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declared that the German attitude towards natives had constituted a grave menace to the Union. He laid great emphasis on the victory in German South-West Africa from the native point of view, asserting that the natives who had been under German rule regarded the advent of the Union Forces as a deliverance.

The Lagos Auxiliary of the Anti-Slavery Society has recently collected and forwarded to the Government the sum of £166 3s. 6d., being the proceeds of a subscription for the relief of the widows and orphans of officers and soldiers killed during the operations in the Cameroons.

Portuguese Slavery.

PARLIAMENTARY PAPER.1

THE New White Book upon Portuguese Labour issued last July is in many respects the most important yet published and is a striking tribute to the persistent work of the Society. It also registers a greater increase of progress than any previous publication of its kind. That this is so is due primarily to the earnest and tactful activity which the British Minister in Lisbon and the British Consuls in Africa have shown in dealing with this question. The advocates of reform owe much to the British Minister in Lisbon, Mr. Lancelot Carnegie, and to Messrs. Hall Hall, Smallbones, Beak and Bernays, our Consuls in Africa.

It will be remembered that the years 1912 and 1913 were critical periods in the agitation for reform. Those of us who fought for the liberty of the slaves on the Portuguese plantations advanced the following main propositions

(a) That the natives of the mainland so abhorred the very names of the islands of San Thomé and Principe that it had only been possible to maintain the labour supply by the exercise of fraud or force upon the natives of the African hinterland.

(b) That until 1908 none of the 70,000 or so labourers taken to the islands were ever allowed to return.

(c) That from 1908 onwards repatriation, to which thousands of serviçaes were legally entitled, had been denied them upon various pretexts.

(d) That the heavy death rates were gravely accentuated in the sleeping sickness island of Principe.

(e) That the portion of wages deducted from the serviçaes which at the end of their contracts should amount to about £18 had frequently not been paid in full.

1 Cd. 79 0.

It had all along been admitted that the Portuguese Colonial legislation left little to be desired, but it had been repeatedly affirmed that the administration exhibited the most deplorable slackness in applying its own regulations. The argument had been advanced that a firm application of existing legislation would not only lead to reforms which would satisfy European public opinion but that the change would so far remove the stigma from the islands and such a good impression be made upon the natives that a flow of free native labour would be set up from the mainland to the island plantations, and thus both Government and planter would reap not merely moral but large economic advantage.

SIR EDWARD GREY'S SCHEME.

It became known that soon after the debate in the House of Lords in July, 1913, Sir Edward Grey was able to give close personal attention to the question, and after some months of consideration and discussion, the British Minister in Lisbon was instructed to lay certain proposals before the Portuguese Government; the following passage contains the gist of these instructions:

"It is their (the British Government's) intention to appoint a consulgeneral for Portuguese West Africa, whose principal duty will be to superintend the consular posts already established on the mainland and in the islands. This officer's duties of superintendence will entail constant visits to San Thome, where the labourers are employed, as well as to those localities where they are recruited and contracted, and it will therefore be possible for him, if he is afforded the necessary facilities, to furnish His Majesty's Government with full information on the points to which I have referred, and thus enable them through the medium of their consular officers to assure labourers at the recruiting stations that they can safely contract for service on the plantations." 1

In the following December (1913), the Portuguese Government notified the British Minister that, within certain natural limitations, they were prepared to accept Sir Edward Grey's scheme, and, in reporting this acceptance to the British Foreign Minister, Mr. Carnegie said :

"The Portuguese Government were . . . most grateful to you for having suggested a scheme whereby you would receive trustworthy reports in regard to the islands, which would demonstrate the inaccuracy of the charges brought against the Portuguese authorities by the Anti-Slavery Society and others."

THE BRITISH SCHEME IN OPERATION.

Mr. Consul Hall Hall is in charge of this scheme and has had as his Vice-Consuls Messrs. Smallbones, Beak and Bernays. The only really satisfactory solution of this question has all along been that of securing a

1 Cd. 7279, p. 79.

flow of free labour, but the prejudice which the Portuguese themselves have created against such a flow has hitherto been a fatal obstacle. This prejudice is accentuated by the means taken to obtain labourers for the islands prior to the recent exposures, and the fact that serviçaes now returning to the mainland show little inclination to renew their acquaintance with the cocoa islands. Mr. Vice-Consul Smallbones whilst travelling inland from Novo Redondo met a group of these repatriated serviçaes and in conversation with them he says:

:

"They seemed to know me and crowded round hailing me as their liberator. . . I have asked every repatriated ‘serviçal ' I met whether he wished to return to San Thomé. They all said most emphatically, no."

That Mr. Consul Hall Hall is correct in reporting that even the partial application of reforms has begun to lessen this prejudice is demonstrated by the fact that a considerable number of labourers have shown willingness to accept short service contracts of one year.

The Consuls appointed under Sir Edward Grey's scheme seem to find that the charges of laxity in administration and ignorance of regulations amongst the planters are only too well founded. The British Minister in Lisbon drew Sir Edward Grey's attention to this feature in the following passage:

"Mr. Bernays (Vice-Consul on San Thomé) states that he has been struck with the confusion and lack of information existing among the planters, and to an equal degree among the local authorities, in regard to the laws affecting the labourers. It appears, therefore, that undoubtedly it would be of great advantage to the officials, planters, and labourers to have the laws, which affect the interests of all alike, arranged and codified in a manner that would permit of their being understood by those concerned."

Mr. Carnegie suggested to Sir Edward Grey that he should put Mr. Bernays' suggestion in a friendly way before the Portuguese Government, and received from the Foreign Secretary instructions to do so.

The Portuguese Government accepted this friendly suggestion and have set up the machinery for this codification which it is hoped will soon be completed. It would however be a mistake to base too much upon this, for experience has shown that the Portuguese Government, whilst ready to respond to friendly suggestions, finds itself frequently unable to apply its legislation, a fact admitted by Senhor Vasconcellos to Sir Arthur Hardinge in 1912.1

That flagrant violations of law are openly permitted to-day is quite clear. The British Minister in Lisbon, the British Consul and the ViceConsuls in Africa, repeatedly drew the attention of the Portuguese Authorities 1 Cd. 6322, p. 84.

and of Sir Edward Grey to the practice of retaining on the islands against their will time-expired serviçaes. It is extremely unfortunate that the planters do not see that this practice must render recruitment on the mainland infinitely more difficult, whilst the fact that the administration knowingly tolerates this abuse, exposes them to legitimate criticism.

Mr. Consul Hall Hall writing in July of last year informed Sir Edward Grey that in April there were then upon San Thomé: 425 serviçaes whose contracts had expired the previous November, and 842 serviçaes whose contracts had expired the previous December; that is, 1267 labourers whose contracts had already expired over four months-the equivalent of one year's labour from over 400 men!

The excuses of the Portuguese for the slow rate of repatriation show how difficult they find the task of defending themselves, for the reasons they advance are shattered the moment they are critically examined.

On November 18, 1913, Senhor Affonso Costa, admitting the "iniquitous system" by which the labourers had been obtained, said that the slow rate of repatriation "arose solely from the insufficiency of vessels to convey more labourers to the mainland."

In that year, 1913, the repatriation of Angola labourers was only 2071, and even allowing for the Mozambique contingents, the total carried could not well have been more than 5000. In the same year 48 vessels cleared San Thomé ports for the mainland with an average registered carrying capacity of about 400 labourers per vessel. If, therefore, every allowance is made for exceptional circumstances the total carrying capacity was well over 15,000.

Mr. Hall Hall writing to Sir Edward Grey in February last year points out that six steamers "left Lisbon between about the 20th of July and the 7th of November" with registered capacity for 1250 labourers, yet only 737 were shipped back to the mainland during that period.

But that appreciable progress has been made in the rate of repatriation is shown by the following figures.

PROGRESS OF LIBERATION.

We know that during the last thirty years not less than 70,000 natives secured under slave trading conditions were shipped to the islands. We also know that prior to the British agitation none of these were allowed to return to the mainland until 1908; even then only a stray individual or two were repatriated. Organized liberation commenced in 1910 with four persons. Since that date the following are the figures:

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It is true that compared with the huge task of restoring to the mainland nearly 30,000 men, women and children these figures are small, but they do show progress.

Moreover, it is not merely in the rate of repatriation but in the payment of so-called "bonuses" that matters have improved. The Portuguese Planters' Association, it will be remembered, has placed on record the statement that the deductions made from the labourers' wages and supposed to be paid into the "Repatriation Fund" should provide each labourer with £18 upon landing again on the mainland. The admitted mismanagement of that fund and the fact that many labourers received very little money has occasioned no little heated discussion. Mr. Consul Hall Hall now reports to Sir Edward Grey a considerable increase in the average payment of "bonuses."

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It is interesting to note that the remarkable jump from 1911 and 1912 to 1913 and 1914 followed closely upon the Society's vigorous exposure of this scandal during 1912 and 1913.

The other direction in which marked improvement is exhibited is shown in the courageous work of the sleeping-sickness commission of Principe. The average death rate on this island was in 1908 believed to be 120 per thousand. In some districts it even reached 20 per cent. A vigorous effort has been made to exterminate the fly and the following figures show the success which has attended this effort:

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These improved conditions are, we repeat, largely due to the laudable efforts of the British Minister in Lisbon and the British Consuls on the spot, but, at the same time, they show that much remains to be done before the second part of Sir Edward Grey's scheme may be put into practice, namely

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