§ MR. THOMAS BAYLEY (Derbyshire, Chesterfield)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether a contract has been entered into with an English firm at Zanzibar to convey a Government steamer from the Coast to the Victoria Nyanza Lake; whether the contractor is allowed to employ Zanzibar slaves to carry portions of the steamer and the necessary fittings; and whether the edict originating in Sir Gerald Portal's warning that the employment of slaves by British subjects in those caravans encourages the slave trade, has recently been made void; if so, for what cause?
§ SIR E. GREYA launch has been bought from an English firm, who have contracted to deliver it on the Victoria Nyanza. The contractor will have to comply with the existing regulations of the Zanzibar Government for the engagement of porters, so far as they are recruited at Zanzibar. The chief origin of the edict alluded to was the scarcity of labour in Zanzibar, and it had no 1618 special reference to slaves. It is considered that the interests of Zanzibar and the good treatment of the porters employed are protected by the present regulations.