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On landing I reported the conversations at
Government House and my conversations with Mr. Sung to
the Consul-General. Sir James expressed the opinion that
Mr. Sung was a man of parts but a nonentity in the Government,
an opinion which, I informed him, I was unable to endorse.
I asked Sir James for his view on the question of strike
pay. He was not definite as to the British merchants but
he though that the Chinese should pay. A settlement was
imperative, at least in so far as British shipping was
concerned, and after all it was the usual practice in
China. Whatever the rights and wrongs of a dispute it was
always settled by a payment exacted from the merchants. The Hongkong Government's great mistake in the Seamen's Strike was the closing of the Seamen's Union. That step
should never have been taken.
At 10.30 p.m. Mr. Maurice Cohen brought a
note from Mr. Sung regarding the arrangements made. I took the opportunity to ask Mr. Cohen some questions and he thereupon volunteered his views on the whole situation. A settlement was earnestly desired. The man who counted was Mr. Sung. He had very great influence and the fact that he had been chosen to go to Hongkong was most significant. He would never have gone uhless he had felt confident that a settlement was really in sight, as he
would lose face if it fell through. But Borodin was a power to be reckoned with. He still had great influence, especially with Mir. Sung who was his particular friend. The Canton Government owed the Russians a great debt of gratitude. Mr. Cohen had arranged with Dr. Sun to enlist Canadians to train his army, and he had actually got the men, but the Consul-General stood in the way; theymust register at the
The re Consulate and would not be allowed to do the work.
was then nothing for it but to employ Germans or Russians, and Borodin came forward. Borodin saw exactly what was wanted and he brought out his men. They were of an inferior
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