Newsgroup: it.scienza.ambiente
Titolo: Re: RISC "Cell" Processor: How good is it?

who are brought
    to Singapore for immoral purposes, with the full knowledge and
    consent of the Government, are taken direct from the ships to the
    office of the Protector of Chinese, to be questioned as to their
    willingness to lead a life of shame; but the value of this
    interrogation may be inferred from the fact that the subordinate
    officer to whom this duty is generally assigned is not acquainted
    with the language spoken by the women. As a further precaution
    against the illegal detention of women and girls in brothels, a
    Government notice is posted in each of these houses, to the effect
    that the inmates are perfectly at liberty to leave whenever they
    like, but this is of little use, as hardly any of them can read,
    and it would be more to the purpose if the Government ordered the
    removal of the bars from the doors and windows of the brothels.
    The fact is that these precautions against illegal detention are
    practically useless, and this is admitted even by the editor of
    such a paper as the _Hong Kong Daily Press_, who some time ago
    discussed the question _apropos_ of the suicide of a Hong Kong
    prostitute who was desirous of being married. The man who wished
    to marry her offered the pocket-mother a 

Majesty's pleasure," and no
    longer.
    Third: Her Majesty's pleasure was declared at Hong Kong: (a) By
    the Proclamation of 1845; (b) "By Ordinance 6 of 1845, 2 of 1846,
    and 12 of 1873, by the combined operation of which the law of
    England, common and statute, as it existed on the 5th day of
    April, 1843, became the law of Hong Kong."
    Says Mr. Francis of Ordinance 6 of 1845, "The relations of husband
    and wife, parent and child, guardian and ward, master and servant,
    whatever they may have been when Hong Kong was Chinese, became
    from the date of that Ordinance what English law made them, and
    nothing more or less."
    "But in addition to the declarations of the Common Law," declares
    Mr. Francis, the following are in full force at Hong Kong: "The
    Act of the 5th George IV. c. 113, the Act of the 3rd and 4th
    William IV. c. 73, and the Act 6th and 7th Victoria c. 98, which
    have in the widest terms abolished slavery throughout the British
    dominions." "These Acts declare it unlawful for anyone owing
    allegiance to the British Crown, whether within or without the
    dominions of the Crown, to hold or in any way deal in slaves, or
    to participate in any way in such dealing, or to do any act which
    would contribute in any way to enable others to hold or deal in
    slaves. This simple declaration, if it stood alone, would make
    every act of slave-holding a misdemeanour, but the Acts themselves
    make it piracy, felony, or misdemeanour, as the case may be, to
    do any of the acts declared to be unlawful. These Acts further
    declare that persons holden in servitude as pledges or pawns for
    debt shall, for the purpose of the Slave Trade Acts, be deemed and
    construed to be slaves, or persons intended to be dealt with as
 

looked to the physical well-being of another portion of the
community--the fornicators. If physical harm came to them from wilful
sin, the Chinese women would be punished by imprisonment for it,
though their sin was forced upon them. This was "protection" from the
official standpoint.
Mr. Labouchere had replied with his approval of this Ordinance dealing
with contagious diseases due to vice, as though the application for
the measure had been made in behalf of the slaves of Hong Kong. Such
was not the case. The enclosures in Sir John Bowring's despatch had
been a sensational description of the urgent need of vicious men for
the active protection of the Government from the consequences of
their vices. Later, a Commission of Inquiry into the working of this
Ordinance comments upon official statements as to the satisfactory
consequences of the enactment of the measure in the checking of
disease. The Commission demonstrates that in many instances their
statements were absolute falsehoods, as proved by statements made by
the same officials elsewhere. Since these officials are proved to have
been so untruthful after the passing of the Ordinance, we can put no
reliance on their statements previous to its enactments, and the
more so because the statistics for Hong Kong in its early days are
hopelessly confused with the general statistics for all China,
wherever British soldiers or sailors were to be found. Therefore they
are unavailable for citation. But as to statements made after the
passage of the Ordinance, we append a compilation, as set forth by Dr.
Birkbeck Nevins of Liverpool, E

as receivers of old iron and marine stores
    could be found in this Colony to dispose of stolen property. The
    little girl bought and sold, aged 11 years, is a very intelligent
    child, and described the negotiations for her sale with great
    clearness."
The Chief Justice then went on to repeat the little girl's testimony
as to these "brokers of mankind," and the child's knowledge, from
personal observation of these purchases and sales, to which he adds:
    "Let me here ask, Is the trade, or rather profession, 'broker of
    mankind,' also a sacred China custom? I will not ask the queries
    which would naturally arise in case the question were answered in
    the affirmative. At present, however, I must say that, custom
    or no custom, the practice of this profession is prohibited by
    statute, and it is my duty to meet its exercise by punishment."
The prisoner was sentenced to two years' penal servitude. The Chief
Justice concluded his remarks on that occasion by replying to the
statements made in the Chinese petition.
He called attention to the Chinese resting their claim on the
temporary promise of Governor Elliott in 1841; of the fact that
they ignored the proclamation of the Queen in 1845. He said that
infanticide was also a Chinese custom in the same sense that slavery
was, on the words of the petition:
    "Amongst the Chinese there has hitherto been the custom of
    drowning their daughters. The Chinese threaten the increase of
    this 'custom' of drowning children if their sale is put down....
    I can only say that in case father, mother, or relative were
    convicted of infanticide, Chinese custom would be no protection,
    and, unless I am grievously mistaken, the presiding judge would
    have no alternative but to sentence the perpetrator to death ...
    the one custom is tolerated just as the other custom is tolerated,
    and both alike or 

by custom the
    slavery was mild."
[Footnote A: Rather, it would seem in later years, by renting them for
a monthly stipend.]
The Governor, in a letter to the Colonial Secretary at London about
this time, informs the Colonial Secretary of his own failure also to
induce the Attorney General to prosecute cases to which His Excellency
had called his attention, and furthermore he explains that other
of his principal executive officers held to the same views as the
Attorney General.
CHAPTER 9.
THE CHINESE PETITION AND PROTEST.
We get additional and valuable light on social conditions at Hong
Kong, through statements drawn up by prominent Chinese men and laid
before the Governor. As a representation from the Chinese standpoint
it has peculiar value at all points excepting where self-interest
might afford a motive for coloring the truth.
The occasion of these statements was as follows: On November 9, 1878,
a month before the report of the Commission was published, certain
Chinese merchants had petitioned the Governor to be allowed to form
themselves into a society for suppressing kidnaping and trafficking
in human beings. This petition states that the worst kidnapers are
"go-betweens and old women who have houses for the detention of
kidnaped people." They declare that these
    "inveigle virtuous women or girls to come to Hong Kong, at first
    deceiving them by t

who
    brought her from China died, and she was thus left to the care of
    this gang of gamblers. When Miss Cameron and her escort arrived at
    the house, the little girl of six or seven years sat on a table
    rolling cigarettes for the men who sat around it gambling. They
    were taken by surprise, and before they quite understood the
    situation the rescuers were gone with the little girl. When they
    discovered this, they fired several shots after the party, but no
    harm was done. The officer, with one hand on his revolver, drove
    rapidly for the boat landing, and Qui Que, safe in Miss Cameron's
    arms, will probably never know the danger risked in securing her
    freedom.
    No. 2. Ngun Fah. This child was a domestic slave in the family of
    a well-to-do merchant in Chinatown, but so cruelly was the child
    overworked and abused that the matter was finally reported to the
    Mission, and little Ngun Fah rescued. When found at the home of
    her master, she was in a most pitiable condition. Weary from hard
    work and worn out with crying, after the cruel punishment which
    had just been administered, the lonely little girl crawled on to
    the hard wooden shelf which served as a bed, and with no covering
    but the dirty, forlorn garment worn through the day, had dropped
    off to sleep. Thus she was easily captured and carried to the
    Mission, where upon examination it was found that her head had
    been severely cut from blows administered with a meat knife, the
    hair was matted with blood and the child's whole body was covered
    with filth, and showed signs