HC Deb 21 June 1904 vol 136 cc691-2
MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been directed to the fact that a conflict has taken place in Tientsin between two batches of Chinese indentured labourers awaiting embarkation for the Transvaal mines, under the provisions of the Chinese Labour Ordinance, the casualties already reported being three Chinamen killed and twenty wounded; and whether, having regard to the fact that the combatants at Tientsin were Natives of North China and South China between whom a deadly feud subsists any provision has been made to prevent similar collisions during the voyage to South Africa and in the mines.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) I have asked for a telegraphic report on this occurrence.