A REVOLTING TRAFFIC.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2444, 18 January 1881, Page 4

A REVOLTING TRAFFIC.

A correspondent writes to a contemporary in reference to tlie alleged trafliu in English girls in Belgium, which has lately been the subject of considerable comment in the newspapers. He says - —1 am able to afford strong confirmation of the startling statements that have been made by Mr "Dyer and his friends, unl} r the case occurred at Antwerp instead of Brussels. Some time ago the captain of a small vessel made a resolution to carry back to her native country an English girl whom he knew was confined in an Antwerp den. For that purpose he called at the house and tried to persuade the mistress to allow him to take the girl out for a walk. A mild force of persuasion was useless, and he only had his way by insisting upon the girl being permitted to accompany him. Of course she never returned. But the baffled keeper of the house was determined to have her revenge. When the captain again visited Antwerp she had him arrested for theft, and he had to appear to the charge, The prosecution was based upon the ground that the clothes in which the girl was dressed did not belong to her, that her deliverer had in short, stolen them. However^ in the end, the interference of the English Consul was invoked, and the charge being withdrawn the whole story was conveniently hushed up. It is I learn a positive fact that the fear of being arrested for theft deters the girls who are allowed the slightest liberty from attempting to escape from the dens in which they are often detained against their will.