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Published under the sanction and at the Offices of

The Anti-Slavery & Aborigines Protection Society

51, Denison House, Vauxhall Bridge Road

London, S.W.

Anti-Slavery Reporter and Aborigines' Friend.

APRIL, 1914.

[The Editor, whilst grateful to all correspondents who may be kind enough to furnish him with information, desires to state that he is not responsible for the views stated by them, nor for questions which may be inserted from other journals. The object of the journal is to spread information, and articles are necessarily quoted which may contain views or statements for which their authors can alone be held responsible.]

Finance.

Quarterly Motes.

Ir is satisfactory to be able to announce that the sum of £300, mentioned in our last issue as being required in order to close the year free of debt, has now been raised. Appeal was made to some tried friends of the Society to come to its assistance in view of the amount of good work accomplished during the year, and that appeal met with a favourable and encouraging response, for which the Treasurers are extremely grateful. We would again emphasize the importance of adding further regular subscribers to our list and our hope that all our members will do their best to interest others and induce them to join the Society.

Portuguese
Slavery.

THE chief interest in this question centres for the moment upon the arrest of Mr. Bowskill, into the circumstances of which the Society is determined to secure an exhaustive inquiry. The Parliamentary Committee has kept up a continuous stream of questions and supplementaries" to Sir Edward Grey.

Mr. Harris brought the question forward for the Society at the Free Church Congress at Norwich, and the Society trusts that resolutions will be passed and forwarded to the Government.

It is anticipated that a White Book upon the question of Portuguese labour conditions will be published shortly.

New
Hebrides.

WE ask special attention to the questions and answers in the House of Commons on the situation in the New Hebrides reported in this issue, which will show how serious the conditions are felt to be.

At the end of last month a private interview was arranged in Paris for Mr. Travers Buxton and Mrs. Harris with certain influential French friends of native races in that city for exchange of views as to the steps to be taken for an amelioration of the present state of things, and a frank conversation on the whole question, which will, we believe, bear good fruit.

We hope for valuable results also from the Conference of missionary bodies and others interested in the New Hebrides which was called by our Society on March 31, and promised to be of considerable interest.

Meetings in
Switzerland.

MRS. HARRIS has again been to Switzerland, and under the auspices of the Swiss League has been enabled to deliver addresses and hold meetings on anti-slavery subjects in Berne, Basle and Zurich. We hear that the meetings attracted large audiences and aroused much interest.

System.

It will be remembered that the Society was last year inThe Lushai formed in a communication from the India Office that Lord Hills Slavery Crewe was calling for a report from the Government of India on this question. We are glad to learn from the official reply to a recent question in Parliament that the report was expected before the end of March.

We are very sorry to see that the Directors of the Welsh Calvinistic Mission, to which Dr. Peter Fraser, who has made such a bold stand in Lushai against the system, belongs, has declined to send him back to take up his work in the district. Dr. Fraser was asked by the Directors at the general meeting to answer "unconditionally" whether he would promise to co-operate with the missionaries in India, and with the Executive Committee at home. His reply was " Yes, as far as practicable in my field of labour," but that he dared not surrender his conscience and liberty of speech and action unconditionally to others. The Chairman then told Dr. Fraser that they were not able to send him back to India.

Special Article.

WE draw attention to the special article this month upon "Native Races and the Dignity of Labour." Our subscribers and friends will, we feel sure, appreciate the importance of the figures produced in this article.

Dawn in
Darkest

Africa.

WE are glad to announce a second and cheaper edition of this work by Mr. Harris, and also that by an arrangement with the Committee, members of the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society may now purchase copies at 5s. each. As the supply at this price is limited, requests will be met in order of receipt.

The New hebrides Situation.

THE Society has been devoting special attention to this grave question. For years past it has been in communication with the Colonial Office on the increasingly unsatisfactory reports received from the Islands, but no effective step towards reform appears to have been taken. We have been informed that H.M. Government has not failed to propose negotiations of

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