Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
COLONIAL REPORTS,
-ANNUAL.
and it is satisfactory to note that with the exception of the episode above recorded no attempt at disturbance took place during the whole period of the strike. By the evening of the 23rd March there were some 3,000 coolies on strike, and next day the strikers were joined by the whole of the coolies who load and discharge coal: This rendered the coaling of steamers impossible unless assistance of an unusual nature could be obtained. I accordingly on the 25th March caused the P. & O. S.S. “Verona" to be coaled by a gang of 50 convicts from Victoria Gaol, while the services of 100 men of the Rifle Brigade, which were voluntarily rendered and which proved highly useful, were availed of in discharging the cargo of the P. & O. Mail S.S. "Pekin."
As it was impossible to induce coolies to work cargo in the harbour on account of the strike, it was thought that they might be induced to labour if removed to some spot remote from the scene of the strike. With this view the S.S. "Rio de Janeiro" steamed round to Aberdeen (a village on the south side of Hong Kong) where she was able to have her cargo of rice, destined for Canton, discharged into river junks. On the 26th March several other steamers followed this example. The coolies engaged in this work were protected night and day by a strong body of police in launches afloat, and police patrols were placed along the road from Victoria to Aberdeen to prevent coolies who were travelling in search of work from interference at the hands of the strikers. Work proceeded all day on the steamers without interruption.
On the morning of the 26th the licensed owners of the boats which removed cargo to and from ships endeavoured to go out on strike, but on being warned by the police that they could not leave the waters of the Colony without a clearance and that their sureties would be dealt with by the Registrar General, remained passive. Some difficulty was nevertheless experienced by firms in hiring the boats. The police therefore undertook to hire boats for them, and during the remainder of the strike cargo boats were supplied to the public by the police on the usual terms and in whatever numbers desired.
On the 26th March the hands at the East Point and Lee Yuen Sugar Refineries also began to show signs of disaffection, and special pickets of police were told off to protect such of them as were willing to continue at work. In spite, however, of these precautions nearly the whole of the coolies at both establishments were out on strike by nightfall. On the 27th the coolies who had been working cargo on steamers at Aberdeen struck work.
The strike had now reached its acutest stage. All the coolies who handle cargo on ship and on shore and who work coal, together with nearly all the hands at the Quarry Bay, East Point, and Lee Yuen Sugar Refineries, making a total of at least 20,000, were on strike. The coolies employed by building contractors did not join in the movement, nor did any of the coolies who carry chairs and pull jinrickshas. There were also a certain number of
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