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towards the strike adopted by the Canton Government.
The Consul General was also of the opinion that
serious blunders were committed in the handling of the
strike itself, such as the closing of the Seamens Union
and the shooting of strikers who were returning to their homes in Canton; and he also complained that on more than one occasion the failure of the Hongkong Government to
keep him informed of the steps they were taking, placed
him in an anomalous position vis-à-vis the Chinese Au-
thorities.
The strike, after lasting a couple of months, was
eventually settled in two days by a conference of the
interested parties presided over by Sir J. Jamieson,
who, thanks to his good relations with the Canton Govern-
ment and the confidence he inspired in the native seaman
and mercantile community, was able to suggest a satis-
factory compromise, and thus terminated a situation
fraught with the gravest danger to the existence of the
Colony.
In a private letter to Sir B. Alston the Governor
grudgingly admitted that "Jamieson was quite useful" in
the later stages of the negotiations, but at the same
time asked for his removal from Canton.
Mr. Clive, Counsellor of the Legation at Peking,
expressed his opinion as a result of a visit to the South
after the strike was over, that certain of the actions
of the Hongkong Government seem to show an extraordinary lack of understanding both of the strength and weakness
of the Kuomintang party and of Chinese mentality in general, and this lack of understanding mast in part be
attributed to lack of cooperation with the Consulate in
Canton.