ENG-1967 — Page 35

REVIEW

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the boycott, the port was at a complete standstill and advised leading shipping lines to tranship cargoes at other ports. This propaganda had some effect, in that some cargoes were diverted to other ports and some shipowners re-arranged their schedules to sail ships either to Hong Kong or to China ports, but not to both. The threat offered by the boycott in Hong Kong itself was met by an intensive counter-propaganda campaign mounted by the Marine Department to explain the facts and to answer queries from seamen and to counter the intimidation, both veiled and direct, to which they had been subjected. As a result 1,222 seamen reported for jobs at the Government Seamen's Recruiting Office during the first ten days the boycott was supposed to be in operation and in only two cases (where there were other considerations) were ships delayed for lack of a crew. A small number of seamen signed off their ships but were replaced, without difficulty, through the Seamen's Recruiting Office. Indeed in many cases those who had signed off re-applied for employment after spending a day or two ashore having, no doubt, decided for themselves that all was well in the Colony. During the second week of September four ships arrived in the port from China to discharge cargo consigned to Hong Kong, to mark the first break in the boycott; and since then the tonnage of cargoes from China has steadily increased.

These work stoppages, both in the port and elsewhere, were purely political and there is no substance in the suggestion that labour conditions have been the underlying cause of confrontation in Hong Kong. The labour dispute at the artificial flower works was discarded as soon as confrontation was under way, and the voluminous poster campaign and the endless propaganda that emanated from communist sources during the summer made no mention at all of industrial conditions.

While these events had been taking place in the urban areas the New Territories had remained comparatively quiet. There had been some demonstrations and a sporadic display of posters in the market towns and in the industrial complex of Tsuen Wan but, mainly due to the firm line taken by the leaders of the New Territories Heung Yee Kuk, who came out strongly on the side of law and order, there had been only a few minor incidents. In the sensitive area of the land frontier with China it had been mainly