‘FO 
His Excellency, 
CECIL C. SMITH, 
Acting Governor, and Others 
the Honourable the Members of the Legislative Council of the 
Straits Settlements, 
a SINGAPORE. 
The Memorial of the undersigned Residents of Penang and 
Province Wellesley and others requiring the aid and recognisance 
of the Government. 
Respectfully sheweth as follows :— 
1. That for a considerable period there has been a system of 
ruinous gambling carried on with impunity in and about Penang 
and Province Wellesley called “Wha Hoey” which has brought 
distress and in some cases dire destitution to whole families, men, 
married and unmarried women, minors, servants, as well as persons 
holding responsible positions in mercantile services, such as clerks, 
cashiers, bill-collectors, &c., whose only mode of living is to be 
gained through their honesty to their employers, and an upright 
rendering of a just account. 
2. That the clerks employed in the mercantile services are 
seduced to try and make a fortune by “ Wha Hoey.” After try- 
ing times after times with mercantile money, which they may have 
in charge and continuaily losing, at last they find themselves indict- 
ed before a Court of a Criminal jurisdiction and thereby convicted 
and imprisoned for embezzlement causing disgrace to their friends 
who may have stood surety for them and giving shame and sorrow: 
to their families. 3 
3. That this class of gambling is considered in China as well 
as in Penang and Province Wellesley above-mentioned to be the 
worse kind, and the most infamous species of gambling known; it 
is an enchantment to Chinese, Malays. Klings, Burmese, Siamese, 
Javanese, Eurasians, Bengalees, and all others the natives of this 
Settlement, causing’ anxiety. pain, sorrow and in many instances 
