68
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE
Rev.
H. Waller.
24 July
1871.
should he placed at different parts of the coast to
watch the slave trade, and to aid the fleet, as they
certainly would be able to do in a most valuable
way. General Rigby thinks that it would be
difficult to get men to undertake that office, on
account of the unhealthiness of the coast, but I
think that difficulty might be removed in a
measure, by having what I have heard called a
Floating-consul that is a consul who should
have a yacht at his command, and who should ply
between, say, Zanzibar and Madagascar ; he
might spend some part of his time at Kilwa,
and some part of his time in Mozambique
harbour ; he might cross to Johanna, where a
large slave trade is going on, and he might cruise
along the coast of Madagascar if need be, though,
perhaps that would be too large a field. At all
events, I think the danger to a man’s life would
be obviated by his being able to move about.
To put a man in a very unhealthy place is not
only likely to kill him in a short time, but it
makes him non-efficient very quickly indeed.
The result of two or three attacks of fever is
very serious ; if the man is not moved away, he,
in some cases, becomes morbid in his ideas, and,
in other cases, he becomes exceedingly nervous.
In some cases I have known men become really
demented as long as they have been within the
reach of the malaria that has made them ill. It
is necessary, in that country, to be moving
about. You may undergo any hardships as long
as you move about, and are in active employment;
but once be stationary in an unhealthy
place (and there is no place so unhealtliy as a
small Arab town), and your life is very much
hazarded. I would add thaf I think there are
also other advantages in such a plan. I think
the slave dealers would then never know where
to expect this officer ; he would be master of his
own actions and movements much better than he
would if he had to be dependent on calling upon
a man-of-war to take him from one place to
another. I do not think the expense of such a
sei vice would be very great; it would be a
popular service, and many men would be found
who would enter heart and soul into it.
959. Do not you think the same service could
be performed by one of the fleet cruising about
in the same way from poVt to port?—I think not
so well, because I attach importance to the viceconsul
being enabled to reside on shoie for a
short time, by which means he would be able to
obtain information which he otherwise could not
obtain. The floating-consul might go to any of
those ports, and remain a short time at them ;
and then, without the necessity of asking anyone’s
leave, he might weigh anchor the next
morning, and communicate with any of the fleet.
960. Have you any other suggestion to make
with a view to putting a stop to this slave trade ?
— I will simply add this ; I have seen a good deal
of the Arabs in the Comoro Islands, and other
places, and I should certainly advise that we
should deal with them with a strong hand in preference
to any dallying wdth them ; I would put
the utmost pressure upon the Sultan of Zanzibar
at once ; I should show him that though we might
be taking away from him shillings by stopping
his slave trade, yet that the vast increase in the
legitimate trade that there must be in the course
of a few years would be putting back pounds
into his pocket. He is now a beggar set upon
horseback ; he is a man of enormous income ;
and from what General Rigby has said, he is a
man with whom I think strong action would have
more effect than any paper w'arfare in the way
of treaties, and so forth.
961. You have probably seen a great deal to
enable you to form an opinion as to what would
be the increase of commercial intercourse if the
slave trade w ere abolished ?—I know most of the
merchants connected with the trade on the East
Coast, and I get letters constantly from Dr. Kirk
at Zanzibar ; I also know Dr. Steere, who has
resided there some time, and Mr. Alington who
was there ; I knew Mr. Thornton who was with
Baron Von Der Decken ; and I have indirectly
had very many opportunities of knowing how the
trade of Zanzibar is increasing daily.
962. Do you think that the merchants resident
there are anxious to have the slave trade put a
stop to?—I think they are certainly. When the
northern Arabs come down with the monsoon to
carry away the slaves to Arabia and the Persian
Gulf, there is no security for the life of Europeans
in Zanzibar, and if a better state of things were
established, if safety could bo ensured, I am sure
they would all be very glad. I cannot conceive
that Europeans could have twm opinions about it.
963. They are not themselves at all connected
w ith the slave trade, are they ?—Kot at present.
I cannot say that such was the case a few years
ago. I know that a great commotion existed at
Zanzibar, and also in the Comoro Islands, from
the fact that Englishmen were very large employers
of slave labour, but that has been put a
stop to by the Foreign Office.
964. \ ou think now there is a very general
feeling among the merchants there that their
interests .would be promoted by the suppression
of the slave trade ?—I am sorry I cannot back
my opinion by evidence upon that point, but
there are gentlemen in this country (one gentleman
especially whose house is connected with
Zanzibar, a member of the firm of Wiseman and '
Company, one of the leading merchants there)
who, I am sure, could offer you better information
on the subject than I can.
965. Mr. Crum-EwingCaptain Fraser had
a large number of slaves, had he not?—Yes; the
fact of Captain Fraser employing slaves led to
everlasting murmuring on the part of the natives.
One morning they wmuld see us burning the
dhows which were engaged in the slave trade,
and the next morning they would see an Englishman
working factories and plantations with those
slaves safely landed ; it was a question which
puzzled far more acute people than they were.
The same thing existed at the Comoro Islands ;
it was a mere sham and delusion; the poor slaves !
were hired in gangs from their Arab master; tliR j
Arab master was called in by the English employer,
who, merely as a matter of form, said
Now mind all these people are to be free •
labourers on my plantation. I will hand over
their wages to you. But, of course, they were
not handed over. It was encouraging the slave
trade. |
966. Sir R. A7istriither.~\ As far as the slaves
were concerned, they were as much slaves after
the transaction as before ? Yes.
967. Mr. Crum- Ewing.After they were
manumitted, did not they remain with Colonel
Fraser of their own accord?—I am not sure
about that; I know at the time it was a oreat
scandal. ^
968. Sit
