24
SUNDAY LABOR IN HONGKONG HARBOUR.
If I may venture to advise the Association, I would suggest to them that there is a very large and influential shipping Company which has a very large stake in Hongkong, namely, the P. & O., and I think it would be wise on their part to approach the Managing Agent and obtain his views on the question which they have so much at heart. Their steamers call at all the various ports where Sunday labour is prohibited, and their Agent might be able to give much information in regard to what action the Company would take concerning the question at issue.
I am sure the Mercantile Officers Association has the heart-felt sympathy of evory right- thinking individual, and it is sincerely to be hoped that they will in no wise allow the lukewarm and half-hearted professions of sympathy expressed by the Chairman and various members of the Chamber of Commerce to in any way damp their ardour or enthusiasm in the good cause which they have taken in hand, and in which it is to be hoped they will persevere with unabated energy and combined effort until the glorious boon is gained for the hard-faring Mariner.
Thanking you in anticipation for the favour of inserting this,
Hongkong, 28th October, 1890.
1 am, Dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
"BARNACLES."
No. 148 M.
SUNDAY LABOR IN HONGKONG HARBOUR.
25
HARBOUR DEPARTMENT, Hongkong, 25th October, 1800.
DEAR SIR-CHINESE Junks pay 25 cents when entering and 25 cents when clearing, unless they
are Jacensed Junks, when they pay only their License Tec. Other vessels pay no entry nor clearance fee, only Light-dues.
For January-June 1890-
Junks (not including Out-stations) British Vessels
Others
Chinese Junks pay no light dues whatever.
I am, Sir,
TONNAGE ENTERED
Tonnes, 771,802
1,677,918
610,203
2,288,121
THE SUNDAY LABOUR QUESTION-A SUGGESTION.
·CHESNEY DUNCAN, Esq.,
Hon. Secretary,
BRITISH M. M. O. AssocIATION,
Hongkong.
Yours faithfully,
R. MURRAY RUMSEY,
Harbour Master, &c.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS.**
DEAR SIRA good deal has already been said and written on this important question, but none of those who have rushed into print have made any practical, or what appears to me to be useful, suggestions as to the way in which special fees can be charged for the privilege (I use the word privilege advisedly, for it can, or should, he regarded by shipowners as a favour to be permitted to carry on work on board ships in this harbour ou Sanday after the efforts that are, and have been, made to put a stop to it) of working cargo in a British port on the Sabbath.
My ideu is, that granting they have to pay a substantial fee to Government for permission to "break bulk" or load ships on Sunday, it would tend to reduce any appreciable loss sustained thereby if the Light Dues, now 24 cents per ton on vessels of foreign construction, were reduced. I don't say that there is any necessity for reducing the Light Dues and merely make the suggestion for what it may be worth.
Chinese junks, about which so much has been said, pay only 25 cents each, when entering, and 25 cents when leaving, this port, unless they are licensed, when they pay only their licence fee,
For
the six months ended the 30th of June of this year, the total tonnage of vessels of foreign construction entering this port was 2,288,121 tons as against 770,000 for Chinese junks! Of the former, 1,677,918 represents British tonnage alone,
Thanking you in anticipation for inserting this letter.Yours, etc.,
No. 151 M.
HARBOUR DEPT., 29th October, 1890.
DEAR SIR, I Beo to hand you Copy of the latest Government Notification with reference to the amount of Light-dues levied in this Port.
Faithfully yours,
R. MURRAY RUMSEY,
Harbour Master, do.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.—No. 101.
The following Orders made by the Governor in Council, under the provisions of Section 34 of The Merchant Shipping Consolidation Ordinance, 1879, and Ordinance No. 35 of 1889, are published for general information.
Hongkong, S0th October, 1890.
CHINESE RUMOURS.
BRITISH SAILOR.
By Command,
WV. M. DEANE,
Acting Colonial Secretary,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 15th March, 1890.
Can this be so? Many Chinese who should know what they talk about and who are not given to "gassing," say that the influential merchants and large employers of labour among them are drawing up a petition for presentation to Government, in which it is set forth that they consider the most acceptable favour to be bestowed by Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, upon this colony in virtue of its Jubilee celebration next year, will be the boon of Sunday Rest. This is, indeed, a modest request, a concession de facto which Her Majesty can scarcely refuse, more especially should legislation on the subject be advocated by the local Chamber of Commerce. In the face of such representations it is hardly conceivable that the Queen's advisers would have much doubt as to what course to recommend their Sovereign to adopt under the circumstances. There is, on the contrary, every reason for believing that Her Majesty would joyfully give her consent to such reform in the social condition of this colony." Telegraph," October, 1890,
ORDERS
Made by the Governor in Council, pursuant to The Merchant Shipping Consolidation Ordinance, 1879, Section 34, and Ordinance No. 35 of 1889, this 11th day of March, 1890:----
1. From and after the first day of April, 1890, all Ships which enter the waters of the Colony except British and foreign Ships of War, and except such other Ships as are hereby excmpted in whole or part, shall pay the following Light Dues in substitution for the Light Dues hitherto imposed; viz.
Two and a half cents per ton.
2. All Steamers, plying only between Hongkong and Canton or Macao, which enter the waters of the Colony by day, and all Chinese Junks, are hereby exempted from the payment of such Light Dues.
3. All Steamers, plying only between Hongkong and Canton or Macao, which enter the waters of
the Colony by night, shall pay one cent only per ton.
COUNCIL CHAMBER,
Hongkong.
ARATHOON SETH,
Clerk of Councils.
159
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.