Last Sunday the Ordinance abolishing slavery in the Protectorate of
Sierra Leone came into force. Lest there should still be misunderstanding, it is perhaps Worth while to repeat that slavery was never recognized in the Colony of Sierra Leone ; it existed only in the Protectorate, where the Colony had but a loose control over native custom. Even in the Protectorate the custom was gradually being broken down. A recent case, however, in which the Court of Appeal in the Colony felt compelled—acting on a strict interpretation of the law—to give judgment in favour of a native owner who claimed runaway slaves, proved that the Ordinance dealing with slavery in the Protectorate had been badly drafted. The surprise and consternation expressed throughout the Empire caused the Government of Sierra Leone to amend the faulty Ordinance with the most creditable promptitude. Slavery within the Protectorate is unreservedly abolished and no owner is entitled to compensation. It is thought that a large number of slaves who are hardly conscious of their slavery will not claim their freedom. It is said that if there should be any considerable transference of labour from some districts to others, owing to the operation of the Ordinance, the authorities of the Colony will watch over the process benevolently and perhaps help to settle the new freemen on lands of their own.
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