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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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CO. 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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the production of these Africans, he told me one was dead, and the others run away. The employer in whose service they were at the time of my visit acknowledged the transaction in the presence of two witnesses. Fortunately this near approach to slavery was purely exceptional, no other example of it being discovered.

The Shop System.

35. Under this I refer to the common custom of the employers keeping a shop from which the Africans are supplied with goods. From the fact that none of those employers could show me, on the occasion of my visit, the accounts charged to their Africans at last pay, and from the circumstance that on some estates they never receive any money, but merely goods from the shop, I am strongly of opinion that the shop system is merely another way of cheating the African, and I have intimated to all such that I shall scrutinize their accounts in future.

I have, &c. (Signed) WILLIAM McGREGOR,

Inspector of Liberated Africans.

To the Chief Civil Commissioner, Seychelles.

Enclosure 2.

Copy of Letter from the CIVIL COMMISSIONER, SEYCHELLES, to GOVERNOR SIR HENRY

BARKLEY, K.C.B.

SIR,

Seychelles, Civil Commissioner's Office,

December 2nd, 1869.

I HAVE the honour to forward, for the information of your Excellency copy of a letter, dated 1st December, covering a petition signed by the principal proprietors and and others, and addressed to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty requesting me to forward them copies in duplicate, and also to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, copies in triplicate.

2. It is with much diffidence I comply with their further request that I should com- ment on the prayer of their petition, having so recently arrived at Seychelles, at the same time as the labour question is of vital importance to the prosperity of the inhabit- ants of these islands, lately emerged from an abject state of dependence on the Parent Colony, and beginning to feel a self-reliance on their own resources, I will with due deference to the opinions of those having much greater experience locally, venture most respectfully to make a few remarks on the subject.

3. My predecessor has frequently and most ably written on the indolent character of the lower class Sechellois, and the impossibility of prevailing on them to work for anything beyond a bare living.

4. There is no doubt in my mind that the increased and increasing prosperity of this Dependency is mainly owing to the influx of capital and labour, enabling the proprietors to increase their plantations and keep in good order the trees already planted. These improvements are still going on in every direction, and fresh capital is being invested, but should labour become scarce a sudden check would inevitably take place.

5. It has been proved in other countries that the African is the best adapted race for out-door labour under a tropical sun, not feeling that degree of lassitude which even Asiatics suffer from. It may be here observed that the woolly covering alone on the head of the African seems to protect him, whilst the Asiatic has recourse to numerous folds of cotton or other materials for that purpose. The African, also, is docile when well managed, and not wanting in intelligence, as almost all those who have been landed here have learned to speak the Creole French of the colony. There is also a total absence of serious crime among them, unlike the Chinese imported labourers, who are turbulent and cruel, never hesitating to take life for the purpose of plunder, as is shown in the Island of Hong-Kong, where a body of police nearly 600 strong are required, and where life and property is not secure beyond the limits of the City of Victoria.

6. I have seen a great deal of the African element in the United States of America and in British Columbia, and can safely assert that a more industrious people are not to be found anywhere.

In Vancouver Island there are settlements almost entirely composed of Negroes, many of whom have purchased their freedom in the United States, or escaped prior to slavery

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being abolished. In one settlement they have a school, with Negro teachers, have built themselves a church, and welcome with open arms a Protestant minister, who pays them periodical visits from his station in another part of the island. In Victoria, the capital, one of the wards of the city is represented by a wealthy man of African origin, and the different trades and occupation are well represented by the coloured people.

7. With a few exceptions, I believe the proprietors here are well satisfied with the labour performed by the Africans, as their petition shows. Should schools be established here there will be a large field for missionary labour, as the Civil Commissioner being ex- officio the guardian of the minors, may insist on the person to whom they are allotted sending them to school for a certain portion of the day. I firmly believe that if this is carried out the rising generation will grow up with industrious habits equal to those of their countrymen in the western world.

8. There is a duty, however, incumbent on the proprietors of Seychelles, and in fact on all the inhabitants, as they benefit by any prosperity that may arise from the importation of labour, that is the care of the sick, aged, and infirm, and it is but just that a poor law be established to prevent the horrors so forcibly depicted by my predecessor in several letters to the Government, recounting instances of aged and sick Africans, unable to work, being turned out to perish miserably away from any human being. From what I have seen during my short residence here I intended addressing your Excellency on this subject, and advocating a system of relief, the expense of which should be borne by the general public. No later than the 27th ultimo the police picked up a sick African, without house or shelter, and conveyed him to the hospital, where he died last night. At the hospital the poor receive medical attendance from the Government medical officer, but any nourishment is provided out of his own pocket. There are also many aged poor living in huts on the mountain sides depending entirely on private charity.

9. With a well-regulated poor law, and an ordinance to suppress vagabondage, I feel confident that an industrious and happy population will arise and increase, becoming large consumers of the manufactures of Great Britain and other countries, and eventually rendering this Dependency an assistance and a profit to the parent colony rather than a burden.

10. Trusting that my anxiety for the welfare of the community over whom I am placed will excuse the length of my letter,

I have, &c. (Signed) W. H. FRANKLYN,

H.M. Civil Commissioner.

Enclosure 3.

COPY of REPORT of the DISTRICT JUDGE to the CHIEF CIVIL COMMISSIONER, Seychelles. Report No. 36.

The records of the District Court for one year, from 1st June 1872 to 1st June 1873,

give the following statistics :-

52 Africans were sentenced for police contraventions,

45 for petty larcenies,

7 for larcenies of a more serious nature.

18 for assault.

2 for stabbing, not causing death.

These 124 offences committed by Africans, when compared with the number living in

the Dependency, and with the number and nature of offences committed by the native black population, speak highly in favour of the liberated Africans.

As a district judge and a stipendiary magistrate, I never found any difficulty in dealing with them. They are easily managed; they are mild and subordinate; they have a great respect for authority; and the presence of one constable of police is sufficient to keep any number of them in order. I do not know one example of an African having resisted a constable of police, not even when arrested on the mountains, or in the forest, where no assistance could be obtained.

I believe the liberated Africans in Seychelles to be generally contented and happy. The records of the Stipendiary Court show that during the year, from the 1st June 1872 to 1st June 1873, only 22 complaints were brought by Africans against their em- ployers. Very soon after their arrival is Seychelles they change their habits for those

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