1
0003160 .F. 316
SECRET
14
Copy No:
SAVINGRAM
From:
The Governor, Hong Kong.
Repeated:
To:
The Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs
P.A. to C. in C. F.2.
21
No:
765
Peking
Tamsui
RECEIVED IN ARCHIVES Nɔ.63]
CAT 10/20/
24
Dated: 14 April, 1967.
Ref: TS 2/57 III
1.
13/4
L.I.C. MONTHLY INTERNAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT
MARCH, 1967
9
There were several labour disputes during the month involving left-wing unions, some of which were given considerable prominence in the local left-wing press. Left-wing members con- tinued to adopt a militant attitude and during negotiations with their employers frequently resorted to chanting quotations from the works of Mao Tse-tung, singing revolutionary songs and brandishing as if it were a talisman the red-bound pocket edition of "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung".
2.
The dispute given most prominence was that between the Hong Kong Seamen's Union (H.K.S.U.) (claimed membership, 27,000; paid up membership, 13,200) and the Royal Interocean Lines (R.I.L.) over the shooting incident in December 1966, in Australia on their vessel "Straat Malakka" (I.I.C. Monthly Internal Intelligence Report for February, 1967, paragraph 4 refers), and which in style and effect were similar to the negotiations over the recent disturbances in Macao. Following the acceptance by the H.K.S.U. of the fact that the R.I.L. had done everything in its power, including the despatch of a representative to South Africa, to persuade, without success, the ex-Captain of the "Straat Malakka"i to return to Hong Kong to apologise in person to the crew, a full settlement was reached between the two parties on 16 March. The final basis agreed by R.I.L. included publication in the local and Australian newspapers of an apology by the Company which contained an admission of the Captain's responsibility, an apology by the General Manager of the R.I.I. at a ceremony organised by the union, re-employment of the seamen concerned, and an undertaking to circulate R.I.L. ships officers, instructing them not to victimise Chinese crew members. Five days later the apology was duly made by the General Manager of the R,I.L. Hong Kong in front of some 500 persons at the Workers' Club of the Federation of Trade Unions (F.T.U.),
which was decorated with portraits of MAO and C.P.G. flags. In his opening speech the Chairman of the H.K.S.U. ascribed the victory to "holding high the banner of the Thoughts of Mao" and urged all workers to use these in future struggles. After the company representative had left, further speeches were made praising the efficacy of the "Thoughts of MAO Tse-tung" some of which were then sung and recited by all present. On 26 March, victory celebrations were held at the Workers' Club; those attending included representatives from the Macao F.T.U.
3.
On 2 March, the left-wing Spinning, weaving & Dyeing Trade Workers' General Union (S.W.D.T.W.G.U.) (claimed membership, 5,765; paid up membership, 3,623), supported publicly its members' demands that the left-wing worker dismissed by the Nan Fung Textile Factory in Tsuen Wan (L.I.C. Monthly Internal Intelligence Report for February, 1967, paragraph 7 refers) be reinstated, a further right-wing worker be dismissed and that a guarantee be given that no unreasonable dismissals be carried out in future. On 7 March, a delegation, headed by the Chairman of the union, went to Tsuen
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/Wan
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