§ Sir HENRY COTTONasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been drawn to a statement of Mr. Chief Justice Udal, in the trial of a man at St. John's, Antigua, for the larceny of food, that it appeared to him that under the present system of labour laws no one could help sympathising with the labourers, who, he thought, were in a far worse state than "was possible in any slavery days; and whether he will cause inquiry to be made into the working of the contract labour system in the Colony of Antigua?
§ Colonel SEELYThe Secretary of State has seen a newspaper report of the statement to which my hon. Friend refers, and he will ask the Officer Administering the Government of the Leeward Islands for a report on the facts.