-
- 2
41
116
of various steamship companies were,in consequence,
tied up
in Hong Kong harbour, some, if not all, of the ships belonging to the Indo-China Steam Navi- gation Company (General Managers, Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Company) were able to clear during even the worst days of the strike, that is, from the 20th June to the 3rd July, 1925. This was made possible by utilizing the services of an opposition labour union, the "Hong Hoi" Seamen's Union, which was formed after the 1922 strike with the encourage-
ment of Mr. E.R. Hallifax, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. Its leader, Chiu Chun-ting, ran graat
personal risks in this matter and had for some days to be protected by an armed guard. By means of this Union the vessels of the Hong Kong, Canton & Macau O Steamboat Company, which had in the first days of the strike been operated between Hong Kong and Canton by naval ratings, were provided with strike-breaking crews, who remained loyal to the Company throughout the period of the strike and the ensuing anti-British
boycott.
3.
The anti-British boycott was nominally called
off by the Canton Government on the 10th October, 1926. Thereupon the companies other than the Hong Kong, Canton & Macau Steamboat Company, interested in steam traffic between Hong Kong and Canton and in the West River Delta, brought again into commission their river steamers and launches, which had been laid up since
June, 1925, and manned them with crews supplied by the
Canton Seamen's Union; but the Steamboat Company
continued to run its steamers with the strike-breaking
crews
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.