two members have seventeen years’ West African service behind 
them. This accumulated experience entitles their opinions and 
their advice to peculiar weight. It is no doubt true that the three 
political officers who have recommended more drastic measures 
have also long service and a more direct experience of the Sierra 
Leone natives, but I think it is fair to say that the one Provincial 
Commissioner (Captain Stanley) who advocates a more cautious 
policy is the officer who has most carefully thought out the many 
aspects of the problem. 
Conclusions and Recommendations. 
[ am emphatically of the opinion :— 
fa) That the abolition of domestic slavery in Sierra Leone 
should be accelerated. 
(b) That the ¢mmediate emancipation, however, of all 
existing domestic slaves is both impolitic and unnecessary ; 
impolitic because it would be likely seriously to upset the chiefs 
and people at a time when their energies and good will are 
particularly required for the furtherance of our agricultural 
development policy, and unnecessary because the nature of 
domestic slavery in Sierra Leone is so mild that it is prac- 
tically free from abuse and has evoked no public demand for its 
abolition 
(¢) That there is no legal or moral obligation on Government 
to pay compensation for any domestic slaves redeemed, and 
that such a course would be highly inexpedient. 
recommend— 
(i) That a Bill to amend Ordinance No. 33 of 1901 be intro- 
duced, providing that from Ist January, 1925, all persons 
brought into the Protectorate from Liberia or elsewhere shall 
oecome, ipso facto, free, i.e., that section 37* of the Ordinance 
oe amended bv the omission of the words ‘in order that 
. debt ¥’ 
(ii) That an entirely new Bill be drafted on the Gambia 
precedent with an addition similar to section 2 of the Nigerian 
Ordinance No. 35 of 1916. 
(iii) That after the first reading a few months should be 
allowed to elapse in order that the political officers may fully 
explain the proposed new law to the chiefs and people, and 
report any facts or criticisms which may thereby be elicited 
and which deserve consideration. 
I am not very sanguine that it will be found practicable to in- 
corporate in the second Bill ** definite provision to secure adequate 
cultivable lands for the slaves to be freed ’’ as suggested by the 
* Now section 6 of Cap. 167. i