5b 
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE 
gir healthiness of Zanzibar, do you know Dr. Steer, 
G. Heath, who lived in Zanzibar for four years ?—I made 
his acquaintance ; he is one of Bishop Tozer’s 
eo July party. 
1871. 746, Would he, do you think, be able to give 
valuable information to the Committee with re 
ference to the healthiness of the climate ?—Any 
Englishman who has lived there four years would 
be able to give you information on that point. 
747. Viscount Evßeld.'] As to the Report of 
the Slave Trade Committee which sat at the 
Foreign Office, do you agree with the recom 
mendations of that Committee as to the amount 
of imval force required on the east coast?—No. 
748. Generally, you do not agree with the 
Report as to the number and the distribution of 
the naval force?—No ; I think the number pro 
posed is a great deal too small. In my official 
report on that paper I suggested 10 ships besides 
the flag ship. I suggested also that the vessels 
which were stationed there should, as far as pos 
sible, be provided with steam launches, because 
though the launches are unfit for distant cruising, 
they are very valuable to cruise in the offing, the 
ship being anchored near at hand. The vessels 
being small would require special fittings ; their 
big guns would be removed, and possibly the 
position of the funnels would have to be altered 
also. 
749. Putting that aside, on the whole you are 
not inclined to disagree with the majority of the 
recommendations of the Committee ?—No ; there 
is one small point as to the jurisdiction of the 
courts in which I think the Committee have made 
a mistake as to localities. They recommend that 
dhows captured near Zanzibar should be judged 
at Zanzibar, and that dhows taken near Muscat 
should be judged, I think, at Aden. Now, the 
object of the Committee, I presume, was to insure 
a fair hearing, and this would not be attained by 
the Committee’s proposal. A Zanzibar dhow 
captured off Mokullah, in the Gulf of Aden, 
would be judged at Aden. Similarly, a Muscat 
dhow captured in the neighbourhood of Zanzibar 
would, under the Committee’s recommendation, 
be judged at Zanzibar. In neither case would 
the Committee’s object, of having the adjudication 
at the place where the owner lived, be attained. 
750. What is the time in which you think the 
slave trade could be virtually abolished in that 
district, supposing the recommendations of the 
Committee were carried out, and there were no 
financial obstacles in the way ?—I doubt whether 
you will ever stop the trade completely, even by 
adopting the Committee’s recommendations. 
751. Yet you approve of the recommendations 
of the Committee as far as they go ?—I approve 
of them as far as they go. 
752. You do not think they would be effectual 
in abolishing the traffic altogether ?—I have said 
in the letter to which I have referred, in which 
I make observations on the Committee’s Report, 
that so long as the existing domestic habits in 
slave-receiving countries remain unchanged, so 
long will there be more or less of slave trade. 
Those habits can only be changed by completely 
stopping the supply of slaves for a very long 
period, probably for a whole generation, and any 
system wffiich stops short of that will fail of com 
plete success. The trade will be scotched but 
not killed, and will revive whenever the pressure 
is taken off I recommend therefore, that at least 
ten vessels besides the flagship should be appro 
priated to this service, and since the tactics of the 
dealers vary with the information they receive 
as to the position of the cruisers, I would leave 
the officer commanding entirely unfettered in his 
disposal of them.” I think the Committee’s re 
commendations would partially check the trade ; 
but, as I have said before, you must have a com 
plete stoppage for a long period to produce a good 
result. 
753. Mr. J. Talbot.'] With regard to guilty 
dhows escaping, do you think you always know a 
guilty dhow when you board it ?—I think the 
vigilance of the officers can be completely trusted 
in that respect. 
754. Are the signs unmistakeable ?—There are 
signs untnistakeable when the dhow is carrying a 
large number of slaves ; sometimes domestic 
slaves might be on board without your finding 
them out; but, under existing regulations, having 
domestic slaves on board does not constitute a 
guilty dhow. 
755. Slaves for sale cannot be concealed with 
out your knowing it?—In small numbers they 
might be. This regulation permitting the carry 
ing of domestic slaves will make it still more 
difficult to ascertain with certainty the character 
of a dhow which is carrying 10 or 12 or 14 slaves 
for sale.