SLAVE-GROWN COCOA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2580, 14 August 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

SLAVE-GROWN COCOA.

STATEMENTS MISSIONARIES AND NATIVES. - y_

f The following letter appears in the London “Times” of a recent date:

Sir, —It will, I am sure, bo of interest to many of your numerous readers to know that in October last (1908) I left • j .shon for Angola, Portuguese Africa, with the object of visiting the different mission stations in tho province and of procuring missionary and native testimony on the slave trade, as the very unfair statement that “the missionaries were afraid to speak out on this question lest it should injure their work” has been repeatedly made, and, as I knew this to be untrue, I was anxious to prove it. . 1 liave brought back with me a statement which has been signed by all the missionaries I was able to roach in the limited time at my disposal. They represent ono English and two American societies. The statement is as follows: (L) That natives have been bought and sold during the whole of this period (the time he has been acquainted with tho affairs of the province is mentioned by each -one who signs), and still continue to be bought and sold, though less openly in re- ' cent years. After the war of 1902 such purchased natives were required to be placed under regular contracts, but I have never found that they understood anything of the legal nature •of these contracts, nor of the terms of their implied agreement. (2) That many of these purchased natives have been exported and still continue to be exported to the islands of S. Thome and Principe under tbe so-called “contract” system, but I have never met any of thenar who understood the terms of tho said “contract,”, the nature of the work they are expected to do, the period of time they are expected to,serve, nor any conditions under which they may hope to return to their native lands. ' (3) That I have never known a single caso in which a native has voluntarily gone as a “contracted” servant to the islands, and what' is more, they always speak of the possibility of being sent to S. Thome with the utmost dread. (4) That I have never known one of these exported natives to be repatriated, and it is always taken for granted that all natives so exported are henceforth dead to all their relations and connections with the mainland.

Seeino- that these men are in such close and constant contact with the natives and understand their language thoroughly, they are competent to bear testiiffony as no other possibly can. Quite a number of them have been connected with the colony for from 10 to J 7 years. . Besides making, the foregoing statement the missionaries supplied me with scores of cases, giving the names of tho whites and blacks implicated, places, dates, etc. A full list of these has been handed to the Foreign Office, in the hope that the Government will be able to induce the Portuguese authorities to tako thorough and immediate steps to put down this disgraceful traffic. In considering tho question ’ all feeling against the Portuguese as such must ho put aside, for tho struggle is not against the Portuguese but against the unjust system of depriving men and women of their rights as human beings, and using them as we use animals, for our own convenience or pecuniary ends. No man or Government has tho right to deprive men of their liberty, break up their family life, and either never allow them to return or put them into a position, or even bring them into such a condition, that they cannot or do not desire to return. My own connection with the colony extends over 23 years, but in no one day previously have I seen so many indications that the awful traffic goes on unabated as'l saw during my first day’s journey from the coast in October last. The awful mixture of rum bottles, shackles, and bleaching bones was enough to make one sick at heart. There was also the emaciated body of a young lad who had been left to die that morning. There he lay, with shackles for his feet and hands, and the stick with which he had helped himself along to his unknown future till his very weary limbs refused to move, and the spirit took its flight. My : men picked up .92 shackles for legs, arms, or' neck without ever leaving the path to look for them. Most of these were comparatively new, and a very great many of them still contained the sap of the wood. Can any proof be more positive that the trade is not a thing of the past, as is constantly affirmed ? The slaves themselves, carrying their shackles, were also met with in the caravans. These were photographed, and when those in charge were carrying letters to firms in Benguella and Catumhella the names and addresses were taken. I also got into contact with the slaves on the steamers en route for S. Thome and took down their own statements as to the way in which they were forcibly taken from their homes and handed to the whites. in payment of “crimes,” etc. A book, giving my report in detail, with photographs, etc., is now in the hands of the publishers, Messrs Pickering and Inglis, Glasgow, and will soon be presented to the public.—l am, Sir, yours Respectfully, , \ Charles A. Swan, ; Care of Mr IT. M. Smith, 82 Eltliam Road, Lee, S.E.