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public opinion and bring pressure to bear on these recalcitrants which, in present circumstances, it is not possible to bring about.
These are the suggestions which I ven- ture to make to the House and to the Government. As I said before, I feel sure that, as regards my main proposi- tion at all events, I shall have the full support of this Government, as I should have of any other. would only ven- ture to suggest that as we are nearing the centenary of the abolition of slavery it would be something practical done if the Government could obtain the signa- tures of the remaining nations who, so far, have not signed. the Slavery Conven- tion, and could also put into effect the proposals which I have ventured to make of having a body of authority which would have public opinion and inter- national confidence behind it. That would be a really practical way of bring- ing to an end, or, at any rate, greatly diminishing, the dreadful evils of slavery.
Moved to resolve, That, in the opinion of this House the abolition of slave- owning, slave-trading and slave-raiding is an urgent international duty. That while this House fully appreciates the action hitherto taken by the League of Nations, it is of opinion that further steps of a definite nature appear to be required in order to bring about the extinction of slavery in all its forms.-(Earl Buxton.)
THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY: My Lords, the noble Earl in the speech in which he intro- duced this subject has covered so great a range and given us such fullness of in- formation that there seems to be little to be added, but I feel bound to support the noble Earl. It is very fitting that, as we approach the centenary of the aboli- tion of slavery in our Dominions, we should survey the extent to which it still prevails in other parts of the world. It is especially fitting that the subject should be brought before your Lordships' House by the noble Earl, for the name of Buxion will always be most honourably asso- ciated with that great Act of 1833-one of the episodes in our national history to which we
can look back with most un- feigned satisfaction. Moreover, I ought to express the deep concern of all the Christian Churches in this land in the subject of slavery. Christianity and
Earl Burton.
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Slavery. slavery are diametrically opposed, even though remnants of slavery may long exist in Christian countries. Christianity stands for the sacredness of human per- sonality, and slavery denies to the human personality that fundamental right of freedom without which it cannot be exer- cised or fulfilled.
the
I have given of late some little atten- tion to this matter, and I must confess that I was surprised and concerned to realise that this inhuman system still It prevails in many parts of the world. is appalling to realise that there are still something like 5,000,000 of our fellow- men subject to this system. The diffi- culties, of course, are enormous where
custom, it prevails-deep-seated danger of social disturbance if rapid action is taken, the weakness of central Governments in different parts of the world. Yet still, and ever, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance and it is good from time to time, as by this dis- cussion, to keep the public opinion of this country active and alert and to make an appeal to other nations. But if that appeal is to be, effective, we must be sure that our hands are clean, that there is no part of our own Dominions where slavery in any form, and however dis- guised, is still tolerated. It is this that compels me to allude for a moment to a matter about which the noble Earl has spoken.
There is a part of our Empire for which we are directly and specially responsible -one of our Crown Colonies, Hong-kong. The attention of Parliament has been repeatedly called to the system of mui- tsai, which prevails in Hong-kong as well as in other parts of China, by which little girls are sold by their parents or guardians for money to other persons for domestic labour. However deep-seated may be this custom in Chinese life, how- ever difficult it may be to restrain it in a Colony where nine-tenths of the population are Chinese and where there is constant intercourse between it and China, yet it is a form of domestic servi- tude which can scarcely be distinguished from slavery itself. guised in any way by the use of euphem- isms about child adoption and the like. t There are still, despite all that has been done, 4,299 of these children registered in Hong-kong, and there are those who
It is not to be dis-
Slavery.
say that the register cannot be complete and that the number may be as great as 10,000.
I recognise most fully and cordially the efforts that have been made by succes- sive Secretaries of State for the Colo- nies, notably Mr. Churchill, and even more notably, if I may say so, the noble Lord who is at present Secretary of State for the Colonies. It was a characteristic- lly vigorous Despatch of Mr. Churchill In 1923 that led to the issue of "The Female Domestic Service Ordinance' by which it was decreed that no right of property in any child could pass, for pay- ment to parent or guardian, to any other person; that henceforth no person should be permitted to take any mui-tsai into his employment or transfer any mui-tsai to any other employer. But, alas, that Ordinance seems to have remained largely ineffective, and it is worth while to re- call that there was issued by the noble Lord, Lord Passfield, a Despatch to the Governor of Hong-kong in August, 1929. In that Despatch he said:
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within the Dominions of the Chinese Government, and yet probably there are no fewer than 2,000,000 slaves within that country. I am told that within the last few years no fewer than 400,000 have been sold in one single Province, that of Shen-si. Of course it is almost always these little girls who are the subject of this barter. Sometimes, indeed, they are very kindly treated, yet there is over- whelming evidence of such appalling cruelty that I would not like to repeat it in this House. I suppose it is true that the Chinese are by nature very kindly, but they are also capable of spasms of cruelty, not least when some of them are under the dominion of opium, and there can be no doubt whatever that multitudes of these children suffer from indignities of shame and oppression and cruelty of every kind. The difficulty of eradicating a long-established custom is very great. We all know how ineffective, in spite of its efforts, the Central Government of China is, and the difficulty of the evil is increased by the marauding troops of the rival armies. Yet it is appalling to think of the extent to which this system, with all the cruelty that it involves, still pre- vails. I suppose the only hope is the influence of the League of Nations, of which China is a Member, and I trust that the League will continue to press upon China the duty of doing, when and as it can, everything that is possible to make its own declaration effective.
"After making all allowance for the diffi- culties. it is my duty to inform you that public opinion in this country. will not accept such a result wth equanimity and that I feel myself quite unable to de- fend a policy of laisser faire in this serious matter.
Accordingly he brought the third part of the Ordinance, which had remained sus- pended, into operation. That part pro- vides for the registration, inspection and supervision of these unfortunate children. I should like to ask the noble and learned Lord who will speak for the Government whether he will tell us how far the system of registration is really complete; whether any special inspector or inspectors, apart from the agents of charitable societies, have been in fact ap- pointed and whether the Ordinance has now resulted in any real decrease in the number of these-I still must insist on calling them child slaves. Surely public opinion in this country will not be satis- fied until this system in a British Colony has been not
but only mitigated abolished. Then only can we have a real right to appeal to the conscience of other nations. The noble Earl in his speech has shown how much such an appeal is needed.
Let me say one word about China. It is true, as your Lordships know, that for- merly slavery has been declared illegal
I do not think it is necessary to say much about Abyssinia after what the noble Earl has told us. There probably one-fifth of the population are slaves. Happily, as he reminded us, there has now come into the rule of that country a very enlightened Emperor. It was the privilege of many of us to make the acquaintance of the new Emperor, Ras Tafari, when he was visiting this country, and I know something of what was in his mind. We all know that it is his sincere desire to do everything that is possible speedily to eradicate the system of slavery from his country, but your Lordships will have realised from what the noble Earl has said the mag- nitude of his task. In 1833 we, with all our resources, had to deal with 685,000 slaves. The Emperor of Abys- sinia will have to deal with 2,000,000 slaves, and powerful owners, not very ready to submit to his authority, are
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