some form of appeal tribunal should be created for advising and adjudicating upon alleged breaches of international engagements. Our Committee suggests that the league of Nations might act in the capacity of Guardians. for the loyal observance of internationally agreed principles.

In view of these resolutions we now beg to ask whether it would be possible for you or Lord Robert Cecil to receive a deputation from the Society in order that the subject could be submitted to you with a view to securing from you an assurance of general sympathy with the proposals which members of the deputation would lay before you.

I am directed by Mr. Secretary Balfour to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your letter of the 5th ultimo, transmitting resolutions passed by your Society, relative to the future of the German colonies and to the measures necessary for the protection of native races in tropical territories.

I am to assure you that Mr. Balfour is in general sympathy with the views expressed by the Society but regrets that, in view of the present pressure of work in this Department, it will not be possible for him or for Lord Robert Cecil to receive a deputation on the subject.

I am to express regret at the delay which has occurred in sending this reply and which is due to reference having been made to another Department of His Majesty's Government.

The President and Secretaries,

I am, etc., (Signed) R. GRAHAM.

The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society.

It must be noted as significant that the proposals of the Labour Party in regard to the Colonies, which were at first for administration by a supernational authority have undergone an important modification, and have now come, as it would seem, into harmony to a large extent with our Society's views.

We quote the following passages from the last memorandum under the heading "The Colonies and Dependencies " :

"Those colonies that have been taken by conquest from any belligerent

must be made the subject of special consideration at the Peace Conference, as to which the communities in their neighbourhood will be entitled to take part. But the Clause in the Treaty of Peace on this point must secure economic equality in such territories for the peoples of all nations, and thereby guarantee that none are shut out from legitimate access to raw materials; prevented from disposing of their own products or deprived of their proper share of economic development. As regards more especially the colonies of all the belligerents in Tropical Africa, from sea to sea, including the whole of the region north of the Zambesi and south of the Sahara, the Conference condemns any imperialist idea which would make these countries the booty of one or several nations, exploit them for the profit of the capitalist, or use them for the promotion of the militarist aims of the Governments. With respect to these colonies the Conference declares in favour of a system of control, established by international agreement under the League of Nations and maintained by its guarantee,1 which, whilst respecting national sovereignty,1 would be alike inspired by broad conceptions of economic freedom and concerned to safeguard the rights of the natives under the best conditions possible for them, and in particular :

I. It would take account in each locality of the wishes of the people, expressed in the form which is possible to them.

2. The interests of the native tribes as regards the ownership of the soil would be maintained.

3. The whole of the revenues would be devoted to the well-being and development of the colonies themselves."

The Ceylon Disturbances.

Two private deputations have been received at the Colonial Office in regard to the Society's recent memorial 2 on this subject.

The first, on December 13, consisted of Members of Parliament in sympathy with the Society's appeal. The Rt. Hon. J. W. Wilson, M.P., Chairman of the Society's Parliamentary Committee, introduced the deputation, which included Lord Henry Bentinck, Chairman of the General Committee, Mr. P. A. Molteno, Sir George Toulmin, Sir Albert Spicer, Messrs. T. R. Ferens, Leif Jones, etc.

Mr. Long, while expressing himself in sympathy with the general views of the speakers, which he appeared to feel were justifiable as following upon their previous representations, was firm in declining to institute a public inquiry, on the ground that the Governor's investigation had covered a much larger number of cases than they supposed.

1 Italics ours.

2 Copies can be obtained from the office.

The second deputation, which was received by Mr. Hewins on January 16, was introduced by Sir Victor Buxton, the President of the Society.

Besides several members of the Committee, some of the signatories to the memorial attended, including the Bishop of Lincoln, Professor Gilbert Murray, Rev. Dr. Scott Lidgett, Rev. Dr. Meyer and Rev. R. C. Gillie representing the Free Churches, Sir John Rolleston, and the Hon. Eric Collier.

Sir Victor Buxton assured Mr. Hewins that they had no desire to embarrass the Government, believing that an inquiry into what had taken place after the riots would lead to renewed confidence on the part of the people of Ceylon. The Society did not want punishment of officials, but justice for the Sinhalese.

Mr. Leonard Woolf referred to the importance of regaining the confidence of the people of Ceylon by a searching inquiry.

Messrs. Buxton and Harris, the Secretaries of the Society, spoke on the widespread nature of the irregularities, shootings, floggings, illegal imprisonments and exactions. The Commission into ten cases had revealed deplorable facts which had been strongly stigmatized by the Governor, and a great many must have taken place over the wide areas concerned in a very large number of cases. The Society could not rest satisfied with the Governor's limited inquiries.

After a few words from the Bishop of Lincoln and Dr. Scott Lidgett, Mr. Hewins in replying gave no hope of an inquiry being granted. It would, he said, cast a slur upon the Governor, who had already investigated all the cases brought before him, and would, he insisted, be impossible to carry out at this date. The utmost he could promise would be to examine into any specific cases which were laid before him.

Professor Gilbert Murray, who expressed thanks to Mr. Hewins for receiving the deputation, dwelt upon the deplorable effect which the knowledge of what had taken place in Ceylon under martial law had had upon neutral countries. Why could not the Government publish the inquiries made into cases in which we were told justice had been done?

The result of the deputation was felt by all to be disappointing, and the word "reparation was not even mentioned by Mr. Hewins.

We are taking steps to place a number of specific cases with full particulars before the Colonial Office in response to Mr. Hewins's offer.

Portuguese Slave Labour.

ALTHOUGH the Foreign Office has not sent any reply to the Society's memorial of May last, on the subject of the last White Paper, we have learnt that a copy was sent to Mr. Hall Hall, the British Consul-General, for his com

ments, and that he submitted a further report to the Government on the points raised by the Society in regard to the labour conditions.

The Foreign Office has since informed us that H.M. Minister at Lisbon has been instructed to impress on the Portuguese Government the advisability of introducing a census of the population of the islands and of improving the present methods of the recontracting of labour. They write

"The desirability of the adoption of similar measures is specially indicated in the Society's Memorial of May 21, and is strongly advocated both by Mr. Hall Hall and also by Mr. Burtt in an article in the Bournville Works Magazine, a copy of which was forwarded to Sir L. Carnegie for his information and guidance."

The taking of a census is, of course, long overdue, it having been actually announced by Sir L. Carnegie (as we pointed out in our memorial) in December, 1913, as about to be taken.

We learn from the Official Bulletin of San Thomé of last October that Lieut.-Colonel Cid, chief of the Mozambique Medical Service, was appointed to carry out a medical inspection of the islands and an inquiry into the medical, sanitary, or social relief which may be necessary for the labourers. Colonel Cid was instructed to send in his report within three months.

MR. MORRELL asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that, in the recent debate in the Legislative Council of Ceylon with regard to the suppression of the riots, the unofficial members who voted for the motion expressing the opinion that in view of the recent disclosures it is dangerous to allow Mr. H. L. Dowbiggin to continue to hold the office of Inspector-General of Police were the representatives in the Council of over 90 per cent. of the population of Ceylon; that all the Tamil members, representing 25 per cent. of the population, which took absolutely no part in the riots, supported the Sinhalese in this motion; that these representatives of 90 per cent. of the population of the Colony all condemned in their speeches the methods adopted by the Administration for dealing with the disturbances; and whether, in view of these facts, it is the intention of the Government to allow the Administration to continue to act contrary to the wishes of over 90 per cent. of the population constitutionally expressed through their representatives on the Legislative Council?

Mr. HEWINS: If by "acting contrary to the wishes of the population " the hon. member refers to my refusal to withdraw this officer from Ceylon, I have nothing to add to the answer which I gave to his question of December 19, except that I do not admit that the elected and nominated members who supported the Government do not also represent the general interests and wishes of the community.

CEYLON (SINHALESE RIOTS).

February 20.

Mr. MORRELL asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can now state the number of Sinhalese fined for non-payment of the amounts levied upon them under the Ceylon Riots Compensation Ordinance, and also the number of persons imprisoned for non-payment of such fines ?

Mr. HEWINS: I have not yet received this information.

Mr. MORRELL asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether a Sinhalese villager, Louis Putna, of Dalugama, owning no property other than a hut, and earning a monthly wage of Rs. 25 was assessed to pay Rs. 25 in two instalments under the Ceylon Riots Compensation Ordinance; whether, after paying one instalment he failed to produce more than Rs. 10:50 out of the Rs. 12:50 due as the second instalment, and was then sentenced to one month's imprisonment; and whether he will issue instructions to prevent the recurrence of such cases?

Mr. HEWINS: I have no information in the matter, but I will ask the Governor for a Report.

Mr. MORRELL asked the Secretary for the Colonies whether all the twentytwo cases of illegal execution alleged in the Sinhalese memorial to have been perpetrated by officers acting under martial law during the Ceylon riots have been fully investigated; if so, whether the evidence proves that nothing illegal or irregular had been done by officers of the Administration in the thirteen cases on which no evidence and no report has been published by the Administration; and, if so, whether he will immediately publish the Report and evidence in these thirteen cases in which the Administration can be shown to have acted correctly with the same fullness and in the same form as the Ceylon Government published the Report and evidence in the nine cases in which the officers of the Administration were found to have, administered lynch law?

Mr. HEWINS: I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given to his similar question on November 27 last.1 It is not proposed to publish the reports referred to in that reply.

Mr. MORRELL: Will the hon. Gentleman give me a specific answer to the last part of the question which asks whether as regards the thirteen cases on which no reports have been published the Government is satisfied that nothing illegal was done.

Mr. HEWIN: I have dealt with that on several occasions before and I cannot add anything.

Mr. MORRELL: If that is so, and nothing illegal was done, can the hon.

1 See Reporter, Vol. 7, p. 105.