A STRANGE REPORT.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 414, 22 April 1937, Page 7

A STRANGE REPORT.

Civilised Protest. Miss Picton Turbsvil, ex-M.P.. British House of Commons, is to be congratula.ed on the moral courage she displayed as the only woman on the Commission appointed by ’th British Government to report on Child Slavery in the British territory in Hong Kong and Malaya, states an exchange. The, Colonial Office has issued a 414-page report of ths Mui-’sai Commission. The Muitsai are girls who are sold by their parents, usually, to complete strangers, at any age from birth to 12 years, poverty being ithe cause. The majority report of the Commission expresses, the opinion that further legislation ito abolish sb deeply rooted a custom would be resented by the Chinese as an unwarranted interference and 'Would prejudice the abolition of the practice. The woman member of the Commission, however, Mis s Pictoii-Turbevil, believes just the opposite. She proposes an ordinance on the lines of the protective code for English children to prevent the exploitation for private gain of all girl chil. dren in Hong Kong and Malaya under the age of 12 years. Thi s would include the Cho-chu-fa girls who are specially trained for prostitution and taught from the beginning to entertiiin men. I eihaps I ought to have been prepared for it, but nothing took me back more than the sight of prosti"ht;s looking like children,” says Miss Pictoii-Turbevil in her minority lepoit. She adds that women were known to acquire small girls at a low price, tend them carefully, and pass them on as concubines to high bid ders. Tills traffic', though speculative could be lucrative. A girl of six could be got for £7, and it attractive passed on at eight years for £125 O r mor-e. This is a shocking state of affairs. The decision of the British Government will be follow, d with in terest.