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and Mr. N.S. Brown and Mr. Ellems (Secretary). Mr. Brown,
who since the meeting of the 20th April had consulted his principals (Messrs. Butterfield & Swire) in London by telegram, informed me that he was in receipt of telegraphic instructions that the striking crew of s.s. "Kinshan" should be reinstated: and a majority of the Directors took the view that the striking crew should be re-engaged, with the exception of any known extremists, not directly through the Canton Seamen's Union but through the Compradore of the s.s. "Taishan", no wages being paid for the period during which the crew had been absent.
8. As this step amounts practically to another complete surrender to the Canton Seamen's Union, at a time when there is in the opinion of myself and my principal advisers no need for such surrender, but on the contrary a good opportunity (in view of the Canton coup d'état) of making head successfully against the tyranny of this Union, I set before the Directors of the Company in the strongest terms possible the dangers to themselves and to the Colony of the course which they proposed, in deference to the wishes of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, to pursue. I regret to say that
I failed to move them from their decision, three of the Directors (Messrs. Weall, Paterson and Alves) being
in favour of reinstatement and two (Mr. Johnson and Sir Robert Ho Tung) being in favour of a non-union crew. My regret is the greater in that it became quite clear
during the discussion that the Directors, in view of the policy of His Majesty's Government on the Yang-tsze,
had lost all faith in the ability or even the will of
His Majesty's Government to help them in a fight against
Chinese
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