§ MR. THOMAS BAYLEY (Derbyshire, Chesterfield)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India (1) whether there exist treaties between Her Majesty's Government and Arab chiefs, such as the Sultan of Lahej, under which we undertake to surrender fugitive slaves; (2) whether the practice of surrender of fugitive slaves also continues at Muscat; and (3) whether, in the event of the practice not being known at the India Office, inquiry will be made?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingI am not aware of any treaties of the character described in the first Question. I do not know to what the hon. Member refers in the second Question. Certain difficulties have arisen in dealing with the slave traffic in certain harbours of the Sultan of Muscat and in the Persian Gulf, and on this subject I am in correspondence with the Government of India.