ABYSSINIA'S EMPEROR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 271, 15 November 1935, Page 11

ABYSSINIA'S EMPEROR.

THE PROBLEM OF SLAVERY

LYCEUM LUNCHEON TALK. •The peoples of Abyssinia are bound together by no racial tie, no tie of religion, and are united solely by a hatred of the white races and a passionate attachment to freedom. Howfar these sentiments are going w hold the Abyssinian army together in the face of any adversity remains to be seen," said Colonel E. R. Sawer in an address on Abyssinia to the members of the Lyceum Club at a luncheon talk yesterday. Tho president, Mrs. W. H. Parkes, presided and introduced Colonel Sawer, who lias spent much time in both Abyssinia and the Sudan. Tho speaker began by tracing the origin, history and racial characteristics of the peoples who went to make up the population of Ethiopia. There was no such country as Abyssinia nor such a person as an Abyssinian, he said. The people resented being described by the word, which actually came from the Arabic. A sympathetic picture of that heroic and tragic figure, the Emperor, was given by Colonel Sawer, who said that ho earnestly desired his hearers to understand the difficulties which had to bo faced. Tho 3'3mpcror had a sincere desire for reform and in endeavouring to bring his country into a better state he stood alone.

His task was extremely difficult. For one thing, in tho matter of tho slave question, when tho Emperor had issued an edict abolishing slavery, though it operated for only about 100 miles from Addis Ababa, thousands and thousands of slaves became homeless and begged to bo taken back by their owners on tho old terms. A domestic slave in Abyssinia, added tlio speaker, was a member of the family—he became an old family servant and was treated as such. Very frequently, indeed, the master married a daughter of one of his slaves. Slavery wae a profession and there was no stigma attached to it; a domestic slave had a higher status than a domestic servant. Tho whole matter of slavery had to be judged from a broad outlook with tho realisation that tho whole social and economic basis of the country rested upon a system which had been maintained for years. While earnestly desiring to abolish the system, the Emperor was faced with the difficulty of supplying something to take its place, and no Government could hope to provide what was necessary in the way of homes, land and cattle for the living of a freed slave. The Emperor had made a noble effort to abolish slavery and had even started schools for freed slaves. He had the League of Nations for its advice in dealing with tho huge subjects. To use force in abolishing slavery would have meant civil war in the country. But slavery was only one of the many outstanding problems which faced the courageous Emperor. He had established schools, hospitals and medical missions, and it was indeed a sorry thing that while doing all he could to bring Abyssinia to civilisation he was now called upon to use funds so hardly collected for benevolent purposes, for the buying of guns and ammunition. Mussolini's accusation of failure to abolish slavery in Abyssinia, concluded Colonel Sawer, hid nothing but a thirst for colonial expansion and lust of ambition.