- 10.
or less played into the hands of our enemy. The strikers once having reached Chinese Territory are completely under the con- trol of the Canton Authorities who draft them into the Labour Army, force them to join the Kuomintang, or keep them hanging about Canton until it suits the Authorities to allow them to return to Hongkong. In spite of this, I think that the policy is a wise one. If these men returned to-morrow in any large numbers, we could find no employment for all of them, for our trade is paralysed by the boycott. Had they remained, the Government could not have let them starve, and the boycott which has deprived us of our income would at the same time have saddled us with the maintenance of these undesirables. But the policy might not suit all occasions, and should be carefully considered on each.
Declaration of a State of Emergency.
15. On the 22nd June the Government declared that a state of emergency existed, and took measures to maintain peace and order, to provide a new organisation to replace that temporarily paralysed by the strikers, and to safeguard the interests of the Colony generally. Food, Transport and Labour Controls were established; Cable, Postal and Newspaper Censorships were instituted; the Volunteers were called up; Special Police were enrolled; compensation was promised in case of death or injury as a result of remaining at work; a reward was offered for the arrest of agitators; and the free export of foodstuffs and money was prohibited.
1.
Food Control.
16. The Food Controller, Mr. N. L. Smith, has no doubt reported in detail the work of this Department, and the services rendered by his Assistants. Probably the greatest difficulty the Department encountered at the start was the refusal of stall- holders in the markets to function. For a few days there was an actual shortage of vegetables, only small quantities from the New Territories being available; and for a day or two no beef or pork could be had at all. To meet this shortage the Govern- ment permitted the free hawking of fresh meat, fish and vege- tables in the streets, and this timely action helped materially towards the early resumption of business by the market people. When the shortage was at its height, when prices of rice went abnormally high, the Committee of the Tung Wah Hospital, with the help of the Chinese Assistant Food Controllers, estab- lished rice and pork stalls, and personally attended to the sales. The former commodity was sold in small quantities and at cheap prices to the poor, but very soon the considerable drop in prices rendered such action unnecessary. The Government's policy of ridding the Colony of idlers saved us from any grave problem of food supply. By about the end of July our food situation became practically normal again. For this, the Food Controller and his Assistants (particularly Mr. Ho Kwong) deserve full credit, as do the Directors of the Tung Wah Hospital (especially its Chairman, Mr. Ma Chui-chiu), who, at a time when threats were rife, established and personally assisted at the food-staffs.
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