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17. You enquire whether an addition should be made to Paragraph 4 of the Ordinance, providing that no mui-tsai may be brought into the Colony for services in that capacity. I fear that such a condition, if made, would be completely in- effective. It would be quite impossible to detect mui-tsai on arrival in the Colony, except by accident; and after arrival in the Colony the inquisition, necessary for detection of a newly arrived mui-tsai would be as difficult as in the case of those who had been resident here for years. Such a provision, if enacted, would almost cer- tainly be a dead letter.

18. You enquire also whether, if the importation of fresh mui-tsai cannot be prevented, it is to be understood that effective abolition of the system in Hong Kong must wait until that importation ceases. In the opinion of myself and my advisers, effective abolition seems impossible except by gradual education of the Chinese com- munity on this subject and by slow, but constant, pressure and by discouragement of the system in every possible way. The practice will probably never entirely disap- pear from this Colony unless and until China really gives it up. It colours all the Chinese population that flows into Hong Kong. It would be as hard to free Hong Kong from it as to keep a space clear of mud at the mouth of the Canton River.

19. Finally, you refer to a proclamation, advertising the rights of mui-tsai, Enclosure 4. issued in 1922, and enquire whether any similar proclamation has been issued subse- quently, and you ask whether it would not be practicable to issue such proclamations regularly, or even to have notices permanently displayed bringing home to mui-tsai their rights of personal freedom. I find that no proclamation has been issued on this subject since the proclamation of April 14th, 1922, which was a translation in Chin- ese of the proclamation suggested in my predecessor's telegram of March 28th, 1922, but I have now issued another proclamation of which I enclose a copy and which I shall cause to be permanently displayed at police stations and, if possible, at steamer wharves and other public places.

20. This Government will do its utmost to bring the institution of mui-tsai to an end within the Colony as soon as it is practicable to do so. We shall give the most earnest consideration to any practical proposals, which may be put forward to that end; but we consider that, unless effective steps are taken by the Chinese authorities to abolish in fact, and not merely on paper, the mui-tsai system as it now exists in China and especially in the Kwangtung province, it will not be possible, by means of legislation or by bringing into force Part II of the Female Domestic Service Ordi- nance, No. 1 of 1923, to accelerate the abolition of mui-tsai in this Colony.

I have, etc.

Enclosure 1 in No. 20.

TRANSLATION.

C. CLEMENTI.

AMENDED REGULATIONS FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES AND MUI-TSAI.

(1) The Mayors and Magistrates of all cities and districts shall make careful en- quiries as to the condition of slaves and mui-tsai in their respective localities, and report to the Provincial Government and the Commissioner of Civil Administration. Magistrates shall send in their reports within 3 months and the Mayors within two months.

(2) Freedom shall be restored to all (male) peasant slaves in the country no matter whether they are called adopted sons or "Ka shang". The terms masters and slaves shall be abolished.