HENRY GURNEY, Esq. MRS. HANSCOMB. DR. ROBERT HOWARD. LT.-COM. THE HON. J. M. KENWORTHY, M.P. REV. C. E. C. LEFROY, M.A. F. C. LINFIELD, Esq. A. H. LORING, Esq. H. W. NEVINSON, Esq. H. J. OGDEN, Esq. J. H. OLDHAM, Esq. SIR ARCHIBALD SINCLAIR, BART.. W. H. STOKER, Esq., K.C. E. THURTLE, Esq., M.P. HON. SIR MONTAGU DE POMEROY WEBB, C.I.E., C.B.E. COL. THE RT. HON. J. C. WEDGWOOD, D.S.O., M.P. CECIL H. WILSON, Esq., M.P. Hon. Secretary: TRAVERS BUXTON, M.A. Hon. Lecturer: MRS. JOHN H. HARRIS. Solicitors: MESSRS. MORGAN, PRICE, GORDON & MARLEY, Bankers BARCLAYS BANK, LTD., 95, Victoria Street, S.W.1. Auditors: MESSRS. FAIRBAIRN, WINGFIELD & WYKES, 67, Watling Street, E.C.4 Headley Brothers, Invicta Press. Ashford. and 18 Devonshire St. E.C.2, Serial H1001 gr. BBJ A7 For the ANNUAL REPORT, 1926, see parANBRD UNIVERSITY H. W. L. MAY 3 1927 Anti-Slavery Reporter and Aborigines' Friend Series V., Vol. 17, No. 1. April, 1927. CONTENTS. QUARTERLY NOTES CONFERENCE ON KENYA SLAVE RAIDS IN PORTUGUESE AFRICA SOUTHERN RHODESIA: NATIVE JUVENILES' EMPLOYMENT ACT SOUTHERN RHODESIA NATIVES OBITUARY: REV. F. W. Walker, Dr. R. W. FeLKIN, MR. C. E. MAURICE THE COMMITTEE REVIEW: International Law and Backward Races ANNUAL REPORT, 1926 SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DONATIONS INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT BALANCE SHEET Price Sixpence. Published under the sanction and at the Offices of The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society, 51, Denison House, Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, S.W.I. PAGE 2 3 12 14 16 17 17 18 18 w w w w w 36 ABORIGINES' FRIEND. APRIL, 1927. [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 and statements for which their authors can alone be held responsible.] Achimota Quarterly Notes. THE Prince of Wales' College in the Gold Coast was opened on the 28th January last by the Governor, Sir F. G. Guggisberg, who emphasised in his speech the significance of the occasion to which they had looked forward for many years; it meant the opening of the door to a higher and more complete education than had ever been possible to the Gold Coast people. The principal is the Rev. A. G. Fraser, assisted by Dr. J. E. K. Aggrey and Mrs. Aggrey. The school opened with sixty kindergarten pupils, and it is hoped that sixty more pupils will be admitted after Easter when another building is completed. There were 250 applications for admission from all parts of West Africa. When completed the group of buildings, which stands on a lofty ridge, will accommodate 800 pupils. Indians in South Africa. * It is announced that an Agreement has been reached between the Governments of India and the Union of South Africa upon the general question of Indian immigration, which is said to promise to Indians in South Africa the development of a happy future. The Union Government agrees to withdraw the Reserved Areas Bill, and the Government of India has consented to assist the voluntary repatriation of Indians from South Africa at the expense of the Union, which has made generous terms. The Mui Tsai * A Press Report comes from Hong Kong that regulations for the abolition of the mui tsai system in Kwangtung Province of South China have been drafted by the Canton Government on the ground that "the system results in the buying and selling of human beings and much ill-treatment of girls." Magistrates are ordered to make a return within two months of all the slave girls in the districts, after which period they must all be told that they are free. If they remain in the families for whom they work, they must be registered as adopted daughters. They must be sent regularly to School, and may be married after their seventeenth birthday. Memorial to We learn from the African World that a memorial tablet in honour of the great emancipator of the slaves was unveiled on December 17th in Wimbledon Parish Church by the Lord Mayor of London, who was attended by the Sheriffs. The Dean of Worcester dedicated the tablet and gave an address on the life and work of Wilberforce, who lived at Wimbledon for some years and worshipped in the Parish Church. The commemoration was probably regarded as a local one, but, it seems rather unfortunate that none of those who are now engaged in carrying on the fight for freedom for the enslaved and oppressed in which Wilberforce was a great protagonist should have been invited to attend, or even informed of the event. Conference on Renya. A PUBLIC Conference on Kenya and the East African territories was held by the Society in Caxton Hall on February 17th, when Lord Cranworth and other representatives of the Settlers in Kenya attended and took part. Mr. CHARLES ROBERTS, President of the Society, in opening the meeting, said that the Conference had been called by the Society to discuss certain points arising in the administration of Kenya and other East African territories. Since it was organised the House of Lords had fixed a debate on the subject at the same time. That showed that a good deal of public attention was being called to the questions raised. We are very glad indeed to welcome Lord Cranworth, Mr. Roberts said, who will speak from his personal knowledge and residence in Kenya. We have a sort of hereditary interest in Lord Cranworth, and a claim to his interest. We have not forgoteen that his Uncle was for many years a President of the Aborigines Protection Society. I want first to say that we hoped-and I think the hope seems to have been a successful one that this might be a Conference in the sense of an interchange of ideas, and we are glad to know that there are a number of residents from Kenya present.here this afternoon, with whom we can interchange views. A little while ago our Society received a letter from a resident in Kenya, claiming that we were callously out of sympathy with-and indifferent to the efforts that were being made in that Colony for building up the Empire. We do not plead guilty. We recognise and appreciate fully the determination and the resolution of men and women who are, and have been for the last quarter of a century, making their homes, in that part of the Empire to the advantage of the Empire-and we hope with success to themselves. Many of us have lived, either for short periods, or for long, overseas, and I am quite willing to admit that things do look different from the standpoint of the place that you are making your home, and even apprehensions which seem unsubstantial in a sheltered home in England, wear a slightly different aspect in lonely settlements, on the frontiers of Empire. We hope from this interchange of ideas this afternoon that much may come which will enable us to understand here at home the difficulties from the standpoint of those living in East Africa, and perhaps they will understand something of our standpoint too, for we claim that we are not influenced by any brainless sentimentalism or by any mere cantankerous desire to put spokes in the wheels of development. If you will forgive my saying so, we consider ourselves pledged—as I believe you in Kenya and elsewhere are also pledged—to safeguard the interests of the African population and to observe all that is involved in the principle of Trusteeship. We are bound to say that occasionally we do get odd proposals but they are given careful examination and consideration and should be weighed sympathetically, but perhaps there is a danger lest, almost imperceptibly, old evils creep in under new disguises. I am quite certain that we all of us desire that throughout the African Dominions the high principles which have been laid down by successive administrations should be maintained in their integrity. The other point that I wish to make is to suggest that the starting point of this discussion-I do not say it is the last word—may be found in the Memorandum on the Indians in Kenya published in 1923. There the Duke of Devonshire, on behalf of the Government of the day, examined the situation in Kenya, and in the end laid down certain propositions. Two of these I will pick out from this White Paper. His Majesty's Government think it necessary to record their considered opinion that the interests of the African natives must be paramount, and that if, and when, those interests and the interests of the immigrant races should conflict, the former should prevail. That was carrying out the principle of Trusteeship, which lies at the root of our position in Kenya. The Government considered the numerical importance of the races in Kenya as they were at that date—about 10,000 Europeans, just over 10,000 Arabs, 22,000 Indians and 2,500,000 of Africans, and the Government laid down that really, in view of that position of affairs, and the whole circumstances of the country. His Majesty's Government cannot but regard the grant of responsible self-government as out of the question within any period of time which need now be taken into consideration. That was in 1923. Circumstances may have altered, but so long as those circumstances remain, and so long as the principle of Trusteeship is observed, the time has hardly come yet for any grant of self-government. It has never been very easy to argue against the grant of responsible self-government for Englishmen, but there are special circumstances, and that is the position from which we must start this discussion. I can only hope this meeting will result in a correction of any misapprehensions which we may have on our side and may bring our information up to date, if we are in any way not up to date, and enable the residents of East Africa and elsewhere to understand the attitude with which we view these very important problems. |