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The Daily Press.
HONGKONG. APRIL 1gr. 1805.
THE COOLIE STRIKE.
DEPUTATION TO THE GOVERNOR.
EXTRAORDINARY SCENE.
helane B
On Saturday afternoon the Committee ap- pointed at the public meeting held in the Cham- ber of Commerce Room on Thursday last waited upon His Excellency the Governor at Govern- ment House in order to make recommendations suggested by the leading Chinese in regard to the coole strike. The member of the Com- mittes present were Hon J. J. Krick (Chair) man Mogers. H. Mackintosh, G. B. Dodwell, N. A Simba, HI I. Doungs, and St. C. Michaelsen. They were accompanied by Hon Ho Kai. and there were also in the room Hou. J. H. Stewart- ¿ Lockhart (Colonial Secretary and Mr. F. H. May (Captain Superintendent of Police).
His EXCELLENCY having received the de- putation.
Hon. J. J. KESWICK said-We are the Com- mittee appointed at the public meeting which took place the day before yesterday to cousi er the crisis arising out of the labour difficulties. We had a meeting yesterday at the Conneil Chamber, and were there met by a large com mittee of Chinese compradores and parsons con- In-eted with various bongs.
His EXCELLENCY-At the Chamber of Com- merce ?
The Hon. J. J. KESWICK-At the Chambor of Commerce. The persons represented I have not the names of; but they were the masters el the principal Nam Pak-Hongs, the large mer- chauls, the pieco goods merchants, the coal mer- chants, opium merchants, shipping merchaats, and the compradores of the leading European firms. They represented to this Committee that the chief objection which the coolies had to the prosent registration law was the fear that it was a precursor of a poll tax, and we there- upon, after some considerable discussion with them, endeavoured to seek an interview with your Exo-liency, but as you were not at Govern- ment House we had an interview with the Colonial Sporetary. We informed the Colonial Secretary of what had passed, and in the evening be informed us that you were not prepared, or that you were averse, to acquiesce to the pro- posal which had been submitted, namely, that the landlords should be registered instead of the tenants. We returned to the deputation an i they informed us that the whole difficulty would be at once overcome if the members of the Committee present, on behalf of the various firms they rapresouted, would give a guarantee that there would be nothing in the shape of a poll tax. lu view of your Excellency's statement, we had no difficulty in giving a gizaranten. We gave them a guarantee, a translation of which has been put into the papers, which doubtless your Exoslenog has seen. Da mediately thereafter it would appear that the coolied representatives had become aware of this guarantee and the labourers were prepared to return to their work. It would appear, however, that they bethought themselves and decided that they would wait to see the issue of a notifica- tion from the Government. We hare coMS DOW, mr, to ask your Excellency, seeing that the strike contigues, what steps you believe would be practicable in order to put an end to the strike If I have not fully represented the views of the Committee, perbaps yon will allow some other gentleman to simplify the remarks I have made.
ale. B. MACKINTOSH-Your Excellency and gentlemen, the sole question that rests between the strikers and the employers of labour through the Government is this, the Government have insisted by their latest legislation that the coolie tenant of a cole heng, shall become registered to the Goverument to fulfil the various obliga- tious under the by-laws that have been passed by the Legislative Council or by the Sanitary Board; and in the event of the coolie tenant;
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being unavailable and that he cannot bu göt'átic shall devolve upon the landlord or the owner of the property. it appears to me that the Chi- nese in asking for the obliteration of the coolie teuant are
on all fours with their desire that they should obtain from us and also from the Government a statement that no poll tax or registration fee will be im posad. 1 you will look at it, the Government have grauled these two positious-first the tou- ant, next the landlord; ergo, it is optional for the registrar to put forward the tenant or the land- lord; therefore these gentlemen who are speak- ing for the coolie hougs have no grievance what- ever, either as regards the imposition of a poll tax oc as regards a guarantee that shall be giren, because they can simply say to the Government, We will not give the tenant; we will give the lan lord." The thing is in a nutshell. If the Government dechue to strike out the tenant and rely solely on the landowner, the Chinese can simply say the tenant is non est; here is I think this is a solution of the lanet," the whole thing. It is really a quibble in terms. The Government insist apon people; failing one they will take the other-- one the tenant, the other the landlord. The deputation we saw yesterday. I may say, is unt a deputation from the coolie guilds or the strikers in any shape or way. Our diffoulty when we were appointed was to get at the coolio gentlemen, and we believe the Government bare had exactly the same diffically as ours-Ives We cannot get at them. They have fled; they cannot be found. Our next position was to get at thom who we think, and we think reasonably, ace in some way connected with the coolie bongs and have seiae indaence over them, and bear what their grievance 18. We have individually tried to find out what special grievance there is. and after careful examination of every state- ment put before ns it amounts to nothing. It is really a grievance against the Governmen: for passing regulations they think will be a re- striction upon them. This restriction, I think, can be got over by an explanatory proclamation stating a recapitulation of the guarantee given by the Committes that there will be no pull tx and no registration fes, and that the laudlord of the house shall be the guarantor instead of the tenant. It is optional for these gentlemen to say, We will not give a guarantee; here is the laud- lord." If that were to be put in a proclamation and published throughout the colony, 1 think the thing would be finished to-morrow. I may say that these Chinese gentlemen we met asked us to gitn the guarantee, which we were perfectly prepared to give. We gave it with the idea of resuming business in this colony as quickly as we possibly conid, for it is a matter of the most serious im- portance to the whole community. We see that these gentlemen stated that their own loss WAS 3200,000 for the two or three days. That is pro- hably exaggerated, hnt speaking for myself and the other members of the deputation round yon, most of them largely connected with labour works in this colony. I may say that the losses of these gentlemen will not fall very far short of that sum. Hon. Dr. Ho Kar-I was invited by Mr. Kos- wick to attend the meeting to day, no doubt with a view of supporting the recommendation of the Committee. I must say that the decision of the deputation was in agreement with, what on a former occasion a certain number of the Chinese had recommended in another place, that the landlords should be allowed to register for the tenants and the head coolies. After they have settled down and seen that the law will work no hardship upon them they would very likely be induced to register for themselves. It is prefectly plain that these colies are iguorant and have no knowledge of what is really good for them, and, like children when they see a strange thing for the first time, they are apt to be very shy. But as soon as they become moro acquainted with the law and the working of it, I have not the slightest doubt they will quietly submit to the views of the Government. The advantage of having land- owners registered is this. So far as the coolies are concerned they do not get much advice; they But the landlords, do not know pary much. who are a more intelligent body of persous and can get legal advice whenever they desire, protect themselves if they choose by
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