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For that reason I venture to raise my voice in the very strongest protest against such being accepted as facts by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. If it were a fact that slaves were openly bought and sold as depicted in the Press at Home, would not the British Colony itself have compelled such a state of affairs to be attended to? If it were a purchase and sale of slaves as depicted, would not the pressure of public opinion in this Colony have forced legislation long ago? But for the fact that certain persons, with a not very wide knowledge of the subject, ventured at Home, for purposes of pro- paganda, and partly for political propaganda, grossly to mis-state the facts for their own ends, the subject would never have been raised at all. It is because of these facts that I desire in the name of the Unofficial Members of this Council to protest against state- ments which have been made widely and publicly at home both by the Press and by cer- tain individuals which are a slur upon the good name and Government of this Colony, which are without foundation in fact and malicious in character.

HON. MR. E. V. D. PARR-I desire to support in the strongest possible manner the remarks that the hon. member for the Chamber of Commerce has made in protest against the exaggerated absurdities that have appeared in the Home Press upon this sub- ject. As an instance I would mention that when I was at Home some two years ago I visited some relations at a well-known English watering place and accompanied them to the Parish Church. The good Vicar who preached-apropos of nothing that I could see-began inveighing against the British Colony of Hong Kong for selling Chinese girls in the public market place. "These are not Angles". he said, "but angles". I need not say, I took the first occasion to put the reverend gentleman right on the facts as we know them here and he told me that he had obtained his facts and figures from the public Press at Home and that he would correct the mis- statements that he had made to his congregation on the following Sunday. It has not heen usual since I have had the honour of being a member of this Council for the Un- officials to address the Council on the third reading of a Bill, but I do not consider any apology is needed in this instance, and if it serves to give more weight to our protest against those exaggerated absurdities to which we have referred then, I think the end is justified by the means.

HON. MR. A. G. STEPHEN-Your Excellency, I would like to associate myself with the two hon. members who have just spoken in protesting against the imputations upon the good name of the Colony. In all the speeches made on this Bill the one that struck me as being most à propos was that of the Attorney-General in introducing it. After going through the Objects and Reasons, "damning the Bill with faint praise", he finally reached the impotent conclusion that the measure had to be passed because the system was one which was open to abuse, and grave abuse, at the hands of unscrupulous persons. Well, Sir, he could have said the same about the office he fills with such dis- tinction himself-it is an office that is open to abuse at the hands of unscrupulous persons; and he might have said the same about the position I happen to hold in the Colony: it is distinctly open to abuse in the hands of unscrupulous persons. But what he would have said, I venture to say, if he had been speaking his own mind was this: "We do not think this Bill is any use, but we have got to pass it, because we have been told to." This agita- tion at Home I do not take so seriously as my unofficial colleagues do, because I have seen so often a similar kind of thing before-people seeking cheap advertisement are quite willing to assume that we Englishmen when we come East of Suez leave behind all we ever learned of humanity and charity. When they see an opportunity of gaining some cheap notoriety they will find some tame Member of Parliament to put questions to the Colonial Office and the harassed Secretary of State for the Colonies ultimately decides that the balance of advantage is to get this Government to pass a Bill which will shut the mouths of these stupid bores in Parliament. Many of the races ruled by the British Government in various parts of the world have habits and customs which do not come up to the standard of Exeter Hall, but it has always been our wise policy to leave them alone in that respect unless, of course, those customs are such as to outrage humanity. I should like to have seen the Secretary of State for India, for instance, sending orders to the Viceroy to disturb some of the customs which are far less innocent and far less humane than the mui-tsai system in this Colony. No, they know very well they cannot do that, be cause local opinion is too strong for them. But here, with a Legislative Council that is powerless to oppose the wishes of the Government, they do not scruple, in order to secure peace and quietness at Home, to set aside the wishes of the majority of the people in this Colony. One thing I would say in conclusion is that the support of the Bill came from a most extraordinary combination of bodies: the Chinese Y.M.C.A. and the labour unions.