§ MR. HENRY LABOUCHERE (Northampton)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is a fact, as stated by Sir John Kirk, that in the last ten years the quantity of cloves picked in Zanzibar and Pemba has increased three-fold; what was the number of slaves in the Island of Pemba ten years ago, and what is it now; from whence the slaves introduced into the island in the last ten years have come; whether there is any free labour in the Island of Pemba; whether a code of rules in regard to slaves used as porters in the caravans from the coast inland has recently been published obliging those hiring them to pay 10 rupees per head to the Mahometan Court, to lodge £10 per head, to pay down two months' wages in advance, not to pay any wages to the porters during their absence, and to sign a bond which compels them to bring all porters back; and whether, in the event of the slave dying in the interior, the owner may claim the £10 deposited and all wages accrued, so that the £10 thus forfeited leaves the slave owner a profit on the purchase of the slave?
§ *SIR E. GREYPapers are about to be laid which will give full information as to the position of the slave trade and slavery in Zanzibar and Pemba. No regulations have been drawn up in regard to the employment of slaves as porters. The regulations as to the engagement and treatment of porters contain provisions of the nature indicated. A slave owner has no locus standi under the regulations.