remark no remedy has been found as yet after twelve
months correspondence) is an instance to show that
the tendency of the Chinese to resort to this particular
kind of warfare must be reckoned with. If other instances losure 9.
are required I attach a brief précis of the facts
connected with other recent boycotts
one of which,
that of the S.S. "Fat Shan" --is a most humiliating
page in the commercial history of this Colony.
And Hongkong is not the only country where the
need of withstanding boycotts by Chinese is being
recognised.
I have ascertained that in the Netherlands India
the Government has suffered much trouble from these
combinations. Last year the Government there was
confronted with two boycotts by the Chinese population.
One was of panese shopkeepers and merchants for
political reasons. This was accompanied by public
and open canvassing against the trade carried on by
the Japanese, and the Government of Netherlands India
took the most stringent Police measures to stop such
support of the boycott. The second was a boycott aimed
at the Government itself, in consequence of certain
measures it took in connection with the riots by
Chinese in Sourabaya after the establishment of the
Chinese Republic. The Chinese closed their shops
and refused to trade, in order to compel the Government
to modify the policy it had adopted towards the Chinese.
The Government of the Netherlands India was obliged
to deport to China some eighty Chinese merchants and
traders in order to stop the boycott; and I am
informed that it is now considering what statutory
powers can be taken to strengthen its hands in combatting this newly found and now favourite weapon
of the
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