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10

ANTI-SLAVERY REPORTER AND ABORIGINES' FRIEND.

Australian Aborigines.

THE following reply has been received from the Australian External Affairs Department to the Society's communication and the Resolution of the Committee of last October, which were printed in our last issue. This reply appears at first sight to be discouraging, but the difficulty referred to, namely, that the nationalization of the care of the aborigines would necessitate an amendment in one of the exemption clauses of the Federal constitution by the omission of certain words, is by no means insuperable, especially when it is remembered that the matter to which it relates is, politically speaking, a non-controversial one. It has always been known. since the proposal was first made that such an amendment would be necessary, but far more drastic alterations in the constitution have been proposed as necessary for the carrying out of other political proposals in Australia, and some amendments of a most drastic character were very nearly carried through at the last General Referendum.

At this difficult and responsible time it is perhaps not a matter for surprise that the Commonwealth Government feels that it would not be wise to embark on the proposed scheme, which, however, is in no way condemned or criticized, and we may hope that it is merely reserved for a more favourable time.

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.

DEPARTMENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS,
MELBOURNE,

December 31, 1914.

SIR,

With reference to your letter of October 9 last addressed to the Prime Minister, urging the nationalization of the responsibility for the protection and care of Australian aborigines, I am directed to inform you that the sphere of operations of the Federal Government is limited by the Constitution, which expressly reserved to the State Governments the care of the aborigines within their respective borders, and that it would, on that account, not be practicable to adopt the scheme suggested by the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science.

The position was explained to the Association when their proposals were submitted to this Government early in 1913.

I have, etc.,

(Signed) ATLEE HUNT,
Secretary.

The Secretary,

The Anti-Slavery & Aborigines Protection Society.

AUSTRALIAN NATIVE RACES ASSOCIATION.

WE are glad to learn from the third annual report of this Association that it continues to do steady, valuable work which has produced satisfactory results. Before the organization was started in 1911, cases of abuse which occurred in various parts of the Commonwealth attracted little notice owing to the want of combination among those who protested against them, and the report states that" the aborigines were rapidly becoming extinct " its work therefore is claimed to be a necessity, and what has already been achieved has justified its existence. The Association is assisted by an effective Women's Auxiliary, which deals specially with abuses affecting native women and children, and which has now been incorporated in the main organization.

Its policy for the Australian aborigines continues to be that of bringing them all under one single national control, as a national responsibility, and the Report records with great pleasure that the Federal Government seems determined to discharge its responsibilities, and is guided by the highest principles.

As regards some newspaper reports of labour conditions akin to slavery in Papua, it is believed that there is little warrant for such complaints, and that no slavery exists in the British territory of Papua, where, it is said, the highest traditions of British administration are maintained. The Association has reason to be satisfied with the genuine effort of the Administration to deal not only justly, but liberally, with the natives." particulars are given below.

Further

The Association recognizes, however, in its report that, with the growth of commerce in the territory of Papua, there will develop labour and other cognate problems which will make a careful watching of the conditions. desirable. In the Western Pacific the Association has found many causes for active intervention on behalf of natives, especially in the New Hebrides islands, where the situation has caused grave concern and repeated protests to the authorities.

It may be mentioned that among the Vice-Presidents of the Association are the Commonwealth Prime Minister, the Lord Mayors of Sydney and Melbourne, the Archbishop of Sydney, the leaders of the non-episcopal churches (including Dr. George Brown who visited this country last year), the Rev. C. E. C. Lefroy, who is now a member of our own Committee, and Prof. Baldwin Spencer.

Indentured Labour in Papua.

SOME time ago some paragraphs appeared in the British Press regarding the improper treatment of indentured natives in British Papua (New Guinea) and the alleged forcible recruiting of labour. We are glad to be able to report that this question has been investigated by the Australian Association for the Protection of Native Races, who are satisfied that the Commonwealth Government is endeavouring rigorously to put down anything akin to slavery in the territories which it has to administer. It appears that in one case a complaint reached the authorities that a magistrate had been forcibly recruiting natives at a place called Kumusi, in the northeast of the territory; inquiry was made, in consequence of which the magistrate was suspended and eventually dismissed. Judge Murray, the Lieutenant-Governor, stated (according to the Melbourne Age) that it was shown that the man had been guilty of using compulsion to secure a certain number of natives, but there were probably others who came willingly. There was only one white man implicated. The Age goes on to state that the Lieutenant-Governor and the Commissioner of Native Affairs acted with great firmness and promptitude throughout the investigation. Questions have been asked in the House of Representatives on the subject, and the Minister for External Affairs made a statement as to the result of the inquiry, and assured the House that every care would be taken to make the fullest inquiry at the least suspicion of improper recruiting.

Judge Murray, describing the Government system of obtaining labourers, said that recruiting is purely voluntary, and every care is taken to keep it such. When a Government representative visits a native district, he explains the conditions and asks what men are willing to go. A good number usually respond and then accompany him to a magistrate, where they are further questioned as to their willingness to go on. If they then say they are not willing, they have to be taken back to their own district. If they are willing they are engaged for a year or longer period. It is a system, he said, that needs to be carefully safeguarded, and always has been.

We are very glad to know that public opinion in Australia is sensitive to any charges of the sort referred to, and that the Government are prompt to take measures to prevent any abuses. The practice of Government recruiting, however, needs very careful watching, because there is always a danger of the "official atmosphere" itself operating upon the unwillingness of the labourers to sign labour contracts.

Slavery in Portuguese West Africa.

MR. BOWSKILL has now returned to this country, and has issued an interesting statement to the Press, which pointed to an unsatisfactory condition of things in San Salvador and district, owing to the sullen hostility of the native tribes to the authorities. The further threat of re-arrest of the missionary, in spite of the Governor's assurance and the official inquiries which have been carried out, constituted an unpleasant feature.

Later news, however, received by the Baptist Missionary Society from Mr. Graham, the missionary now at San Salvador, shows improvement. The local officials have asked his help as intermediary between them and the natives, and have promised a general amnesty to the people on their submission to the Government on the terms of a proclamation made by the Governor of Congo. This clearly promises that there shall be no recruitment of forced labour for the plantations, and guarantees reforms in the matter of tax-collecting. A good response had been received from the natives, and Mr. Graham himself had escorted the chiefs under the white flag to San Salvador to introduce them to the Capitão Mor.

STATEMENT BY THE REV. J. S. BowsKILL.

''The Portuguese Authorities have been and perhaps still are very highly displeased with me, because I was forced into taking a part in the San Salvador troubles. That could not have been helped, and it is idle to express regret for it now. I am, however, very greatly concerned about the present condition of the country I have just left. I am exceedingly sorry for the Portuguese officials, some of whom have shown themselves quite friendly to our Mission and to the people. I am still more sorry for the native chiefs and their followers, both Christian and non-Christian. My wife and I left San Salvador town on November 23. There were only a few hundred people left there, mostly women and children, and old men. We travelled by road for several days to get to the coast, and saw the sad condition to which the native revolt has brought the villages. The chiefs are very bitter against the Portuguese Government, and up to the time I left they were refusing to come to any terms of submission.

"I would very gladly have done anything that I could have done to re-establish peace, but I realized that the work of reconciliation and reconstruction must be left to others.

"Up to the very week in which I left Africa I still had the threat of re-arrest hanging over me. This seemed to me very strange and very hard to bear.

The Governor personally told me after my release from prison that I was free to go anywhere I liked, to England or to China. The British Vice-Consul Bell afterwards came to investigate and report on the whole of the happenings that led to my being imprisoned, and went away, as I was led to believe, quite satisfied with the course I had taken. Later on, the Portuguese Special Com

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missioner from Lisbon, Lieutenant Crato, conducted an exhaustive inquiry in San Salvador, examining many witnesses and coming freely in and out among us at the Mission with full facilities for getting at the truth. My two faithful Congo friends and helpers, Nekaka and Mantu, were both released from their long and weary imprisonment without any evil thing having been proved against either of them. Our Mission was no longer beset by military guards, and the system of messengers to our out-stations and the Coast, which had been stopped by the arrest of the messengers, had been restored by official orders. After months of anxious waiting I was expecting to leave with my wife to visit our home and little children in England. I had heard from the Secretary of the Mission in London that assurances had been given from Lisbon that no obstacle would be put in the way of my leaving. Mr. and Mrs. Graham had arrived, and had taken over charge. One of the first communications made to him, however, by the San Salvador official was that a warrant had been issued for my arrest, and he (the official) would be held responsible if I left the country. No cause was given and to this day I have not heard the explanation. I owe it to the friendliness of that official that he accepted my word of honour that if he allowed me to travel freely to the coast, I would not sail without the Government's consent. But it was a disappointing and humiliating shadow over my

leaving.

"On my arrival at Matadi, our Congo Secretary communicated with the British Consul at Loanda, and he obtained and telegraphed the formal consent of the Portuguese Governor to my setting sail for England.

Naturally, I am most desirous that my character and conduct shall be cleared of blame in the official reports, both British and Portuguese. I have no ground for fearing either, and I hope the European War will not be responsible for delay in publishing them. But very much more important than my personal vindication is the complete abolition of forced labour for plantations, the end of oppressive conditions in the rule of African peoples, the restoration of peace and the spread of Christian civilization among the African tribes— the cause to which I have consecrated my life. I want to raise no unnecessary obstacle to the fulfilment of these great aims, nor can I be content till these are realized. Time will show, and no distant time, whether the Portuguese Authorities are seriously and honestly setting themselves to reform the abuses that have been revealed, and that happily some of their own people have come to see."

REPORTS FROM MISSIONARIES.

In pleasing contrast with the above, we have had the advantage of seeing a number of letters from British and American missionaries in other parts of Angola reporting on the position of the Slavery question in their districts of the interior at the end of last year. The writers are many of them the same as those whose evidence was quoted by Mr. Charles A. Swan in his book, The Slavery of To-day, published in 1909, and they show that on the whole there is a marked improvement, and that the pressure of public opinion in this country has had its effect. Several of the missionaries write of the active endeavours of the Portuguese officials to put down slave trading, and of the sincerity of the Government in their declared

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