§ MR. J. A. PEASE (Northumberland, Tyneside)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the economy that would be effected in connection with the duties thrown upon Her Majesty's ships in the event of the abolition of the Slave Trade, and in view of the recent Report from the Administrator of the Imperial British East Africa Company that a considerable Slave Trade is now being carried on in the district between Uganda and the coast, Her Majesty's Government will take steps to abolish the legal status of slavery in British East African Protectorates, including the Islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, which now afford a market for slaves brought from the interior of Africa; whether many slaves working on these islands were British protected people before they were kidnapped in Nyassaland; and what steps the British officials are taking to secure the freedom of these and all other slaves whom the Government have admitted are now illegally hold in bondage?
§ SIR E. GREYA Report which has been sent to the East Africa Company by its agent at Machakos speaks of capture of Marai women and children by the natives in that neighbourhood, but no evidence is given of any attempt to export them to Zanzibar and Pemba, where slave-markets no longer exist. My hon. Friend is already aware that Zanzibar is not a British Possession, but is a British Protectorate in which Mahommedan law prevails, and that the abolition of the legal status of slavery therefore involves serious political considerations. I can add nothing to previous answers as to this point and as to the measures now in force which it is considered will lead to the discontinuance of the institution of slavery. If any slave was proved to have been kidnapped either in Nyassaland or in any other part of the interior of Africa or to be illegally held in bondage it would be the duty of the British officials to interfere on his behalf.