HC Deb 08 March 1886 vol 303 cc109-10
SIR JOSEPH PEASE (Durham, Barnard Castle)

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the Government have received the text of the recent Act passed by the Legislature of Brazil in reference to slavery in that Empire, known as the Saraiva Act; and, whether it is in contravention of the terms of the Rio Branco Law of 1871 with regard to slavery?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BRYCE) (Aberdeen, S.)

The text of the Act has been received from Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Rio de Janeiro, and will be laid on the Table; its provisions do not appear to be in contravention of the Law of 1871, although they are not as liberal as it was hoped they would have been.