- K 18 -
By
9. General Strike and Boycott.-Towards the end of June, there was a great exodus of Chinese to Canton, which was brought about by agitators from that City. Communication with Canton by water was very soon entirely cut off. In the middle of August, local conditions, apart from the interference with trade, became more or less normal. A great many of the absconding strikers had been replaced by local labour, and there was also a continual trickle, sometimes of considerable volume, of strikers returning to their work. The Police Force was principally concerned with the repatriation to China of men who refused or were afraid to carry on their usual work, and with the suppression of agitation and intimidation. An auxiliary emergency Chinese Detective Force called the Labour Protection Bureau was specially formed for dealing with intimidators. This was entirely successful. The Strike Organization in Canton appeared to attach great importance to stopping traffic on the electric trams. On Tuesday, 11th August, a small bomb exploded in a tram car near the Central Fire Station. There were no casualties, and little damage was done. On 13th August, some explosive substance was placed on the tram line near the main gate of the Taikoo Shipyard, which caused slight damage to one of the cars. On 14th August another small explosion took place in the same vicinity, but no car happened to be passing at the time. Two or three attempts were also made to derail cars by pieces of iron placed in the rails. Chinese are as a rule so easily intimidated that it was a curious but satisfactory feature that traffic in the tramcars was practically unaffected. Police Guards were placed on most of the tram cars for a time, and also members of the Chinese Auxiliary Detective Force, but it was soon possible to dispense with them.
On 5th August, a pork butcher named Chu Hoi, of 21 Peking Road, Tsim Tsa Tsui, was shot dead in his shop by persons unknown. This was believed to be an act of revenge, as deceased kept his stalls open after other pork butchers had stopped business.
At 8.20 p.m. on 9th July a bomb was thrown into the Wing Kee shop, 29 Connaught Road Central. No one was injured. The motive was revenge for the Firm supplying provisions to the Canadian Pacific steamers.
On Saturday, 1st August at about 8 p.m. a bomb was thrown into the compound of Yaumati Police Station close to where a number of Indian Police were sleeping. It fortunately failed to explode.
During the month of August, most of the steam launches and motor boats returned to work. A number of cargo boats also resumed their regular functions. This was mainly due to the efforts of the Police.
+
Page 255
Page 256