SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1895. COGITATIONS. .

Te Aroha News, Volume XII, Issue 1794, 14 December 1895, Page 2

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1895. COGITATIONS. .

Hethai calletha thinginto hisjminc!/ f ; whether by impression or record#-' lion, cogjtateth and consideretb ; . y and he that employeth the faculty :pf Jiis fancy also cogitateth,” ; - ' ;; ■ :; ■ ■ '• '"' ’ ' ; —Lord Bagos, n Ax a large meeting held recently in London, under the- auspices of the British and Foreign Anti - Slavery ::#ociety, it wa;S clearly shown that in order to maintain the British flag free from the taint of Arab slaye trade; it would be necesfor. the Government to .'take energetic ■* action. The principal speaker on the occasion was a Mr Donal 1. Mac.kenjdg, a man experienced in African ,4iifais, who had been sent out 1 by the Society investigate and report upon the state of things existing in Zanzibar and?* the neighbouring island of Pemba, which now form park of Groat Britain’s^Protectorate in, East Africa. Mr Mackenzie said it had been officially estimated, that there were in Zanzibar, afeiie 140,000 slaves, of whom less half wereheld legally, by Zanzibar law. In the two islands the ; number of‘ slaves . was nearly aj quarter of a million, included among these were the slave porters, who were the only means dr communication between the coast and the interior. The mortality among these men was as high as 30 per cent, annually, and no care was ; taken of them, those who were taken ill on a jouaney being left to die. .> Many of the slaves were entirely at the mercy of ttlmir masters, vho could inflict any punishment upon hem, even unto death, as they liked, vithout being checked by the authoriEvery Arab who owned, estates n Pembii and Zanzibar had the right o send his slaves to work on them, he Zanzibar Government issuing permits for the purpose. This system ms outrageously abused, for he (Mr lackenzie) had come to the conclusion

Slavery Under THE British Flag

t hat at least 6000 slaves were imported annually from the mainland,' and, in addition, the legalised transference of slaveß from the mainland to the island opened tlio door to an extensive slave trade with the Persian Gulf, For every slave that was held in the Protectorate, or was senfcto Arabia, it was reckoned that at least ten lives had booh lost to. secure him as a working animal, and this "meant an enormous sacrifice of life every year. None of the Zanzibar Government officials approved ofgthe principle bf slavery, but the Sultan opposed its abolition, as he was the largest slaveholder. Behind !um and his sympathisers, said Mr Mackenzie, stood British Indian financiers. Indirectly they were the real slaveholders, for all*the Arab estates were mortgaged to them up to the' hilt, and they believed that the abolition of slavery would remove one of the chief securities for their- claims. They hid .financed, and he supposed they isfill slave caravans. Some were accused of direct dealing in slaves. A well-known" Indian was : the>first to supply money to Tippo Tib, whom Mr JJaekeijjne had lately ffiet in. Zanzibar, Other ,speafeera dwelt on the part England had played in the past in effecting the liberation of slaves, and her sympathy with the suffeters in the Bulgarian and Armenian atrocities, and strong resolutions were passed* cMling .upon rthe Government to take such steps- as would • speedily remove this stain fromthe administration of & country over which she exercised a protectorate.