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Show Britons and Belgians. j While members of parliament arc claniorinfr in vt the British House of Commons for an inve-rijra- if tion into the affairs of the Congo Free State, tJici i Protestant Bishop Gibney writes to the West Au- f stralian Record that his blood boils when he think 1 of the treatment of tho natives by the official and ; settlers of that "British colony. Their conduct, ho says, is sufficient to bring a curse upon the country. coun-try. Natives, charged with sheep stealing or running run-ning away from their employers, are kept in irws day and night for a year. Chained by the netic and legs, they work on the roads under the burning burn-ing Australian sun. Even sickness docs nut alwn.vs procure them release. What wonder, ho asks, that the native population has diminished by one-half around the coast towns since the coming of the whites. The natives are captured as slaves by settlers, set-tlers, and the women thus taken are given up as a : means to keep the nativerouths from desert in? their employment. From all of which it would appear ap-pear that Britons cannot safely throw stones at Belgians just yet. The Casket. A. . . |