased with the results of the training received at the medical college at Chengtu, under Dr. Légendre, and that the Yunnan officials intend to be absolutely independent of French medical assistance.\n\n### Falling off in attendance at French Dispensary\n\nDr. Féray, who is the French consular doctor, tells me that the Chinese soldiers formerly under his care have been taken away, and that his dispensary patients have fallen off in numbers. The French explain this by saying that the Chinese are not yet used to the new French assistant, Dr. Vadon. It is true that Dr. Vadon does not yet understand the Chinese language, but he is an able man, with a kindly sympathetic manner. The true explanation must, I think, be found in the fact that the Chinese authorities have now opened their own dispensary, and drawn away patients.\n\n### Proposed French University and Hospital\n\nThe French are anxious to establish a university and a large hospital in the city, but they are uneasy that the Chinese will raise objections. A class has been opened for medical students, but the number attending Dr. Féray's course is small - eight only.\n\n### New French Consular Site\n\nThe French consul is endeavouring to purchase a fine site for the consulate outside the city.\n\n### Proposal for a Rupee Coinage\n\nMr. Wei, the manager of the mint, has informed me that a rupee coinage for Western Yünnan and the Chinese Shan States was in contemplation. The dies would be ready in a few days. He said that upwards of 300,000 Chinese rupees were issued annually from the Chengtu mint and had penetrated throughout Thibet. The latter remark is not borne out by my own information. He hoped that the Burmah Government would permit the free circulation of this rupee in the Burmese Shan States and in Burmah. I did not encourage him in his hope, and I suspect he was sounding the way for the governor-general. I have since heard from a good Chinese source that the question is being mooted to offer the importation of salt from Burmah into the Chinese Shan States in exchange for the recognition of the Chinese rupee as legal tender in the Burmese Shan States.\n\n### Squeezes at the Mint\n\nMr. Chao, the official director of the mint, resigned, and left Yunnan-fu a few days before the departure of the Hsi Liang (25th February). It is now rumoured that he made over 80,000 taels during his eighteen months' tenure of office by debasing the coinage. A few days ago a consignment of dollars, duly sealed with the mint seal, was found by the military authorities to contain a large number of copper coins.\n\n### Mint Machinery\n\nNew machinery has arrived for the mint. It was supplied by Messrs. Mandl and Co., whose interests in Chinese Government contracts now appear to have been sold to the German firm of Carlowitz and Co.\n\n### M. \n\n#### German visitors to Yünnan-fu\n\nTwo German representatives of Carlowitz and Co., Messrs. Crasemann and Schultz, and a special agent of Messrs. Krupp and Co., M. Berger, have arrived and taken a house. They are awaiting the arrival of the new governor-general Li Ch'ing-hsi. M. Berger talks of sending for his family from Germany, but it is probable that the other two will leave as soon as business negotiations are in train. The acting governor-general declines to enter into any contract with them. Crasemann told me that his firm had bought out M. Mandl, and used his Chinese hong name, \"Hsin-yi,\" in military contracts with the Chinese Government. He appeared to regard the interest thus acquired as very valuable, not only in connection with Chinese officials generally, but more particularly in regard to the family of the late Li Hung-chang. Li Ch'ing-hsi, the newly appointed governor-general, is the nephew of the late Li Hung-chang. It cannot be gainsaid that M. Mandl was in the highest favour with Li Hung-chang during the China-Japan war. Latterly, I believe, he acquired considerable influence in Chinese official circles at Canton. M. Crasemann further informed me that M. Mandl had obtained the contract for the machinery in all the Government mints in China. Kao erh ch'ien, formerly Administrator for Foreign Affairs at Yunnan-fu, and at present Chinese commissioner on the Macao Boundary Commission, told me one day that he considered M. Mandl the cleverest European in China in his methods of dealing with Chinese. It will thus be seen that the German visitors to Yunnan-fu are well supplied with credentials for getting contracts.\n\n### Missionaries\n\nThe French consul has lately consulted me informally as to missionary cases. He complains that his hands are full of these, and that he cannot get them settled. The Chinese authorities, he declares, are becoming more and more obstructive, especially in cases connected with missionary landed property. It would be positively disastrous for this consulate-general to work in concert with the French consulate in missionary cases, and I could only say that I was thankful that I had not yet been met by similar difficulties.\n\n### Colonial Opinion in Tonquin\n\nColonial opinion in Tonquin, judging by the views of visitors to Yunnan-fu, seems to have taken the credit for having effected the transfer of Hsi Liang, whose dismissal was demanded at Peking in connection with the Weigand incident (`P.G. No. 28 of 1908`).\n\n### M. Bacot\n\nM. Bacot, a French traveller of independent means, who was recently given the Garnier Award by the French Geographical Society for his travels in Thibet, passed through in May last en route for Tachienlu. He told me that he had been very kindly received by the India Office at London. He was thinking of crossing the Thibetan province of Poyul and descending the Brahmaputra River - a somewhat ambitious programme.\n\n### Local Troubles\n\nThe trouble at Hsüan-wei-chou (Eastern Yünnan) has been nipped in the bud, owing to the prompt measures taken by the acting governor-general. What threatened to be a wide-spread rising in Chiu-pei-hsien (Eastern Yünnan) has been crushed without apparent effort, owing to the energy and courage of the magistrate. That district is inhabited by large numbers of Sha-yi, a tribe of whom very little is known. They live remote from the towns, and appear to occupy themselves principally as wood-cutters and charcoal burners. Their hair is bound into a chignon, and they wear a sort of sarong or cotton kilt twisted into a knot at the side of the waist. A few brought into contact with the Chinese have the queue, and wear the ordinary clothing of a Chinese coolie. The leader of the rising claimed to have discovered a tablet buried in the forest bearing an inscription interpreted to mean that he was a descendant of the Ming Royal Family, and that his son would become Emperor. He gathered 5,000 to 6,000 followers together and proceeded to Chiu-pei-hsien. The magistrate had no soldiers, but he closed the city gates and sent to Yünnan-fu for assistance, which was promptly forthcoming. In the meantime, the magistrate had collected a small body of men and kept the Sha-yi out of the city. They occupied the villages in proximity to the town, but were attacked by 300 soldiers with two guns. The Sha-yi were armed with nothing but clubs, knives, and stones. A hundred of them were killed without loss to the Chinese, and sixty prisoners were beheaded. The remainder have dispersed. The leader was killed. His son, a little boy of 9 years, was brought to Yunnan-fu in a cage. He is now in the new prison. I visited this establishment a short while ago in company with the judge, and the demeanour of the juvenile pretender towards his gaoler was evidence that they were not harsh with him. The judge, to whose kindheartedness he owes his humane treatment, tells me that he is now being taught Chinese, and that it is proposed to set him free when he is of age, provided his conduct has been satisfactory.\n\n### Railways\n\nIt is now confidently expected that the French railway will reach Yunnan-fu before the close of this year. The construction train has reached Liu-feng-ts'un, 100 kilom. (64 miles) from Yunnan-fu. The earthquake on the 21st May did only trifling damage to one of the tunnels, and dislodged a large quantity of débris on to the track at Po-hsi. Three or four Lolo villages in the vicinity of Po-hsi were partially destroyed and six or seven natives killed. The shock was a sharp one at Yunnan-fu, lasting for seven or eight seconds (11:30 P.M.), but no damage was done. The French consul tells me that the Chinese authorities at Yünnan-fu have denied to him that the Chinese Government intends to buy back the French railway. This railway will have cost not less than $4,000,000 by the time it reaches Yunnan-fu, and I doubt if the Chinese at Yünnan-fu would recommend the purchase, for this large amount, of a railway which they regard as doomed to financial loss.\n\nThe subject of a light Decauville railway, to cost 300,000 taels, from Yunnan-fu to ... \n\nPage 3 \n\nB 2", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 488247, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-468 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1921 [6-8]", "page_number": 600, "title": "CO129-468 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1921 [6-8]", "content_text": "## \"MUI TSAI\" QUESTION\n\n(Continued from page 5.)\n\nReading the statement that children bought in order to relieve needy parents of a burden, the speaker queried the sincerity of this claim and expressed the opinion that the real intention was to make them servant-girls subject to the absolute will of their masters. The purchase of children was not the way to assist destitute parents. The way to do that was to establish homes and form an association for the sole purpose of lending money to the needy. This was the radical solution of the problem.\n\nAfter several more speakers had addressed the meeting for and against the custom, the **CHAIRMAN** declared that if the mui Tsai system were suppressed, the concubine system would also have to be suppressed in order to secure equality. He denied, by way of reply to a previous speaker, that the agitation for abolition originated with Hongkong Europeans, and attributed it to Dr. Hazlewood.\n\nIt was pointed out that there were many humane people who reported ill-treatment to the local authorities who were very accessible.\n\nOne member of the audience declared that it was futile to ask—as one of the questions before the meeting did—whether servant-girls were brought up to become prostitutes as the masters concerned were not likely to admit that. \"Was it right to kidnap, was it right to sell girls?\" he demanded, adding, \"**Of course not. If people did not do it, there would be no need for a law.**\"\n\nYet another speaker declared that the question was whether the keeping of servant-girls was beneficial or harmful to the Chinese. If harmful, they should do their best to do away with it. There were good points in the system, but most of the speakers had dwelt on the bad aspects. Personally, he favoured the abolition because he felt the evil outweighed the good.\n\nA vehement defender of the system, a speaker who addressed the meeting with great animation and much gesticulation, declared that they could not stop people from giving birth to children and demanded to know, \"Do you suggest drowning them or killing them?\" Could they guarantee to keep all the servant-girls if the present system were abolished? In answer to an interruption, he declared that no one, the Government included, could stop him from saying what he thought.\n\nA member of the Chinese Y.M.C.A. pointed out that the British Government had voted £20,000,000 towards freeing the black slaves in America.\n\n## THE RESOLUTIONS\n\nThe **CHAIRMAN** then put the questions before the meeting. By show of hands, the assembly declared, unanimously,\n| Resolution | Outcome |\n| --- | --- |\n| (1.) Servant girls are not brought up for prostitution; | Unanimously in favour |\n| (2.) Servant girls are not slaves; | In favour with 2 dissentients |\n| (3.) Servant girls are not kept for sexual purposes by their masters; | Unanimously in favour |\n| (4.) The Chinese Government has passed no law to abolish the practice; | In favour with 8 dissentients |\n| (5.) Owners cannot ill-treat them as they please. | In favour with 1 dissentient |\n\nIn putting the resolutions, the **CHAIRMAN** interspersed two or three lengthy speeches and became involved in argument with some members of the audience.\n\nAfter another half-hour of desultory discussion, a further resolution was put, and carried unanimously, to the effect that steps be taken to establish a society for the prevention of cruelty to mui Tsai, on the lines of the society recently established, at the instance of the European community, for the prevention of cruelty to animals.\n\nSeveral subsequent speakers made reference to principles of humanity, urging that the system should be abolished if ill-treatment were proved. One speaker condemned the system and asked the Chairman to have the matter raised in the Legislative Council that it might be completely suppressed. Another speaker said most of the prostitutes were originally mui Tsai.\n\nThe proceedings then terminated, and the audience for the evening theatrical performance began to assemble.\n\nPage 600 \nPage 601", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-468 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1921 [6-8].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 520064, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-518-9 The Mui-Tsai question- printed papers relating to the system 20-9-1929 - 1-11-1929", "page_number": 37, "title": "CO129-518-9 The Mui-Tsai question- printed papers relating to the system 20-9-1929 - 1-11-1929", "content_text": "48 \n\ngive no opening for special enquiries or action: on being pressed to carry his own enquiries far enough to give us some opening, he has produced a case or two of little or no importance. Recently he has produced a case of gross cruelty to a child but not a mui-tsai or a bought child.\" In view of this report and the absence of any case at all under the Female Domestic Servants Ordinance, No. I of 1923, during the years 1923 to 1927, both included, no further action was taken by this Government.\n\n5. The next event in this connection was the annual meeting of the Anti-mui-tsai Society on the 20th October, 1928, to which I have already referred. I attach a translation of an extract from the **Wa T'sz Yat Po** of the 23rd October, 1928,* giving the names of the members of the Committee then appointed by this Society, also an extract from the **South China Morning Post** of the 22nd October, 1928, giving an account of the proceedings at the annual meeting. As I have already said, no representations were made to the Hong Kong Government by the Society after this meeting; but it is upon the proceedings of this meeting that the letter of Mr. J. H. Harris to the **Manchester Guardian** was based. I can only suppose that the newly elected Committee of the Anti-mui-tsai Society, which is not representative of local Chinese opinion, preferred to make an effort at propaganda in the United Kingdom rather than to submit recommendations for the consideration of the Hong Kong Government and its responsible advisers, I mean the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and the Chinese members of the Legislative Council. However, the extract from the **South China Morning Post** above referred to was sent by the Colonial Secretary to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs for his observations, and he replied on the 7th November, 1928, that the Domestic Servants Ordinance seemed to him to be an excellent example of legislation in advance of public opinion and that the time had not yet come to enforce Part III of the Ordinance.\n\n6. Upon receipt of your telegram of the 17th January,† I convened a special meeting of the District Watch Committee, the body most representative of Chinese opinion in this Colony and including all three Chinese members of the Legislative Council. This meeting took place at Government House on the 4th February, with myself in the Chair and with the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, and the Secretary for Chinese Affairs also present. The members of the District Watch Committee stated that, in spite of the great increase in the population of the Colony (it was estimated at 681,800 in 1923 and cannot now be less than one million) and notwithstanding the chaos and anarchy prevalent in China during recent years, there was no reason to believe that the number of mui-tsai in the Colony had increased: that cases of cruelty to children were rare; that \n\n* Not printed \n† No. 16.\n\n49 \n\nChinese opinion in Hong Kong would be solidly opposed to the enforcement of Part III of Ordinance No. 1 of 1923: and they advised that the proper course would be to deal very severely with any cases of cruelty to children which might come to light. It was pointed out by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs that registration in the form suggested would be equivalent to recognition of the status of mui-tsai, which at present has no sanction in law, and that in law a mui-tsai is now in the same position as any other domestic servant, except in so far as being a minor she is subject to the same restrictions on her liberty as any other child. Moreover, how would registration be enforced? Would anyone, even the Anti-mui-tsai Society itself, be prepared to advocate house-to-house visits by inspectors? In any case, the proposal to take mui-tsai away from their employers and lodge them in the Po Leung Kuk would be impracticable, for that institution is barely able to provide for 70 inmates in all. Perhaps, however, useful practical work could be done by an organization similar to the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children in England or by Government Inspectors, possibly women. This suggestion seemed to appeal strongly to the three Chinese members of the Legislative Council.\n\n7. Subsequently, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs submitted the attached report on the working of the Female Domestic Servants Ordinance, 1923, with which I find myself in general agreement. I may say that in my earlier service under the Hong Kong Government, I had personal experience of the mui-tsai system and formed the conclusion that on the whole it was humane and benevolent, having regard to conditions of life in China. Its origin is not any absence of love in Chinese parents for their female children, for I am persuaded that Chinese parents are, as a rule, very fond of their daughters, but rather excessive philoprogenitiveness among a people living habitually one jump ahead of starvation.\" The Secretary for Chinese Affairs writes:- \"Those who have had experience of famine relief work will realize that it is seldom the desire for money which induces parents in China to part with their children and that the alternative may quite well be starvation.\" I can corroborate \n\n44 \n\nthis from my personal experience. From April to June, 1903, I was seconded by the Hong Kong Government for famine relief work in the province of Kwangsi. While engaged on this duty, I repeatedly travelled by launch up and down the West River and I well remember how at each township and village by the riverside, where my launch put in, Chinese women with babies in their arms and children at their sides were lined up begging the launch passengers, myself included, not to buy but to take from them as a gift the little ones who otherwise would starve and for whom the mothers were totally unable to provide. Mui-tsai, so acquired, are as a rule well treated and it is considered by Chinese public opinion to be obligatory on their employers to see that they are married or suitably provided for when they are about 18 years of age.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-518-9 The Mui-Tsai question- printed papers relating to the system 20-9-1929 - 1-11-1929.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 563288, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-574-13 British capital for China- Prime Minister's statement 5-11-1938 - 5-11-1938", "page_number": 48, "title": "CO129-574-13 British capital for China- Prime Minister's statement 5-11-1938 - 5-11-1938", "content_text": "# International Situation\n\n## HOUSE OF COMMONS International Situation\n\n[Mr. McGovern.] have been seeing us off at Victoria Station and carrying on the struggle on the home front. No. I am not gambling in that kind of struggle either for world revolution or for the chance of smashing Germany because behind all this there is the feeling of a large number of people who say, \"That is the opportunity. Go out and smash Germany.\" This is the spirit which has continually led the working class into disaster. It is the spirit of revenge and hostility.\n\nI have been told, even by people in Germany, that the only way to get Hitler to modify his policy is to try every means of bringing him within the ambit of the civilised Powers of the world, to bring him into touch and relationship with the other nations. I asked Jews in Germany whether, if war came, they would not welcome it as a chance of getting out of the hideous nightmare in which they lived, and they said, \"No, if war comes we will be the first victims. Every disaster will be blamed on us and before the war has gone on for very long, between beatings and shootings and imprisonments we will suffer even more than we do now.\" I say that Hitler, with all his intolerance of mind, has the ruling class grouped around him. You have Fascism in Germany under Hitler, but the Indian worker is under British Fascism. The worker in Trinidad and the worker in Newfoundland are under the dictatorship of the money-bags of London.\n\nThat is the same financial dictatorship and the same ruthless brutality that has existed in the past against the people in the British Empire, and I am not prepared to fight for that Empire and I am not prepared to defend that Empire. If Montagu Norman or the Duke of Sutherland or the Marquis of Bute want to defend their possessions, let them get on their kilts and get out their guns and go out to the front. I am not going to defend them. I want to take possession of this country. I want to free the working class, and the German people are the people who have to free themselves from Hitler. It is not to be done by the people of this country. We have our own job.\n\nI heard a man the other day - it almost made me sick - who came to me with a means test case. He had £1 7s. a week and had a house to keep. He was a widower and he could not even get clothes. He was almost down on his uppers, but after we had discussed his case for a while he asked me, \"What about these poor Czechs?\" Here was a man reduced to the lowest standard of poverty and he was thinking in terms of somebody who was, he thought, worse off than himself. That is the humane spirit of the worker, but it does not affect the ruling classes. You would expect to use a man on the means test, driven out of his father's home, without an income, to defend your gold mines in South Africa. If he was an intelligent man, he would say to you, \"Defend your own gold mines.\" That is my attitude.\n\nI welcome peace because it gives us a breathing space, but you are coming up against one of the most difficult problems that you ever imagined. I can find nothing inconsistent in the Prime Minister saying, \"We will negotiate with Hitler, but at the same time we are preparing for armament so that, if the hand with the glove on is not effective, there is always the mailed fist in reserve.\" That is the policy of capitalism, and it is consistent. We shall not encourage that struggle, but we hope it will present an opportunity to end the nightmare of war by ushering in a humane and civilised system.\n\nIf we could muster in this country an anti-war working class who would refuse to subscribe to the policy of war and who would be prepared to attack the Government hip and thigh, they could be driven out of office in six months. The strength is not the strength of their own position but the weakness of the opposition. They have manoeuvred the working-class movement into the position of being a war party. I welcome the peace, but you are drifting towards a more dangerous period when you will not be able to hand away the property of your friends but will be asked to stand and deliver some of the goods that you own, and then will come a terrific howl from the hon. Baronet the Member for Bournemouth (Sir H. Croft), the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Epping (Mr. Churchill) and others.\n\nIn that struggle, we say to the German and Austrian workers and to the workers of the world, \"Try to develop, even by illegal and underground methods, a working-class movement, a discontent, an intelligence which will rise in revolt against the Hitlers and the Montagu Normans and overthrow their systems and collectively own and control the raw materials and the means of life and distribute them according to the service given by the workers in a community which will communally produce and distribute the goods of life, and when you have rid the world of the economic causes of war you will have ushered in the foundations of lasting peace and a decent order of society.\"\n\n9.29 p.m.\n\nMr. W. Astor: I have listened to speeches on the other side of the House with considerable disagreement, but there was one remark by the hon. Member for South Shields (Mr. Ede) with which I should like to associate myself, and that was his criticism of the people of Eastbourne and Mapledurham who did not like the possibility of working-class people being evacuated from London to their vicinity. That attitude causes as much indignation on this side as it does on his, but it would be unfair to assume that that in any way represents opinion in the areas to which these people were to be sent. One must, while deprecating the manifestations the hon. Member mentioned, pay a tribute to the immense number of people all over the country who cheerfully and willingly prepared themselves for the reception of the children and women of London.\n\nI intervene because I have just returned from a fortnight in the ceded territory in Czechoslovakia and the former Austria. It is impossible to go to the ceded territory of Sudetenland without forming the conclusion that, while many Germans would have preferred autonomy within Czechoslovakia, they all preferred the Anschluss with Germany to remaining within Czechoslovakia in the state they were in before. One might almost compare the atmosphere in Sudetenland at the moment with that of the Jubilee here. There were flags and decorations and cheers for the German troops whenever they appeared, even many days afterwards.\n\nWe are asked what is the difference between Godesberg and Munich, but it has been forgotten that the Godesberg proposals not only contained a suggested boundary line for immediate occupation but also a further plebiscite area. By the work of the International Commission, this plebiscite, which might have taken further areas out of Czechoslovakia, was abandoned, and the result is far more favourable than if you had the Godesberg line plus the plebiscite.\n\nMr. Riley: The Munich proposals provided for a plebiscite if the Commission thought fit.\n\nMr. Astor: I am quite aware of that, but the Czech and German Governments are pleased to have reached a line without having the inevitable disturbance that this plebiscite would have involved. Both Czech and German armies have behaved with the most admirable restraint and moderation. One must pay a tribute to both for the manner in which this cession has taken place. There is immense relief in the Sudeten areas. The Germans had real fear of what might happen at any moment. They were disarmed, and many of the Czechs - not only the regular forces - were armed.\n\nMany Sudeten Germans, not only Henleinists, were seized and imprisoned in horrible conditions as hostages. You had on the German side the nefarious activities of the Freikorps. You had about 30 per cent. of the Germans who ought to have mobilised taken to the hills and being hunted there and apprehended wherever possible by the Czech military and gendarmerie. There was a complete censorship of newspapers, letters, and communications into the area. It was a period of the most acute anxiety.\n\nThere is no doubt about the relief that is felt in the Sudeten areas. The German troops have behaved not only with moderation but with tact for local feeling. To give one instance, there was a place, Teplitz, where the flag of a former Austrian regiment had had to be kept hidden for 20 years. When it was produced, the local German officers arranged that it should be carried at a church parade of the German troops in front of the church, and that Mass should be celebrated. On another occasion, I was in the crowd when a visiting German Minister was speaking. Before he came on, the German band played, not a German march, but the old Austrian Radetsky march, and the whole crowd broke into spontaneous applause. Much more important than those tactful gestures to local sentiment has been the fact that General von Reichenau put up proclamations all over the Sudeten area to the effect that denunciations by private persons were forbidden, that they reflected more on the person who made them than on the person denounced, and that people making them would be summarily punished by the German Army, and that anyone who took private...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-574-13 British capital for China- Prime Minister's statement 5-11-1938 - 5-11-1938.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 } ]