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the repeal ordinance of 1894.23 Fear of being forced to close down business could be used to compel brothel keepers to register their inmates and submit them for medical examination, just as had been done in the past, without the need to rely on any other legal enactment or penalty. Since there is no documentation available it is impossible to trace the development of the new system of tolerated houses, but by 1923 a highly complex system of regulation had been elaborated. The system was so well established that when the Colonial Office asked for information in that year in order to reply to a parliamentary question a full account was sent to London.24 The Hong Kong government was quite open in describing its system of regulating prostitution and was obviously unconcerned or ignorant of the fact that the Secretary of State had ordered an almost identical system of control to be abolished thirty years earlier.
The administration described the arrangements as based on the recognition both of the impossibility of stopping prostitution but also of the need for a broad supervision to prevent abuse.25 The Secretary for Chinese Affairs (the official who had formerly been entitled the Registrar-General) kept a full list of tolerated houses, their mistresses and their inmates. Brothels were classified into those catering for Europeans (with subclasses of those with European, Japanese or Chinese prostitutes), brothels for Indians, and brothels for Chinese (subdivided into first class, second class and third class houses). The Secretariat fixed charges which the mistresses might levy on their girls for board and lodging. All those wishing to practise the profession had to attend before the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, bringing three photographs with them, and were closely questioned to ensure that they were entering the profession of their own free will. When the authority was satisfied on this point, and that the girl was over nineteen, she was given a card with her number, name and address, and photograph attached. One photograph was retained by the Secretariat and the other by the brothel mistress who pasted it in a record book kept in the brothel. The girl was also given a card informing her that she was free to leave the profession at any time and could appeal to the authorities for protection in the case of any ill treatment. If any client complained to the Secretariat that he had been infected with venereal disease by a licensed prostitute the girl would be instructed...
149
the repeal ordinance of 1894.23 Fear of being forced to close down business could be used to compel brothel keepers to register their inmates and submit them for medical examination, just as had been done in the past, without the need to rely on any other legal enactment or penalty. Since there is no documentation available it is impossible to trace the development of the new sustem of toler- ated houses, but by 1923 a highly complex system of regulation had been elaborated. The system was so well established that when the Colonial Office asked for information in that year in order to reply to a parliamentary question a full account was sent to Lon- don." The Hong Kong government was quite open in describing its system of regulating prostitution and was obviously uncon- cerned or ignorant of the fact that the Secretary of State had or- dered an almost identical system of control to be abolished thirty years earlier.
24
The administration described the arrangements as based on the recognition both of the impossibility of stopping prostitution but also of the need for a broad supervision to prevent abuse.25 The Secretary for Chinese Affairs (the official who had formerly been entitled the Registrar-General) kept a full list of tolerated houses, their mistresses and their inmates. Brothels were classified into those catering for Europeans (with subclasses of those with Euro- pean, Japanese or Chinese prostitutes), brothels for Indians, and brothels for Chinese (subdivided into first class, second class and third class houses). The Secretariat fixed charges which the mis- tresses might levy on their girls for board and lodging. All those wishing to practise the profession had to attend before the Secre- tary for Chinese Affairs, bringing three photographs with them, and were closely questioned to ensure that they were entering the profession of their own free will. When the authority was satisfied on this point, and that the girl was over nineteen, she was given a card with her number, name and address, and photograph at- tached. One photograph was retained by the Secretariat and the other by the brothel mistress who pasted it in a record book kept in the brothel. The girl was also given a card informing her that she was free to leave the profession at any time and could appeal to the authorities for protection in the case of any ill treatment. If any client complained to the Secretariat that he had been infected with venereal disease by a licensed prostitute the girl would be instruct-
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