HC Deb 19 April 1883 vol 278 cc627-8
SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL

asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether it is true, as stated in the public prints, that Her Majesty's Government have ordered the annexation of a considerable portion of the West Coast of Africa in the direction of Sierra Leone; if so, whether this annexation is effected by right of the strong hand, or by any other right; and, whether it is the case, as is to be gathered from the paragraph in the newspapers, that the object is to prevent British trade being sapped by competition, and to improve the revenues of Sierra Leone by subjecting the trade to duties for the benefit of that Colony?

MR. W. H. SMITH

asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, If he will explain to the House the extent and the limits of the territory on the West Coast of Africa which was recently annexed to the British Empire by order of the Secretary of State; whether there have been any recognised authorities in the country of which possession has been taken; and, whether they and the inhabitants are consenting parties to the act of Her Majesty's Government?

MR. EVELYN ASHLEY

The territory in question is only a coast line starting from the right bank of the Mannah River, and extending to the north-west for about 20 miles, with a breadth inland of only half-a-mile. The cession of this strip of coast was formally made by the Kings, Chiefs, and inhabitants of the district, by an agreement concluded on the spot in March of last year with Governor Havelock. They had for some time previous expressed themselves as anxious to come under British protection. Her Majesty's Government has been induced to accept this offer of session, not only to cecure that this strip of coast shall not become a great smuggling channel, whereby the revenue and trade of Sierra Leone would be ruined, but also with a view, by establishing a conterminous boundary with Liberia, to put an end for the present, and avoid for the future, many long standing difficulties and complications which endangered good order and peace. Papers on the subject will shortly be laid on the Table of the House.

SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL

asked if the hon. Gentleman applied the words "smuggling" to free trade over a foreign territory?

MR. EVELYN ASHLEY

Yes; if, after it has been taken over a foreign territory, it is brought into British territory by back entrances.

SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL

asked if the hon. Gentleman applied the word "smuggling" to free trade through territory before it was annexed?

[No reply was given.]