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the head of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire. He pointed out the
possibility of friction with the Northern Unions and the
impossible situation in which they would be placed both as regards the maintenance of discipline and their obligations to the Customs to suppress smuggling by crews, in the event of being forced to employ men selected by the Canton Seamen's
Union. I promised to use my influence with the Chairman of
the Provincial Government to get him to bring pressure to
bear upon the Union with a view to their modifying their demands. Mr. Knight said that his firm were anxious to know
whether I thought that my representations would be successful,
so that they could decide their plans about the ship. I told
him that, while I would do my best, I could not of course
be certain of success.
4.
As the S.S. "Shantung" was due to arrive again in
Canton of June the 15th I took the matter up on June 12th at
an interview which I had secured with Mr. Lin Wen K'ai, the
Chairman of the Provincial Government. He seemed thoroughly
to understand the situation and said he would by indirect
means get into touch with the Union and put pressure upon
them. He also said that recently the Canton Government had
had trouble with the Seamen's Union on account of the latter's
interference with workmen at Government factories and that
protection had had to be given. He added that in this case
they would afford protection if there was any interference with the ship. On the whole his attitude was more satis- factory than I had ventured to expect, so that I was not
surprised to learn on the 20th June, that the S.S "Shantung"
had arrived and left without trouble on the 16th June.
5.
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