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grew up as a slave, though he tells us that the first knowledge he got of the fact of being a slave, and that the freedom of the slaves was being discussed, was when he was aroused by his mother early one morning to pray that Lincoln's Army might be successful and that she and her children might be free. When emancipation came, his mother being very poor, the child was sent to work first in a salt mine and later as a coal-miner. From his earliest

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years, however, he longed for education. As he says of himself in striking words, he could not recall that he ever became discouraged over anything he set out to accomplish, and he began everything with the idea of succeeding. It was so with his education. He contrived to pick up some schooling at a night school and later qualified himself for admission at the Hampton Industrial Institute in Alabama. Here in due course he graduated, and

after an interval was appointed by General Armstrong a teacher of the Indians in the Institute, where he showed such ability that in 1881 he was selected as head of the new negro Institute which was established at Tuskegee. The Tuskegee Institute, now so closely associated with Booker Washington's name, was begun under primitive conditions with only thirty negro scholars, its buildings being of the poorest sort. Thirty years later the school numbered 1,700 pupils and consisted of ninety-six buildings occupying some 3,000 acres of land. The school was built almost entirely by the scholars, a point to which Dr. Washington attached great importance, and cost 1,000,000 dollars. The outstanding feature of his idea of the education of negroes was that it must be industrial. In the reconstruction period there was an enthusiastic demand on the part of the negroes of all ages for education, but their impression was that education would fit them to live without manual labour, and that book learning was the only education worth the name. "The bigger the book and the longer the name of the subject the prouder the students felt of their accomplishment." In contrast to this, Booker Washington set himself to initiate a new idea of education of which cleanliness and practical usefulness formed the first essentials.

In 1895 Washington was invited to speak at the opening of the Atlanta Exhibition, when his address, by its eloquence and practical common-sense, made an immediate sensation and brought him at once to the front as an orator and a man of mark. Other distinctions soon followed, and in later years he obtained an honorary degree from the University of Harvard.

It is well known that his refusal to take up a militant position against lynching and negro disabilities aroused strong criticism in many quarters, but his answer was that political rights would come in due time when the negro had made himself indispensable to the community.

Booker Washington has done a great work and his name will long stand as one who, by his genius for leadership, opened a new era to the coloured race in the United States.

Parliamentary.

HOUSE OF COMMONS,

October 14.

CENTRAL AFRICA (NEUTRAL ZONE).

MR. SNOWDEN asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Spanish Government offered to lend its good offices in order that the territories in Central Africa should be placed during the War under the rule

of neutrality; whether the British Government was bound by treaty to accept such an offer of mediation, and what was the answer given by the British Government to Spain; whether France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal and the United States had all expressed themselves in favour of excluding Central Africa from military operations; and when and by whom did the first act of war take place in the conventional basin of the Congo?

LORD ROBERT CECIL: The Spanish Government were requested by the Belgian Government about August 10, 1914, to approach Germany with a request for the neutralization of the conventional basin of the Congo during the War. The Spanish Government consulted His Majesty's Ambassador at Madrid informally as to this request, and on August 16 His Majesty's Ambassador was informed that His Majesty's Government could not entertain the proposal for neutralization, more especially as the German forces in East Africa had already undertaken an offensive movement against Nyasaland, and British naval forces had just destroyed the wireless station at Dar-es-Salaam. As regards the remainder of the question, His Majesty's Government were not bound by treaty to comply with such a request from a neutral Government, for the relevant Articles of the Berlin Act contain no mention of any such obligation. The answer to the third paragraph of the question is in the negative. I am unable to say what was actually the first act of war within the conventional basin of the Congo.

October 28.

MR. SNOWDEN asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the proposal to neutralize Central Africa, presented by the United States Ambassador on September 24, 1914, was submitted to the Cabinet during the two months that it was under consideration; whether, in view of the publication of the correspondence in Germany, the Government will publish the letters written by the British Minister at Madrid in August of 1914 and the reply thereto, and the letters written by the United States Ambassador and the reply thereto of November 20, 1914; and whether the Foreign Office have any record of a German attack in Central Africa before the British bombardment of Dar-es-Salaam on August 8, 1914?

SIR E. GREY: I cannot say whether the proposal was submitted to the Cabinet; there is no record to that effect, but it was fully considered by the Ministers of the Departments concerned, and the decision taken was in accord with one come to by the Committee of Imperial Defence long before the outbreak of war. It is desirable to curtail the expenditure on official publications as much as possible, but copies of the correspondence will be placed in the Library of this House for the information of hon. Members. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative.

MR. KING: Will the right hon. gentleman go a little further and

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give copies of this correspondence to Members of Parliament who desire to have them?

SIR E. GREY: I think that, in the first instance, we had better put the correspondence in the Library, and then if Members think it desirable to have copies we will consider it.

November 16.

MR. SNOWDEN asked which members of the Cabinet were consulted with regard to the proposal to neutralize Central Africa presented by the Spanish Government in August, 1914; which members of the Cabinet were consulted with regard to the proposal to neutralize Central Africa presented by the United States Ambassador on September 24, 1914; what was the date and the purport of the decision of the Committee of Imperial Defence on this question; and were the Ministers consulted on these three occasions all aware of our obligations towards the natives and towards the signatories of the Berlin Act when they assented to the proposals of the Foreign Office?

Lord Robert CECIL: As regards the first two branches of the question I can add nothing to the answer given to the hon. gentleman on October 28, except that the Ministers who considered this question were the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Secretary of State for War, and my right hon. friend; nor, as regards the last branch, to the answer given to the hon. Member for North Somerset on July 28 regarding the extent of the obligation assumed in this matter by the signatories of the Berlin Act. The views of the Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence on the subject were given to the Government on two occasions in November, 1898, and January, 1911.

On the same date, in reply to Mr. King, who asked that the whole of the diplomatic correspondence on this subject should be published, Lord R. Cecil stated that the question of publication would be considered, but the consent of the other Governments would have to be obtained.

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CEYLON RIOTS.

November 23, 1915.

Sir J. D. REES asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any amnesty will be applied in the case of the Buddhist prisoners now in gaol in Ceylon who were involved in the late riots; whether any inquiry has been or will be held into the causes of such riots, and the general and relative culpability of Mohammedans and Buddhists; and whether the results of any such inquiry will be published?

Mr. STEEL-MAITLAND: While all sentences on such prisoners are carefully revised by the Governor, no proposals for a general amnesty have been put forward. Reports on the origin and causes of the riots have been furnished

by the Commissioners appointed to hold local inquiries, and will be included in the Papers which I hope shortly to lay before Parliament.

Sir J. D. REES: Is it not the case that a very large number of these Buddhist prisoners are in gaol? Considering the fact that this was a racial riot, might it not be worth considering whether something like an amnesty could not be now proclaimed ?

Mr. STEEL-MAITLAND: I will put the hon. Gentleman's proposal forward if he wishes. So far, however, as can be ascertained at present, it would be neither desirable nor is it necessary to propose any general amnesty.

INDIA (EMIGRATION).

December 8.

SIR J. D. REES asked the Secretary of State for India whether, following upon the Report of the Committee on Emigration, appointed in 1909, and the more recent Report of Messrs. M'Neill and Chimanlal, a further deputation to Fiji, of Messrs. Andrews and Pearson, has been ordered by the Government of India; and, if so, will he say why so many reports are necessary on this subject, in respect of which there has been unanimity of favourable opinion as to the existing system?

MR. CHAMBERLAIN: I understand that Mr. Andrews' visit to Fiji was a private one. I have no information as to Mr. Pearson.

Lord Burton and Mative Education.

A PARAGRAPH in South Africa has reported a recent visit paid by Lord Buxton, the Governor-General of South Africa, to the Ohlange Institute, Natal, for the education of natives, of which the Rev. John Dube is principal. Many of our members know of the useful work which Mr. Dube carries on for the industrial training of his people somewhat on the lines of Dr. Booker Washington's institutions in the United States, and Mr. Dube became personally known to others when he visited England last year as leader of the deputation in connexion with the Native Land Act in the Union. The following is the report :

Lord Buxton was accompanied by Lady Buxton and the Hon. Phyllis and the Hon. Doreen Buxton, and Lord Carlton, A.D.C. Among others present was Senator the Hon. Marshall Campbell. Lunch was served in the dining-room of the hall, and the visitors were also entertained with selections by a Zulu choir of well-trained voices. Fully 2000 well-dressed natives were gathered to hear the speeches.

Mr. Dube, in introducing Lord Buxton, spoke of the great honour bestowed upon them by his visit. The building which His Excellency had graciously consented to declare open was built, he said, largely by students who were paying the expense of their education. Mr. Dube spoke also of

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