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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
A secondary alteration necessitated by the insertion of that sub- section will be the re-numbering of sub-sections (2) and (3) as (3) and (4).
The third amendment which it has been decided to propose since the last meeting is an amendment to the proposed new clause. The new clause originally proposed was "No prosecution for any offence under Section 3, 7 or 8 shall be commenced without the sanction of the Attorney-General." It is now proposed to move in committee that the clause shall read "No prosecution for any offence under Sections 3, 6, 7 or 8 shall be commenced without the sanction of the Attorney- General.' It has been deemed desirable to include section 6 in the terms of the proposed section.
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THE COLONIAL SECRETARY proposed the second reading of the Bill.
HON. SIR SHOU-SON CHOW said-Sir,-As this Bill affects the Chinese more than other sections of the community by reason of their preponderate numbers, I crave permission to make a few remarks on behalf of myself and my Chinese colleague. We consider the Bill timely and necessary, and we therefore support it whole-heartedly. If and when it becomes law, it should go a long way towards preventing recurring political strikes-strikes which specially aim at the economic life of the Colony, such as those which we experienced in 1922 and 1925, and from the effects of which we are still suffering.
The proposed measure is not class legislation, because it affects employers as well as employees; nor is it in any way racial discrimina- tion, for it concerns all, irrespective of race or creed. The fact that many of its sections are taken from the Bill now before Parliament proves conclusively that the Government has no intention of treating the Chinese differently from the British. If this Bill in any way savoured of class or racial distinction, we would have been the first to oppose it. It will, in fact, afford protection to the employees no less than to the employers, for it makes lock-outs illegal under certain defined circumstances. In short, it is legislation designed to protect the community as a whole. I say that not only is it not aiming at the labouring classes, but one of its basic principles is to afford protection to the law-abiding workmen who only want to be left alone to earn an honest living.
Strikes are double-edged weapons which injure the strikers just as much as the people they strike against. They cause untold losses, and widespread distress and misery to all classes. Thousands and thousands of honest working men have in recent years been forced to go on strike, to give up their means of livelihood, at the dictates of a few individuals who batten on the ignorance and gullibility of the masses. It is this class of mischief-makers, fomenters of sedition and trouble -that this Bill is designed to deal with. Hong Kong is no place for them. We do not want Bolshevism or Communism. We cannot afford to have the economic and financial structure of the Colony periodically
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