RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 100 CARL T SMITH A resolution was proposed and seconded that the mui tsai system be abolished. The Chairman ruled it out of order as the meeting had been called to consider the advisability of establishing a society for the protection of servant girls. At the conclusion of the meeting a resolution to form such a society was passed. It was duly organised as the "Society for the Protection of the Mui Tsai," Formation of the Anti-Mui Tsai Society - September 1921 The group that had proposed a resolution for abolition regarded the new society as the vehicle of the elite establishment composed of past and present Directors of Tung Wah Hospital, members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Kaifong leaders. The abolition group was made up of members of the churches, the YMCA, the YWCA and labour unions. They believed the Protection Society would advocate palliative measures only and not get at the root of the problem, therefore they were determined to organize another group to be called the Anti Mui Tsai Society. An organization meeting was held in September 1921 and a public manifesto was published a month later under the names of the Society's Provisional Executive Committee. This document was divided into sections dealing with (I) the inherent evils of the system, (II) reasons for abolition, (III) the system not being charity, (IV) the futility of reform by persuasion, and (V) tentative proposals to effect abolition. The document argued that the basic evil of the system was that the treatment and status of the servant girls were similar to that of slaves. Like slaves 'they were bought with money,... exploited without reserve, not paid for labour and can be resold”. The only difference between a slave and a mui tsai was that a slave served for life and his descendants inherited his status, while the servant girl received her freedom on reaching the usual age for marriage. As reasons for its abolition the manifesto declared the system to be injurious to public morality, subversive of righteousness, and injurious to national prestige. On the last point reference was made to the fact that the 1918 Peace Treaty included the International Labour Convention in which the contracting nations agreed to endeavour to secure fair and humane conditions of labour for men, women and children. One of the principal arguments used by those who wished to continue the practice was that it was charity. It benefited a child who ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 161 (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) the service. He was selected to fill the office of private Secretary to Lord Elgin while in china, the office which was held by Mr Oliphant during his Lordship's previous mission.” The Illustrated London News, 5 January 1861, p. 12, c. 2. John Cranna, Fraserburgh; past and Present, Aberdeen, the Rosemount Press, 1914, p. 138. The Illustrated London News, 19 January 1861, p. 64, c. 1. "Tartar Outpost Near Pekin. - from a sketch by our Special Artist", half-page The Illustrated London News, 12 January 1861. p. 32. ** 'The China New Year' : The Dragon Feast at Canton - from a sketch by our Special Artist", half-page, The Illustrated London News, 12 January 1861, p. 45. 'The China New Year': Woman Preparing Cakes -from a sketch by our Special Artist", half-page, The Illustrated London News, 12 January 1861, p. 45. (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) 54 A full page group of six sketches (based on photographs) of “Domestic Life in China", The Illustrated London News, 12 January 1861, p. 44. A full page group of six sketches (based on photographs) of “Domestic Life in China”, The Illustrated London News, 12 January 1861. p. 44. The Illustrated London News, 12 January 1861, p. 43, c. 3. The Illustrated London News, 12 January 1861, p. 45, c. 3. "Domestic Life in china”, The Illustrated London News, 12 January 1861, p. 43, c. 3. "The Peace with China.- Reading the Treaty at Pekin - From a sketch by our Special Artist", The Illustrated London News, 19 January 1861, front page. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 14 8 ref. to the map of the Malay Peninsula 9 under the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Alliance of 1800 10 (Malacca's land area included the town and hinterland about 40 miles long, 25 miles wide) "Turnbull, Ibid, p 3 cf. SSR, S 32, Items 105, 204; SSR, R 45, pp 246-7 12 under the Charter Act of 1833; cf. Hansard Parliamentary Debates 3rd series vol. cxlix p 988 13 Turnbull, Ibid, p 3 14 Turnbull, Ibid, p 4 15 Turnbull, Ibid, p 4 16 Turnbull, Ibid, p 4 17 Turnbull, Ibid, p 4 18 Turnbull, Ibid, p 4; Thio Eunice British Policy in the Malay Peninsula 1880-1910 Vol. 1 Introduction pp xvi–xvii 19 Parliamentary Papers, 1862, xl (House of Commons) 259, pp 585-8; Straits Times and Singapore Journal of Commerce, 13 Oct 1857; Buckley C, An Anecdotal History of Old Time in Singapore 20 cf. Hansard Parliamentary Debates 3rd ser. cxlix, 986-90 21 Buckley C, Ibid p 755 22 Turnbull, The Straits Settlements 1826-67 Chap 2 p 59 23 Mills LA, British Malaya 1824-1867 Chap 5 p 96-97; Jones W, Public Administration in Malaya, Chap 1 p 13; Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons No 259 of 1862, 13 (Vol. xl) I 24 Ibid, Chap 5 p 89 ================================================================================