§ 12. Miss PICTON-TURBERVILL(for Colonel WEDGWOOD) asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any and, if so, what steps are being taken to protect the registered mui-tsai in Hong Kong from cruelty?
§ Dr. SHIELSThe girls are free to leave their employers, and in any case the law now provides for their conditions of employment, their inspection, and the punishment of employers guilty of cruelty. It also gives power to remove from the employer any mui-tsai if it is decided to be in the girl's interest.
Miss RICTON-TURBERVILLCan the hon. Gentleman tell us whether there has been any information since Lord Passfield's letter of 22nd August and the White Paper of November, and also whether the registration is duly being enforced in view of the fact that there are 10,000 of these mui-tsai, half of whom are under the age of 14?
§ Dr. SHIELSYes, the regulations of which the House has been informed are steadily being put into force, and I think that it is true to say that the worst abuses which have been complained of in regard to this matter have already disappeared, and we hope that in a very short time the state of things in Hong Kong in this connection will be entirely satisfactory.