CO885-11 — Page 44

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

Hmmmmm C.O. 882/11

| ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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Chinese merchants in Hongkong. We begged of him to assist us by suggesting some scheme which would be an alternative to the strikers in lieu of reinstatement, &c. He said that he had never thought of the matter and asked us what we proposed to do. We outlined our suggestions and he then enquired the amount. We said we had no definite sum in view but that the Chinese in Hongkong felt that in these hard times it would be very difficult to raise a sum like three lakhs. Mr. Wu laughed and thought it would be futile to expect the strikers to give up the demands for a mere "[Chinese characters]" (lucky money). He said our suggestion would seem to bring the settlement, not nearer, but further apart, since it was never even suggested that an arbitrary sum, having no relation to strike pay or reinstatement, We were not even working the should take the place of both. problem on the Hongkong suggestion of separating the terms into two classes and concentrating ourselves on the economic ones. I said we were up there to discuss the amount with the strikers and were merely expressing our doubt of our ability to find the sum if it were based on strict measures of compensation.

We then pressed him as to his views as to the amount. said he had spoken to the strikers who were going into the figures. He apprehended, though he did not know, that the strikers would proceed more or less as follows:-They would calculate the number of men on strike: the amount of strike pay was easy as a matter of arithmetic. The difficulty was to find a sum which would compensate them for non-reinstatement. He had heard that there were about 270,000 strikers, of whom there were at least 40,000 in Canton. Assuming the number of strikers to be 150,000 and the average wages a month to be $50 we could I in my turn laughed and more or less imagine that amount. said that I thought even America could not pay such a sum.

Mr. Wu stated that it was true that Mr. Fletcher had been up; Mr. Fletcher seemed to think that the demands which related to politics or to the Hongkong Government could best be discussed between the two Governments. He made it clear that the Canton Government could not negotiate by displacing the strikers, but he had intimated that if all the terms which related to mere economics had been settled to the satisfaction of the strikers, he would endeavour to find some formula, after consultation with the strikers, under which the Canton Government would discuss the rest of the terms with the Hongkong Government.

In the course of this very lengthy discussion Mr. Wu seemed to have great difficulty in understanding why the four delegates appointed by the Hongkong Government would not come up to negotiate. I professed complete ignorance of the history of negotiation between Hongkong and Canton, but I told Mr. Wu fully what had happened when the Canton delegates arrived in Hongkong and how it came about that the Chinese merchants approached the Chinese members of Council to get the Hong- kong Government to make the appointment of official delegates (i.e. to comply with the expressed wishes of the Canton delega- tion).

Mr. Wu also dealt with the position of the Canton Government. The Canton Government was an interested party because the

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strike affected Chinese and the strikers were Chinese. But it was not and could not become a principal. At the invitation of the Hongkong Government it would act as mediators, but the Hong- kong Government did not wish to make that request but merely expressed the view that the Canton Government should so act. said since the settlement of the strike would benefit Chinese most, just as the continuance of the strike would damage the Chinese most, and since our delegation was a Chinese delegation, we would ask him as the Canton Government to act as mediator in our proposed discussions. Mr. Wu laughed and said that since the strike was not aimed at the Chinese and since the Canton Government could not therefore be a party as against the Canton strikers there could be no question of a mediator for the Hong- kong Chinese.

The whole trend of his conversation seemed to be that as the strikers expected, and rightly expected, that the Hongkong Government should send up official delegates representing the whole community, or at all events that there would be delegates on behalf of the European community, they could not very well be satisfied with a mere Chinese delegation because there never was any quarrel between Chinese and Chinese. I might also add that in answer to Mr. Li Yan Chuen's point as to the suffering of the merchants in both places, Mr. Wu strongly refuted the He referred to the suggestion that Canton tråde had suffered. direct shipment which Canton now enjoys, &c., &c. He thought that the question of settlement was a matter of indifference to the Canton merchants as the trade and business of the place as whole had increased and not diminished as a result of the strike, but he added that the Canton Government certainly desired a settlement both from the point of view of the Hongkong strikers and of the Canton Government, which was losing money owing On the amount of compensation which had formed

to the strike.

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the subject of an earlier conversation he expressed the view that the settlement would bring about a great prosperity to both places because Hongkong would benefit by the fact that the whole of Kwang Tung was now united, and the trade would not be merely the trade of Canton and the surrounding districts but the whole of Kwang Tung. He said Mr. Fletcher admitted this.

On the 31st Mr. Li Yau Chuen and myself went to see Mr. T. V. Soong at his house at 9 a.m. and discussed the matter till 10 a.m. Mr. Soong was very much more sympathetic and stated he would gladly assist where his assistance could fairly be given. He said he received a personal letter from Mr. Fletcher who expressed the hope that the matter would be settled before Mr. Fletcher left the Colony "now that all difficulties had been removed." But Mr. Soong could not understand what Mr. Fletcher meant because the difficulties still existed and were great. He said he had made it very clear to Mr. Fletcher that it was not the opinion of the Canton Government that the matter could be settled by some payment in lieu of reinstatement and strike pay, although it was agreed if the commercial terms had been settled the Canton Government would do its best as regards negotiating the other terms.

I have known Mr. Soong for a few years; he was extremely friendly and struck me as being genuinely desirous of an early settlement.