During the carle part of this year Hongkong underwent one of the most unpleasant experiences in the whole history of the Colony. which resulted in great. loss and inconvenience to the shipping and business community. I refer to the seamen's strike, which eventually spread to all Chinese employees in the Colony. The strike wag entirely a political move, and was conceived and supported by the then Government of Canton under Tr, Sun Yat-son. In the great majerity of cases the men were quite con-fented with their wages, and only left their work under a system of intimidation which could not have been carried out at all without strong official support in Canton. This is just an instance of where thd port: of Hongkong suffers, and the trade is endangered by being under a. Government Department and ruled by a body of officials owning allegiance to that Department, who have no other official connexion or representation in China. As you know, the Colony of Hongkong is under the Colon: Office, and the Consulates at Canton and elsewhere in China ara under the Foreign Office, and though, perhaps, it is too much to expect two Government Departments to work as one, I think there must have been a. considerable want of ce-operation in this instance.
There is little doubt that the attitude of the Hongkong Government towards Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Government in Canton for some time before the strike was ill-advised, and that the Chinese official support of the strike was in the form of a reprisal; and what I would like to impress upon our officials concerned is, that it was, and still is, a very expensive experience for the business community. This is not the only instance where trade suffers from want of ce-operation between these two Departments. Hongkong is the natural market for the South of China, but is'
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.