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they acted under duress, that they were forced to withdraw their labour through
intimidation and the threat of violence, were reinstated and returned to work.
Following this lead similar action was taken by the private companies affected,
which gave notice that absent employees would be considered for re-employment
if they registered within a limited period. Those who did not do so wore
considered to be dismissed and they were not paid from the time that they
stopped work. Emergency regulations were also enacted by Government to make
it an offence to intimidate or threaten any worker who wished to continue at
work. These measures made it possible for both Government and private firms,
by selective re-employment, to weed out those responsible for intimidation in
their labour force and at the same time they encouraged the flow of loyal
workers returning to work.
A further attempt to intimidate the Government by the declaration of a
four day 'food strike' had little better success. Supplies of foodstuffs from
China were refused by local communist importers
though by an apparent lack
of co-ordination they continued to arrive by train at the frontier and there
was a shortage of pork and vegetables and a consequent rise in prices. The
stoppage came to an end on 2nd July, and with the renewed importation of
food-stuffs prices returned almost to normal.
No trains at all
Later in the month there was to be a more serious threat to food supplies
caused not by confrontation in Hong Kong but by the unsettled conditions in
China, which led to a general disruption of communications.
arrived on the border on the 24th and 25th of July and while there was an
irregular passenger service thereafter it was not uniil the 14th September
that any substantial imports arrived by rail. The main commodities affected
were pigs and vegetables. Although limited quantities continued to arrive,
though irregularly, by sea and by road from China, the quantities received
were well below the demand. Some of the shortfall was made good by imports
from other countries but a sharp increase in prices reflected the general
scarcity. The situation slowly improved towards the end of September, by which
timc the scale of foodstuffs imported from China had again returned almost to
normal.
One of the main targets in this phase had been the Port of Hong Kong,
which has been the subject of some of the most extravagant claims by the
communist press. In fact, while the strike had caused some disruption in the
working of cargoes, the general efficiency of the port had been suprisingly/10
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