C 6-
FACTORIES.
30. Mr. F. Meade continued to act as Inspector of Factories under the Industrial Employment of Children Ordinance: he also acted as Inspector under the Factory (Accidents) Ordinance, 1927.
His report (Annexe B) contains an interesting survey of factory conditions in the Colony during 1928.
LABOUR.
31. No strikes or other disputes of importance occurred during the year though there were several minor incidents.
In January there was a short-lived strike at the Fung Keung Rubber Factory at Shaukeiwan which followed the refusal of the owners to grant certain demands, for more wages, shorter hours, etc., which were suddenly presented to them by the workers. Later on definite evidence was discovered in a Communist den in Percival Street that the whole affair had been deliberately organised by two women Communists.
In March there was a strike of four or five days duration at the Sincere Perfumery Factory at Kennedy Town, arising from the stricter enforcement of the searching of employees on leaving the premises and a proposal by the management to raise the amount of security deposited by each employee to two dollars. This proposal was dropped and the strike settled itself.
In August the Kowloon Docks became the centre of a violent agitation against the system of engagement through foremen with its alleged "squeezing" of the workmen. The source of the agitation was traced to the Sing Ngai Kwan Workmen's Club. Communist organisations also have been quick to seize on this grievance as an occasion for propaganda and references to it occur frequently in pamphlets distributed from time to time among the Dockyard workers.
The Shiu Hing Knitting Factory was the scene of a small strike on the part of a few women in September, the reason given being dissatisfaction with the piece-rates. Only about fifteen women stopped work and they were replaced by new hands.
In October there was a feeble attempt to create trouble at the Man Fuk Knitting Factory where about a dozen men suddenly stopped work without any apparent reason.
It would seem that Communists were active here since several references to the incident have been found in Communist documents which have fallen into our hands. Similar references were made to quite unimportant incidents which occurred in December at the Tai Hing Knitting Factory and the Kwong Sang Lung Engineering Works.
C 6-
FACTORIES.
30. Mr. F. Meade continued to act as Inspector of Factories under the Industrial Employment of Children Ordinance: he also acted as Inspector under the Factory (Accidents) Ordinance, 1927.
His report (Annexe B) contains an interesting survey of factory conditions in the Colony during 1928.
LABOUR.
31. No strikes or other disputes of importance occurred during the year though there were several minor incidents.
In January there was a short-lived strike at the Fung Keung Rubber Factory at Shaukeiwan which followed the refusal of the owners to grant certain demands, for more wages, shorter hours, etc., which were suddenly presented to them by the workers. Later on definite evidence was discovered in a Com- munist den in Percival Street that the whole affair had been. deliberately organised by two women Communists.
In March there was a strike of four or five days duration at the Sincere Perfumery Factory at Kennedy Town, arising from the stricter enforcement of the searching of employees on leaving the premises and a proposal by the management to raise the amount of security deposited by each employee to two dollars. This proposal was dropped and the strike settled itself.
In August the Kowloon Docks became the centre of a violent agitation against the system of engagement through foremen with its alleged "squeezing" of the workmen. The source of the agitation was traced to the Sing Ngai Kwan Work- men's Club. Communist organisations also have been quick to seize on this grievance as an occasion for propaganda and references to it occur frequently in pamphlets distributed from time to time among the Dockyard workers.
The Shiu Hing Knitting Factory was the scene of a small strike on the part of a few women in September, the reason given being dissatisfaction with the piece-rates. Only about fifteen women stopped work and they were replaced by new
hands.
In October there was a feeble attempt to create trouble at the Man Fuk Knitting Factory where about a dozen men suddenly stopped work without any apparent reason.
It would seem that Communists were active here since several references to the incident have been found in Communist documents which have fallen into our hands. Similar references were made to quite unimportant incidents which occurred in December at the Tai Hing Knitting Factory and the Kwong Sang Lung Engineer- ing Works.
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