O AN OLD MINUTE BY SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES. 



excess; the consumption may be diminished by the enhance- 

 ment of price, and in this way the indulgence may be made 

 so expensive as to be only attainable beyond the bounds of 

 moderation by those whose means give them a station in 

 society that induces them to be guarded in their conduct for 

 the sake of preserving the respect of those whose eyes are 

 turned upon them ; thus, while gaming as practised by the 

 Chinese and cock-fighting by the Malays are absolutely perni- 

 cious in every degree in which they come under public cogni- 

 zance, the use of opium and spirituous liquors may be 

 repressed by exacting a heavy tax in the way of License from 

 the venders. 



There are many important considerations that stand in the 

 way of enacting laws against prostitution, indeed it would, 

 in a country where concubinage is not forbidden, be difficult 

 to draw a line between the concubine and the common prosti- 

 tute ; it is practicable however in some degree, and highly 

 desirable, that the temptation to profit should not exist to 

 induce the seduction of women into this course of life by 

 others of their own sex; the unfortunate prostitute should be 

 treated with compassion, but every obstacle should be thrown 

 in the way of her service being a source of profit to any one 

 but herself. It should therefore be declared unlawful for any 

 person whatever to share the hire or wages of prostitution or 

 to derive any profit or emolument either directly or indirectly 

 by maintaining or procuring prostitutes, as for any parent or 

 guardian of a female or any other person to ask or receive 

 directly or indirectly any reward for bestowing a female in 

 prostitution, any custom, law or usage of the country in which 

 such female or her parents or her guardians were born notwith- 

 standing, reserving only for a jury to advise what constitutes 

 a legal obligation on the man to support the woman thus 

 bestowed, or in other words a contract of marriage by local 

 usage and what a connection of prostitution ; the penalty must 

 here also be modified by circumstances. It is much more 

 criminal to induct a girl into prostitution than to facilitate her 

 pursuit of vice after she has entered upon it as a profession. 



It may be necessary to make specific Regulations for the 



