[ { "id": 210201, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 172, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "151\n\nHong Kong authorities saw no need to take active steps to improve the situation.\n\nParliamentary pressure over social hygiene in Hong Kong largely lapsed after 1894 once the legal framework for the licensing of prostitutes and the registration of brothels had been repealed by the Legislative Council and thereafter Hong Kong was left free to set up its new extra-legal system of control without further interference from London. But after the end of the First World War agitation on the subject revived. The League of Nations appointed an Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Women and Children which published reports highlighting the connections between state regulation of prostitution and the procurement of women. The first warning to Hong Kong of the revival of concern in Britain was the arrival in the colony in 1921 of a Commission from the National Council for Combating Venereal Disease which had been sent out to report on conditions in the Far Eastern Colonies. The Governor, Sir Edward Stubbs, had objected to any such visit and forbade government officials to give the commissioners any assistance; he also informed them when they arrived that they were not to hold any public meetings or advertise their presence in the press. In spite of this studied discourtesy the commissioners, Mrs. Neville-Rolfe and Dr. Hallam, set out upon a thorough exploration of the seedier areas of the city and various medical institutions, and were able to make contact with some business and religious groups and with some of the leading Chinese. On their return to London they submitted a scathing report to the Colonial Office on medical and social conditions. According to the commissioners, no serious attempt had been made by the government to improve the standard of health of the native population in 85 years of British rule; the infant mortality figures were disgraceful; the Tung Wah hospital was very dirty and badly equipped; the Po Leung Kuk, a place of refuge for Chinese girls, was largely used as a recruiting ground for cheap supplementary wives by members of the committee. The Colonial Office was given its first description of the working of the system of tolerated brothels, which Mrs. Neville-Rolfe dismissed as ineffective in preventing the kidnapping of girls into brothel slavery; on the contrary it was alleged that the artificial value put on the Chinese girl by the system of recognised brothels is the main inducement to the kidnappers.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210205, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 176, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "155\n\nof the policy of suppression which had been adopted in Singapore. He strongly opposed the sending of an investigatory commission from London, which the Colonial Office had been pressing upon him. Peel's views were supported by the Permanent Under-Secretary and officials in London, who advised against any immediate action. A League of Nations commission to enquire into the international traffic in women and children was about to visit the Far East and this gave a good reason for delay, since any sudden change of policy would appear to be either designed to impress the commission or else to be an admission of guilt. Lord Passfield accepted this advice.\n\nFor the next six months the question was allowed to rest. Then in June 1931 Peel again wrote to the Colonial Office, enclosing a long memorandum on the legal position of brothels in Hong Kong written by the Chief Justice, Sir Joseph Kemp. This legal exposition concluded by warning that, though the suppression of all registered brothels might possibly lead to less illicit intercourse, it would probably arouse great resentment if the Chinese brothels patronized by the Chinese were to be suppressed. He continued: ‘I fear the danger of shaking the loyalty of the Chinese community as a whole and their confidence that the government will respect Chinese customs generally. The risk may have to be run, but I think it is a real one. It must be remembered that the Chinese do not view prostitution as we do. They look upon it with a more lenient eye, though excess is reprobated just as excess in other forms of self-indulgence is reprobated. Prostitutes are not social outcasts to the same extent as in 'Western' countries. A prostitute often becomes a highly respectable concubine . . . I realise that this is a very difficult defence to make, especially as the English public do not always realise the delicacy required in ruling an alien civilisation.' Peel offered up a small sacrifice to appease the Secretary of State: he suggested that the seven brothels containing European prostitutes should be closed down. This was not a sign that Peel had been converted to the moralists' point of view; European prostitutes were customarily deported from Hong Kong from time to time, since their presence was considered demeaning to European prestige in the East. This decision to close the brothels employing European, Australian and American women was endorsed by the Executive Council in July 1931.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210206, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 177, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "156\n\nR.J. MINERS\n\nMeanwhile, at the Colonial Office, Dr. Drummond Shiels, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to Lord Passfield, had decided that action must be taken by the Hong Kong authorities before the League of Nations commission reported. Having consulted the Colonial Office Medical Adviser, and being assured that the balance of evidence was that the existence of tolerated houses did not keep down the incidence of venereal disease, and that this had been confirmed in the case of Malaya, he proposed that Hong Kong should follow the example of the Straits Settlements and close down all its brothels, beginning with those served by European prostitutes, and the brothels with Chinese prostitutes used by British servicemen. Passfield approved this suggestion and a dispatch on these lines was in course of preparation when the Labour government fell from power in August 1931. The arrival of the Chief Justice's memorandum scarcely modified the draft: the possibility of strong local opposition to the closure of Chinese brothels catering for Chinese clients was noted by officials, but it was pointed out that similar warnings of Chinese resentment had not materialized when the mui tsai system had been abolished. The Governor was advised to proceed cautiously and to attempt ‘to elicit the support of more enlightened Chinese opinion', but it was emphasized that it was the aim of the British government to bring about the suppression of all brothels in Hong Kong. This draft was presented by officials to the newly appointed minister of the National government, Sir Robert Hamilton, who authorized its dispatch.\n\n38\n\nThis directive reached Hong Kong in November 1931. The Governor had been hoping that his pleas for an indefinite delay would be successful and he had just told the Legislative Council that any action would be deferred until after the League of Nations commission had reported.\" But this was not to be, and the Executive Council reluctantly agreed that further registration of new prostitutes should not be allowed and that six months' notice should be given to Chinese and Japanese brothels catering for Europeans. The completion of this stage was notified to London in July 1932. The closure of Chinese brothels catering for Chinese was undertaken much more slowly, and the last of the remaining houses was not closed down until June 1935. Their inmates were individually interviewed and offered assistance in starting a new\n\n40", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210211, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 182, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "161\n\n16\n\nFor example in 1908 CO129/352 pp. 416-419 and Minutes of the Executive Council, 26 March 1909 and 1 March 1910.\n\n37 Minutes of the Executive Council, 2 July 1931.\n\n38 J.H. Thomas to Peel, 29 Sept 1931 in CO129/533/10.\n\n39\n\nH.K. Hansard, 22 Oct. 1931 p. 193.\n\n40\n\nMinutes of the Executive Council, 6 Dec. 1934. Southern to Cunliffe-Lister, 18 July 1932 in CO129/532/3 p. 133.\n\n41\n\n42 Minutes of the Executive Council, 25 April 1935.\n\n43\n\nReport of the Committee constituted in accordance with the directions of H.E. the Governor contained in his letter dated 9 April 1938. C.S.O.5661/32. (The Abbott Committee, 1939) p. 19. (Copy available in Secretariat Library).\n\n44 Administration Reports 1932 and 1939. Reports of the Medical Department. The Abbott Report, p. 5.\n\n45\n\n46\n\nLeague of Nations Commission of Enquiry into the Traffic in Women and Children in the Far East. Replies to Questionnaire by Hong Kong Government p. 6 in CO129/533/10. Interview with Mr. R.R. Todd who first arrived in Hong Kong a cadet (administrative officer) in 1925.\n\n47 For the results of the system before 1894 see minute in CO129/259 p. 129 dated 23 Nov. 1893, quoting the views of the Registrar General.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 } ]