Shanghai, Jan. 19.
All the news now reaching Shanghai indicates a very serious position in regard to shi: ping on! account of the seamen's strike in Hongkong.—With remote exceptions, of which one instance recorded below, all vessels car 'Ying Chinese crews are held up, andi there is a complete deadlock. Offers! have been made to the seamen on} the part of the shipowners, but these have been declined' and! mediation on the part of the Hongkong Government has also been refused by the men. The situation is accordingly that all Chinese} crews (deck hands and stokers) have been withdrawn, that Chinese pilots, in sympathy with the strike, are refusing to ply between Hongkong and Canton, and that stevedores at Canton are no longer working. Not only is China coastal} shipping affected, but all foreign-going steamers carrying Chinese crews are equally held up, and the telegrams indicate that the Colony is beginning to feel the pinch of short supplies. Meanwhile a seamen's trade union which has, apparently within recent months, been formed in Shanghai is watching events.
Tue Seamen's Demanp. papers to arrive here we took an.crews were li excerpt giving an account of the origin of the strike from the seamen's point of view. The seamen had demanded a 40 per cent. increase in wages for the men in the lower grades of pay and 30 per cent. for those in the higher, and in the report given by the Hongkong paper they alleged that no answer had been given by the shipowners to their communication. This, inquiries made locally show, is hardly an accurate statement, for the shipping companies promptly replied to the seamen's. trade union suggesting arbitration on the part of the Hongkong Government. This the seamen refused.
Within recent years the wages paid to Chinese crews have gradually increased, and only a year ago a substantial advance was made. The attitude of the shipping companies on this occasion was dictated by the condition of freights not only on the Chinese coast but generally. While there is the usual movement of cargo coastwise, freights are at a minimum, and profits hard to see, if indeed losses are not being incurred. The latter is certainly the case with most of ocean-going steamers, for in the present state of trade freights are not only low but also very scarce. Accordingly the present was hardly a propitious opportunity for demanding a large increase in wages.
Orrer by Suprise CompaniEs.
Upon the refusal of the seamen to accede to the arbitration proposals, the shipping companies made an offer of an advance of 12 per cent. on the coast and 73 in the case of ocean liners, but this again was declined. This was the last information to hand in the shipping offices in Shanghai on Wednesday, but a fresh offer seems to have been forthcoming according to the following Reuter telegram Hongkong, Jan, 18.
The shipowners have offered increases of the seamen's wages on a varying scale, from a minimum \of 7.5 per cent. for Pacific lines to a maximum of 25 per cent. for Chinese river steamers.
The seamen, however, have declined to accept this offer and have made a counter-proposal for a minimum of 17.5 and a maximum of 32.5 per cent.
The deadlock continues. Over 100 river steamers, aggregating 300,000 tons, are tied up in port.
Tue Position 1x HoncKone.
The strike started last Friday morning and shipping was immediately paralysed. Cantonese crews were the leaders, and they have since taken measures to secure the allegiance of the seamen of other districts to the strike. Apparently, to begin with, some boats {were able to proceed to Canton, but there the stevedores joined in sympathy with the seamen and declined to unload the boats. Finally the Chinese pilots on the Hongkong-Canton run took a hand (whether voluntarily or not is not stated) and ceased to function. The position as understood yester-From one of the last Hongkong} day was that steamers with Chinese immediately approach-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.