Sir GILBERT PARKERasked whether the Treaty of July, 1842, and the Convention of July 1871, relating to the suppression of the traffic in slaves, between the British and Portuguese Governments are considered by His Majesty's Government to have been in any way invalidated by the recent change of Government in Portugal; and how far His Majesty's Government regard those instruments, and the Act of Brussels of July, 1890, and the Anglo-Portuguese Protocol of March, 1892, as conferring upon this country the right of making representations to the Government of Portugal on the subject of labour conditions existing on the mainland of Angola and upon the islands of San Thomé and Principé?
§ Sir E. GREYThe change of Government in Portugal has not affected the Treaty relations between Great Britain and Portugal. The Signatory Powers of the Brussels Act agreed, in Article 22, to restrict to the Zone on the East Coast defined by Article 21 the clauses of their special Conventions for the suppression of the Slave Trade which relate to the right of visit, search, and detention of vessels at sea. Such clauses, therefore, of the Treaty of July, 1842, and the Convention of July, 1871, are no longer in force as regards the West Coast of Africa. There is no Anglo-Portuguese Protocol of March, 1892. The labour conditions existing in Angola and in San Thomé and Principé are governed by the Regulations of July, 1909, and provided those Regulations are properly administered, would not justify representations to Portugal based on the provisions of the Brussels Act.
Sir GILBERT PARKERMay I assume that the present Portuguese Government accept these regulations, and administer them as the late Government did?
§ Sir E. GREYCertainly the present Government acecpted the regulations. As regards the administration, a statement has been brought to my notice that 300 labourers had been recruited. I understood that regulations were in suspense, and that no recruiting was going on. I am now inquiring as to the recruitment of this 300.