CO885-11 — Page 191

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

C.O.882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

| ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

>

36

nothing to such. For them sufficient unto the day is the loot thereur. Neither is any comfort to be found in the fact that the leaders of the extreme party are men of education and very possibly of wealth. Some of them are consciously swimming with the tide, in the hope of being carried to high places or at any rate of getting safely to shoe with a certain amount of loot. But it is characteristic of revolution that their leaders cannot see that Liberty, Equality and Fraternity are incompatible with leadership. (Where all are equalised at the lowest denomination how shall one set himself, or be set, in authority above the rest?) Accordingly, if Russia is not forced to withdraw her agents, Comrades Eugene Ch'ên and Hsü-chien will find themselves ousted later on by Wong Kam-yuen, the pork-butcher, and Ko Tsani. the Scullion, and they in turn by lower dregs deliriously succeeding one another in directing chaos. Something of this kind seems already to be taking place, for So Shiu-cheng, the whilom Chairman of the Canton Strike Committee, is now dubbed "Minister."

2. A sample of the programme of the extremists is given in the enclosed extracts* from a report on current events furnished by Mr. Hedgeland, the Commissioner of Maritime Customs at Canton, and dated the 7th April. The Labour Law demanded is no doubt the Soviet Labour Code, a copy of which have recently obtained from Vladivostok and am having translated.

3. If it is possible to under-rate the malevolence of the extremists, it is no less possible to over-rate the benevolence of the moderates. The latter are at the moment holding Canton with a firm hand, and it is stated that General Li Chai-sum returned from Shanghai to Canton on the 12th April. But that does not prevent the Canton Commissioner for Foreign Affairs from addressing to His Majesty's Consul-General a highly impertinent protest against the proscription of the General Labour Union in Hong Kong, reported in paragraph 4 of my secret despatch of the 1st April. A more elaborate declaration on the subject is contained in the attached extract‡ from the Man Kwok Yat Po, Canton, of the 4th April. Attention is invited to the frank admissions contained in the petition addressed to Comrade Eugens Ch'ên. It is precisely because the organisation in Hong Kong, branch of a notoriously extreme Labour organisation in Canton, had taken an active part in the strike of 1925 and was planning a fresh general strike, that it was proscribed and, if any further evidence is required, it can be found in the enclosure to paragraph 2* of this despatch, issued by the parent body in Canton. It is, of course, quite untrue that military forces were employed in the raid and closure which were carried out entirely by the Hong Kong Police. The pro- ceedings of the Union were not stopped until after the election becaus I was advised that the order of proscription would not become legal until publication in the Gazette, which could not take place until the evening of the 1st April. Also it was thought that the results of the election would in themselves justify our action. They did so. The four Unions who headed the ballot are violently anti-British. The Seamen's Union needs no further comment, and, as regards the others. Wong Kam-Yuen, the pork-butcher, was treasurer and Ko Taam, the

• Enclosure 1.

+ No 8.

Enclosure 2.

37

of the Canton Strike Com.

tea-house waiter, "entertainment officer mittee. The latter was particularly insolent to the Chinese merchants' delegation of January, 1926. I may say that I do not propose to make any answer to the protest of the Canton Commissioner for Foreign Affairs beyond informing the Consul-General that the action taken was in accordance with the laws of Hong Kong and that this Government is not prepared to discuss the matter with the Canton authorities.

4. With regard to the strike on board the S.S. Kinshan, reported in paragraphs 3 and 4 of my despatches of the 1st and 8th April,* respectively, I have the honour to enclose copy of the minutes of a meeting held at Government House on the 4th April. Immediately after that meeting the Hong Kong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Company wired to the Chairman of the Seamen's Union at Canton to the effect that the demand for social rooms had been approved. This message was confirmed in a letter of the same date. Further instructions regarding the conditions of the grant were at the same time forwarded by letter to Messrs. Deacon & Co., the Company's Canton agents. Copiest of these letters are enclosed together with copy of a letter from the Company to the Colonial Secretary regard- ing the meeting at Government House. Representatives of the Union were interviewed at Canton by Messrs. Deacon & Co., on the 5th April, when they stated that they could not agree to furnish a fresh crew for the S.S. Kinshan, but must insist on the reinstatement of the strikers. This position was confirmed by the Union in writing.

5. The minutes of the meeting at Government House on the 4th April were sent to the Company on the 7th April, and on the 9th April they replied making certain reservations with regard to the A copy of this undertaking not to re-employ the striking crew. reply is enclosed. I am causing the writers to be informed that before I can recommend, any financial assistance against a fresh strike in, or boycott of, the Company's fleet I must be assured that they and Messrs. Butterfield & Swire (for the S.S. Fatshan which runs jointly with their fleet) will do their utmost to avoid re-employing any of the striking crew of the S.S. Kinshan. For the moment the matter rests there. Opportunity has been taken to dock the S.S. Kinshan, and no crisis is likely to arise till this vessel is ready for service again, when a fresh request for a new crew will be addressed by the Company to the Seamen's Union. This will take place about the 20th April. If the Union persists in its refusal, the ship will be furnished with a crew from a rival union having its headquarters in Hong Kong and, if the Seamen's Union calls out other crews, the process will be extended. The subsequent course of events will depend on the readi- ness and ability of the moderates in Canton to prevent any re- crudescence of the organised brigandage and piracy by armed strike pickets, which was the sole means by which the previous anti-British boycott was maintained. In the meantime the steamers are running normally.

6. I take the opportunity of enclosing the following documents:- (a) Report published in the Wa Taz Yat Po, Hong Kong, 24th March, of a speech by General Tseung Kai-shek delivered in Nanchang on the 7th March. Both the speaker and those at whom

‡ Not printed.

• No, 8 and 9.

198

+ Enclosure 3.

B 3

191

1