London, Nov. 4.
The Straits Settlement Government has decided to adopt in principle the minority report recommendations of the recent mui tsai commission, but the Government of Hongkong has announced its willingness to give effect to the proposals of the majority report.
This was revealed in the House of Commons yesterday by the Colonial Secretary, Mr. W. G. Ormsby-Gore, in reply to a question by Lt.-Cmdr. L. R. Fletcher, Labour member for the Nuneaton division of Warwickshire, who asked if it was proposed to promote legislation for Hongkong and Malaya whereby all transferred children must be registered.
The problem in Hongkong, said the Colonial Secretary, in general presented special difficulties of effective control owing to the free movement of the Chinese population between the Colony and Chinese territory, ponticularly at present, owing to the many thousands of refugees.
Before finally deciding on Hongkong's policy, Mr, Ormsby-Gore said, uld await an appreciation of the situation from the new Governor, Sir Geoffry Northcote, with whom he discussed the problem before Si Geoffry sailed from England to a sume the Governorship. The new Governor only arrived in the Colony last week.
The Colonial Secretary added he hoped the Governments of the Malay States would reach a decision similar to that of the Straits Settlements.
Findings of Commission In March last year Mr. J. H. Thomas, the then Gotonial Secretary, appointed a commission, consisting of Sir Wilfred Woods, chairman; Mr. C. A. Willis and Miss E. Picton-Turber-vill, to inquire into "the whole question of mui tsai in Hongkong and Malaya."
The commissiopespent over two Months in the x East and their Report appeared bout a year after appointment.
The majority report, signed by Sir Wilfred Woods and Mr. Willis, approved the systems obtaining in both colonies, except that it had not been enforced in Malaya as strictly as in Hongkong. They recommended, however, certain measures designed to strengthen those in force.
A minority report was written by Miss Picton-Turbervill, who was "less satisfied than her colleagues with the existing state of affairs."
While admitting that their recommendations were "useful administrative reforms," she wrote that she could "only regard them as wholly inadequate.
Her minority report urged the repeal of the existing legislation in Hongkong and Malaya and the passing of new laws to ensure closer inspection of mui tsai and the rapid speeding up of the process for ending the mui tsai practice.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.