§ 44. Mr. CECIL WILSONasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any information has yet been received from the reported discovery of a gang of slave traders in Hong Kong, whose operations extend into China for the purpose of securing children in order to sell them in the British Colony of Hong Kong?
§ Dr. SHIELSMy noble Friend has received from the Governor a report of the occurrence to which my hon. Friend refers. There was, however, no evidence secured to show that the persons arrested were members of a gang, but it appeared that each establishment of the several traffickers was independent of the others. All the children discovered by the Hong Kong police had been brought into the Colony from Chinese territory and in no instance was any evidence forthcoming that they had been kidnapped. Several were claimed by the would-be vendors to be their own offspring, and those who were old enough to give an account of themselves usually claimed relationship. They were, at the time the Governor sent his report, being cared for by various charitable institutions in Hong Kong. 47 of the traffickers had at that date been arrested, of whom 17 had been deported from the Colony after due inquiry.