Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎263r] (526/540)

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of a convoy of seventy slaves by rail to Jibuti, and miscellaneous items collected
by the Commander of H.M.S. “ Dahlia,” who, during the year, was the officer
principally employed in specific action for the repression of slave trade, and who
has displayed most commendable activity.
177. In presence of the foregoing summary of the naval returns for 1930,
it may again be urged that the value of the British naval patrols cannot be judged
by the meagreness of the results shown. Their success in the past in restricting
the slavers to what are called retail operations only makes the present task of the
sloops more difficult. The dhows most likely to carry slaves are those most likely
to evade examination, for it pays those interested in a lucrative speculation u
take every precaution to disguise the character of any slaves carried if they aie
pounced upon. This is easy. The great majority of the slaves carried nowadays
are children, both boys and girls approaching adolescence. It is not uncommon
for dhowmen engaged in legitimate traffic to carry their families. Small parties
of boys and girls carried as slaves can therefore be passed off as the immediate
relations of the small-scale slave-runner. It does not appear that any important
number of adults are carried, but, if necessary, men can be represented as members
of the crew, women as wives. The victims themselves cannot be relied on to give
evidence to the contrary, partly because of the difficulty of interrogating them
in their own languages, and partly because of their fear lest the danger of
ultimate vengeance be greater than the promise of immediate escape. The
pilgrimage may also be a cloak for slavery transactions. This is one reason why
it is so desirable to induce the Italians to make the prohibition of the transport
of pilgrims By dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. effective, and, for our own part, to improve the control of
the pilgrimage from West Africa, a subject which has been dealt with in the
previous section.
178. It may, perhaps, be hoped that causes other than the fear of naval
patrols tend to reduce the number of slaves carried across the Red Sea. It is
possible that the exactions of local chiefs in Africa through whose area the slaves
pass, increased cost of living in the countries of destination, the diminution in
the demand for slaves for certain purposes, and to some extent the necessity for
greater circumspection and the abolition of public slave markets tend to make
the trade less lucrative. These, however, are matters of surmise, whereas the
naval patrols are a concrete fact. It is, therefore, for consideration whether more
can be done to increase their utility in the present conditions—
(1) By increasing the naval force available and arranging for aerial
co-operation;
(2) By improved intelligence; and
(3) By arrangements with other Powers for freedom to operate in territorial
waters and a stricter control of dhow’s papers.
179. Several of the suggestions tentatively put forward in Mr. Bond’s
memorandum of the 6th March come under one or other of these three heads.
Most, if not all, of the questions on which their practicality turns had been
considered before and have been considered since. So many departments at home
and so many authorities abroad, not all in close touch with each other, have,
however, been concerned that perhaps the time has come for a general
stock-taking.
179a. The question of increasing the means at the disposal of the navy
assumes two forms, according to whether the object should be pursued by
increasing the number of sloops or supplementing the present sloops by the use
of lighter craft for localised subsidiary patrols and close pursuit of dhows in
waters inaccessible to sloops. The first alternative would facilitate more constant
patrolling of the present kind than is possible with two sloops, each of which
spends part of the year in the Mediterranean, and one of which is apt to be in
the northern part of the Red Sea, even when both are south of Suez. This
alternative seems to be barred by the expense of maintaining more sloops and the
uncertainty of obtaining results. The various suggestions made up to date in
connexion with the second alternative appear to be regarded by the Admiralty
as impracticable. As for aerial co-operation, the Air Ministry suggested in
September 1930 the experimental use of float planes to obtain information
regarding dhows in reef areas, and the Foreign Office concurred subject to their
not flying over Yemen or French and Italian territorial waters, but the naval
authorities appear to be doubtful as to the utility of any form of air patrol.
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