§ MR. JOSEPH A. PEASE (Northumberland, Tyneside)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether the Foreign Office have received any information respecting the Pemba slave owner, Abdullah bin Ali, who failed to appear before the Court when a case of gross cruelty to a slave was tried before Judge Cracknell, as reported in the Zanzibar Gazette of 4th March; and, whether the Government have taken any steps, or propose to take any, to administer the estate of the fugitive and to provide for the safety of the slaves, of whom it is said 2,000 are the property of the delinquent; he would also like to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether Mr. Arthur Har-dinge had now come home, and who was responsible for the administration of Zanzibar?
§ * THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. GEORGE CURZON,) Lancashire, SouthportIn answer to my hon. Friend, I have to say that Mr. Hardinge has just left Zanzibar on his return home, and during his absence his place 1551 is being filled by Mr. Cave. The information in our possession is that Ali bin Abdullah was the owner of 2,000 slaves at Pemba. This man was tried, convicted, and sentenced to a heavy punishment for gross cruelty to two of them. As regards one, his son, Abdullah bin Ali, was suspected of being gravely concerned, but he escaped arrest, and is believed to have gone to Arabia. The slaves maltreated by Ali bin Abdullah have been freed, and the Vice Consul in Pemba has been instructed by Mr. Hardinge to report as to the position of the others. As the property is that of an Arab subject of the Sultan, Her Majesty's Government have no power to administer it.