§ MR. ALEXANDER M'ARTHUR (Leicester)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether Her Majesty's Government has received information from the Governor of the Cape respecting certain natives of Mozambique, who escaped from the Rei-de Portugal which called at Cape Town in August on its passage to St. Paul de Loanda, who are alleged to have been part of a cargo of slaves, and who were liberated by order of the Chief Justice of the Colony; whether Her Majesty's Government is aware that a regular traffic in East African Natives, for employment on the West Coast, is carried on by Portuguese vessels calling at Cape Town; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will take steps to prevent a continuance of this illegal practice?
§ BARON H. DE WORMSThe natives who escaped from the vessel in question were not liberated by order of the Chief Justice, the Court simply abstaining from making an order for their return to the steamer. They were stated by the Portuguese authorities to be military conscripts, not slaves. Her Majesty's Government have no reason to suppose that there exists such a traffic as that mentioned in the second portion of the question, but they have full confidence that the Cape Ministry would take the necessary legal measures to check it if did exist.