Sessional_Paper_1935 — Page 263

Hongkong.

No. 51.

255

Secretary of State to Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G.,

Hongkong.

SIR,

DOWNING STREET, 12th September, 1885.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 243, of the 26th of May last, submitting for my consideration a Bill "for the prevention of abuses connected with Child Adoption and Domestic Service," together with a Report by the Attorney General, objecting to the proposed measure on various grounds and suggest - ing that the existing laws on the subject afford sufficient protection.

2. In the absence of further and more convincing arguments than those at pre- sent before me, I am not prepared to sanction the abandonment of the proposed Ordinance; and I should be glad, if possible, to ascertain the views of some of the leading Chinese in the Colony and of the Po Leung Kuk in regard to the Bill.

3. The draft Ordinance embodies the suggestions made by Mr. Rusell in his Report of 18th July, 1883, (pp. 8 and 9), which were apparently not opposed by the leading Chinese, and were supported by yourself and your Executive Council (as re- ported in your despatch, No. 189, of 13th August, 1883), and were approved by my predecessor. I am not in possession of any information, which would lead me to suppose that circumstances have altered since 1883, so as to render an Ordinance of this kind less necessary or less desirable.

4. The general objection that the Ordinance will put arbitrary powers in the hands of the Registrar General is a serious one; but it may probably be met by mak- ing some amendments in the draft.

5. Taking the specific objections which the Attorney General raises in order (1) There is no definition of what should constitute reasonable grounds of

suspicion."

It would not be impossible to formulate some sort of definition, and before proceeding with the Bill perhaps you will call upon the Attorney General to draw up such a definition, to be embodied in Section 1.

(2) "I think the provision confers too much arbitrary power to be exercised with-

out the safeguard of publicity by the Registrar General".

I would suggest for your consideration that the required safeguard might perhaps be ob- tained by providing in the Ordinance some means for adopting the proposal made by Mr. Russell in the Report, above referred to, that certain members of the Chinese Society for the Protection of Women and Children should be associated with the Registrar General as a Consulting Committee.

GOVERNOR SIR G. F. BOWEN, G.C.M.G.,

&c., &c., &c.

(3) "It does not say what shall be done with the person or the child if the security is not forthcoming, and indeed it is difficult to see what could be done in such case."

But it appears to me that in that case the child could be taken away from

the person, with whom she is living, under the provisions of Section 3. (4) In regard to the objection that this Section 3 involves too great interference "with the domestic affairs of the Chinese population," I am of opinion that this might be met by the association with the Registrar General of some