§ SIR C. DILKE (Gloucester, Forest of Dean)On behalf of the honourable Member for the Middleton Division of Lancashire, I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with reference to the case to which the attention of the Foreign Office was directed on the 31st August last—namely, the surrender, on 15th June last, to their former owner, one Sale he bin Hussein, of three slaves, named respectively Kazibeni, Kombo, and Mamekombo (a father, mother, and daughter), who had been resident for the previous 10 years at Ribe, whether his attention has been called to the decision of the Court at Mombasa, presided over by Mr. Edward Loyd, the Acting District Officer, which affirmed the legality of that surrender, and declared that the slaves had no plea wherewith to claim their freedom, as Ribe is within the Sultan's dominions, and that he was of opinion that they had always been in slavery, and ordered them to return to their master; what action the Government propose to take in this case, in view of the opinion of Mr. Attorney General, that a British subject taking any part in returning a. runaway slave to his master against his will is guilty of a breach of British law; whether he is aware that the daughter, having first been detained by her former owner, the presence of her father and mother at Mombasa, where the surrender was made, was due to a summons from the court, issued by a British official, but for which their freedom would not have been endangered; whether the missionaries in the districts of the East Africa Protectorate have intimated their determination to intercept all similar summonses for the future, and to do their utmost, regardless of the consequences to themselves, to protect the runaway slaves who take refuge at their missions; and whether he can explain why no reply, beyond a statement on 10th October that instructions for inquiry had been given, has been received from the Foreign Office since 31st August last?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. ST. JOHN BRODRICK,) Surrey, GuildfordThe Papers with respect to this case have now reached the Foreign Office. 1562 They have been delayed by the fact that when the Foreign Office inquiries reached Mombasa in November last Mr. Lloyd had been appointed to a station up country. There is considerable conflict of statement as to this case. As against the suggestions in the Question, Mr. Lloyd states that famine existed at, Ribe at the time, and that the three slaves were brought before him by their master solely to get a formal declaration of his right to their services in return for the subsistence he was willing to afford them, and that, although Mr. Lloyd closely questioned them as to whether they had any cause of complaint, they made no objection to returning, and would take no legal action to secure manumission. The opinion of the Attorney General applied to the detention of a slave by force, of which no question arose in this instance. It is believed that since the conclusion of the famine at Ribe these slaves have now left their master again. It is not known what action the missionaries propose to take, but Her Majesty's Government, having laid it down that British officials shall not take part in returning escaped slaves to their masters, see no reason for taking further action in this case.
§ MR. T. BAYLEY (Derbyshire, Chesterfield)When shall we have the Papers mentioned by the right honourable Gentleman?
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