LABOUR UNIONS IN HONG KONG.
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Trade and Craft Guilds.
Mr. H.B. Morse writing in 1909, two years before
the establishment of the Republic, begins the Introduction
of his book "The Gilds of China" with the words:- "In her
gilds, as in so many others of her institutions, China
illustrates for us Europe as it was in the Middle Ages.
Further on he states that the guilds seldom or
never concerned themselves with the Government of the
country except in so far as their own trades were concerned;
within the trade the guild was supreme, and the officials did
not venture to intervene except on the rare occasions when a
disturbance of the peace was threatened.
Such an occasion, Mr. Morse suggests, might arise
in connection with a dispute about the rate of wages.
"Trading crafts often admit only one partner to represent a
firm, but in industrial crafts masters and artisans are
equally admitted to membership.
occasionally journeymen
they
may have their own organisations, but generally, when they
feel the need of combining against the masters,
have a meeting in a temple and form a fraternity, which then, when their object is accomplished, is forthwith dissolved.
Such was approximately the position of affairs in Hong Kong when the Societies Ordinance No.47 of 1911 was passed. The Registrar General in the course of correspondence which led up to the passing of the Ordinance, referred to "the
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newly organised guilds like the Engineers' (i.e. Mechanic's)
Union", as well as to "Workmen's Clubs sometimes called
Triad Lodges, though how much Triad there is in their
composition it is hard to say.
many breaches of the peace."
-
They are responsible for
His main object was, however,
to control the political activities of the district
associations.
The Societies Ordinance of 1911 required all
societies either to register or to secure exemption from
registration, and much interesting material is contained in
the lists of registered and exempted societies published in the Government Gazette during succeeding years. It appears for example that the only Trade Unions (in the modern sense)
in existence in 1911 were unions of mechanics, fitters and
compositors, that the trade and craft guilds, and most of the
workmen's clubs were exempted from registration, with certain marked exceptions. These included the numerous clubs of
workmen in the rattan industry who have always been notorious faction fighters, (and who carry knives in connection with their work), actors' clubs, and district associations;
the former being suspect on account of criminal tendencies,
the two latter because of their political activities in China.
The Societies Ordinance of 1911 was repealed in 1920 and the last return made under the old ordinance
appeared in the Government Gazette of April 17th, 1919. This return which was dated April 17th, 1918, includes thirty-six trade and craft guilds, five of which were composed of masters and men, thirty-five workmen's clubs of the old type (all exempted), and twenty-four "guilds and
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