HC Deb 19 February 1907 vol 169 cc706-7
MR. HUNT

I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies at what ages children of either sex may be indentured under the New Hebrides Convention.

MR. CHURCHILL

Owing to the difficulties of fixing or ascertaining the ages of natives of the New Hebrides, †See Col. 540. which they themselves usually do not know, an age limit would have been in practice useless. It is therefore provided by the Convention that the limit shall be one of height, to be fixed by the British and French Resident Commissioners; and it will of course be so fixed as to exclude the employment of children of tender years and to ensure that the natives engaged are of a fit age for employment. The point was fully explained by my right hon. friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the course of his speech last Wednesday afternoon.†

MR. HUNT

Would a girl aged twelve be considered too young or too old?

SIR HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)

Cannot the hon. gentleman give some indication of what the age will be fixed at?

MR. CHURCHILL

It is a matter which will be decided by the British and French Commissioners.