3 MAY 1940, Page 5

Sir John Harris was an active Liberal politician, and his

activities covered many fields. He will be remembered chiefly as Secretary of the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society, in which capacity he proved himself to be perhaps the most discreetly successful propagandist for a good cause which this generation has produced. That all dates back to his experiences as a missionary in Central Africa and the part he played in exposing slave-trade abuses in different parts of the continent. A high tribute was once paid him in that connexion by Lord Fitzmaurice, who as Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs at that time had the handling of many of the reports on slavery reaching the Foreign Office. They were often highly coloured, but there was one man, said Fitzmaurice, whose state- ments were always so carefully checked that they could be received without question or hesitation. That was Harris.

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