MALAY SLAVERY LAW. 255 
“ done to any person on the pretext of his being in a condi- 
“** tion of slavery.” 
But the rights of proprietors have to be considered. Slaves 
have in many cases been acquired under circumstances perfect- 
ly in accordance with the law and custom of the country, and 
many debtors are bond fide indebted for specific sums to the 
person by whom they are detained in servitude. It would be 
unjust to deprive proprietors without compensation of this 
species of property. 
Any form of inquiry which would involve the examination 
of master and slave before a tribunal of some kind regarding 
the origin or legality of the servitude would be most unpopular 
to the upper classes, and I have no hesitation in saying that 
most Malays of good birth would rather release their slaves 
and lose their money than meet them on quasi euqal terms in 
a court of inquiry. 
I believe that if it were resolved by the Council that any 
slave, whether ‘adi or debtor, might become free on payment 
to his owner, of the sum of $25 (which is, as has been pointed 
out above the price of a free-man according to Malay custom), 
a large proportion of the persons now in servitude would at 
once purchase their own liberty. They would be further 
stimulated todo so, if there were a provision authorising the 
Government to pay the sum and to require reimbursement by 
labour on some public work of utility. 
There would still remain two classes of slaves to be dealt 
with—those unable to pay and those who ought not to be re- 
quired to pay. The first of these classes would be further sub- 
divided into those abie to work and those unable to work. 
Those unable to pay but able to work should be entitled to 
claim their freedom on borrowing the redemption sum ($25 ) 
from Government, and giving an equivalent value in labour 
on public works. ‘Those unable to pay or to work (aged per- 
sons and women and children) should be entitled to claim 
their freedom unconditionally after a specified time, say three | 
years. Those who are unlawfully detained and who, therefore, 
cannot be required to pay anything should be entitled to claim 
their release at any time from a Committee appointed to re- 
