British and Foreign State Papers

especially in tropical climates, viz., cleanliness and airiness on board; the establishment of regular hours for rising, meals, &c.; and great care in the use of fire and lights amongst a simple and inexperienced race of people.

15. Immediately before their departure, the officer will certify a correct list of the emigrants despatched, and their ages. This list should conclude with a summary, of which the following is a specimen.

16. He will execute in duplicate a written agreement with the master, of which he will keep one copy, and the other will have to be produced by the master on arrival, in order to enable him to obtain payment.

17. He will expressly stipulate that the passengers are to be subject to no ill-usage on board; that payment is on no pretence to be claimed on any who do not appear in the certified list; that is to be made according to the ages of the parties as stated in that list, and only upon passengers who are landed alive; and finally, that it is to be conditional on the Governor being satisfied that the contract has been duly fulfilled.

18. The officer will report quarterly to the Secretary of State the number of vessels in which passages have been engaged by him, and the number of emigrants forwarded by each opportunity, with their destinations, and the rates of bounty to be paid; the number remaining at his station, and any other particulars relating to the service.

19. With each ship he will transmit to the Governor a sealed letter, containing in itself a copy of the summary belonging to his certified list, and a statement of the price agreed upon, together with any other particulars he may consider necessary, or with any general information he may feel it desirable to offer on the prospects of further emigration.

20. His remuneration will consist of a payment of 5s. for each emigrant forwarded by him, for which, together with any amount he may have had to defray for extra clothing for the emigrants, he will, on the occasion of dispatching each party of emigrants, draw bills on the Governor of the colony to which they are about to proceed.

Scale of Diet for Male and Female liberated Africans to the

West Indies.-Scale of Victualling.

Daily for each adult, and for children in proportion :—2 lbs., 1 quart of rice, or 1 lb. biscuit; lb. of salt meat, or lb. of salt fish, one half to be meat; gill, or 1 oz. salt; gill of palm oil; oz. of coffee or cocoa; 14 oz. of sugar; 1 oz. of lime juice; oz. of sugar, to mix; 3 quarts of water; pint of vinegar for each person weekly; cwt. of sago, and cwt. of chloride of lime, to be under charge of the surgeon.

List of Medical Comforts for 100 Passengers.

28 lbs. of oatmeal; 28 lbs. of arrowroot; 28 lbs. of Scotch barley; 56 lbs. of sugar; 12 bottles of wine; 10 gallons of rum; 5 gallons of vinegar; 1 cwt. of marine soap.

No. 273.-The Earl of Aberdeen to Her Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, December 31, 1844.

I HEREWITH transmit to you a copy of a despatch from Mr. Clinton, late Her Majesty's Arbitrator at Loanda, requesting instructions as to the mode in which the British tonnage of slavevessels condemned by the Mixed Commission at Loanda is to be ascertained.

I now inclose for your information and guidance on this subject, 4 copies of the Act 6th William IV, cap. 56, entitled "An Act to regulate the admeasurement of the Tonnage and Burden of the Merchant Shipping of the United Kingdom;" and 4 copies of the Act of the 1st and 2nd Victoria, cap. 47, entitled "An Act for the better and more effectually carrying into effect the Treaties and Conventions with Foreign Powers for the suppression of the Slave Trade."

The 3rd section of the last-mentioned Act directs, that the tonnage of vessels seized and condemned for being engaged in the Slave Trade, shall be ascertained according to the mode adopted for the admeasurement of British vessels, either by the principal officer of the Customs at the port where the vessel may be at the time of condemnation, or, in default thereof, by the best evidence which can be obtained, to be certified by the Commissioners by whom such condemnation shall be pronounced.

I inclose to you also 2 copies of a pamphlet entitled "The ShipMeasurer's Companion," which contains rules for measuring the tonnage of vessels according to the first-mentioned Act of Parliament.

I have now to instruct you to confer with your Portuguese colleagues at Loanda upon this subject, and to propose to them that some person conversant with the business of surveying and admeasuring shipping should be selected by you and them jointly,

and be furnished with a copy of the Act of Parliament for admeasuring British shipping, and a copy of the inclosed pamphlet, and be instructed to measure the tonnage of condemned slave-vessels, which have been captured by British cruizers, according to the rules therein laid down, and you will take especial care that this service is correctly performed.

It will perhaps be better, that the person whom you may select for this duty should be paid by a fee for each case, the amount of which, however, you will take care is reasonable and moderate; and under the provisions of Article II to Annex B to the Treaty, you will call upon your Portuguese colleagues to allow this expense to be charged to the proceeds of the condemned vessel.

Her Majesty's Commissioners.

I am, &c.

ABERDEEN.

BOA VISTA.

No. 283.-Her Majesty's Commissioners to the Earl of Aberdeen. (Received July 27.)

MY LORD,

Boa Vista, Cape Verd Islands, June 30, 1844. We have the honour to forward, inclosed to your Lordship, the copy of a correspondence between Her Most Faithful Majesty's Commissioner and ourselves, from which it will be seen that the authorities of this island have received instructions from their own Government fully to recognize the jurisdiction of the British and Portuguese Court of Mixed Commission established in this place, and to afford to the Judges of the Court every assistance and support in carrying out the duties with which they have been entrusted. We have, &c. H. W. MACAULAY. CHARLES PETTINGAL.

The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T.

No. 284.-The Earl of Aberdeen to Her Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, July 31, 1844.

I HAVE received your despatch of the 27th of March, respecting the Board of Superintendence for Negroes liberated at Boa Vista, under the Treaty between Great Britain and Portugal upon Slave Trade.

I transmit herewith to you for your information, a copy of an instruction which I have addressed to Her Majesty's Envoy at Lisbon upon this subject.

The Treaty stipulates, that immediately after the condemnation of a vessel, the slaves who were taken on board of her are to be delivered to the Government to whom belongs the cruizer which made

the capture. You will take care that this provision is complied with, and that the Negroes captured by British cruizers shall be delivered over to you as the person appointed by Her Majesty's Government to receive them, and shall be placed either in a receiving ship at the Cape Verds, or in some other place where they may be taken care of, until you can send them to a British colony, which you will do by the very earliest opportunity. You will observe, that they must be kept apart from the Negroes captured by Portuguese cruizers, as these last, after having been delivered over to the Portuguese Government, are, according to Treaty, to be placed under the superintendence of the Board of Negroes at Boa Vista, referred to in the early part of this despatch.

Her Majesty's Commissioners.

I am, &c.

ABERDEEN.