AFRICAN SLAVES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 136, 30 August 1927, Page 13

AFRICAN SLAVES

THEIR FREEDOM SOUGHT INTOLERABLE POSITION My Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Reed. 9.40 a.m. LONDON, Sunday. The newspapers are publishing articles and letters voicing concern at the Sierra Leone Court’s judgment, tuat a master may recapture a runaway slave notwithstanding that the latter reaches British territory. Dr. Wright, Bishop of Sierra Leone, who is spending a holiday in England, suggests in a letter to “The Observer” that instead of waiting for slaves to Purchase freedom, as is already provided, at £4 apiece, England should nand over sufficient money to redeem them all.

The difficulty is that the amount niuat be unlimited, because the numoer of slaves is not known. ♦f.'" 1 ? 6 ( - )bserver ” sympathises with tne framers of the protectorate ordinance, which provides for gradual emancipation, by stipulating that slaves become free at their owners’ death, and that none can be born in slavery. Individuals have a right to purchase their freedom, but it is u rged that more rapid abolition is now necessary. Even the mildest kind of slaven??tlng is * nt;ol erable under any flag,” adds “The Observer.” “Clearly the ordinances must be amended.”—Sun.