CO129-539-4 Mui Tsai system 28-6-1932 - 28-11-1932 — Page 77

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A.VI(1).1930

A.29.1931.VI A.29(a).1931.VI A.13.1931.VI A.13(@).1931.VI C.658.M.272.1930.VI C.E.E.3.1932.VI

Letter from the British Delegation, dated September 16th, 1930,

transmitting a Memorandum concerning slavery.

Report by the Secretary-General, submitted to the Assembly in

accordance with its Resolution of September 30th, 1930. Annual Report by the Council to the Assembly (1931). Report by the International Commission of Enquiry in Liberia. Letter from the Government of the Sudan, dated April roth, 1932.

Appendix B.

LIST OF DOCUMENTS COMMUNICATED BY GOVERNMENTS TO THE SECRETARIAT

OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

IN REPLY TO THE CIRCULAR LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY-GENERAL,

DATED OCTOBER 21ST, 1931 (Document C.L.272.1931.VI).

C.E.E.1.1932.VI

C.E.E.1(a).1932.VI

C.E.E.1(8).1932.VI

C.E.E.1(c).1932.VI

C.E.E.1).1932.VI

Note on Child Slavery

C.E.E.4.1932.VI

Containing letters from the following Governments: Colombia (December 2nd, 1931), Ecuador (December 15th, 1931), Egypt (November 2nd, 1931), France (February 9th, 1932), India (January 5th, 1932), Mexico (December 3rd, 1931), Netherlands (November 25th, 1931), Nicaragua (January 20th, 1932), Persia (November 15th, 1931), Sudan (November 7th, 1931), Turkey (November 12th, 1931).

Containing letters from the Governments of South Africa (February

15th, 1932) and Iraq (February 14th, 1932).

Containing a letter from the Government of Portugal (February 2nd,

1932).

Containing a letter, dated April 8th, 1932, from the Anti-Slavery

and Aborigines Protection Society, London, transmitted by a letter, dated April 26th, 1932, from the Government of the United Kingdom.

Containing a letter, dated April 21st, 1932, from the Central Bureaux of the Society of Friends, transmitted by a letter dated April 27th, 1932, from the Government of the United Kingdom.

Prepared by the

"Save the Children International Union ", Geneva, transmitted by the Swiss Government with a letter dated May 16th, 1932.

Containing a report by Lord Noel-Buxton and Lord Polwarth on Abyssinia, transmitted by a letter, dated August 15th, 1932. from the Government of the United Kingdom.

An Advisory Council to the Department has been appointed consisting of all the Rases and a few other important men, under the Presidency of the Heir-Apparent.

"An Abyssinian Anti-Slavery Society is to be founded forthwith, into which the Advisory Council will be merged-but the Emperor said, with a smile: None of the members of the Advisory Council will be permitted to become members of the Anti-Slavery Society until they have released all their own slaves'. The Emperor's younger son is to be a member. The object of the society will be propaganda and also to keep the Slavery Department up to its work. The Emperor sets great store by this society, and told me that there was already quite a movement in favour of it among the young men of good family.

"The Department is to publish statistics yearly.

"The registration of slaves has already started.

"The school for the children of slaves is to start life again under the direct patronage of the Emperor, who is going to make it a live concern.

"Ras Hailu's and Sultan Abajifaar of Jimma's slaves are being liberated. They will number probably several thousand, but the Emperor had not yet heard the exact figures. A Liberation Committee is drawing up plans for the disposal of these slaves. Those of Ras Hailu were mostly employed on the land and these will be settled on Ras Hailu's land and have the same rights as other squatters-i.e., pay a portion of their crop in kind to the Government, the amount varying according as to whether they plough with their own oxen and ploughs and find their own seed or whether the Government provides these."

My informant adds that the regulations for the new Slavery Department were about to be promulgated, and he would send me a copy. In a letter of July 9th, he had informed me that the Emperor, in the course of a long interview, had told him that he intended to make a full statement at the next meeting of the Assembly of the League, but was not at the moment ready to do so. A large number of special slavery courts have, he says, been installed throughout the country, with an appeal court at Addis Ababa, but I hear from another source that they have not yet started in the north-west district. In the provinces of Gojjam and Jimma, they have been placed under the supervision of a special official from the capital. He added that it was in contemplation to raise a force of special slavery police". The Emperor found that the disposal of "several thousand" of the slaves of Ras Hailu and the Sultan of Jimma who had been liberated has raised a financial problem, and the Emperor feared to find a crowd of thieves and prostitutes on his hands. Many kidnappers had been sent to the capital for punishment. It will take a long time to put these reforms into effective operation. To avoid misunderstanding and misrepresentation, the Emperor would like to see "confidential and direct communication between the Abyssinian Government (and the League ?) or through a special committee at Geneva."

(Signed) LUGARD.

Appendix C.

NOTE, DATED AUGUST 24TH, 1932, FROM LORD LUGARD, CONTAINING RECENT

INFORMATION REGARDING ABYSSINIA.

The following communication, dated Addis Ababa, August 1st, addressed to me as a member of the Committee of Experts on Slavery reached me in Geneva on August 22nd. It is from a friend resident in Abyssinia, for whose reliability I can absolutely vouch, well-known to the British Legation, and trusted by the Emperor, who asked him to come to him that he might hear from the Emperor's own lips the latest information regarding his intentions to suppress slavery. I understand, therefore, that it was the Emperor's desire that he should pass the information on to me for the benefit of the Committee of Experts, since I personally have the honour of his acquaintance.

וי

The decree constituting the new Slavery Department is to come out this week. The Department is to be entirely independent-i.., not under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. A new Director is appointed-namely, Liqamaqwas Mangasha, formerly Ethiopian Minister at Rome. He is young, energetic and progressive, and is of good family, being connected with the late Empress. De Halpert is to be Adviser to the Department. Offices of the Department will be opened in each province where the slavery question is particularly important.

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