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has been made in telegraphic correspondence) was to prohi- bit persons leaving the Colony without a pass. This prohi- bition was effected not by a regulation under the Emergency · Regulations Ordinance but by amending the schedule to the
Travellers Restriction Ordinance so as to make the ordin-
ance to apply to persons of Chinese race, who had previous- ly been exempted from restrictions which had been imposed during the war on all non-Chinese, and which had never been removed though they were no longer strictly enforced.
The reason for this prohibition was that
the organisers of the strike were using every effort to induce or compel all the labour in the Colony to join in a
sympathetic strike.
Intimidation was widespread and man who
had no desire whatever to leave their employment were being compelled, by threats of the consequences to them- selves and their families if they remained at work,to cease work and proceed to Canton. If steps had not been taken to defeat this policy the Colony would have been denuded of the labour necessary for its existence and the effect would have been very serious. It was well known that many of the seamen in Canton had long been anxious to return to Hongkong but were forcibly prevented by the organisers. The same treatment would have been applied to the other classes of workmen who were being terrorised into going to Canton and the Colony would thus have been faced by the choice between having its whole life paralyzed indefinitely or submitting to any conditions that the Kwok Man Tong might choose to impose. The measure was therefore essential in the interests of the Colony. It was also in the interests of the workmen themselves, as it was well known that supplies were running short in Canton and they would have been exposed to much privation and hard-
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