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Appendix No. 4.
SEYCHELLES.
Two reasons may be produced against the removal of the "London" from Zanzibar :-
1. Zanzibar is in communication with the telegraph, and a fortnightly mail (British India Company) touches there.
2. That the operations of the "London" tend to suppress the Slave Trade.
(1.) The telegraph could be placed from Zanzibar to Seychelles for an annual payment of 10,000%., and there is little doubt but that it would be eventually extended to Mauritius, when this sum would be naturally reduced. An offer of a Telegraph Company has been made to the Mauritius Government to place a telegraphic cable there on the promise of 25,000l. a-year; the Mauritius Government offered 10,000l. a-year, Réunion offered 5,000%.; so that, in putting 10,000. down for the Imperial Government to pay, they would not have only the telegraph to Seychelles, but also to the Mauritius.
The British India Company would be almost certain to place a branch line of steamers to Seychelles if the "London" was placed there.
(2.) With respect to the suppression of the Slave Trade by the operations of the "London,” it is calculated that the "London" intercepts from 3 to 5 per cent. of the slaves which come down from the interior, and that therefore 970 to 950 slaves out of every 1,000 pass down in spite of the "London."
The price of slaves-the sure criterion of whether the Traffic is decreasing-show that the Arab dealers think little of the loss; a very small sum per head on those they pass through in safety recoups them for their loss.
Again, when once the slaves are captured, their homes broken up thousands of miles in the interior, it would seem to matter little to them whether they were left in the hands of the slave-dealers or handed over to the Sultan of Zanzibar.
The Slave Trade can only be stopped at its source. No efforts on the coast can be of any avail, however successful the West Coast squadron may have been; it is not the same state of affairs as exist on the East Coast. On the West Coast Europeans alien to the negro Chiefs, and having no possessions on land, ran in and carried off their cargoes. There was no coasting trade, while on the East Coast; there is a large coasting trade; the people of Zanzibar and those parts are intermingled with the negro tribes, and thus are able to defy capture in a great measure.
The suppression of the Slave Trade can only be effected by the registration of existing slaves by their native Rulers, and by the refusal of their native Rulers to allow any man to hold any slaves not registered. This is fair and just, and practicable. The registration books should be closed after a certain time, and every slave not registered should be declared free.
The present system of blockading the coast only causes extra suffering on the slaves, who are by their leaders forced to go by desert paths to avoid the cruizers. Thence the removal of the "London" would not tend to increase the Slave Trade, and by the payment of 10,0007., telegraphic communi- cation would be acquired, and Mahé would become the base of operations for our fleet in these seas without extra expenditure.
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Zanzibar offers no advantages over Seychelles in the way of salubrity; fever and small-pox are almost unknown in Seychelles. The crew of the "London can scarcely be allowed to land at Zanzibar for these reasons, while a Contagious Disease Act and a Preventive Act for sale of liquor could be passed at Seychelles without inconvenience; this could not be done in the thickly populated Mauritius.
The fact that only two cases of venereal occurred here among the crew of Her Majesty's ship "Ruby" shows how little of that disease exists at Seychelles. It may be urged that if the "London is to be removed anywhere, she should be removed to the Mauritius; but Mahé is far more favourably placed with regard to Aden, Zanzibar, and Madagascar, than the Mauritius.
The inhabitants of Seychelles find most part of their subsistence in the isles themselves. The inhabitants of the Mauritius need 75,000 bags of rice monthly, and if the quantity of rice generally in the Mauritius (namely, 250,000 bags, which is enough for the 360,000 inhabitants for two and a-half months) was to fail, there would be an immense deal of distress and discontent among the people, and consequent difficulty of governing them.
The Seychelles Isles, eighty in number, have a revenue of 15,000l. a-year; an expenditure of 13,000.
Mahé is 1,020 miles from Aden.
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Zanzibar. Madagascar.
Mauritius. Chagos. Galle.
The population of Mahé is 11,000, 1,000 of whom are Europeans, or of European descent; the rest are mostly of African origin; few Indians are in Seychelles.
The climate of Mahé, though it is situated between 3° and 4° south of the equator, and conse- quently warm, is healthy. There are two seasons: the warm and wet one, from October to April during the north-west monsoon; and the cool and dry one, from April to October, during the south-east trade wind. The average rainfall per annum is about 96 inches.
No fever or malarious disease exists; there could be no better station for a sanatorium for the crews of Her Majesty's ships, and the most suitable and accessible place for such a sanatorium would be at the top of the Barbaron Pass, between 1,200 to 1,500 feet above the sea level. The average temperature there is 4 less than that of the town, from which it is distant about 5 miles. The present Government consists of a Chief Civil Commissioner and a Board of Commissioners; of this Board, two members are official and three are unofficial; these unofficial members are nominated by the Chief Civil Commissioner, but have to be approved of by the Mauritius Government, of which the Seychelles is a dependency.
As a dependency to the Mauritius, all Acts or Regulations have to be referred from Seychelles to
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