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a delicate character with the French Government, but these have not yet resulted in a conference.

The Society having now been referred by the Colonial Office to the Foreign Office, has taken steps to bring the whole question before the latter department, and has sent in a full statement to Sir Edward Grey, which is published separately and has been widely distributed among Members of Parliament, the Press, and among Societies and persons interested.

Copies of this pamphlet can be obtained gratis from the Society's Office.

The reply from Sir Edward Grey is as follows:

FOREIGN OFFICE,
February 23, 1914.

GENTLEMEN,

With reference to your letter of the 10th instant drawing attention to the present situation in the New Hebrides, I am directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to state that the circumstances referred to in your letter have already been brought to his notice and that His Majesty's Government, who are fully alive to the importance of the question, are in communication with the French Government on the subject.

I am, etc., (Signed) W. LANGLEY.

To the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society.

The Times correspondent at Melbourne reported an important meeting held in that city at the end of last year under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church, at which Mr. Watt, late Premier of Victoria, presided, and the following resolutions were passed :

(1) That this meeting expresses profound regret at the admitted failure of the Condominium as at present constituted and administered in the New Hebrides, and asks that the Convention be strengthened and its terms equally enforced on all residents in the group.

(2) Should the British and French Governments fail to reach an agreement on these lines, we urge that the only solution satisfactory to Australia is an honourable understanding with France, whereby the New Hebrides will pass under British control.

(3) That no proposal for the settlement of the New Hebrides question be even tentatively entertained by the British Government without first giving the Commonwealth an opportunity of expressing its views.

Another Australian telegram to The Times in February stated that protest meetings were being organized in Sydney against the rumoured partial cession of the New Hebrides to France, despite official assurances to the contrary. It will be seen from Sir E. Grey's answer to a question in Parlia

ment that there is no foundation for such disquiet. Other questions and answers in the House relating to the New Hebrides are reported on another page.

Steps have been taken by our Society to bring the question before an important Missionary Committee connected with the Edinburgh Conference, viz., that on "Missions and Governments." With a view to effective united action with the Missionary bodies, a private Conference was arranged for the end of March, in which besides the Committee just named and our own Society, the "John G. Paton Mission Fund" and the Melanesian Mission, whose missionaries are at work on the islands, and other bodies and individuals interested, took part.

We referred in our last issue to the indefiniteness and uncertainty of the jurisdiction of the Joint Naval Commission which tries natives in certain cases, and, according to a competent observer, has "invented a jurisdiction of its own."

We also referred to the arrests of natives effected by the French warship, the Kersaint, on flimsy charges of extortion, in July of last

year.

We now learn that the Joint Naval Commission sat on December 20, and heard the cases of six natives who had been arrested and imprisoned on these charges, and sentenced them-or, to speak more precisely, “recom mended" that they should be sentenced-to terms of imprisonment varying from one to six months.

From correspondence which has been forwarded to us we learn that the native defendants were not allowed to be represented by counsel, even at their own charges, and that no witnesses were heard for the defence. It is contended that under the Convention of 1887 and the Declaration and Rules of 1888 the Joint Naval Commission has no power to sit as a Criminal Court, and that on this occasion it was irregularly constituted. In any case, the accused natives cannot be said to have had a fair trial, as they are unable to follow the proceedings of the Court and were not allowed counsel. Even the services of the official Native Advocate--who would seem to be appointed for just such a purpose as this-are not granted by the British and French Governments to natives accused before the Joint Naval Commission. prisoners were condemned unheard at a trial held on a ship of war moored in the harbour, no public notice having been given of the sitting of the Commission.

We are informed that the French officials contend that by Art. 17 of the Convention the Native Advocate can only assist natives before the Joint Court, and that he is consequently forbidden to go outside Vila. It is obvious

that the services of the Native Advocate are grievously restricted by such a construction being placed on the clause.

In reply to representations made to him asking that the convicted men. should at least be liberated on bail until the legality of their detention could be tested before the Courts (which were at that time in vacation for nearly two months) the British Resident Commissioner wrote that he had " already urged the immediate release of those who were charged with extortion." It must be remembered that these men had been in prison for several months.

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REV. GEORGE BROWN, D.D. (OF SYDNEY), VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIVE RACES.

Dr. Brown, who has just returned to Australia from a visit to this country, has contributed an important article on the New Hebrides Question to the Contemporary Review for April.

The Resident refused to interfere in the case of a native who had been recommended to six years' imprisonment for murder, though there were special circumstances about the case which seemed to call for an exercise of clemency, the murdered man having threatened to poison four men, two of whom had subsequently died, and the man who killed him was appointed by a native council to do the deed.

Slavery in Portuguese West Africa.

THE arrest by the Portuguese authorities of the Rev. J. S. Bowskill, Baptist missionary at San Salvador, has brought the question of Portuguese slave labour into strong prominence, as there is no doubt that the native rising, and Mr. Bowskill's subsequent arrest, arose primarily out of the Portuguese demand for forced labourers to go to San Thomé. The Society received private information from the Baptist Missionary Society some time before the news of the arrest came, that there had been trouble with the natives at San Salvador as a result of oppressive taxation by the Portuguese Chef de Poste, and a high-handed demand from the chiefs for 1,500 men for San Thomé. The chiefs refused, but the Portuguese made the native ruler, called the King of Congo, the tool, and as a result the natives, led by one Tulanta Buta, rose in revolt against the King, and numbers flocked to the standard. San Salvador was attacked and portions of it burned, and the mission station was turned into a place of refuge. Mr. Bowskill, as the senior missionary, and one who possessed the confidence of the natives, was appealed to by the Chef de Poste to approach the rebels and induce them to take part in a peace palaver. This Mr. Bowskill, at great personal risk, agreed to do, and bravely went out to the rebel lines, accompanied by a colleague. and three Christian natives, with the result that Buta and his men dropped their guns and met the other side in conference. The King and his counsellors were exiled and peace restored for a time. Once more, however, trouble broke out, after the authorities had attempted further arrests, and again order was only restored when Mr. Bowskill and Mr. Ross Phillips had obtained an interview with the Portuguese Governor at Matadi, who sent a band of soldiers to San Salvador to restore order and supersede the Chef de Poste. Thus far the Missionary Society had been kept informed by letters from Mr. Bowskill, and the official information sent by the British Consul generally confirmed the account.

Suddenly news was received by cable that Mr. Bowskill had been arrested. It is supposed by his Society that the arrest was an act of revenge on the part of some minor officials owing to the action of Mr. Bowskill on behalf of the oppressed natives.

A number of questions have been asked in Parliament, the terms of which are reported on another page, from which the subsequent course of events can to some extent be traced.

The Angola Sub-Committee of the Society met early in March and discussed the situation which had already been brought to the notice of Sir E. Grey before the arrest of Mr. Bowskill was reported. The General Committee at the March meeting passed a resolution in the following terms :

"The Committee of the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society desires to place on record its high appreciation of the courageous attitude

adopted by the Rev. J. S. Bowskill towards the oppressed natives of Portuguese West Africa, and calls upon His Majesty's Government to secure a searching and impartial inquiry into all the circumstances which led up to the arrest of Mr. Bowskill.

"That this resolution be forwarded to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Rev. J. S. Bowskill, and the Baptist Missionary Society, with an assurance to that Society of the whole hearted support of the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society in the task of securing justice for Mr. Bowskill."

As has been well stated in the Baptist Times

"The immediate cause of the revolt was the attempt to enforce slavery upon the natives of the district. The cocoa islands must have their tribute of contract labour, and contract labour is slavery under a modern name. Under the influence of the Chef de Poste, the King of Kongo played with this hated thing, and so brought about his own downfall. This only calls the attention of the Christian world once more to the fact of slavery in the Portuguese colonies."

The Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society and the Bowskill Auxiliary at Nottingham have passed resolutions expressing their pleasure at the action of the Anti-Slavery Society in regard to Mr. Bowskill's arrest, and their appreciation of its decision to see the matter righted.

We are glad through the courtesy of the Baptist Missionary Society to be able to publish a portrait of the arrested missionary.

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A letter was addressed by the Society to the Foreign Secretary on this subject, and the following reply has been received:

FOREIGN OFFICE,

SIR,

March 13, 1914.

In reply to your letter of the 7th instant on the subject of the arrest of the Reverend J. S. Bowskill in Portuguese West Africa, I am directed by Secre

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