683461-1880-Domestic-Servitude-in-Hongkong- — Page 24

122 THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 4тn FEBRUARY, 1880.

2. Hongkong being conterminous with the

Canton Province and in constant intercommuni-

cation with the inland districts, nearly forty years

have now elapsed since the opening of the Colony,

which has become an emporium of trade, and since the last few years many Chinese have brought

their property, wives and families to the place,

supposing that they would be able to live here

in peace and to rejoice in their property. The reason for this movement was a belief in the equitable administration of the criminal law on' the part of the English Courts of Law, and the absence of vexatiousness on the part of the Exc- cutive. Native residents have, therefore, lately expressed a wish for naturalisation, and native merchants felt a desire to settle down, in this trading place for good. Moreover, at the first opening of the Colony, His Excellency Governor ELLIOT issued a proclamation inviting an increase of settlers by the promise that Chinese, coming to reside in Hongkong, would be in every respect governed in accordance with their native customs, and from the time of the publication of this pro- clamation to the present day people always de pended upon it. Chinese residents of Hongkong have, therefore, been in the habit of following all

native customs which were not a contravention of Chinese Statute Law. It is said that the whole increase and prosperity of the Colony, from its first foundation to the present day, is all based on the strength of that invitation," which Sir JOIN ELLIOT gave to intending settlers, and that this present intention of applying, all of a sudden, the repressive force of the law to both the practices of buying and selling boys or girls, for purposes of adoption or for domestic servitude, is not only a violation of the rule of Sir Jons ELLIOT, but moreover will, it is to be feared, not fail to trouble the people.

3. One of the coinmon but evil practices, in

Yogue in China, is the practice of infanticide in the case of female children, and this practice is

most especially followed in the Canton Province.

Poor and indigent people, scarcely able to provide

food and clothes for themselves, finding them- selves additionally burdened with the anxieties

and troubles which children involve, will fre- quently, if unable to find any body willing to take over and rear them, proceed to drown them the moment they are born. This practice has lately abated to a certain extent, as compared with former times. But although the practice of infanticide, a cruel and unnatural proceeding, is of course un- animously abhorred by every body, yet,being really caused by the pressure of poverty and distress, it must be classed with evils which are almost un- avoitlable. Now, if the buying of adoptive chihren and of servant girls is to be uniformly abolished, it is to be feared that henceforth the practice of in- fanticide will extremely increase beyond what it ever was. The heinousness of the violation of the great Creator's benevolence, which constitutes infanticide, is beyond comparison with the indul- gence granted to the system of buying and selling

男女爲嗣偽娘一事欲一旦按

特

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辦

於

框

居

招

徘

二水泥黏近省世與內地接填自撕開至今乖四十年程成想遷都會近年華人多

衣食不能自給又加以兒女苦累每因無人承受市產 三中國華習當有消女之風而區某爲尤甚貧窮之家因

此

居樂業計者此其故皆以·英憲訟獄持平無擾民之政故居

願爲之氓

欲藏於市也且開港之初 伊瞥世顯示酴欲廣

你謂此後難民在

其風俗治理此示一出至今人皆仰之故華人在港儿内地

國王章者皆從而守之說者港自草創

骨植基於 招徠之力今於買 恐不免擾民耳

轉甚於前與其溺殺有傷 造化主之仁轨湝任人買賣 何耳今於買童買碑一事槪行禁絕異日溺女之風必 人所共憤者然彼亦萬不獲己迫於困故付之無可如 行溺殺近日此風已比前撂減此乃忍心理之所為。

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