HC Deb 07 May 1900 vol 82 cc878-9
DR. TANNER

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty if any steps have †Refer to The Parliamentary Debates [Fourth Series], Vol. lxxix., page 1430. been taken to provide a war vessel for the Zanzibar station; whether a considerable slave trade has been and is now carried on from the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, of people either sold or kidnapped; and if steps are being, or will be, taken by the Admiralty to prevent the alleged slave traffic in those waters recently reported.

MR. MACARTNEY

I must refer the hon. Member to the answer which the First Lord of the Admiralty gave on Thursday last to the hon. Member for the Tyneside Division of Northumberland.† I have only to add that the reports from the naval authorities appear to negative the assumption in Paragraph 2 of the question.

DR. TANNER

Am I to understand that the slave trade has been absolutely stopped in these waters, or is there a ship there to prevent it?

MR. MACARTNEY

I can only repeat that in our reports there appears nothing to warrant the assumption contained in Paragraph 2 of the question.

DR. TANNER

Is it not the fact that repeated reports have——

* MR. SPEAKER

Order, order!