PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
| ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE
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Hong Kong Strike Committee and the notorious Labour Delegation Union are yet allowed to reorganise and continue to function. The Department of Labour and Peasantry has issued a proclamation re assuring genuine workers and peasants that they will not be inter- fered with and their unions will be given due protection by the Government. The Canton Mechanics' Union is a well-known anti-red organisation and did a great deal this time in assisting the Govern-. ment troops in disarming the railwaymen. As the majority of the Yuch-Han and Samshui railway workers have run away, the Govern ment has now instructed the members of the Mechanics' Union to undertake the operation of these two lines and also that of the Canton- Kowloon railway. The Samshui railway, however, has not yet resumed working, while the Yueh-Han train cannot reach its terminus station at Shaokwan as it is reported that the village militia and the red peasant corps in the North River District are still fighting against each other after those railwaymen who were dispersed from Canton had applied to the peasants for protection. All things in the Canton city are now again quiet but there has been a great change of It is understood that important personnel in the civil government.
the influence of T. V. Soong and Sun Fo will be gradually eliminated from Canton. Mr. Koo Ying-fan has now assumed charge as Pro- vincial Finance Commissioner and will act concurrently as Acting Minister of Finance. Mr. Wong Lung-sang has been made Director- General of the Nationalist Central Bank (Mr. Wong was assistant manager of the same bank). Mr. Lin Tsu-feng, the Customs Super- intendent and Director of Shui-wu Tsung Ch'u, will be replaced by Mr. Cheng Tien-ku. The Civil Commissioner Mr. Chen Shu-yan has already tendered his resignation, but who will be his successor is not yet known. Mr. Li Cheng-yi, the Anti-Opium Bureau Director and Chief Secretary of the Finance Ministry is now in custody and will be tried by a special committee as he is a most influential member of T. V. Soong's party. Mr. Chen Yao-tso has been appointed Re construction Commissioner and he already took over charge on the
15th.
Submitted:
(Sgd.) Cha T. Cheng, 3rd Clerk, B. Canton Customs,
19th April, 1927.
C. 30001/27 B. [No. 11.]
No. 12.
R. F. C. HEDGELAND,
Commissioner.
The Governor of Hong Kong to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. (Received 30th May, 1927.) Government House, Hong Kong, 23rd April, 1927.
(Secret.) SIR.
With reference to the fourth and fifth paragraphs of my secret despatch of the 14th April,* and in continuation of my secret despatch
* No. 10,
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of yesterday's date," I have the honour to enclose minutes of a meeting held at Government House on the 20th April with the Directors of the Hong Kong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Company, upon whom I pressed the view that, as the Canton Government was at last taking drastic action to destroy the tyranny of bolshevized labour unions in Kwang-tung, the time was most opportune for the Company to rid itself of the domination of the Canton Seamen's Union, the leaders of which now appear to be in open conflict with the new régime at
Canton.
2. You will remember that at the outbreak of the general strike in Hong Kong the Canton Seamen's Union played a leading part, So Shiu-cheng, the then Chairman of its Hong Kong branch, becoming Chairman also of the so-called "Hong Kong-Canton Strike Com- mittee" with headquarters established at Canton; but, although the vessels of various steamship companies were, in consequence, tied up in Hong Kong harbour, some, if not all, of the ships belonging to the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company (General Managers, Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Company) were able to clear during even the worst days of the strike, that is, from the 20th June to the 3rd July, 1925. This was made possible by utilizing the services of an opposition labour union, the "Hong Hoi" Seamen's Union, which was formed after the 1922 strike with the encouragement of Mr. E. R. Hallifax, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. Its leader, Chiu Chun- ting, ran great personal risks in this matter and had for some days to be protected by an armed guard. By means of this Union the vessels of the Hong Kong, Canton & Macao Steamboat Company, which had in the first days of the strike been operated between Hong Kong and Canton by naval ratings, were provided with strike-break- ing crews, who remained loyal to the Company throughout the period of the strike and the ensuing anti-British boycott.
3. The anti-British boycott was nominally called off by the Canton Government on the 10th October, 1926. Thereupon the companies, other than the Hong Kong, Canton & Macao Steamboat Company, interested in steam traffic between Hong Kong and Canton and in the West River Delta, brought again into commission their river steamers and launches which had been laid up since June, 1925, and manned them with crews supplied by the Canton Seamen's Union; but the Steam- boat Company continued to run its steamers with the strike-breaking crews who had served loyally throughout the boycott.
4. It was not long, however, before the Steamboat Company had to complain of renewed interference with its trade, to Canton and I refer you to enclosures Nos. 3 and 4 in my secret despatch of the 29th October, 1926,† which describes the beginning of the trouble. By the 2nd November there was a marked decline in the statistics of passengers and cargo carried by the Company's river steamers; please see the third paragraph and enclosures Nos. 2 and 3 in my secret despatch of the 5th November.‡ The position grew steadily worse and from the 11th November onwards the Company's river steamers carried practically no cargo, the reason being that the Canton Seamen's Union demanded the dismissal of the crews engaged after the Sea- men's Union crews struck work in June, 1925, and the reinstatement of
No. 39 in Eastern No. 144.
No. 40 in Eastern No. 144.
• No. 11.
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