Page 121 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
P. 121
GFA – A Different Drumbeat 121
He not only had responsibility for an army of stevedores employed by the company in
Shanghai, and for negotiations with the Labour Unions, but he also kept in close contact
with the National Government, especially with TV Soong.
Mr. Tom Lindsay, who was also on the staff of Butterfield & Swire, wrote to David Bentley-
Taylor in 1982 about that period:
When he joined in 1934, GFA organised a new department called “The Department
of Chinese Affairs”, usually referred to as DOCA. This department had two aspects.
Internally it looked after the Chinese staff of the firm throughout China, and externally
it was responsible for the firm’s relations with Chinese officialdom and Unions -
mainly the Seamens’ Union.
As a very junior member of staff - I joined in March 1933 - I was more involved with
internal than external matters. GFA devised the staff record system for recording
fuller particulars of staff than had previously been kept. . . . In Shanghai recruitment
and dismissals of the clerical staff was carried out by DOCA, and questions
regarding senior Chinese staff were also handled by DOCA in conjunction with the
Managers.
Externally the work was very varied. In the early thirties the Firm was making a very
definite attempt to present itself to the Chinese as being ‘of’ China and not just a
foreign entity ‘in’ China, and so was trying to make itself conform as far as
reasonable with Chinese customs and etiquette. At one level this involved making
sure that the Chinese names used by foreigners were neither absurd nor obscene
and would not give rise to laughter when presented to a Chinese. GFA vetted these
names but, with his nice sense of humour, he liked a leg to pull. A Mr. Bell wanted
his Chinese name and GFA immediately said, ‘Easy’, Ting Ah Ling’, which could be
a perfectly good Chinese name.
At the other extreme to name giving was correspondence with Ministries in the
Chinese Government. The official treaty method was for the foreigner to
communicate with a Chinese official through the foreigner’s consul. China however,
was feeling that it was outgrowing the restrictions of the unequal treaties and use of
the old consular method was liable to be met with perhaps some prejudice on the
Chinese side. It was felt therefore, that direct communication might meet with better
results. GFA with his long experience as a Chinese official in famine relief etc., knew
how correspondence should be conducted. He engaged a writer who knew official
forms and then for a time the Firm had the benefit of the advice of Mr. TK Tseng who
had been high in government circles and shortly left to become a Vice-Minister of
Railways and later Consul-General at Rangoon, looking after the Burma Road
shipments.
GFA carried out most of the negotiations with the Seamen’s Union. This was a
government sponsored organisation. Its aim was as much to assist Chinese
He not only had responsibility for an army of stevedores employed by the company in
Shanghai, and for negotiations with the Labour Unions, but he also kept in close contact
with the National Government, especially with TV Soong.
Mr. Tom Lindsay, who was also on the staff of Butterfield & Swire, wrote to David Bentley-
Taylor in 1982 about that period:
When he joined in 1934, GFA organised a new department called “The Department
of Chinese Affairs”, usually referred to as DOCA. This department had two aspects.
Internally it looked after the Chinese staff of the firm throughout China, and externally
it was responsible for the firm’s relations with Chinese officialdom and Unions -
mainly the Seamens’ Union.
As a very junior member of staff - I joined in March 1933 - I was more involved with
internal than external matters. GFA devised the staff record system for recording
fuller particulars of staff than had previously been kept. . . . In Shanghai recruitment
and dismissals of the clerical staff was carried out by DOCA, and questions
regarding senior Chinese staff were also handled by DOCA in conjunction with the
Managers.
Externally the work was very varied. In the early thirties the Firm was making a very
definite attempt to present itself to the Chinese as being ‘of’ China and not just a
foreign entity ‘in’ China, and so was trying to make itself conform as far as
reasonable with Chinese customs and etiquette. At one level this involved making
sure that the Chinese names used by foreigners were neither absurd nor obscene
and would not give rise to laughter when presented to a Chinese. GFA vetted these
names but, with his nice sense of humour, he liked a leg to pull. A Mr. Bell wanted
his Chinese name and GFA immediately said, ‘Easy’, Ting Ah Ling’, which could be
a perfectly good Chinese name.
At the other extreme to name giving was correspondence with Ministries in the
Chinese Government. The official treaty method was for the foreigner to
communicate with a Chinese official through the foreigner’s consul. China however,
was feeling that it was outgrowing the restrictions of the unequal treaties and use of
the old consular method was liable to be met with perhaps some prejudice on the
Chinese side. It was felt therefore, that direct communication might meet with better
results. GFA with his long experience as a Chinese official in famine relief etc., knew
how correspondence should be conducted. He engaged a writer who knew official
forms and then for a time the Firm had the benefit of the advice of Mr. TK Tseng who
had been high in government circles and shortly left to become a Vice-Minister of
Railways and later Consul-General at Rangoon, looking after the Burma Road
shipments.
GFA carried out most of the negotiations with the Seamen’s Union. This was a
government sponsored organisation. Its aim was as much to assist Chinese
