§ Mr. Whiteasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) whether, seeing that the recruitment of Native labour for territories of certain other African Powers is prohibited, he will inquire of the Governor of Nigeria to what extent recruiting has been taking place for the Spanish island of Fernando Po; and whether he will invite the Governor to consider sending an official to the island in order to ascertain the conditions under which British Natives were secured and are being kept on the island;
1777W(2) whether he will cause inquiry to be made of British officials in Victoria and other ports of the mandated territory of Cameroons as to the practices of ships flying flags other than those of the British Mercantile Marine, whereby Natives of British Nigeria, and of the mandated territory of Cameroons, have been secured for Spanish purposes; and whether he will see that the inquiry is directed particularly towards methods by which the labour is obtained, names of persons who have been connected in the work, and the nature of the complaints made by the few Natives who have been able to return to the mainland of the African continent?
§ Mr. Whiteasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will cause inquiries to be made as to whether any natives illegally recruited in British West Africa for Spanish purposes have ultimately been transferred to Spain?
Mr. M. MacDonaldNo such case has been brought to my notice. I will ask the Governors of the West African Dependencies whether they are aware of any.