§ MR. MACFARLANEasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If his attention has been called to the following paragraph in the "Daily Chronicle:"—
§ "Gibraltar, May 7.
§ "The following is a list of slaves sold during a recent week in Tangiers, and some of the prices which they realised: Three female slaves were sold on as many successive days, one for 55 dollars, equal to £11 sterling; a negro boy, aged eight years, sold for 35 dollars, equal to £7 sterling; a woman, aged twenty, sold for 54 dollars, equal to £10 16s. All these slaves were sold in the public streets by an auctioneer, who assigned them to the highest bidder;"
§ and, if it is true, what steps he proposes to take to put a stop to such a condition of affairs?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEThe Report from Her Majesty's Minis- 404 ter at Tangiers, to which I referred in my reply to the hon. Member for Drogheda (Mr. Whitworth) on the 17th ultimo, has now been received, and states that it is the fact that slaves are occasionally sold in Tangiers, but that the annual number does not exceed 30 or 40. The status of slavery in Morocco at the present time is said to be still as it was described at page 112 of the Report of the Royal Commission on Fugitive Slaves, which was laid before Parliament in 1876. Sir John Hay adds that he has called for Reports from Her Majesty's Consular Officers at the Western Ports, and his attention will be called to the paragraph to which the hon. Member refers.