The Anti-Slavery & Aborigines' Protection Society. President: CHARLES ROBERTS, Esq. Chairman of General Committee: Vice-Chairman of General Committee: Treasurers: E. WRIGHT BROOKS, Esq., J.P. Secretary : TRAVERS BUXTON, M.A. Organising Secretary: JOHN H. HARRIS. Hon. Lecturer : MRS. JOHN H. HARRIS. Chairman of Parliamentary Committee: Bankers : BARCLAY'S BANK, LTD., 95, Victoria Street, S.W. 1. WIGHTMAN & Co., LTD., "Old Westminster Press," London, S. W. 1. ABORIGINES' FRIEND. JULY, 1920. [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 Notes. The Society's attention has been called to the open Child Slavery buying and selling of Chinese children in this British in Hong Kong. colony, and we have been in communication with other Societies concerned on the subject. Col. John Ward raised the matter in the House of Commons on March 31st and spoke of his own experience of the practice three years ago, since when, he said, the Colonial office, in spite of promises, had done nothing. Col. Amery, in replying, said that there was no slavery in Hong Kong, but the Chinese custom of adoption of girls and youths for domestic service was recognised, in which case a lump sum was paid to the parent or guardian. He promised to see that the inquiries already instituted into this matter were accelerated. The holding for the first time of a Conference of leading West African representatives of the four British West Africa colonies Conference. to discuss political questions affecting these native communities, is a notable event which should have good results. The Conference was held in March last at Accra in the Gold Coast, and a large number of subjects was discussed under the presidency of the Hon. T. Hutton-Mills. A permanent National Congress was inaugurated to carry on the work thus begun. The Name of the Society. The name of the Society is continually subjected to a good deal of adverse criticism, but the difficulty which has confronted the Committee is that of finding a suitable and short title embracing the whole of its work. The Committee would welcome suggestions from members and friends as to the desirability of a change, but more especially-a new name. The Annual Meeting. The Society's annual meeting was held on Thursday, May 6th, in the Central Hall, Westminster. The new President, Mr. Charles Roberts, occupied the chair for the first time, supported, among others, by the Earl of Mayo, Earl Beauchamp, Lord Emmott, Lord Gainford, Professor Gilbert Murray, Sir S. Olivier (Vice-Chairman), Mr. E. W. Brooks (Treasurer) and the Secretaries. MR. CHARLES ROBERTS opened with the remark that that was the first time he had had the honour of meeting the Society as its President, and went on to refer to the loss which the Society had suffered through the death of Sir Victor Buxton. Many of them mourned his loss as that of an old friend. The Society owed much to his unstinted efforts on its behalf, to the judgment with which he conducted its affairs, to his knowledge of the Empire, his courtesy, to the hospitality with which he threw open his house for service in many causes, and to his heredity and disinterested concern for the protection of backward peoples. It was a great satisfaction to them all to know that Lady Buxton had consented to be a vice-president of the Society, and that his son had consented to act as one of their treasurers. No one could realise the loss of their late President so much as he, whom they had called upon to attempt to undertake the duties which he so admirably performed. He had been away on Government work in India during a large part of the year, but the Society had triumphantly shown that it could get on excellently without him, and he thought it was only right on his part to acknowledge the vast amount of time and thought which the officers had devoted to the work of the Society. Sir Sidney Olivier, their new Vice-Chairman, had rendered valuable help. After a reference to the financial deficit, Mr. Roberts proceeded to offer a word of criticism on the title of the Society, with which he was not satisfied. He knew there was much history behind the name, but he doubted if their work was now primarily anti-slavery, and the prominence of the word in the title might lead to some misconception. The work that lay before them was broader and more constructive. It was the protection of the backward peoples in the matter of their land rights of the initial customs that were worth preserving, and of such personal and political rights as they possessed. They had to help them to defend themselves against the abuses of the liquor traffic, against unjust proposals of taxation, against the working of the colour prejudice and illiberal ideas; they had to help to forward education, and the right kind of education, for the children of undeveloped peoples, and they had always to search for inter-racial justice between the whites and the backward races under their control. If any member of the Society could crystallise their work into exactly the right name he might send his suggestion for the consideration of the Executive Committee. The Chairman referred to two points in the resolutions to be submitted which showed the need of the Society's work. Firstly, though the mandatories in Africa were known, the territories to be entrusted to them were not yet fixed, and the terms of the mandates, under which they would hold, were not yet settled. The questions that emerged were clearly of vast importance for the well-being of the population concerned. They had watched the points closely, and had drawn up and submitted conditions that their Society considered most urgently requisite for embodiment in the mandates. The second question was that of Rhodesian land, the points in connection with which that had given them most concern being the denial of rights to the natives to the unalienated lands in the decision of the Judicial Committee, and the net expropriation of a million acres from the Reserves. He singled out those two points as illustrating the need for the Society's work. The Empire was so vast that no man nor any body of men could have first-hand knowledge of all the racial questions that might be raised, but the Society included men and women who had given many years of thought and labour to the welfare of the backward races in different parts of the world, and they were sometimes able to supply Government officials with information which they thought had not been appreciated. He moved the adoption of the report and the re-election of the Committee and officers. Earl BEAUCHAMP, seconding, said he had two special reasons for doing so, one being that he was in general sympathy with the objects of the Society, and the other that he had a special interest in one of the matters mentioned in the report. . He referred to the export duty which had been put upon palm oil kernels from West Africa. They had had one debate on the matter in the House of Lords, with the result, he thought, of illuminating the public mind on the subject, and which would, he hoped, help to make the Colonial Office give way. It was one of those matters that went down to the root principles upon which the whole of our Empire had been founded. We had been allowed to build up a big Empire, adding territories after territories in all parts of the world, without rousing the jealousy of other countries because it had been generally acknowledged that we governed not for the benefit of ourselves, but for those who were subject to our rule. (Hear, hear.) It would be very unfortunate if suspicion were aroused in other countries by this act. The EARL OF MAYO, supporting the motion, thought that the time had not yet arrived when the name of the Society should be changed. All slaves were not yet freed, and until they were he should be sorry to see the name of the Society changed. The export duty on palm kernels prevented the natives of West Africa from selling their goods all over the |