SLAVERY IN BURMA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23105, 2 August 1938, Page 6

SLAVERY IN BURMA

STEPS FOR SUPPRESSION STEADY PROGRESS MADE [fhosi our own correspondent] RANGOON, July 2 When the Burmese were expelled from the Brahmaputra Valley no fewer than 30.000 Assamese were taken away as slaves. But as British luile was consolidated slavery retired into the fastnesses of the frontier hills, where, it may surprise many to learn, it still exists. So natural a thing is slavery looked upon in the remote and unadministered „ tribal country between Assam and Burma and Tibet that it will be long before it is eradicated. It is part and parcel of the social structure, with centuries of tradition to support it. Tribesmen east of the Naga Hills who had destroyed weaker villages and held their inhabitants as slaves were last year instructed in better ways by the Deputy Commissioner, who visited them with an expedition. Steady progress is being made with the stamping out of slavery in the unadministered territory of the Bali para frontier tract. This tract is one of the two charges created and , placed under Political Officers' control when the murder of Mr. Williamson and his party by Abors in 1911 led to a revision of the system of administration. It includes an important trade route into Tibet. In the settled plains portions it was arrauged that the administration should be practically the, same as in the Darrang district: .while over the ' border tribes only loose political control was to be exercised. During the rauiii of 1937 two villages were raided and a total of 38 persons were captured, some being sold to other villages. - , The Political Officer has now been successful in effecting by negotiation the release of a number of persons described in the report as slaves.