CO885-11 — Page 9

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

PERNIC.O.882/11

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

Confidential.

SIR,

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Hongkong, 24th October, 1925.

Now that our daily life is once more pursuing its even tenor, and while recent events are still fresh in my mind, I have thought it useful to place before the Government a record of our experi- ences of the past four and a half months, and to estimate the effectiveness of the measures adopted by the Government, so that should a similar emergency arise here again, we would be in a better position to deal with it. I will not try to arrange the events of this period in chronological order, or attempt a history of the "Strike "; it will be enough to refer to its cause and the damage It has done us, and to describe and examine a number of the more important measures taken to counteract its effects.

Part I.

THE STRIKE: ITS CAUSES AND EFFECTS.

Cause.

2. The strike was undoubtedly caused by a Bolshevist intrigue in Canton, conducted with the avowed object of destroying the economic life of Hongkong. That this was the Chinese view is shown by the resolution passed by the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and the Association of the Twenty-four Mercantile Guilds on the 10th August, 1925, and subsequently transmitted to the Secretary of State for the Colonies through His Excellency the Governor. These resolutions have doubtless helped to place the situation in true perspective for the better understanding of the Home Government.

Commencement.

3. The Shanghai shooting incident occurred on the 30th May, 1925, but there was no threat of a strike in Hongkong until the fighting in Canton between the Yunnanese and the Kuomintang party had nearly ended. This fighting continued from the beginning of June to the 12th, on which day the Yunnanese were routed; and with the report of that defeat came persistent rumours of an approaching general strike in Hongkong.

4. While fighting was going on in Canton, Sun Fo, C. C. Wu and Foo Ping-sheung were in the Colony; and the Hon. Mr. Chow Shou-son and I were able to arrange for the Hon. Mr. D. W. Tratman and Mr. A. G. M. Fletcher to meet them at dinner in my house one evening. It was made quite clear beforehand that the meeting was purely private and had no official significance whatsoever. The meeting promoted such a friendly feeling on both sides that the next day Mr. Chow Shou-son and I found no difficulty in persuading these three Canton officials to endeavour to prevent the strike." This action did delay, though it did not

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succeed in preventing, the outbreak of the strike, and I subse- quently heard on good authority than Sun Fo, at least, had exerted his influence as he had promised.

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by her

5. The trouble commenced in the various Government and grant-aided schools in the Colony. The industrial strike began with the abandonment in Macao of the s.s. "Sui Tai Chinese crew on the 19th June, and on the same day the crews came out in Hongkong. of the "Kinshan" and "Fatshan The men on other British-owned boats followed in quick succes- sion. The crews of Chinese-owned steamers were, however, not called out until they had brought most of the strikers and their families from Hongkong to Canton. This done, they too went on strike.

Spread of the Strike.

6. On the 20th June the boys at the Peak Hotel and the Peak Club walked out, and on the next day the employees of the Lower Tramways ceased work. House-boys on the Peak began to Steve- steal away, and the Chinese staffs of the Repulse Bay Hotel, Hongkong Hotel, and Café Wisemen also disappeared. dores and cargo-coolies refused to work ships; the telegraph- A day later the strike spread to the messengers also struck.

The movement holders of vegetable and fish-stalls in the markets; and the public began to be very seriously inconvenienced. gathered momentum every day, the employees of business houses and private citizens, and even of the Government, desert- ing their posts in quickening succession, until a sudden check came early in July. This was administered by the Chairman of the Chinese Engineers' Guild, Mr. Hon Man-wai, who is the chief mechanic at the Hongkong University. He issued a bold manifesto advising his own men to stick to their work; and he and his Guild firmly resisted all pressure brought to bear on them to reverse the decision they had made by ballot.

Reasons for the Spread-(a) Intimidation and Lying Rumours.

7. Why did intelligent and ordinarily reasonable men, including Government employees in the Post Office, Harbour Department and Sanitary Department, leave their work so readily and suddenly, even sacrificing outstanding wages and, in some cases, Was it a spontaneous outbreak of prospects of a pension? patriotic indignation at the unfortunate shooting incident in Shanghai? Or was it a secession brought about by unbearable It was neither, but an exhibition of pure living conditions?

One would terror, of panic fear, in all but a very few cases. imagine that only desperate danger could induce such extreme fright, but in point of fact, the very slightest causes-an unsigned scrawl on a slip of paper, a mere warning word or look, or a telephone message from an unknown person--were sufficient to send them hurrying and scurrying out of their jobs! But panic is usually out of all proportion to its proximate cause. The real cause is to be found in a state of mind induced by a series of preceding events.