1887-1903
COLONIAL REPORTS.- -ANNUAL.
9
This was the beginning of the end. The strike soon collapsed, and by the 4th April the labouring coolies once more resumed their work as usual.
On the 2nd April upwards of 500 coolies were supplied to various firms at $1 a day. On the 3rd April more than 1,000 coolies were supplied at 75 cents a day, and by noon of the 4th April the strike was at an end. The victory of the Government, against which, and not against employers of labour, the strike was organised, was complete.
This happy result was, of course, not achieved without heavy losses to the mercantile community, owing to the temporary deadlock in business, and more especially shipping, but the crisis was one which did not admit of compromise, and, apart from the benefits to be looked for from the byelaws, to prevent the enforcement of which was the object of the strikers, the coolie class, who were beginning to think they held the reins of power, have received an object lesson which, it may be hoped, they will not soon forget.
Peace and Good Order.
The police statistics show an increase of 7 per cent. over 1894 in serious (so called) offences, but this may be accounted for by the depletion in population which the plague gave rise to during three months of 1894; the increase as compared with 1893, which was a normal year, is only 1.54 per cent. Three supposed murders came under the notice of the police, but in no case was the crime traced home to the perpetrator. This is just the average number of cases for the past five years. There was a very large increase (75 per cent.) in minor cases, largely due to increased activity in prosecutions for offences against sanitary arrangements, good order in the streets, and kindred offences.
Two gang robberies were reported. On the 18th November at 6.30 p.m. three men armed with revolvers entered a shop in Praya West, overawed the shop people and stole a watch, and four days later a similar robbery was successfully perpetrated in a shop in Wellington Street; the three ruffians concerned in this case succeeding in making good their escape with notes and silver to the value of $900. The difficulties under which the police labour in their efforts to trace the offenders are very great. The possession of revolvers or other deadly weapons without a license is illegal, but from a case which has come to light during the current year it appears that these ruffians have been in the habit of evading detection by placing their weapons in pawn as "old iron" and redeeming them when required for the purposes of some outrage.
The pawnbroker in the case cited received exemplary punishment.
Shipping.
The shipping of Hong Kong has been aptly termed the "lifeblood of the Colony" and supplies a very fair index of the progress of its prosperity.
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