E
HONG KONG DAILY PRESS. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1936.
International Table
At Rotary Club Tiffin
CONVENTION EXPERIMENT
EMULATED
Mr. Erling Bache Addresses
Meeting On Slave Traders
A FEATURE OF THE ROTARY CLUB TIFFIN HELD AT THE HONG KONG HOTEL ROOF GARDEN YESTERDAY WAS THE INTERNATIONAL ROUND TABLE AT WHICH SAT MR. W. N. THOMAS TAM (PRESIDENT). MR. ERLING BACHE, F.R.G.S. SPEAKER FOR THE DAY. AND SEVERAL OTHERS COMBINING A VARIETY OF LANGUAGES.
"A Glimpse of the Slave Trade in Northern Africa was the subject of Mr. Bache's interesting address. The speaker informed his listeners that in the homes of rich Moroccans the slaves were sheltered from the roughness of life, protected against the horrors of unemployment; they were allowed to marry and were treated in a hu mane way by their masters..
In fact, Mr. Bache said, hundreds of thousands of slaves in Morocco were living under conditions of life relatively better from their point of view than those of the unemployed "free" citizens in Europe and America,
The President welcomed Rotarian N. S. Guzder, of the Bombay Rotary Club,
Rotarian Guzder brought greet- ings from his Club.
The following guests were "wel- comed:
Rev. Cyril Brown, Chaplain of the Missions to Seamen; Mr. L. B. Holmes. Education
Department;
Mr. A. E. Pratt, Editor of the "Hong Kong Daily Press": Mr. E. Nelson. Assistant Superintendent of Kal Tack Air Port: Mr. P. S. Widdup, of Shanghai: Mr. F. C. Rush Munroe, of New Zealand and Mr. Stephen Ward, of Bermuda.
The Secretary Mr. M. F. Key) announced that members of the Hong Kong Rotary Club and their ladles had been invited to attend the Swatow Rotary Club Charter! Night to be held on September 29.
Introducing, the speaker, the. President stated that Mr. Erling Bache was a traveller and author and was in Hong Kong for the purpose of collecting 'material for his books.
the
AN EXPERIMENT
Addressing
the meeting. President said:-
Fellow Rotarians, we have tg-day emulated an experiment tried at the Rotary Convention by having
an international round table.
Our
speaker. Mr. Erling Bache speaks s number of European languages- also American-and some Oriental languages. We have therefore tried, as far as the fairly extensive resources of the Club permit, to find him table companions who each speak a different language- either by acquisition mother tongue. We have enjoyed our little Tower of Babel in which have been heard Danish jour speaker's language), French, Ger- man, Italian. Dutch, American. Chinese. Japanese and Malay. (Applause.)
ог 25 a
The speaker said: "There are no slaves la Morocco," sald the French Police Officer. sternly as he looked at me over the top of His eyeglasses. "The old custom of keeping slaves was wiped out 2-long line ago. I as- sure you, my dear Sir, there are no slaves in Morocco to-day."
power to quench the undesirable slave traffic, Slavery was prohibit ad, consequently there were no slaves in Morocco-officially!.....
And I went back to the house of Sidi Hassan, my Arab friend, whose guest I had already been for sever- al days.
i
fully decorated with a mogale floor. in the middle of which a splashing fountain enhanced the sensation of coolness.
ORIENTAL LIFE
For many days I had studied the sriental life of the Arab town at close quarters--but so far 1-had neither seen a slave nor heard the word slave mentioned, the word which has such an willous ring in European ears. Slavery, to the European mlad, means cruelty to and suppression of human beings who have been forcibly removed from their homes and made to work, under the most inhumane conditions, for people who treat them like dirt and who have no respect for human lives.
In Sidi Hassan's home as well as In the little house I occupied nume- rous servants performed the house- hold duties. They were all well dressed and well fed: they looked happy and contented. Some of the servants were married and had their own families, but they cer- tainly did not look as if they could be slaves in the traditional sense of
the word.
Yet, rumours were persistent
Police Officer who had tried to After my defeat with the French
divert my attention from this de- cate subject. I decided to pat the
question about slaves to my host Sidi Hassan.
SILK-COVERED MATTRESSES One evening Sidi Hassan asked me over to his house to dine with him and a couple of his friends. When I arrived the other guests had already come and we all sat down on the hard, silk-covered mattresses "which the Arabs instead of chairs.
During the meal I said Hassan:
use
Sidi
T have heard that the slave trame is not dead in spite of the official reports to the contrary. Tell me, who keeps slaves and how do people obtain slaves?" ·
Dead silence ensued. Sidi Has- san stared Into vacancy while the guests were visibly uncomfortable.
European can travel it alone.",
none the wiser.
I explained that I was interested to know if slavery still existed and if so I was anxious to meet some of the people connected" with the
Doctors
And
Drugs
REPORT TO LEAGUE
OF NATIONS
Of approximately 700 known drug addicts in Great Britain up to the end of last year, about one- sixth were members of the medical profession.
This fact is given in the Govern- ment's annual report to the League 'of Nations on the traffic in oplum
and other dangerous drugs."
Addiction to na cotic drugs is not prevalent in this country, it is stated.
In 90 per cent. of the known cases morphine was used: in five per cent. cocaine, and in the re- cases diacetylmorphine. niaining In all instances the drug was ob-
slave traffic, My host laughedtained through legitimate channels.
heartily at my question which must have sounded rather naive to him and he asked me if I intended to buy a couple of slaves.
Then he grew serious again. "Your wish is very easy to fulfi," he said, "I am a slave dealer, and every servant you see in my house is a slave."
I was speechless with surprise, Then Sidi Hassan continued:.
"Next week I am going into the desert to get a fresh supply of slaves: if you are interested and if you do not mind the risk, you may come with me.".........
"Chleuh-people" lived. In the de- sert the Bedouins had pitched their tents.
VICTORIA
-LEAGUE
Work Undertaken For Students
ASSISTANCE WHEN IN ENGLAND
In 1931 a local Committee of the Victoria League, ̈ under the chairmanship of the Colonial Secretary, was formed. In Hong Kong and since that time has investigated many cases of stu- dents from Hong Kong proceeding to England who wished to avail themselves of the assistance offer- ed by the League in London, The assistance offered is gratuitous. and takes the form of meeting. students, find'ng quarters, ad- vising on educational matters and, as far as possible, helping in re- gard to admission to the Univer- ailles..
The League also gives facilities for visiting places of interest and
generally in bringing students in- to contact with English social life. "The League reports the health of students and will, if 80 desired; act as guardians.
Jn
Students are furnished with personai introductions to pro- minent people, and are given the
opportunity
visiting the Houses of Parliament, Hurling-
of
ham, and Ranelagh besides at- tending many large receptions. dances and parties. The League will furnish personal reports on students under its care for the benent of parents and guardiana.
The report of Mr. A. G. Morkill. Joint Secretary for the Committee which concerns itself with stu- dents from Hong Kong and Malaya, for the first half of 1938 contains the following:
11
The tents of the Bedouins, as well of the Sheik, were a miser- able sight.
Old rags stitched to- gether formed the homes of the nomads. Each tent housed about twenty persons of both sexes and all ages. In the middle of the tent "The students as a body are burning and here the women pre- a small charcoal fire was always pursuing their studies in their pared mutton and made tea in a
usual cheerful way, and most of them will make a success of them. most peculiar fashion; when the There is still, in spite of propa- "DESERT TRIP"
water was bolling pressed tea ganda, a tendency for half edu During the following week Sidi leaves were thrown into the pot cared men to come over before Hassan and I arrived at Mar- and to the drink was added salt they are qualified to enter tukech, the large Arab town north and fat fram sheep! The smell of University. It cannot be repeated of the Atlas Mountains. I was in-dirt, bumac perspiratation, mutton too often that such men have troduced to a number of other and ten mingled with smoke trom great difficulty in gaining admis- Arabs, colleagues of Sidi Hassan, the fire; the glamorous vision of ston and should complete their who supplied me with a "burnus" mantle Sheiks, as pictured by education up to the necessary and "Chelaba" and who made me Hollywood, quickly faded away...... standard. It is only fair to point swear by Allah that what my eyes The "Kaid" was an old man without that of the two recent cases were going to see my lips would not burning, fanatic eyes. Slave trade of students sent down from betray to the French, not even to was the favourite topic of his con- n'versities one came over in de save my own life!-Hence, names versacion and for the first time I
Bance of the advice tendered to and places in what follows are fir- beard the secret traffic being open-him by the Victoria League and the titious. Moreover, I learned that ly discussed. Slave trading was far other was brought over by his own the district through which we
too old and holy a tradition to be
headmaster without consulting the would travel was closed territory to suddenly suppressed, asserted the all Europeans, who had to obtain old "Kald." But now it was a dan- permission from the French Police gerous game, since these French- if they intended to visit that part men had come
to the country. of the country. In short, before we Every now and then expeditions of left Marrakech I fully realised that French soldiers were sent out into my "desert trip" was as unlawful the desert in search of "slave as I could desire, ---
But the French were not At dawn, when the light of a new always victorious, the "Kaid" stated day appeared on the clear African with satisfaction. In a low. and sky, a caravan went slowly out chateful voice he told me about the one of the city portals of Mar- ingenious cruelty with which the rakech. The caravan consisted of desert people treat their French 3 camels. 4 mules and 5 donkeys, prisoners. To bury their enemies all heavily loaded with boxes and in the sand up to the neck was one bags. Hair a dozen Arabs and neof the mildest "cures" for interfer- Before the ing with the activities of the slave groes acted as escort. sun had risen above the horizon traders. Every day the children in the caravan had disappeared in a the town would enjoy themselves cloud of dust in the direction of by throwing stones against the the Atlas Mountains.
heads of the prisoners who were alowly burnt to death by the blaz- ing eun.
keir
traders.
FOUR PRISONERS
In 1920 four French officers had been taken prisoners and they had been "the guest of honour" of the
League. Owing to the action of the League Committees these cases are fewer than they used to be." The local committee consists of Eon. Colonial Secretary, (Chair- man).
The Vice-Chancellor, University of Hong Kong, (Vice-Chairman).
Неп. Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
The Director of Education. Honourable Mr. 8. ·W. Ts'o, C.B.E., LL.D.
Honourable Mr. T. N. Chau. Miss Alice Kwok.
Inspector of English Schools, (Education Office) Joint Honorary Secretary. (Hong Kong).
Mr. Ts'o Tsun On. Joint Honor- ary Secretary:
Such persons as may wish to avail themselves of the assistance of the League should" apply to one of the Honorary Secretäries, with a view to obtaining a letter to the Secretary of the League in London.
bah" they had been chained to the to And the narrow lanes alive with floor and the desert people had armed men on fiery norags, and zaken great care to keep them alive fast-going camels: but to my aur- ...and to prevent them from ever prise all was quiet restfulness and falling asleep.
no unusual sound was heard with- in the walls of the town or outside from the Bedouin tents in the de- sert,
Neither the old "Kald" nor Bidi
me with any information about the
"If you travel south," answered
IN AN OLD FORD my host, at last breaking the op- One week later Sidi Hassan ana pressive silence, "south of Mar- I set out towards the desert in an The tone, was decisive, conclu- Mountains, you will and the old which had left before us was sent rakech, far away from the Atlas old ramshackle Ford. The caravan sive-and told me more clearly than the words that the French authorit will discover that it is still in use. oases towns; the boxes and bags slave track to Timbuktos, and you out by my companion to remote les had done everything in their But It is a long journey and no contained tobacco, tea, cloth ang | Old "Kald" himself. In the "BS-
other tempting things which the To my great disappointment I Bedouins could not get in felt that I had struck another im- lonely desert towns. Passable barrier. I had hoped from For hours Bldi Hassan and I ma- these people to obtain information tored along wide" asphalt roads. about slavery, in Morocco, but my over mountain passes and through host seemed to know nothing about wild rocky scenery. On the other
"For 43 days and nighta they enjoyed hospitality in my house. A desire to study the interesting did not wish to reveal any know-denly disappeared in the sand and mad-to
itor, perhaps I should say, he side of Grand Atlas the road sud- Then I had to let them go, raving, oriental Life among the Arabs, their ledge about the matter. The con- before us lay the enless desert. For sighed the "Kald" and glances Hassan seemed inclined to furnish
another world, Alas!" ways and customs as well as the versation was quickly turned secret slave trafic. of which I had other subjects and when I left my tonous landscape. Towards even- I was enjoying his "amusing" tales coming event. The sun bad set
to hours we drove through the mono- furtively at me as if to see whether heard rumours, had brought me to host later in the evening I wasng we reached a "Kasbah," the and inventive mind. Fez in French Morocco.
Arst oasis town on our route. One afternoon a few days later "Kaabah" is built like a fortress follower of Mohammed, and
A sworn by Allah that I was a true Sid Hassan sent for me. He was and behind the high wails live the friend of the desert people? alone in the beautiful saloon in town people of the African desert. which we had dined. A small ser- as in the days of Haroun el Eas-
civilisation.
endless desert behind which a out on the mysterious slave-trading French patrol might be approach-expedition. Jackals were howling Each night during our motoring the Great "Kasbah" and I was in the night as we walked through trip we stayed at different Kaa- thankful that I only ran the risk of the desert. Several miles from the bahs, until eventually we reached being taken prisoner by the French "Kasbah" beside a white "Mara- Bou Tizgul, the "Grand Kasbah," soldiers--and not by the "hospit-bou" tomb-the last resting place where we were received by the old able" old "Kaid."......... "Kald," the chieftain of the town.
of a Mohammedan saint-at-a at my disposal, a small but beauti-You see, one of my guests is su and though it was a primitive Sidi Hassan calmly to me one were hardly visible and they spoke
"To-night you will see how we number of A house was placed at our disposal, get a new supply of slaves," said around a charcoal fire. Their faces burnus-clad Agures ful Arab house in "Fez el Ball" spected of being a French-spy and building it was much to be prefer- morning. only a few steps from his own mag- when one is not certain it la bet-red to the other abodes available nificent place.
in low voices while they noisily ter to be silent. But now, my dear in and about the "Kasbah.”: The house in which I resided, friend, tell me what I can do for
swallowed steaming hot tea from..a conalsted only of four rooms, but you and why it is so important for
greasy bowl from which they drank they were all cool and lofty and you to know something
in turns. about they all opened. Into a yard beauti- alaves?"
Oriental life,, untouched by the passing of centuries, was not to be found in the European part of Fez the "Ville Nouvelle," and I har
into the native quarter-"Fez el
Had I not
and thousands of stars were twink-
asan and requested to follow him.
lag in the dark evening sky be- fore I was summoned by Sidi Eas-
In the distance I could see the
I managed to bring a smile to black outlines of the Bedouin tents
therefore left my hotel and moved vant boy entered and prepared for chid, ignorant of the advanetne my upe, but in my eyes sought the as we stole out of the "Kasbah,"
Lis sweet mint tea, the national When the boy had left us, my host spoke!"
SUSPECTED SPY "You asked. me the other even-
Ball." And introduction from mut-drink in Morocco. ual Mohammedan friends to St Hassan, a distinguished Arab, had assured the latter of my sincere sympathies with the followers of Allah. With true oriental hospital- Ing a very delicate question which
1ty Sidi Hassan had placed a housh I had every reason not to answer,
MISERABLE SIGHT:
ALL WAS QUIET
And I went out into the "Kas Outside the town stood the pri- bah" to see the preparations. "for mitive straw huts in which the the coming expedition. I expected
(Continned on Paxe 12).
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