63
―
The Commission recommended the following: (1), compulsory registration; (2), prohibition of employment of children under the age of eleven by Chinese reckoning this might mean nine years; (3), weekly hours to be limited to fifty-four with not more than five hours of continuous work and no work between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.; (4), no employment of children in glass factories and no use of boys in boiler-chipping: (5), no dangerous trade to employ children; (6), employers to be obliged to provide dining and rest halls with suitable material for first aid; and (7), the appointment of factory inspectors.
In an appendix to the report the Rev. R. H. Wells describes some of the findings of his personal investigation of the problem.
Having heard that children were carrying loads to the Peak, I made a visit to one of their halts. A number of women and children were sitting down, and my attention was first called to a boy who seemed to be very weak if not ill. He was eating but seemed to have little appetite for it, the time was about 9.30 a.m. His mother was sitting beside him, evidently somewhat anxious about him. I asked his age, and she said about nine or ten (Chinese reckoning). On being asked what burden the boy was carrying, she pointed to many loads and said “that one”, adding, "There are many more, ask them".
I looked about and saw a small boy, he was eight years of age (English reckoning say about six and half years). He was with his mother and she said that he must work or he would not have food to eat. The mother was a widow and came to Hong Kong to get work, and finding that the boy could also get work, had set him to earn what he could. He had two loads of twenty-two catties (twenty-nine pounds each). Those loads he took one by one, carrying each a short distance and then returning to the other. Further inquiry elicited information to the effect that he had his breakfast at 5 a.m. and began to carry at a place near the central market on the sea front at 6 a.m. and had got so far. His work would be finished at about 5 p.m. He would earn eight cents for a day's work, carrying fifty-eight pounds (forty-four catties) weight of coal to the Peak. It was stated that he could only
63
―
The Commission recommended the following: (1), compulsory registration; (2), prohibition of employment of children under the age of eleven by Chinese reckoning this might mean nine years; (3), weekly hours to be limited to fifty-four with not more than five hours of continuous-work and no work between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.; (4), no employment of children in glass factories and no use of boys in boiler- chipping: (5), no dangerous trade to employ children; (6), employers to be obliged to provide dining and rest halls with suitable material for first aid; and (7), the appointment of factory inspectors.
In an appendix to the report the Rev. R. H. Wells describes some of the findings of his personal investigation of the problem.
Having heard that children were carrying loads to the Peak, I made a visit to one of their halts. A number of women and children were sitting down, and my attention was first called to a boy who seemed to be very weak if not ill. He was eating but seemed to have little appetite for it, the time was about 9.30 a.m. His mother was sitting beside him, evidently somewhat anxious about him. I asked his age, and she said about nine or ten (Chinese reckoning). On being asked what burden the boy was carrying, she pointed to many loads and said “that onc”, adding, "There are many more, ask them".
1 looked about and saw a small boy, he was eight years of age (English reckoning say about six and half years). He was with his mother and she said that he must work or he would not have food to eat. The mother was a widow and came to Hong Kong to get work, and finding that the boy could also get work, had set him to earn what he could. He had two loads of twenty two callies (twenty nine pounds. cach). Those loads he took one by one, carrying cach a short distance and then returning to the other. Further inquiry elicited information to the effect that he had his breakfast at 5 a.m. and began to carry at a place near the central market on the sea front at 6 a.m. and had got so far. His work would be finished at about 5 p.m. He would earn eight cents for a day's work, carrying fifty-eight pounds (forty-four catties) weight of coal to the Peak. It was stated that he could only
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.