To
- His Excellency,
- CECIL C. SMITH,
- Acting Governor, and Others
the Honourable the Members of the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements,
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 continually 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. That this class of gambling is considered in China as well as in Penang und 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
