1926-07-26 — Page 5

Page

CHINESE

DELEGATES

PROPOSALS.

THE BRITISH ANSWER.

FINANCIAL COMPENSATION CATEGORICALLY REFUSED.

Following Mr. Eugene Chen's review of the British reply to the Canton case, on Wednesday (which appears on "päges 9 and 6), the Chinese delegates submitted certain proposals. They were in brief

(1) An impartial Court of Enquiry to decide controversial issues; or alternatively

(a) Guarantees that there should be no repetition of the action of June 3rd, 1995: these guarantees to include regulating, the garrison of Shameen and the stationing of British gunboats on the rivers

(b) Compensation for the families of those killed and wounded.

(e) Money for the solution of the unemployment problem

In their reply the British delegates stated they would consult their Gov- ernment regarding a Court of Enquiry, but categorically declared that so settlement involving the payment of compensation to strikers could be entertained. '

*******The Chinese then proposed that pending the holding of a Court of Enquiry a lean should be raised by Canton and Hongkong jointly, the Hongkong section of the loan to be repaid if the Court of Enquiry decided in favour of the British.

7

This proposal being rejected, the "Canton delegates asked for sugges- tions from the British side. The British.delegates stated that they would agree to a settlement of the dispute in the form of an industrial load for -specified purposes under certain conditions. The Chinese on their part

asked for time to consider this proposition.

The communiqué issued the Chinese delegation covering this discussion is as follows:-

BRITISH REPLY:

THE

Since the Chinese delegation affirm that It is clear that if both sides are actu the British are in the wrong on thresated by the same desire to arrive at an points, stated in our first statement, amicable settlement both sides must be namely, the first, Shameen-Sfiakee shoot. I prepared to make serious concessions. ing; the second, blockade of Canton by! Hongkong, and the third, refusal of negotiation implied in the summary rejec

In reply to the first proposal for an tion of the demands formulated by the impartial Court of Enquiry the British Nationalist Government immediately after delegation stated that they would have the shooting, and since the British delegato consult their Government. tion deny being in the wrong, it is clear. that this conference must entrust a third party in the form of an impartial Court of Enquiry to decide the controversial isaue involved. We hope that the British delegation will take the same attitude..

"SHARING THE BURDEN."

If, however, the British delegation is desirous, without waiting for further en- quiry, of bringing about the resumption of normal relations between Hongkong and the territories of the Nationalist

As regards the second proposal for sharing the burden arising from an im- medinte settlement of the anti-British boycott they rejected the same and eate- gorically declared that no settlement involving the payment of compensation could be entertained by them,

ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTION. The Chinese delegation thereupon-pro- posed that, pending the holding of the suggested Court of Enquiry, a loss bo

HONGKONG DAILY PRESS, MONDAY, JULY 26ru, 1926

The British delegation also pointed out various objections to the alternative pro- posal of an international commission of epquiry into the Shaker incident, and put forward a losg-proposak

At the meeting of the Conference on July 93rd the Chinese delegation made |

written statement as to the terms, of the proposal for an international com- mission of enquiry into the Shakea in- cident. A copy of this statement is given above.

BRITISH OJECTIONS. To this proposal the British delegation pointed out, inter alia, the following. objections:-

CANTON COMMENTS.

VIEWS ON THE CONFERENCE.

HONGKONG'S OFFER DISCUSSED.

DOUBTS REGARDING PEKING,,

[FROM QUE CHINESE CORRESPONDENT.}'

0

The Canton newspapers have not com mented. upon the adjournment of the pegotiations for the settlement of the boycott. There are two reasons for, this -the censorship and the difficulties which the Press of Canton is how ex

and

(a) The lapse of time since the occur.periencing owing to differences between rence of the incident to be enquired employers employees regarding into would make the enquiry of po wages and other matters. raluc, owing to the inevitable decay

in the value of human testimony as

Among the Chinese people, the opinion

an event recedes inte the past, the is expressed that the strike dificulty will difficulty of tracing witnesses, and have to be settled in some way. It can. the difficulty of securing the attend-. not be dismissed because the strikers,"

ance of witnesses, many being scat-

tered and many being of non-British although few in numbers' are still power- nationality. Some of these conful in influence, and cannot be disbanded siderations would apply with für

J

less force, or not at all to the without some sort of financial conside- Chinese case.

ration, whether directly or indirectly, from the Kuomintang or the Hongkong Governmert

(b) It might be difficult to secure the co-operation of other Powers who would be interested or involved. (e) The proposal would cause great delay, possibly of a year; and it offers no immediate solution of the boycott, but, at besty a long de- ferred solution.

(d) The members of the commission of

Regarding the loan by Hongkong to Canton for industrial purposes, many people doubt its practicability, Peking. while impotent in many ways, still has, they say, sufficient men to voice an obi jection on the ground that the proceeds of the loan will be utilised for war pur. poses, and that provincial governments cannot contract foreign loans without its | consent. Moreover, many Chinese, for various reasons, are not now in favour of

enquiry, though eminently fitted to ascertain facts if any reliable and complete body of testimony could be placed before them, might not be equally Stted to assume the un- limited duty of making "recom mendations for the complete and final settlement" of the boycott, and could not be placed in full the Whampoa Development scheme and possession of all the polisien and some argue that the construction of the economic considerations which foop line connecting the Canton-Kowloon might be involved,

with the Canton-Hankow railway will relegete Canton to the background as a Port.

Put very shortly, the chief objections were (1) the impossibility of C satisfac-

tory enquiry at this late date,, and' (9). the fact that the proposal would defer the solution of the boycott for many months.

REFERENCE TO GOVERNMENT, In spite of all the above objections the Chinese delegation pressed for the refer enve of the proposal to the British Authorities and the British delegation undertook so to refer it.

THE LOAN PROPOSALS.

LABOUR TROUBLES.

On July 24th the Canton Press Asso- ciation, an organization including prac tically all the leading, newspapers in the publications within its sphere of influence Southern Capital, announced that bli

would temporarily be suspended and that salaries of staffs would be stopped for the time being. All workmen were to terve the premises of the. newspapers immediately. The primary and direct cause for this drastic action was. labour

Government (Kwangtung-Kwangsi-Hunan) raised partly through its own resources. as quickly as possible, the Chinese delega and partly by Hongkong to enable the tion being likewise desirous of resuming Nationalist Government to meet the The Chinese delegation asked for a tyranny in the form of unreasonable de such relations at the earliest date, pro- beary financial burden involved in the written statement on the loan proposals mands for higher wages and better pose that the burden arising from the immediato settlement of the anti-British put forward by the British delegates. immediate settlement of the anti-British boycott, and that the Hongkong section boycott be shared by both parties.

THE METHOD PROPOSED. That burden is, first, the Chinese people who sustained the boycott for a year must be given guarantees that in

Yuture there will be no repetition of the

of such loan would be repaid if a Court The following statement was, therefore, of Enquiry decided in favour of the made at the Conference on Friday, July

23rd:

British,

This proposal was also rejected by the British delegation.

service condition, while recent action on the part of the Kuomintang and its sub- sidiary organs has practically denied the freedom of speech to the press and the "The details of the necessary formal right of publishers, as merchants to if the British delegation had a proposal conference, but the main features. of the cations in Canton have been subjected The Chinese delegation then inquired agreement would take some time to settle market their wares at their own price.

and would be outside the duties of thisUnder one pretext or another publi. action of June 23rd, 1925. These guar- to make. antees lie in regulating the garrisoning of The latter stated that they were pre proposal can and should be indicated now. Shameen and the navigation and station-pared to agree to a settlement of the dis- The proposal is made in order to show to rigid military and police censorship. ing of British gunboats on the river pute in the form of an industrial lonn for the sincere good will which Hongkong In practice, the censors have gone beyond system of territories of the Nationalist the development of Whampoa port con- feels towards Canton, and in order that the prohibition of what might not be Government; second, the bereaved fami- ditional on the construction of a loophiae Hongkong may assist in the development lies of the dead and wounded of June connecting the Canton-Hankow and the of Kwangtung in some way which may published and have dictated what should 23rd have to be consoled and compen Canton Kowloon Railways and provisionne of mutual benefit to the province and be said. Communiqués and “copies " sated on the basis of full justice; third, for control similar to those in the Cantor- to the Colony. We realise that the pro- from the Kuomintang and its many the large unemployment in consequence Kowloon Railway agreement regarding sperity of Kwangtung and the prosperity of the break of normal relations between Hongkong and Kwangtung, which has been a serious problem and continues to be one, requires a large sum of money to be raised for its solution in order. to remove serious obstacles in the way of the resumption of normal relations be- tween the Colony and the territories of the Nationalist-Government.

together.

WHAMPOA DEVELOPMENT.

ference over others, and these prepared statements were mostly useless as regards news value. In addition to the constant

the employment of a British Engineer-in- of Hongkong are inseparably bound up affiliated branches had to be given pre- Chief and a British Chief Accountant. The British delegation intimated that they were ready to consider alternative industrial enterprises, like the building of a railway to Bias Bay or Swatow,

The Chinese delegation replied that they would have to take time to consider the British proposal.—Reuter-

THE BRITISH COMMUNIQUE.

The following communiqué, íssued by the British delegates, covers the discussion on Wednesday, July 21st, and also the further negotiations carried on at the final meeting of the Conference held on Friday, July pard. The Conference has now been adjourned sine die in order to give an opportunity for referring the matter to the Governments concerned. The British "communiqué includes the formal Chinese proposals regarding a Court of Enquiry. The Chinese state- ment was as follows:

"The Chinese and the British delega-. tion havo, in their respective state- ments, defined the anti-British boycott -issue-an terms which now Decessitate resort to an impartial Commission of Enquiry for its settlement The Chi- nese delegation formally propose that: (a) Such a Commission of Enquiry be

constituted.

(1) In order to meet possible difficut

ties of the British, in the case of witnesses who have already made written statements to them on the case and who are deall or cannot be traced or otherwise cannot attend

before the Commission, such state- ments can be submitted at the

Enquiry.

Covering the various points enumerated above the British communiqué says!

"The Chinese delegation replied to the statement made by the British delegation at the meeting of the 19th July, and then (b) The Commission is to be made up proceeded to make two alternative pro of a Chinese and a British Member posals for the settlement of the boycott. with a Chairman to be agreed upon. One was the appointment of an interna whose country is not directly in tional commission of enquiry to determine volved in the dispute.

the question of responsibility for the (e) The Commission shall be empowered Shakee incident of the 23rd June, 1925.

to determine the question of respon. The alternative proposal was that the sibility for the Shameen-Shakes financial burden which the settlement of shooting on June 3rd, 1925, and the boycott would entail on the Canton

The object of the loan would of course

have to be mutually agreed upon. We fear of being molested by miiltary and have suggested a loan for the develop-police authorities, Canton newspapers ment of the port of Whampea, because not subsidized by the dominant party or while we think that that object would beneft Hongkong only indirectly, we are owned-by-a-particular-labour-union-also- anxious to show our good will by select had to fear raids by Union Pickets. ing an object which we understand is Favoured by the people, of Canton. We Only a few days ago the Yin Chiang Pao are quite prepared to consider any simi- was attacked and its printers deserted. lar object of mutual benefit which may be their work. suggested by the Chinese delegation.

The adoption of the Whampos proposal would be subject to both parties being satisfied that a scheme eound from the engineering point of view is possible at a reasonable cost. The amount which we have, in mind is a sum of about $10,000,000..

RAILWAY DEVELOPMENŤ. One object of the loan, whatever main object be chosen, would have to be the construction of the loop line to connect the Canton-Hsükow zailway and the "Canton-Kowloon railway.

Adequate safeguards for the proper expenditure of the funds and for the pay. ment of interest and the repayment of capital would have to be provided.

A condition of the loan would be the complete cessation of the boycott and of all other anti-British ananifestations throughout the territory controlled by the Canton Government."

CONFERENCE ADJOURNED.

Saturday,

At this stage the Conference, as stated, to make recommendations for the Government should be shared by the adjourned and the Hongkong delegates, complete and final settlement of the British. Translated into practical details the Hon. Mr. J. H Kemp and the Hon. resulting anti-British boycott in the this proposed sharing of the burden Mr. E. R. Hallifax returned to the Colony

proved to be a demand for (a) compensa-. Liang Kwang. (d) The Nationalist Government and tion to the relatives of those killed at the British (including the Hong Shakes, and (b) some form of compensa- kong) Government agree to be tion to the strikers. bound by the findings of the Com mission and to carry out and an force any and all recommendations made by it

The Commission is to be opened at the earliest possible date, and

The points to be referred to the Govern ments are these:

*

(1) The Canton Government are to consider the terms of the loan proposed by the British

The British delegation immediately and emphatically rejected the demand for compensation to the rikers, and this refusal was treated by to. Chinese delege- (9) The British Government are to take tion as disposing of the whole of their into consideration the desire of the Can- second, alternative proposal,

tonese to hold a Court of Enquiry.

The feared skirmish between the Kuo- mintang Workers' Conference (172 labour unions with about 170,000 members) and the Central Labour Union (120 unions with 100,000 members) may be said to have started with the order for the sup pression of the Fin Chiang Pao, a paper which commented unfavourably on the recent kidnapping of Mr. Chan Sum, n leader of the Central Labour Union. when Mr. Chan was leaving a meeting It may be recalled that on July 18th, then being held in the Educational Asso- cation Hall, he was taken by force to the Kuomintang Headquarters-by-mem is alleged that he was roughly handled. bers of the Workers' Conference and it Although Mr. Chan was subsequently rescued by the Police, Mr. Chan'a as sociates in the Central. Labour Union were very indignant over his treatment. Tho in Chiang Pao appears to have commented adversely" on the Workers' Conference, and as a retaliation, the Conference ordered the printers and the news "boys," all union men subject to the direction of the Workers' Conference, to leave the service of the journal.

On July 10th, the principal Canton newspapers were to have raised their price to 5 cents a copy and one dollar month, but the news boys and news dealers, through whom raost of the dis tribution was made, backed by powerful parties, refused to handle the papers at this price. Moreover, these "boys" and dealers followed with counter-proposals, requiring all newspapers to be out before five o'clock every morning. There were a number of unreasonable suggestions, including the publication of the names of, subscribers who had failed to pay their bills after a certain period of grace.

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