( 111 )
Q. In the Tung Wah Hospital?
A. Yes.
Q.-You know the upper storey?
A. Yes, I have seen them.
Q. Do you think it is a proper place for Girls to be housed?
A.-I have sometimes taken the liberty to march in without any reference to the Registrar General or any one else, and the Tung Wah Hospital people never objected. I have taken ladies in and they have seen the Girls and spoken to them, and I have, seen no reason to think they are not properly placed. There is apparently little ventilation, and they see very little of the outside. I always got the impression that the Girls were perfectly happy, and I have seen them a great many times.
Q.-Don't you think it would be wise to separate the older and younger girls?
A: Yes, certainly, but that is not always possible. I have often urged upon the Government to separate juvenile offenders from confirmed offenders, and in this case it is very necessary. I dare say this Committee, if they had the power to do it, would do it at once. They know as much about that as we do.
Q. Do you think it desirable that they should have a proper building?
A.-I think it is highly improper that the Pó Léung Kuk should be left without the building which was promised to them and has been promised ever since 1879.
Q.-There was a building promised ?
A. Yes the ground and the building.
Q.-They have never got anything?
A.No.
Honourable T. H. WHITEHEAD.-There was a building offered them the other day and they would not have it?
A. The Chinese know better than we do what is suitable for them.
Q.-The Government built the premises a year or eighteen months ago.
A. In that place you could not keep the girls from looking out of the windows and communicating with the people in the street.
Q.-That was not ascertained before the building was finished?
A.-I don't know the details of the construction of the building. Now the girls in the Tung Wah Hospital are segregated as a whole, but communication can be had with them by any respectable person.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you think it is a good thing to have girls in the middle of a Hospital?
A.—No, it is not advisable, but there is no better place at present, and in the place in which they are now in, they can be kept under lock and key.
Q.-You think they are comfortable ?
A. Yes, quite happy and contented, and they have quite enough freedom for prac- tical purposes, except that they ought to have a place to move in the open air, which is not possible there, but, as far as available localities go, I think they are in a very suitable place.
The Committee then adjourned.
1
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.