A STRIKE IN CHINA.
The last mail from China brings news of a serious strike amongst the junk and boat men on the three great rivers which debouche at Canton. The provincial authorities had erected a new customs station at a place called Shekmun, for the purpose of collecting inland transit dues. It does not seem that this increased the amount of the dues, but merely altered the place of collection, for they were previously collected on arrival at Canton, at the end of the journey. The aim of the establishment at Shekmun was to check smuggling. The boatmen, however, objected violently to the new arrangement ; they struck on all the waterways above Canton to the number of 60,000, defied the Customs officials at Shekmun, attacked the revenue cruisers, destroyed the Customs station, and drove out all concerned in assessing and collecting the tax. To bring pressure to bear on the authorities they stopped all traffic to and from the city, and ordered all shops and industries throughout the district to cease, and compelled private persons to act a 3 if it were a period of general and national mourning. It is usual at the season of the year to keep the festival of the moon by offering fowls, ducks and other domestic animals in sacrifice to that luminary, but the strikers stopped all this. Boats in Canton were ordered to leave the city at once and to return home empty. No violence was committed, but al l traffic was stopped. At length the Viceroy succumbed ; he issued a proclamation giving way and requesting the people to go about their business as usual. He promised the withdrawal of the Shekmun station and forgiveness to the strikers. In 1870 a similar attempt to establish a customs station at the same piace was resisted, and it had to be abandoned. In the present instance it is thought that as the Viceroy was just leaving the province and was anxious to do so in peace he was exceptionally lenient and forgiving. Whatever the cause, the strike has been completely successful.
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New Zealand Mail, Issue 935, 31 January 1890, Page 17
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347A STRIKE IN CHINA. New Zealand Mail, Issue 935, 31 January 1890, Page 17
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