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SUNDAY LABOR IN HONGKONG HARBOUR.
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it is so
kept open and shipping clerks busily engaged--there is absolutely no necessity and no justification. The loading and unloading of cargo could be just as easily and economically managed without either delaying the ship or infringing on the all but universally recognised right of every man who works hard six days in the week to have a day of comparative rest on the seventh. Employers of labour, ship-owners, agents, etc., pretend they don't see the force of this sort of argument, but it is merely their innate modesty which makes them try to resemble NELSON before Copenhagen. They do see it and recognise its absolute truth, but this obsolete fetich is a very ancient article of faith, and with "the classes hard to get out of the old groove. It was just the same with the early closing movement at home thirty years ago. Employers held up their hands in horror and shrieked when early closing and a weekly half-holiday were proposed as a rational concession to the masses who toiled in offices, warehouses, shops, etc., from dawn on Monday morning until Saturday at midnight; the proposed change was predicted to ruin everybody and everything-it was a radical infringement on vested right, the right of capital to control labour in a fashion that was pure slavery; but the change was made notwithstanding the employers' opposition, and the whole world knows the beneficial results. And so it must be with Sunday labour in this Colony. If those who control shipping interests here will insist on shutting their eyes and remaining obstinate and obdurate to the voice of reason and common-sense, they must submit to the fortiter in re. Nobody, not even the men who suffer most by this Sunday labour has any desire to give offence to their employers or to canse the slightest trouble or inconvenience in regard to business arrangements. They are ready and willing to meet those whose interests they are paid to safeguard and protect on a common platform, and to make every reasonable concession that may in any way bo calculated to place the matter on a footing satisfactory to all concerned. But the fiat has irrevocably gone forth that, whether by amicable arrangement or an open war between shipowners and their employés, Sunday labour on board ship in Hongkong musi cease. If the members of the Mercantile Marine Officers' Association remain true to themselves --and if they don't the Association and its pretensions are a hollow sham--they should experience but little difficulty in obtaining from shipowners the inestimable boon of one day's rest in seven, when they happen to be in this port.
We do not advocate this change, we never have done so, on religious grounds, although the Rev. Mr. GOLDSMITH has made out a very good case from his point of view. When all other laborers are enjoying their "one day of rest in seven," why should sailors, whose toil is alike dangerous and arduous, be the only galley slaves in the world? That is what we should like to have satisfactorily explained. The opinions of Governors DES VEUX and SMITH that it would be unwise to stop Sunday labour by legislative enactment, can carry but little weight with those who are acquainted with the subject. As regards Lord Knutsford's opinions, if he ever had any, they may safely be ignored. If the Government will not legislate for this grievance, and if the ship-owners and agents refuse to come to reasonable terms, then the marine officers must adopt the recommended by their President, Capt. S. ASHTON, at last Saturday's meeting of the Association--and demand extra pay for Sunday work. And in the event of that reasonable request being refused, the inevitable will have to be faced once and for all, and in any struggle that may take place in the Far East between ship-owners and their officers, the victors will be the coalition that remembers and acts up to the old proverb-UNITY IS STRENGTH,-“ Hongkong Telegraph," 8th September 1890.
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SUNDAY LABOR IN HONGKONG HARBOUR
Rev. A. G. Goldsmith on "The Sunday Labour Question."
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At the meeting of the Mercantile Marine Officers' Association held on Tuesday, the 16th Sept., the following communication from the Rev. A. G. Goldsmith, Seamens' Chaplain, was read :---
"GENTLEMEN,At the request of your Secretary I am writing a few remarks on the important question which you have introduced into your deliberations lately-the Sunday Rest question.
It is with pleasure that I comply with his request, for as you are aware, it is a question in which And in I have considered it my duty in some measure to take an interest. The question is a wide one. a Free Port like Hongkong, where there are no European Custom House officials, and where the labour is heathen coolie labour, it is naturally one not easily settled. But that it will be settled, and favourably, for those who desire the benefits of the Sunday Rest, I think there can be no real doubt, if they show that they do desire it.
There are no two sides to the question whether Sunday observance is desirable or not. quote the words of two leading men in the political world, delivered on the occasion of the French International Congress, called in September 1889, to consider what could be done to secure the Sabbath for France.
Let me
Mr. Harrison, President of the United States, wrote to M. Leon Say as follows : ---
Experience and observation have convinced me that all persons working either with the banda or mentally need rest, which Sunday observance alone can guarantee to them. Philanthropists and Christians can consider the question in all its different points of view, but whether we consider man as an animal or as a human being, we ought to unite together to secure for him the rest which body and mind equally claim in order to be maintained in the best possible condition. Those who do not see the Divine Command in the Bible cannot fail to see it in man himself.
Mr. Gladstone also wrote to the President of the Congress in the following words :-
It seems to me unquestionable that the observance of Sunday rest has taken deep root both in the convictions and in the habits of the immense unjority of my countrymen. If it appears to many of them a necessity of spiritual and Christian life, others, not less numerous, defend it with equal energy as a social necessity. The working class is extremely jealous of it, and is opposed not merely to its avowed abolition, but to whatever might indirectly tend to that resuit. Personally, I have always endeavonred as far as circumstances have allowed, to exercise this privilege; and now nearly at the end of a laborious public career of nearly 57 years, I attribute in great part to that cause the prolongation of my life, and the preservation of the faculties I reay atill possess. As regards the masses, the question is still more important; it is the popular question par excellence."
I might also allude to the recent action in Germany to introduce into the Reichstag an ordinance forbidding Sunday labour, except on certain conditions, and when absolutely necessary; and limiting labour on that day to 5 hours in commercial circles, so as not to clog the wheels of transportation and shipping. I have myself conferred with the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce on this matter, as it regardle the port of Hongkong. And their answer has been made public, that they sympathized with the movement but would not advocate legislation.
Individually, I feel convinced, both shipowners and merchants as a rule have no wish to see their ships working on Sunday, and in some cases consider it is through ignorance of what Sunday working of cargo really entails upon all the officers and engineers, that so much of it is permitted. Therefore it is most essential that the said officers and engineers should decidedly intimate their feeling by their own voice.
No reasonable mau objects to working on Sunday or on any other generally recognised holiday. or Holy Day, in cases of absolute necessity. The opinions which I have heard expressed by officers and others from time to time on this matter have always been of a most temperate and sensible kind. You are only auxions to secure the rule for the day of rest, as I understand. In fact you ask for that which Sir Robert Hart obtained long ago for the Custom House officials in China-no work on Sunday except on certain conditions which are provided for.
I was very auch interested in Captain Ashton's speech at your extraordinary meeting last Saturday; and would especially note his remark to the effect that "overtime pay" for Sunday work is not your ultimate desire, and that any proposal to this effect would not meet your wishes. It is not the money you ask. You do not seek to grow rich at your employer's expouse, if I may put it so; but you ask for that which every Englishuan has learnt to consider as his heritage. If I rightly estimate your feelings, I believe I am stating the case fairly when I say you are anxious to promote the interests of your owners and their agents, but simply request that they will also consider whether they cannot come forward and promote your interests also by obtaining for you the religious, moral, and physical benefits of our Christian Sunday. You are well aware that I consider the religious benefits first and foremost, though I am not indifferent to the social and physical benefits.
This great end cannot be obtained without Legislation, so that no one company should be driven to leeward because of the indifference of another company. It would not be fair to a shipowner who wished to give his officers and men their Sunday if he found other companies were working their ships without let or hindrance alongside of him. Logislation is needed, placing a prohibition on Sunday work except in cases of absolute necessity, when permission could be obtained for that purpose. And this permission would include a money payment similar to that required for Sunday work in Bombay, eg.,— the S. O. No. 1802 of 23rd August 1882 runs as follows: "Sunday working on board steamers in the
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