SLAVERY IN 1931

Waikato Times, Volume 109, Issue 18258, 20 February 1931, Page 6

SLAVERY IN 1931

It has come as a shock to a large percentage of British subjects to learn that slavery with all its horrors is prevalent in some portions of the globe. Lord Robert Cecil's allegation before the League of Nations to the effect that there are at least 5,000,000 still in bondage is slated to be well within the mark; by some who claim to be well-informed the number is computed at fully 6,000,000 and Ihe inhuman trade, far from dying out, is reported to be flourishing in many lands, perhaps more . particularly in Africa. x\byssinia is one of the countries in which the slave trade is extensive, and this despite the fact that Abyssinia is a member of the League of Nations and therefore subject to an undertaking to secure the complete suppression of slavery in all its forms. Lord Lugard, who participated in an inquiry into slavery in Abyssinia, has stated that “ many thousands of slaves are brought by Abyssinian traders to the northwestern districts where slaves are purchasable at any time in the markets,” and other authoritative statements, including a memorandum by the French Government, admit the extent of this traffic. Major Dariey, who has related some gruesome incidents in reference to slavery in Abyssinia, states that on one occasion Abyssinians advanced no less than 120 miles into British territory seizing victims who were later proffered for sale in the markets. In Arabia slavery is a recognised institution, this land being not only a great slave-owning country, but a great importer of slaves. One authority stated recently that the average number of slaves carried to Arabia for sale over a period of five years is not less than 5000 men, women, and children each ycyir. lie further remarked that many of these aro of British origin. Two other countries in which slavery flourishes openly are Liberia and China. Lady Simon’s investigations have brought her to the conclusion that “ on the Liberian frontier the importation of slaves continues and is not diminishing.” However, at the invitation of the Liberian Government, a League of Nations Commission is taking measures for tiio eradication of slavery in the African republic. Sonic of the facts relating to child slavery in China arc common knowledge, but it is doubtful whether the extent of the evil, and the cruelties practised, arc realised. One witness, who has spent twenty years in China and Tibet, states that “individual cruelties which would electrify any country in Europe with a spasm of horror hardly awaken the mild comment of a single street in China’s grand modern republic,” and relates .harrowing stories of flogging, amputations, torture with hot irons, and other atrocities. Such is an outline of the prevalence of slavery in the twentieth century, but it is by no means the sum of horrors presented by Lady Simon.. in Portuguese Africa, where officially slavery is non-existent, the system of contract labour “ probably surpasses in practical iniquity any other system of labour in the world—unless, indeed, it be tlie debt slavery in Central and South America.” The remedy for these evils lies, if anywhere, with the League of Nations. As Sir John Simon has written: “Once the inhumanity of slavery as practised

to-day in distant parts of the earth is, as the saying goes, “ brought home.’ 11 le conscience of the world, working through the instrument of international action, will not rest until it be ended.” it- is gratifying to know Ihat, the matter is being seriously considered and that it is nol improbable

that, as the result of representations to, and pressure upon, the offending countries, tfie blot upon our modern civilisation will ere long be .erased