Letters and Papers Concerning the Trans-Persian Railway and Other Railways in Persia [‎164r] (327/442)

2015 Supply (Committee). 10 July 1912 Foreign Office. 2016
this Committee should ask itself two ques
tions : in the first place, does the slave
trade exist in this area; and, in the second
place, is the system of contract labour akin
to slavery 1 I believe that the answer to both
these questions in the affirmative. I believe,
so far as one can judge from the facts
placed at one’s disposal, that the system of
recruitment for the contract labourers in
San Thome and the other Portuguese
Dependencies does lay itself open to the
charge that it is nothing more nor less than
slavery. I notice that two years ago the
Foreign Secretary, in answer to a deputa
tion, representative of all parties and
many religious denominations, used these
words in reference to the recruitment of
labour:—
“ The root of the evil was in the recruiting itself on
the mainland, and what laid it open to a charge of
slavery was that the people were captured by force.”
I believe that that system of recruitment
is still in force. I understand from per
sons who have recently come back from
West Africa that troops of natives have
been seen being driven from the mainland
to the coast, and that amongst those troops
it was obvious that many of them were
natives, not only from Belgian, but also
from British Dependencies. I believe that
if that system is still in force, the words
which the Foreign Secretary used two
years ago still have their force. I believe,
further, that when the system of contract
labour is analysed in these Portuguese
Colonies it will be found to be
akin in many respects to slavery.
During the last twenty-five years no fewer
than 65,000 labourers have been landed
from the mainland on to the Island of
San Thome, and I understand that estates
are transferred from buyer to seller with
the labourers upon them. I believe that
was substantiated in a trial which took
place some years ago, and it is still the
practice that when you buy an estate you
buy it -with the black labour upon it.
In addition to that, I am told that these
labourers are treated, not, I believe, in the
cruel manner suggested by the hon. Mem
ber opposite, but in such a way as to leave
no doubt that they are really regarded as
slaves. It seems to me that in dealing
with indentured labour you must be extra
ordinarily careful about having a system
of repatriation which will be effective, and
if you do not have a system of that kind,
contract labour, however good may be the
intention of the employers, will certainly
degenerate into slavery. I believe the
Foreign Secretary will not disagree with
me when I say that for many years past
the system of repatriation has been very
ineffective in these Portuguese dependen
cies. I understand that a proportion of
the contract labourers’ wages are deducted
to form a repatriation fund, and, when the
time comes to an end, when the contract
ceases, that sum should form a bonus for
him when he leaves San Thome or settles
upon it. But I am told that when the few
contract labourers who have been released
have desired to leave the Portuguese
colonies they have been turned adrift w T ith
not a single penny, although they have
paid these contributions out of their wages
and are entitled to a very large sum. I
am told that so miserable is their condition
when they are turned adrift that many of
them have died of starvation, and many
others have been reduced to living by theft
and crime. In addition to these facts, it
is currently reported that when a Portu
guese official has shown himself sympa
thetic with the hard conditions of the con
tract labourers, it has often come about, by
many curious coincidences, that that offi
cial has been immediately removed.
During the last ten years, for in
stance, no fewer than twenty-five
governors have come and gone from
these two Portuguese dependencies.
Secondly, I understand that the rate of
mortality amongst these contract labourers
is no less than ten in a hundred. In other
words the whole of the 45,000 indentured
labourers who are now in San Thome die
off in a period of ten years.
It seems to me that these facts point to
a very serious state of affairs and I hope
that, without in any way appearing to in
terfere in the internal affairs of a friendly
Power, or to dictate to that Power, the
Foreign Secretary will be able to use his
influence to make the regulations, excel
lent on paper but not yet put into force,
more effective than they have been during
the last few years. I am told that these
regulations are in every way admirable
but, as he himself said two years ago, it
is not regulations that we want but re
sults, and it seems to me most important
for the credit of Portugal that, with all
the claims it has made in so comprehen
sive a manner during the last year or two
as to the liberty of the subject and the
other rights that we have seen expressed
in a very forceful form, it should show
that it practises w T hat it preaches with
reference to these unfortunate contract
labourers in its two West African
colonies. I believe if the Foreign Secre-