OF INTEREST TO WOMEN

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 126, 23 November 1929, Page 23

OF INTEREST TO WOMEN

THE SCHEME OF THINGS

(By M.H.C.)

Under the appealing title, "Someone in Agony," a woman who returned from Hong Kong recently spoke to a meeting of the British Commonwealth League about child slavery in Hong Kong, and the matter was brought up in the House of Commons, with the result that there is a prospect of relief being given to a large number of child slaves in the near future. The speaker, a Mrs; H. L. Haslewood, was very distressed at the occurrences which she had witnessed herself. She presented a very strong indictment against the British residents for their apathy and indifference, giving these as causes why so old-fashioned an evil had been ■allowed to continue. "jSo human being should be able to own another," said Mrs. Haslewood. "Least of all should those little girls be owned - bought and sold into slavery as is done here." She said that probably the numbers of these girls sold into slavery mounted up into thousands. Some were sold by their own parents, and in the cases of many others they were 6tolen and then sold. In some eases they might be fairly kindly treated, but it was known that a" great deal of cruelty was practised, and, in any. case, it was a great injustice that they sliould^be enslaved and never be allowed to be free. Mrs. Haslewood tried by all sorts of devices to assist these poor .children. Finally, her husband •was told that she must not go on with her protests; but he preferred to relinquish his appointment rather than prevent any effort being made to assist such distressed human beings. They returned to England, and worked hard in all directions, but it -was publicly stated in the House of Commons that there was no form of slavery practised or recognised in Hong Kong, and they found themselves up against a big force. However, they were not discouraged, and succeeded in getting an opinion from the Chief Justice that it was extremely doubtful as to whether slavery and the buying and selling of human beings was not legal in Hong Kong. They then found from a mandarin that slavery had been an institution in China under the old Manehu Dynasty, but when the Eepublic was established it had been abolished everywhere except under British rule in Hong Kong. Mrs. Haslewood urged that while the wrongs done in the past could not be undone, it was the duty of every British person ito use every means to have the law amended first, and then to sco that it was carried out. She did not minimise the difficulties, but showed where they would probably He ,and the means whereby they might be met. It is a very gratifying thing that these earnest workers towards the abolition of such a cruel system as that practised in Hong Kong against absolutely helpless creasures should have been so far successful as is shown by the recent cable message.

- It would be well if all women could, and would make some study of the laws tinder which they and their children are governed, for surely, if a large proportion did so, they would combine with the few who at present take an intelligent interest in these most important matters and try to get some of the extraordinary anachronisms removed. Advice came from London lately of yet another weird and senseless provision, and one which directly reacts against the interests of women and children, while being a very bad thing for men. It appears that recently at the Old Bailey a man was charged with a grave offence against a girl, and his counsel objected., to the three women who had been drawn among the jurors. The question was asked if the objection was on the ground of sex, and it had to be admitted that it was so. Now, it seems that when the law was framed to allow of women jurors, it was provided at the same time that in case of challenge their sex would preclude them from serving. The Recorder, Sir Ernest Wild, K.C., referred to this challenge, and said that "by an antiquated power" the object of Parliament in getting women to assist in administrating justice was being defeated. He said, also, that this right of challenge should be brought before the notice of Parliament. It appears that in former days, when life might be forfeit for conviction for felony, such as stealing some small thing, poaching, and such-like offences, the right of challenge was a wide one; but when it came to criminal libel and the worst sex offences, the reason for the challenge had to be given, and in the case of women that of sex might.be advanced as a reason. Most extraordinary cases come to light in all countries, and New Zealand is no exception, for there was recently reported some inexplicable remarks made by a presiding authority in one of theso cases—that of an elderly man convicted of an offence against a small girl. These were to the effect that, although the man had to be sentenced to imprisonment, that there was a certain amount of comfort in such places, and, therefore, the punishment was not so bad as it sounded—or words to that effect. It would be interesting to know what the parents of the child felt in the matter or what comfort remained to them in such horrible circumstances, especially if the child's nerves and mind were badly affected, for the aftermath of such a happening, with all its attendant distresses, is not a thing to regard lightly. It is infinitely painful to all concerned, and certainly no woman would have any consolatory remarks to make to the perpetrator of such an offence. It is a certainty that if women in New Zealand are to be made eligible to serve on juries this power of challenge given at Home should be watched, or in the -cry cases where they are the most necessary, women will be debarred from serving.

Quite an interesting "other side" was shown in a domestic court in London recently, -when a young woman who had been married only five weeks asked for a summons against her youthful husband for "neglect to maintain. It appeared that the man earned only £3 per week, and gave the wife £2 10s. On close questioning by the Magistrate it was found that what the wife really wanted was for the young man to live somewhere else, and to allow her the £2 10s each week, declaring that she would not live in the same house with him. Several other cases of the same kind were cited by the Court missionary, who found fault with both sexes in regard to marriage, one quite as much as the other. The gist of the whole matter seems to He in. bad selection" on both sides, for a remarkable lack of judgment appears to obtain all over the world in the choosing of life partners. The remedy, apparently, rests not in more facilities for divorce, but in the cultivation of observation and common-sense among the young people. If a person, man or woman, shows continually selfish traits, and no signs of a decent ideal of life, when unmarried, these qualities remain just the same after marriage as a rule, and no more can be expected of them. Probably the young woman who came into Court demanding to have ,a

Abroad and At Home gg

life pension Irom the unfortunate young man who had married her, without any compensation in the way of a ■ home and married life from her, was a thoroughly selfish and self-seeking woman beforehand, and he was most unwise to ignore her bad qualities, which she could hardly fail to show.