Anti-Slavery Reporter and Aborigines' Friend. APRIL, 1919. [The Editor, whilst grateful to all correspondents who may be kind enough to furnish him with information, desires to state that he is not responsible for the views stated by them, nor for quotations which may be inserted from other journals. The object of the journal is to spread information, and articles are necessarily quoted which may contain views or statements for which their authors can alone be held responsible.] Quarterly Mote. THIS question has been under constant consideration by The Rhodesian the Committee of the Society, which resolved to print a Land Case. final statement upon the case for private circulation among representative men and women, the Missionary Societies, etc., in the hope of bringing direct influence to bear upon the Government, so as to avoid, if possible, the wide appeal to the public, which will become necessary if all else fails. This action has been endorsed by leading members of Parliament and by the Society's Committees in Scotland. Meanwhile Lord Milner has agreed to receive a small deputation from the Society to bring the facts before him for his personal examination and consideration. This is being arranged as we go to press.1 Peace Terms and Colonial Reconstruction. It had been hoped that Mr. Balfour would be able to receive a deputation from the Society, and early in the year a letter from the Foreign Office informed Sir Victor Buxton that the proposals which had been made “had been carefully considered by the Department in consultation with the Colonial Office." "The great press of work," however, made it difficult to receive a deputation, but it was suggested that a memorial might be drawn up "which could be published in the Press, setting out the ends you have in view." Such a memorial," it was added, “would be carefully studied." A memorial was accordingly drafted setting forth the main features of the Society's repeated representations upon the subject of peace terms and native races, a copy of which was forwarded to the British Representatives It is hoped that it will be possible to report on this subject at the Annual Meeting. at the Peace Conference in Paris, and was also sent to the Press. The terms of this memorial follow : TO THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE, FOREIGN OFFICE. January 14, 1919. SIR, In response to your communication of the 7th instant, addressed to Sir Victor Buxton, the President of this Society, we beg now to place before His Majesty's Government, in the form of a single memorandum, the main features of the representations made by the Society upon the question of Peace Terms and Native Races. These fall under two main heads :1. Territories whose sovereign control may undergo changes as a result of the war, and II. The sphere within which international action can safely and wisely operate. I. Our Committee has by various means brought to the forefront of public discussion, and by direct representation to His Majesty's Government, the paramount importance of taking into consideration, so far as ascertainable, the wishes and welfare of the inhabitants themselves before any transfer of sovereignty takes place. In this connection we desire to emphasize that in our opinion special reasons exist for applying this principle to any colonial territories which were wholly or in part under British Administration prior to August 4, 1914. Our Committee ventures to hope that at an early date an assurance may be given upon this point, because we are convinced that public opinion would welcome this further assurance that no territory under British Colonial influence will be surrendered to any Foreign sovereignty without both the inhabitants of the territories and the British Parliament being given the opportunity of expressing an opinion. If it appears to His Majesty's Government that this latter point is unduly emphasized, we beg to say that urgent representations have been made to our Committee in connection with certain territories. II. The second main category of our representations has covered the sphere of international control over tropical territories with a view to restraining retrograde measures, abuse and evil influences, in preference to proposals for international executive Government, which latter, in our opinion, can only be fraught with danger to world peace and a menace to just and progressive Government. In this connection, we beg to repeat our suggestion that, at a date to be fixed by the Peace Congress, a new official Conference, following on the lines of the Vienna, Berlin, and Brussels Conferences, should be held to deal with all questions affecting the aboriginal races of territories wherein there is no |