Report from the Select Committee on Slave Trade (East Coast of Africa); together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 832922498

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-79587

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report from the Select Committee on Slave Trade (East Coast of Africa); together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index

Place of publication:: [London]

Publisher:: [The House of Commons]

Year of publication:: 1871

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (XXIV, 242 S.)

Collection:: Economics Books

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ox SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA). 61 823-4. With respect to the subsidy paid to the ^Qiaum of Muscat, have you any reason to sup pose that the Imaum of Muscat would consent to discontinuance of the payment to him of that "jOOO Z. ?—[ can give no information upon that point. 82o. Is the income of the Sultan of Zanzibar ®o large that that subsidy of 8,000 which he P^ys to the Imaum of Muscat, forms only a small P^’oportion of it?—The information we had be- Ofe us with respect to the income of the Sultan Zanzibar was, I think, of a very loose charac- we estimated the whole of his income, I oink, at about 80,000 1. 826. Did that include the receipts from slaves? , 827. Sir R. Anstrutlier.^ As to the children, ^^ve you any means of ascertaining what pro portion of the captured slaves are adults and ^kat proportion are children ?—No, not now ; ormerly the returns used to state the numbers 0i the men, women, and children,” now they ^Oly state the numbers of ‘‘ males ” and “ ie- ^ales.” 828. Since when was the column of children” discontinued ?—It used to be given in the Return the West Coast of Africa, but in the Re- jdrps from the East Coast it has not generally doen continued. . 829. Would it not be desirable, in your opi- to reinstate that column in the Return ?—I dink it would. The officers on the East Coast for the most part, not legal gentlemen, and d® Returns, therefore, are not quite so perfect as hey might otherwise lie. 830. To what officers do you refer ?—To the Superintendent at Aden, and the Consul at Zanzi- dr, who are not legal officers. 831. They have not been called on to specify ddw many children are captured?—No. 832. Mr. Shaw jLefevre.~\ The Admiralty in- ^ii’uctions issued in 1870 v/ere drawn up in con- ^dquence of reports made by you?—Yes. 833. Those reports being made upon repre- ^dtations by the Sultan of Zanzibar to our 'Government, I think ?—Certainly ; and also upon ^^presentations from the Consul at Zanzibar, Dr. and Mr. Churchill. 834. They had reference to the destruction of hows eno’aued in commerce, but which had es on board ?—Partly to that, and , engaged diRestic slav Partly to vessels that had been destroyed, which '^ore undoubtedly legitimate traders. ^835. Without any domestic slaves onboard ?— 'Without any domestic slaves on board. 1 ^36. Take the first case ; it had come to your ^owledge that a considerable number of dhows ^oi’e captured which had comparatively few do- ®stic slaves on board ?—Yes. 837. And you come to the opinion that such ^Ptures were quite illegal ?—Yes. ui 838^ And the Government were so advised by law officers also?—Yes. 839. In consequence of that, it became neces- to issue fresh regulations forbidding that PfacticeS-Yes. ^40. The Vice Consular Court has held such ^dPtures to be illegal ?—Yes. We had no idea ^t the officer commanding could have so mis apprehended his instructions. The instructions entiled, instructions for the suppression of the trade, and not of slavery. 0.116. 841. The instructions issued by the Admiralty were really for the purpose of carrying out the law ?—Yes. 842. And preventing this illegal course being- followed by our cruisers ?—That was the ob ject. 843. As to the destruction of vessels previous to condemnation, have several cases come to your knowledge where that had operated very harshly on native vessels ?—Many. There is one that occurs to me at the present moment; the “ Petrel” on her way south to the Cape of Good Hope, met with a valuable dhow, having 42 passengers and crew altogether on board, and a valuable cargo. She detained the dhow on the ground that there were six domestic slaves on board. The whole of the cargo was transferred to the “ Petrel,” the dhow was burnt, and the passengers were sent back to Zanzibar, together with those six alleged domestic slaves which were the ground of de stroying her; and having arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, the officer obtained her condemna tion there. That was one instance ; I have 13 or 14 others. 844. Instances of illegal capture of the same kind ?—Yes. 845. And causing great complaints on the part of the traders in Zanzibar?—Yes; and great terror. 846. And stopping the legitimate trade ?—Yes. 847. I presume it is to the increase of legiti mate trade that we may look, more than any thing else, for the suppression of the slave trade ? —I should have thought entirely. 848. There is a considerable legitimate trade growing up, is there not?—Yes; the accounts are that the East Coast of Africa might produce an enormous trade. 849. With reference to bounties for the destruc tion of vessels previous to condemnation, have you formed any opinion upon that point ?—My very strong opinion is, that where a dhow is destroyed at sea, the bounty of 1 /. 10 5. a ton ought not to be granted. Previous to my appoint ment to the office which I now hold, it had been the habit for a very great number of years to grant this bounty. I called the attention of the Treasury to the subject, and pointed out that under the terms of the several Act«, I did not think that the bounties were, strictly speaking, payable ; the Treasury, however, thought that after so long a usage they could hardly refuse the bounty, and in that opinion I concur. At the same time, I think it very desirable that an Act should be passed that the bounty of 1/. 10 5. a ton should not be granted, except where the vessel has been brought into port and there destroyed, or under other exceptional cir cumstances. 850. You think the practice of giving bounties for vessels destroyed on the alleged ground of unseav.orthiness before condemnatiqn, has led to a very loose practice of destroying vessels in order to prevent the question of their true character being raised ?—I may as well state to the Committee the history of this 11. 10 5. bounty. Formerly when the slave trade was carried on on the AYest Coast of Africa, the vessels engaged in it were very fast sailers and very valuable ; they were brought into port, and were there sold, and the slave traders competed with one another for the purchase, sometimes giving very extravagant H 3 prices Mr. H. C. Rothery. 24 July ¡871.

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