Sessional_Paper_1893 — Page 831

[xviii]

Appendix 14.

HONGKONG 30th June, 1892.

The Committee appointed to enquire into certain points connected

with the Pó Léung Kuk.

SIRS,

As some of you may not be thoroughly acquainted with the working of the Chinese Society for the Protection of Women and Children, we, the Committee of that Society for the present year, venture to ask you to read the following memorandum.

The Society owes its origin to the fact of the late Sir JOHN SMALE having, when passing sentence in a certain kidnapping case in the Supreme Court in the year 1878, called the attention of the public to the evil practice, then existing, of kidnapping, and of buying and selling women and children as if they were commodities, and impressed upon the community the necessity of taking steps to put a stop thereto. The Chinese residents were so deeply moved by His Lordship's remarks that a numerously signed memorial was got up under the auspices of Mr. FUNG MING SHAN and others, and presented to the then Governor Sir JOHN POPE HENNESSY now deceased, in which they asked permission to form an association for the purpose of assisting the Government in the suppression of the crime of kidnapping and kindred offences, and in the restoration of the kidnapped to their relatives. This memorial was duly forwarded to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and His Lordship was not only pleased to give the memorialists permission to form the proposed association, but also to direct that the rules and organisation of the association should be made known and approved by the local Government with a view to the Society being officially recognised. The notice of the formation of the association and its rules were published in the Government Gazette, Notification No. 318 of 1882, to which we would respectfully crave a reference. As the Society had no place of its own, the Committee of the Tung Wa Hospital kindly placed at its disposal a portion of the hospital premises for the temporary accommodation of the destitute women and girls, and provided them with food out of the funds of the Hospital. This hospitality on the part of the management of the Tung Wa Hospital, though it was originally intended to be temporary, and though the Directors of the Hospital have frequently desired the Pó Léung Kuk to find a Home of its own, has been extended to the inmates of the Society up till now.

In order to give some idea of the amount of work done by the Society, we beg to refer to the return which appeared in your Chairman's report on the Society shewing that the number of persons entrusted to the care of the Society during the last 4 years amounted to 2751. The figures contained in that return show that the work of the Society is increasing, and that it has never been greater than since the present Committee entered on office. In order to secure properly the welfare of one individual no small amount of time and labour is requisite. An increase in the numbers saved naturally entails additional labour and time on the Committee, who have spent many hours each day in connection with the work of the Society.

It may not be out of place to give the personnel of the Society and to describe our mode of procedure in conducting its business. The Committee of the Society consists of eight members, who are selected annually. The Society employs 2 clerks, 2 detectives, and 3 messengers.

Before any steamers or other vessels leave the Colony, the detectives have to go on board and see that no woman or girl is taken away against her will. Formerly, they used to board such vessels by themselves, but since the passing of the Women and Girls' Protection Ordinance, they have been accompanied by a European Inspector of Police,