HC Deb 30 June 1896 vol 42 c385
*SIR CHARLES DILKE () Gloucester, Forest of Dean

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs—(1) whether order has been completely restored in Zanzibar since the recent riot; (2) whether there is any foundation for the suggestion in a letter which appeared in The Times of Tuesday last, containing a protest against slavery in the Protectorate from the clergy residing within it or in its neighbourhood, that the Consul General has recommended a Commission on the question of Zanzibar slavery; and, (3) whether the Government adhere to their intention to discuss with the Consul General only the mode of immediate abolition, so that when he returns to Zanzibar abolition may forth-with be carried out?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. GEORGE CURZON,) Lancashire, Southport

There was no riot in Zanzibar. The armed slaves of Hilal, an Arab whoso deportation had been decreed by the Sultan, resisted his arrest by the Sultan's soldiers, and attacked Captain Raikes, who was in command, with drawn swords. Sir Lloyd Mathews was compelled to fire his revolver in defence of Captain Raikes. The arrest was then effected, and no disturbance has since ensued. The memorial to which the hon. Baronet alludes in the second paragraph did not emanate from the clergy of the East African, but from those of the Uganda Protectorate. Mr. Hardinge in one of his Dispatches discussed, among other solutions, an investigation of the slavery question by a Commission. The Government intend to discuss the method of abolition with Mr. Hardinge on his return, in accordance with the pledges which they have given to Parliament.