RIGHTS OF SLAVES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 30 August 1927, Page 7

RIGHTS OF SLAVES.

AN INTERESTING DECISION. PURCHASE BY BRITAIN ADVOCATED). « '■ CABLE - FKLSB A BSOCI AT lO£i —COP V BIGHT. LONDON, Aug. 28. The newspapers are publishing articles and letters voicing concern at the Sierra Iveone court'** judgment that a master may recapture a runaway rdave, notwithstanding that tlie latter reaches British, territory. l>r. Wright, Bishop of Sierra Leone, who iis spending a holiday in England, suggests in a letter to the “Observer” that instead of waiting for a slave to purchase his freedom, as already provided, at £4 apiece, England should hand over sufficient money to redeem ■ill immediately. The diffifculty is- tiie amount which must be unlimited, because the number of slaves is unknown.

'Hie “Observer” sympathises with the framers of the protectorate, an ordinance of which -provides -for the gradual emancipation by stipulating that die slaves siba.M become free at their owners’ death ami that none can bo borne in slavery. Individual have the right to -purchase their freedom, but- it is urged that more- rapid abolition iis •low necessary. “Even the mildest kind* of slave-hunting is intolerable under any flag,” adds the “Observer. “Clearly, the ordinances must be amended.”—“Sydney Sun” cable.