§ SIR HENRY HOLLAND (for Mr. R. N. FOWLER, Lord Mayor)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether his attention has been drawn to the deliberate violation of the Laws for the protection of aboriginal Natives in Western Australia in the pearl fisheries of that Colony, and that, in consequence, more stringent measures are needed to protect the Natives against kidnapping and other cruelties; whether his attention has been called to the dreadful mortality among the Natives confined in the prison at Rottnest; and, what steps have been taken to put an end to the state of things which there exists?
§ MR. EVELYN ASHLEY, in reply, said, that the attention of the Colonial Office had been called to some cases which looked very much like kidnapping on the Western Coast of Australia. The Governor paid a visit to those fisheries, and had sent in a Report. They expected him shortly in England, when they could confer with him as to the best course to be adopted to prevent such a state of things. It was quite true that there had been a good deal of overcrowding in the prison at Rottnest; but it had arisen from temporary causes, and he hoped would not occur again.