THE CONFERENCE.
THE SUNDAY LABOUR QUESTION.
Held at City Hall at 4.30 pm. on Friday the 17th October, 1890.
DELEGATES.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL ASHTON, A. I. N. A.,
H. BATHURST (Chief of s.s. "Haitan").
J. W. GALE (not on Service).
A. C. H. CHAPMAN (not on Service). J. DOUGLAS (Chief of "Thales").
AND
President.
H. L. NEWHAM (not on Service). J. MADDOX (Second of "Tongshan"). J. A. BURKE (Second of "Chowfa"). W. WINCH (not on Service).
CHESNEY DUNCAN, Honorary Secretary.
"THE CHAMBER' was represented by----
MR. E. MACKINTOSH (Chairman). HON. J. J. KESWICK, HON. P. RYRIE.
"THE PRESS by
Mr. H. HOPPIUS.
MR. W. H. FORBES.
MR. Thos. JACKSON.
MR. JAMES was also present.
MR. L. Cox Daily Press). MR. D. Macdonald (China Mail).
MR. G. W. Ward (Telegraph). Editor of War Sun Yat Po (Chinese).
THE deputation numbered about twelve including Captain Ashton, the President of the Association.
Captain ASHTON having introduced the deputation, said-Mr. Mackintosh and gentlemen of the Chamber of Commerce, we should have liked to have had a larger number of our body here to-day but many of our members are away from the port on their official duties. We come before you to-day, to ask you to assist us in doing away with a very old custom of this port, a custom which we know you are not answerable for, a custom which has been handed down to you by your predecessors, a custom which we as a body of mercantile marine officers consider a very great injustice to us. The custom I refer to, is that of receiving and discharging cargo on board vessels on Sunday. We believe it to be not only an old custom but a bad custom, and one that brings no profit or good to any man, woman or child in the Colony. We as a body of officers, visit all the commercial ports of the world, and we find in nine-tenths of the ports we visit, there is some law restricting the discharging or receiving of cargo on board ship on a Sunday. Having visited these ports, we also notice the condition of the communities there, and we see that those communities who do, not work on Sunday are just as rich and just
as prosperous, and, as we think, just as happy as that of Hongkong, where Sunday labour is permitted. We do not see why as a body of officers we should be compelled to work on a Sunday. You must bear in mind that an officer is
SUNDAY LABOR IN HONGKONG HARBOUR,
13
compelled to be on board ship for days, and sometimes weeks, together. He is cooped up when he is on board, and he is subjected to a certain amount of discipline and restraint. He has to be ready to take his place on watch when the bell strikes, and he has to obey every order of his superior officer. He does that willingly, but he does like occasionally to get away from this restraint; and when he does get into a port where these prohibitive laws are in force and he is allowed to leave the ship and get away from this discipline and restraint, he enjoys himself as much as a boy taking his holidays from school, and he comes back in twelve or twenty-four hours, or whatever the time may be, to his work refreshed in body and in mind. But, on the contrary, when he arrives in the port of Hongkong on a Sunday-and mind you Sunday is about the only day a British officer has to go ashore, whether to go to church or to see his friends or amuse himself in whatever way he wishes-- if he goes to the Captain and "This being Sunday, can I
says:
ashore?" the go Captain very properly says No, you cannot, it is the custom of this port to work on Sunday, and your services are required on board this ship to superintend discharging and taking in of cargo.". And although the Captain may feel in his own mind that it would be a good thing for the man to get away from the ship, he cannot give him leave; he dare not do so; for the simple reason, that if any cargo boats come alongside to receive or discharge and there is no officer to superintend, We believe ourselves that the Captain gets himself into a row with his owners. there is neither profit nor advantage in Sunday work. I myself have been in command of men for a number of years, and I have always noticed that when you tell a man to do something which his nature revolts against and which the early teaching of his childhood is against, he naturally rebels against you, and although you can force him to do what you say, he does it in a half-hearted, sullen, discontented munner. So when he asks on a Sunday for liberty to go ashore, and his Captain tells him he cannot go, and orders him to the hatchway to superintend cargo, he does his work in a half-hearted way, and I believe that claims for lost property and damaged property, which the shipowners have to pay, are almost entirely due to this forced labour-labour which a man cousiders as moral slavery. I myself have never seen any profit come of Sunday labour. The Rev. Mr. Gold- smith, as I am sure you all know, interested himself in this matter some time ago, and he got up a petition which was signed very numerously by the Mercantile Marine community in this port. This petition, which I believe had some 600 signatures to it, was handed to our Governor here. Our Governor, in conjunction with the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Knutsford, appears to have given considerable attention to it, and we are led to believe from what our Governor said, that legislation to stop Sunday labour in this Harbour could only be arrived at by the advocacy of this honorable body, yourself, Sir, and the members of this Chamber of Commerce. I believe he intimated as much. Such being the case, we make bold to approach you, and to ask and beg of you to use your influence to the utmost with the Government of this Colouy to bring in some law against working We ask cargo in this port on Sunday. That is the purpose for which we are here. you to exert yourselves with the Government to induce them to bring in some ineasure to stop this moral slavery. I am quite sure the officers of this Association do not wish to quarrel with their owners, but they do think it is a great injustice that they should be forced to work cargo on Sunday in this port. We consider it an injustice to ourselves and to every Mercantile Marine officer, and we consider it somewhat of a blot and a slur on the fair name of this Colony. These are the main It is our wish to carry points in our case, and I think I need not say any more.
our point without any friction, to have no quarrel between owners and officers. Gentlemen of the Chamber of Commerce, whether your answer is in our favour or not-and we trust it will be--we shall receive it with the greatest respect, because, if we get the opinion of this Chamber we shall have a reliable opinion to go upon, coming as it does from the most influential and powerful body in this Colony. In giving your opinion therefore, whatever it may be, you will be doing the Association a kindness. It is an old saying, and no doubt a true one, that it is a good thing for We have had any man or any body of men to see themselves as others see them. plenty of opinious already, opinions from Brown, Jones and Robinson,-irresponsible opinions,- -but we come before you to-day to get a reliable opinion.
The CHAIRMAN-Mr. Ashton and Gentlemen of the deputation, we are very possibly pleased to see you here to-day, and I can assure you we shall do all we can to arrive at a friendly satisfactory conclusion. This matter is one that has long stirred the Chamber, and on which they tried to come to a conclusion as early as 1888. The first mention of it in our records is a letter from the Rev. A. G.
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