Four men were charged with "being concerned together with other men not in cus tody with illegally detaining complainants in the Cantonese carpenters' guild house, Dixwell Road, for the purpose of intimidating them on the 11th inst. Also with posting " number of inflammatory placards throughout the Settlement for the purpose of inciting the Ningpo carpenters to strike."
There were six complainants, one Ningpo man, and the others Cantonese, and they were all carpenters or contractors.
Mr. A. P. Stokes said he appeared on behalf of Messrs. Farnham, Boyd & Ca., Ld., and that the charge arose out of a labour carpenters employed by that firm. They difficulty that was at preseat concerning the were practically all either ' cantonese or Ningpo men, and the Cantonese had, lately been demanding an increase in wages, while the Ningpo meu were mostly satisfied with their present remuneration, and did not desire to join in the strike that the others were proposing to bring about if their demands were not granted. On Sunday night there was a meeting of the cantonese at their guild house, and the ningpo complainant, being a representative man of his side, was invited to attend as a delegate, to see if some arrangement could be made to effect a union of the two parties. Understanding he would be well treated he accepted the invitation, and to his surprise was threatened, and an attempt was made to compel him to sign a document promising allegiance to the Cantonese. He refused avd was further intimidated, and finally imprisoned in a small room—Meanwhile his friends, knowing where he had gone, and alarmed at his long-continued absence, communicated with the police, who had had information of the strike for four days, and Detectivesergeant Mevowell was sent to effect his release. At six a.m. the police broke into the guild house and arrested the accused from a gathering of two hundred or more, and the Cantonese complainants then said that they also were
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.