A feature of the Hongkong sea~ men's strike that did not pass unnoticed was the complete failure of the Cantonese agitators to secure. intervention of the Ningpo and northern men on their side of the struggle. While Ningpo men may have been intimidated into leaving their ships on arrival in Hongkong, the efforts made by agents despatched_to. Shanghai and other ports to induce the seamen there to join the strike were in every resp unavailing. So little is there in com~ men between the different groups. of men that the Ningpo people, for instance, did not in the least. regard it as their "pidgin," and while ready to accept any benefits which might ultimately accrue to them, they decidedly declined to join the fray. Even sympathy was. largely lacking, and attempts at intimidation here were a failure. The news now comes from Canton that the union there hopes to organize the whole of the seamen of China into one gigantic union, comprising 300,000 men, and for this purpose a delegation is on its way to Shanghai. There is no very good means of judging of its chances of success or otherwise, for the conditions are changed, and. while the loca] men might not have been willing at the beginning of year to throw up their jobs to help those strangers of Canton, it is just possible that they might consider: some manner of affiliation in times of peace, the more so as Canton will be able to place before them the picture of success already achieved. It is impossible to repress the thought that such a dele= gation may mean mischief here, especially as we know the influences: at work during the Hongkong strike, and it is only to be hope that the common sense of the local people €ill -prevent their being carried away by the efforts of frothy orators,,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.