5590. _Chairman._] Your system of disposing of the liberated Africans in the West Indies would, of course, get rid of the difficulty attending upon the future?--Yes. 5591. Mr. _G. Wood_.] But supposing that system not to take place, what system should you think preferable to the system of apprenticeship now prevalent in Sierra Leone?--There can be no system introduced that would not entail considerable expense upon the Government. 5592. _Chairman._] Would you throw the adults upon their own resources at an earlier period than at present?--No; I think the time (six months) for which the Government now support the adults is as short as it could possibly be, and I do not think they could shorten that by one day. 5593. Mr. _G. Wood_.] You stated that no other system could be substituted but what would be attended with considerable expense; do you think it would be worth while to incur that expense?--I do not think the present system should be continued, whatever the expense might be of substituting another system for it. 5594. What system would you recommend as a substitute for it?--The system that must be substituted for it, in case of the apprenticeship being done away with, would be keeping all the children, as they now do many of them, landed from slave vessels, in the schools till they are old enough to be thrown upon their own resources. 5595. _Chairman._] Making them, in fact, boarding-schools?--There is a boarding-school in many of the villages; in the villages the liberated African children are lodged and fed by the manager, but that is only the children who are not apprenticed. 5596. You would have all the children put into boarding-schools?--I see no other way at present of disposing of them, if they are not apprenticed. 5597. Mr. _G. Wood_.] Had the change of system that you alluded to reference to an altered system with regard to the adults?--No; I would not alter the system with regard to the adults, except, perhaps, by extending the period two months, during which they should be maintained by Government. 5598. That would be an extension from six months to eight months?--Yes; at any rate, while the Government continues to use their services, as they do at present, when they are employed for three months after their arrival labouring upon Government works, and are prevented from employing themselves upon farms. 5599. Mr. _Forster_.] In answer to question 5208, in your former evidence, with respect to the system of landing the crews of captured slavers, you said, “I have never known a cruizer act inhumanely. I heard of one case the other day where people starved, but it was stated in that case that it was owing to the refusal of the Portuguese factories to support them.” Had you any opportunity at Sierra Leone of observing the system pursued in this respect by our cruizers?--I have mentioned that the only portion of the slave crews that we saw at Sierra Leone were those who were sent up as witnesses.