Following upon the Hongkong strike it is only natural that there should be talk of labour unrest in Shanghai, but inquiry leads to the view that this is much exaggerated. Of course the fact that the seamen in Hongkong have received a substantial rise in pay is bound to have an effect on opinion here, but be-youd that we are fairly safe in saying that the matter does not go. In the first place the Ningpo men here are in no sense in liaison with the Cantonese, and in fact they never regarded the Hongkong matter as being their quarrel, notwithstanding that many attempts were made to bring them into it. There is a further important matter in connexion with the possibility of labour unrest here. While the seamen's strike was on we heard reports of meetings held in sympathy with the seamen, at one of which a sum of $200 was said to have been collected to add to the strike funds The actual total was $22. Another meeting, of which glowing accounts were circulated, never took place at all. There is undoubtedly an element in Shanghai ready to do all it can to promote dissatisfaction in labour circles, and fair means having failed it has resorted to foul. It is the source of the present talk of discontent, but its backing is exceedingly small.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.