further evidence
went to prove that she and a young man were mutually attached to
each other, and he was anxious to redeem her, and that she was
desirous of being redeemed, but that the price asked, two thousand
three hundred dollars, was more than he was willing to give,
though he was willing to give two thousand dollars.... There is
little doubt that his inability to redeem her caused her to commit
suicide.... The pocket-mother was not produced [at the inquest],
and there was a general disposition on the part of the Chinese
witnesses to withhold information."

Lord Ripon said in his letter of inquiry: "If the facts were as stated
in the above-mentioned paper, it would seem to prove that it is not
generally understood in the Colony that a brothel keeper has no legal
right to demand any redemption money for the release of one of the
inmates." To this the Magistrate replies, in explanation:

"It is not quite correct to speak of the brothel-keeper as
demanding redemption money. The person whose property the
prostitute is is the pocket-mother, that is to say, the purchaser
of the girl. Nearly every prostitute has her own pocket-mother,
and she it is who has sole control over the prostitute's
movements. All the earnings go to her, and the redemption money
when redemption takes place. The 'brothel-keeper' is a creation
of the Government, and the term has, I think, led to some
misappreciation of the actual state of things. It is true that,
being registered by the Government, she becomes in a manner
responsible for the proper conduct of the establishment, but the
property in the girl does not rest in her, except in the case of
the two or three girls to whom she may herself be pocket-mother,
that is to say, whom she may herself have purchased. The
pocket-mothers are the real proprietresses of their purchases, and
a brothel-keeper would not regard herself as in any way connected
with such girls, beyond the obligation devolving upon her of
registering the inmates of the house of which she, as tenant or
owner, was the proprietress. A Chinese brothel is in fact merely
a collection under one roof of several different establishments,
consisting of the pocket-mothers and their purchases, the
pocket-mothers for the most part being the body-servants of their
charges, and administering to their daily wants, t