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 BQUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE 
 
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 THE GIFT OF 
 
 HENRY W. SAGE 
 
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Cornell University Library 
 
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 Dual mandate In British tropical Africa, 
 
 3 1924 028 741 175 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028741175 
 
The Dual Mandate 
 
 in 
 
 British Tropical Africa 
 
The Dual Mandate 
 
 m 
 
 British Tropical Africa 
 
 The Right Hon. Sir F. D. LUGARD 
 g.c.m.g., c.b., d.s.o. 
 
 HON. D.C.L. OXFORD AND DURHAM ; LL.D. HONG-KONG, ETC. 
 
 " It will be the high task of all My Governments to 
 superintend and assist the development of these countries 
 ... for the benefit of the inhabitants and the general 
 welfare of mankind." — His Majesty The King. 
 
 "The wellbeing and development of peoples not yet 
 able to stand by themselves, form a sacred Trust of 
 Civilisation." — Covenant of League, Art. 22. 
 
 "We develop new territory as Trustees for Civilisation, 
 for the Commerce of the World."— Joseph Chamberlain. 
 
 William Blackwood and Sons 
 
 Edinburgh and London 
 
 1922 
 
TO 
 
 <!MY WIFE, 
 
 Whose unfailing sympathy and understanding 
 have ever helped me in my work. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The object which I have had in view in setting down these 
 notes on administration in British tropical Africa is twofold. 
 In the first place, I have hoped to put before those who are 
 interested in the development of that part of the British 
 Empire beyond the seas for which Great Britain is directly 
 responsible, an outhne of the system under which those re- 
 sponsibOities have originated and are being discharged, and 
 some idea of the nature of the problems confronting the local 
 administrator. In the second place, in discussing these 
 problems I have ventured to make some few suggestions, as 
 the result of experience, in the hope that they may be found 
 worthy of consideration by the " men on the spot " — in so 
 far as the varying circumstances of our Crown colonies and 
 protectorates may render them in any degree applicable. 
 
 To Sir E. Speed, late Chief Justice of Mgeria, I am indebted 
 for having kindly overlooked the chapters on " The Law 
 and Courts of Justice," and those on the status of protector- 
 ates, «&c. ; to Colonel Amery, M.P. (late Under-Secretary for 
 the Colonies), who has read the chapters on " Home Adminis- 
 tration " and chapter xiii. (" Taxation ") ; to Mr J. H. 
 Batty for having scrutinised the chapters on " Trade " and on 
 '' Economic Development " ; and to Sir John Eaglesome, 
 who has read the chapter on " EaUways and Transport." 
 
 In the endeavour to present in a seK-contained form each 
 
 h 
 
VIU PREFACE. 
 
 of the subjects with which the various chapters deal, it has 
 been impossible to avoid frequent repetition, due to the 
 different poiat of view presented, and for this I must ask 
 my reader's indulgence. 
 
 I have made a point of citiag authorities freely in the foot- 
 notes, with the object of indicating where fuller information 
 may be found, should the reader desire to explore the subject 
 further. 
 
 F. D. L. 
 
 Abinger Common, Surrey, 
 December 1921. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 / 
 
 Contrast between Africa and the rest of the world — Its isolation — 
 Causes which led to the penetration of Africa — Moral progress 
 — The respective tasks of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and 
 twentieth centuries — Object of this book . . . . 1 
 
 PART I. 
 
 EiTEOPE AND Tropical Africa. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 THE ACQUISITION OF THE BRITISH AFRICAN TROPICS. 
 
 Keason for acquisition — Restraint of Britain — British policy of Free 
 Trade — The Berlin Conference and effective occupation — The 
 Hinterland theory — Spheres of influence — The Government's 
 dilemma — Creation of Chartered Companies — Treaties as valid 
 titles — Method of obtaining treaties — The real sanction for 
 intervention in Africa — Status of Chartered Companies — The 
 Royal Niger Company's Charter — The Imperial British East 
 African Company — The British South African Company — 
 Advantages of the Agency of Chartered Companies — Liabilities 
 of Government on revocation — Lessons from Chartered Com- 
 pany rule — Separation of administration and commerce — Dis- 
 posal of lands and minerals — Contrast with the older Charters 
 — Other methods of acquisition — British Consuls in Africa — 
 India Office control — Foreign Office control .... 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE STATUS AND CONDITIONS OF THE BEITISH TEOPICS. 
 
 Meaning of terms — The sphere of influence — Protectorates — In 
 India— In Africa— Status of the people— Crown colonies— Sug- 
 gested modification of status — Eegistration of British subjects 
 — Tropics misnamed "colonies" — Self-governing colonies — 
 Colonies on tropical plateaux — Asiatic colonisation — Contrast 
 of temperate and tropical development — Value of tropical pro- 
 ducts — Area and population of British tropical Africa — The 
 example of India 3^ 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 PEINCrPLES GOVERNING CONTKOL IN THE TROPICS. 
 
 The Berlin and Brussels Acts — Unavoidable limitations of these 
 Acts — Effect of the war and treaty of peace — The convention 
 of September 1919 — Delays and misunderstandings regarding 
 Mandates — The power to enforce observance — Omissions and 
 suggestions — (a) Territorial boundaines and adjustments — (&) 
 Free Trade — (c) Eevenue not to be alienated — Amenability of 
 officials to the courts — International control — Summary of 
 conclusions re Mandates — Responsibility to subject races — Re- 
 sponsibility of suzerain to itself — French economic policy — 
 British economic policy — Alleged infringements of the " open 
 door " policy — Contrast of French and British policy — Reciprocal 
 obligations on the part of the natives— Appendix, Article 22 of 
 Covenant 48 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF BRITISH TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 Units of Administration — Climate and physical characteristics of ': 
 the country — History — Paucity of population — Hamites and , 
 negroes — Physical characteristics of the people — Character of 
 the typical African — Illustration of lack of apprehension — Of 
 fidelity and friendship — Diversity in evolution — Administrative 
 classification — Primitive races — Settled tribes — Pastorals — The 
 refugees— Social organisation — Advanced communities — Pagan 
 tribes — Alien conquerors — Influence of Islam — Influence of 
 
CONTENTS, xi 
 
 Christianity— Summary— The Europeanised African— Charac- 
 teristics — Comparison with Indian Progressives — The negro ia 
 the United States — Claims for self-government — Scope in 
 municipal work — The true path to self-government — Opportuni- 
 ties now enjoyed — Fitness for responsible positions — A native 
 cadet service — Critics of the educated native — Future of the ; 
 educated African — The debt of Africa to him — The Syrian — Is 
 civilisation a benefit 1 — Some drawbacks and some benefits . 64 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OP ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Nature and functions of the administration — Constitution of a 
 Crown Colony — Two principles of administration : (a) Decen- 
 tralisation — Decentralisation and amalgamation — Reasons for 
 amalgamation — The case of Nigeria — Decentralisation in depart- 
 ments — Method of amalgamation in Nigeria — The principles 
 involved — (6) Continuity : of personnel — Of records — Of Gover- 
 nor's instructions and policy — Continuity in office of Governor — 
 Scheme of continuous responsibility — Anticipated advantages — 
 The former system — Objections by permanent officials— Object 
 and limitations — The "Man on the Spot" — The scheme aban- 
 doned—Suggestions for promoting continuity and co-operation 
 — Tenure of office of Governor 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE MACHINERY OF ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The Legislative Council — Unofficial representation : (a) Euro- 
 pean unofficial members ; (6) native unofficials ; (c) represen- 
 tation of the masses — Method of enacting laws — The official 
 vote — The Executive Council — Its duties, procedure, and com- 
 position — Value of Executive Council — Committees — The Ni- 
 gerian Council — The Governor — The Governor's Deputy— The 
 Lieut.-Governor — The Resident — The Malayan and Nigerian' 
 systems — Conditions in Malaya — Contrast between the two — 
 The District Officer — His training — Necessity for acquiring 
 the language — Advantages of a lingua franca — Duties of the 
 District Officer — Continuity at his post 114 
 
XU CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE BRITISH STAFF AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE IN 
 THE TKOPICS. 
 
 The classification of the staff^Selection by nomination— Selection 
 by modified competition — Courses of study — Adequacy of staff 
 —Cost of the staff in West Africa— Medical examination of 
 candidates — Wives in the tropics — Housing in Northern Ni- 
 geria, 1898-1901— Causes of mortality— Improved conditions 
 — Need of sanataria and recreation — Native huts as dwelling- 
 houses — House-building in the tropics — Water-supply— Segre- 
 gation — Food in the tropics — Medical and nursing staff — 
 Private practice — Hints for health — Medical work among 
 natives 137 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 The demand for reform — The constitution of the Colonial Office — 
 The Secretary of State — The Parliamentary Under-Secretary — 
 The Permanent Under-Secretary and staff — The work of the 
 Colonial Office — Results of congestion — Lord Elgin's reorgani- 
 sation — Relations of the Colonial Office with the Colonies- 
 Grounds of dissatisfaction — Intervention by the Office — The 
 Office view — Treasury control — The function of the Colonial 
 Office — Results of the system — Ability of Colonial Office officials 
 — Government by departments — Suggested palliatives- -A 
 second Under-Secretary — Sir C. Bruce's scheme — Alternative 
 schemes — Direct responsibility of Under-Secretary — A Director 
 of Protectorates — Committees and Councils — Standing Com- 
 mittees — Councils — The Indian Council — Contrast with the 
 Colonial Secretary 155 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES 
 
 {continued). 
 
 An African Council : Its functions ; its constitution ; its procedure 
 — Wider latitude to Governors — Grouping of colonies — Posi- 
 tion of Governor-General^Governor-General's Council — Ad- 
 
CONTENTS. Xiii 
 
 vantages of federation — The Trench system — Summary of 
 suggestions— Personal touch with the Secretary of State— "With 
 the Under-Secretary — Interchange of ofiScers — Juniors — Seniors 
 —Commercial intelligence— Cost of the Colonial Office— Crown 
 Colonies without means of expression 174 
 
 PART 11. 
 
 Special Problems. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 METHODS OF RULING NATIVE KACES. 
 
 The principle of co-operation — Divergent methods of self-govern- 
 ment : (a) Representative government : The new system in 
 India ; (6) Complete independence the goal ; (c) Dependent 
 native rule — The Fulani of Nigeria — Recognition of the prin- 
 ciple of rule through chiefs — Advanced communities in Nigeria 
 — Relations with British StaflF — Revenues of native administra- 
 tions — Courts and jurisdiction — The village unit — Essential 
 features of the system — Application to non-Moslem States — 
 Limitations to independence : (a) Armed forces ; (b) Taxation ; 
 (c) Legislation ; (d) Land ; (e) Control of aliens — Disposal of 
 revenue — Alien races as native rulers — Education of native 
 rulers — Misuse of the system — System must vary with local 
 traditions — Administrative procedure — Succession — Extra- 
 territorial allegiance , 193 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 METHODS OP RULING NATIVE RACES (continued). 
 
 Arguments against the system in case of primitive tribes — Reasons 
 for its adoption — Changed conditions in Africa — Decay of tribal 
 authority — The task of the Suzerain power — Effect of direct 
 taxation — Native opinion of the system — Selection of chiefs — 
 Study of primitive institutions — Summary of objects — Results 
 in Nigeria — Loyalty of the chiefs — Criticisms of the system of 
 ruling through chiefs — Government responsibility for misrule 
 — Inadequate supervision — Not applicable to Europeanised 
 class — Interferes with departmental officers — Lessons from 
 Indian policy — The policy in Egypt — French policy in Africa . 214 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Direct tax — The basis of native administration — Tax on pagans 
 accords with, native custom — Tax in Moslem districts — Tax 
 denotes progress — Delay in imposition inadvisable — On primi- 
 tive people should be light — Taxation as an incentive to work 
 — Is indirect taxation sufficient — The tax on advanced com- 
 munities — Nature of the tax — Income and "profits" — Tax on 
 average standard of production — Profits on trades other than 
 agriculture — Eate of tax — -Abuses of the old system : (a) Ab- 
 sentee landlords ; (b) Tax-gatherers ; (c) Disconnected areas of 
 jurisdiction — Summary of reforms — Disposal of tax — Definition 
 of village and town — Principles of assessment — Tax is not a land 
 rent — Method of assessment : (a) Native officials ; (5) The Dis- 
 trict Officer's task — Taxation of primitive communities — Pay- 
 ment in cash, kind, or labour — By whom payable — Drastic 
 changes to be avoided — Personation — The hut tax — Contrast 
 with the tax proposed — Summary of results of direct taxation — 
 Minor direct taxes — Licences and market dues .... 230 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The hut tax in Africa — In Sierra Leone — Uganda — Nyasaland 
 — East Africa — Northern Rhodesia — South Africa — Foreign 
 nations ........... 256 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 TAXATION (continued). 
 
 Taxation of corporate bodies — Trading — Mining — Banking — Taxa- 
 tion of individual non -natives — Taxation and representation — 
 Import and export duties — The case for export duties — Duty on 
 salt — Adjustment of duties to area of consumption or origin of 
 articles — Rebates to compensate for transport — Difi'erential 
 export duties — The economic efi'ects of the war — The Paris 
 economic resolutions — Committee on oil-producing seeds and 
 
 nuts — Committee on commercial and industrial policy The 
 
 action taken and its justification — The case of cotton Pro- 
 posals of the E.R.D.C. — Alternative proposals — Contribution for 
 defence — Imperial preference — Retaliation by foreign Powers . 258 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 LAND TENURE AND TEANSFEB. 
 
 The natural evolution of conceptions of land tenure — The problem 
 in West Africa — Committees on West African lands — West 
 African land tenure : (a) Tribal and family ; (6) Individual 
 ownership ; (c) Absence of tenure — Summary re land tenure — 
 Eights of conquest — Recognition of private rights — Necessity 
 for declaration of policy — View of the Committee — Nationalisa- 
 tion — The economic doctrine — Criticism and fears — Actual prac- 
 tice in Northern Nigeria — Summary of criticism of Northern 
 Nigeria land law — Encouragement of small holdings — Large 
 estates — Transfers between natives — Acquisition of land by 
 Government and aliens in conquered countries — Shifting 
 cultivation — Curtailment or increase of tribal or village lands 
 — Summary of Government and native rights in controlled 
 lands — Freehold and communal tenure 280 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 LAND TENXJE.E AND TRANSFER {continued). 
 
 Countries in which rights of conquest have not been claimed — 
 Ignorance of native law — Conditions in the Gold Coast — De- 
 finition of areas under English law — The law applicable to 
 remaining lands — Transfers of land to non-natives — The 
 executive, not the judiciary, should deal with land cases — 
 Duties of Government as trustee — Disposal of rents of tribal 
 lands — Government as landlord of aliens in unconquered coun- 
 tries — Need for fixity of tenure — Land held by " strangers " — 
 Modification of native law — Grants relating to the produce of 
 the land — Forest licences and leases — Communal plantations — 
 Leases of Crown lands to natives — Difi'erences in meaning of 
 terms — The problem in Eastern Africa — Acquisition of land by, 
 and status of British Indians — The Indian case — Obligations to 
 native races — The case of the British settler — Suggestions — 
 Native reserves — Divergent views as to policy — The interpene- 
 tration policy — Management of reserves — The Glen Grey Act 
 — Mr Rhodes' views — Land tenure in East Africa — Conditions 
 for settlers in Kenya — Uganda — Nyasaland — Summary of con- 
 ditions in East Africa — Population in relation to land areas — 
 Conclusions 303 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEB XVI. 
 
 LAND TENtnRB AND TRANSFEE {continued}. 
 
 General conditions of land grants— Building leases — Agricultural 
 leases — Mining leases — Grazing leases — Eevision of rentals of 
 all leases — Premium — Eents — Auction — Improvements — Sur- 
 render — Interdependence of lease conditions — Compensation — 
 Object of lease conditions — Views of Liverpool merchants — 
 Acquisition of land — Mission lands — Eegistration — Southern 
 Rhodesia — Other British tropics — India — Burmah — West Indies 
 — Malaya — Fiji— Hong-Kong — Non-British tropics — French — 
 Portuguese — The Congo — Java — Philippines — China . ■ 333 
 
 MINERALS. 
 
 Ownership of minerals — Justification of Government ownership — 
 Alienation of mineral rights by Suzerain — -Conditions of native 
 ownership — Varying conditions of mining laws — The function 
 of Government — Prospecting licences — Mining leases — Govern- 
 ment monopoly in coal — Oil-fields 347 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 The origin of slavery — Efi'ects of slavery — Growth of opinion ad- 
 verse to slavery — The position in East Africa — The nature of 
 Central African slave-trade — Realisation by Europe of the real 
 facts — Effect of the scramble for Africa — The Brussels Act 
 — Suppression by force — Slavery as an administrative problem 
 — Tribal slavery, or alien masters — Predial and domestic slaves 
 — Moslem slave-law — Evils of slavery and extenuations — Inter- 
 nal slavery in Africa — Slavery in protected Moslem States — 
 Compensation and alternatives — Meaning of the abolition of 
 the "legal status" — Results of abolition of legal status — Its 
 application at Zanzibar 354 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA (continued). 
 
 The legal status and native courts — The change must be gradual 
 
 — " House-rule " — Method of checking undue haste— Justifica- 
 tion of methods— Results in Nigeria — Women and slavery— 7 
 
CONTENTS. XVii 
 
 Purchase of wife or concubine — Employment of ex-slaves by 
 Europeans — By natives in Government service — Enlistment of 
 slaves — Self-redemption and ransom — Slave-dealing — Pawning 
 — Disposal of freed slaves : (a) adults ; (6) children — Inheritance 
 in slaves — Special cases — Women-husbands — " Igba " in Benin 
 — Slave-chiefs — The task of the past and of the future . . 371 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 LABOUR IN TEOPICAL APEICA. 
 
 Eree labour and slavery — Policy of H.M.'s Government — Decisions 
 re East Africa — Criticisms and charges — Local opinion — Diffi- 
 culty of applying the Government policy — Inadequacy of the 
 solution proposed — Contrast East and West Africa — Inevitable 
 conclusions re East Africa— West African products and condi- 
 tions — The cocoa industry — The African as a worker — The 
 African as a wage-earner — Quality of the work — The wage- 
 rate — Method of payment of wages — Conditions of free labour 
 — Labour regulations — Unpaid labour 390 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 LABOUR IN TEOPICAL APBICA (continued). 
 
 Compulsion by Government when justified — How enforced : (a) pres- 
 sure on chiefs ; (6) by legislative authority — Taxation for labour 
 — Eecruitment from contiguous territory — Alien immigration 
 and labour — Contracts for repatriation — Compulsion for self- 
 advancement — Wage-earning and peasant ownership — Neces- 
 sity of European ownership in certain cases — Co-partnership 
 and profit-sharing — Exceptional justification of pressure on 
 chiefs — Native contractors — Substitutes for labour — Con- 
 clusions 410 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 Objects and ideals of education — Effect of European influence and 
 education — The example of India — The system in British 
 colonies — In West Africa — Mission responsibility — The need 
 of co-operation — Principles adopted in Nigeria — Formation of 
 character — Eesidential schools — The British staff — School moni- 
 
xiiii CONTENTS. 
 
 tors — Field sports — Grant dependent on tone of school — Moral 
 instruction — Religious instruction — Contrast of Africa with 
 India and China — The machinery of education — Unassisted 
 schools — Assisted schools — Grant code must be attractive — 
 Suggestions for a grant code • • 425 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 EDUCATION (continued). 
 
 The three types of education required — Literary training — The 
 demand — Provincial Government schools — Village schools — 
 Central industrial schools — Clerical apprentices — Technical 
 training — The African as a worker — Technical institutes — 
 Technical courses — Details of educational methods — Subjects 
 of tuition — Adequacy of teaching staff — Moslem education in / 
 
 Arabic — The language difficulty — Higher education — Continua- 
 tion and special classes — The education of girls — The cost of 
 education— Compulsory education — The essential conclusions . 442 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 TEANSPOET. 
 
 Cheap transport a necessity — Necessity for railways — Selection of 
 routes — Pioneer lines — Methods of construction: (a) contrac- 
 tors ; (6) " the departmental system " ; (c) by the Local Gov- 
 ernment ; (d) by private enterprise — Application of railway 
 revenues — Location of central workshops — Standardisation — 
 Narrow - guage development lines — Tramways — Mechanical 
 transport — Animal transport — Roads and carts . . . 461 
 
 CHAPTEE XXrV. 
 
 TEADB. 
 
 Nature of trade in Africa — The fixing of price — Monopoly and com- 
 bination — The middleman — The native trader — The native 
 merchant — British v. native merchants — The Indian trader— 
 Government and trade — Government and private enterprise — 
 Concessions — Concessions for oil-mills — The principles involved 
 — Produce inspection — Cash trade v. barter — Currency — A trade 
 department — An Economic Board — French Chambers of Com- 
 merce — Trade commissioners and home agencies — The Crown 
 agents — Criticisms of the system 477 
 
CONTENTS. Xix 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 ECONOMIC BEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Necessity for economic development — State-aided enterprise — Rail- 
 ways — Research and propaganda — Functions of the technical 
 departments : (a) Laboratory research ; (5) Experimental 
 research; (c) Propaganda and instruction — The native staff — 
 Practical application of research results — The Imperial Insti- 
 tute — Advantage of free native cultivation — Specialisation in 
 dealing in products — The evolution of industrialism — The 
 indictment against Indian policy — Krst steps in Africa : (as) 
 Preparation and semi-manufacture of exports ; (6) Local substi- 
 tutes for imports ; (c) New local manufactures — Employment of 
 native capital — Industries not inimical to British trade . . 498 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVI. 
 
 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (continued). 
 
 The economy of labour — Domestic animals — Mechanical appliances 
 — Irrigation — Reclamation of desert — Natural power — Saving 
 of waste — Staple products — Oil-nuts — Cotton — Cocoa — Hides — 
 Timber — The task of the forest officer — Destruction of forests 
 — Measures for protection — Reserves — Reasons for conservation 
 — The object in view : co-operation — Other methods — Other 
 products and possible products — Ranching and stock-raising — 
 Tsetse-fly — Preservation of game 516 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVII. 
 
 THE LAW AND THE COTIRTS OP JUSTICE. 
 
 The law in African dependencies — Ordinances — Regulations — The 
 courts — The Supreme Court — Merger of judicial and executive 
 functions — Disadvantages of the Supreme Court as the sole 
 tribunal — The provincial courts — Contrast between the two 
 systems — Some advantages of provincial courts — Legal practi- 
 tioners in courts — Special procedure re plea and oath — Col- 
 lective punishment — Reconciliation — Native debts — Value of 
 native courts — The objects in view — Native customary law 
 
 Constitution and powers of native courts— Supervision of 
 
 native courts 536 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 OHAPTEE XXVIII. 
 
 COURTS OF JTJSTICB (eontinued). 
 
 The evolution of native courts in primitive communities— Clerks of 
 native courts — Higher grade courts — Application of ordinances, 
 &c., in native courts — Native courts and slavery — Punishments 
 by native courts — Imprisonment — Corporal punishment — Other 
 punishments — Capital sentences — Punishment of women — Dif- 
 ferences in native punishments — Witchcraft — Eespective func- 
 tions of British and native courts — Eesults in Nigeria — Offences 
 against natives — The Judge's vacation — Magistrates — The 
 Indian parallel — Appendix : The French system . . . 553 
 
 OHAPTEE XXIX. 
 
 SOME OTKEE PROBLEMS. 
 
 A. Municipal Self-Government. — Disinclination to pay rates — Au- 
 
 tonomy depends on financial solvency — Nomination or election 
 of councillors — Varying types of municipalities — Constitution 
 and powers in Nigeria — Distinctive features of townships. 
 
 B. Armed Forces and their Employment. — African races as soldiers 
 
 — Points to be noted — Danger of discontent among troops — The 
 application of force — Home critics — Methods of maintaining 
 law and order — The attitude of primitive tribes — Mistaken 
 methods — The avoidance of occasions of trouble — "Hill -top" 
 pagans — Method of using force — Military operations — Enforc- 
 ing the civil law — Measures to avoid conflict — Nature of penalty 
 — Precautions 570 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 SOME OTHEE PROBLEMS (continued). 
 
 G. Missions. — The debt to Missions — Missions in East Africa — 
 Missionaries and politics — Missions in "West Africa — Evils of 
 sectarian rivalry — Polygamy — Missions and European prestige 
 — Social effects of Mission work — Missions in pagan districts — 
 Missions to Moslems — Lord Salisbury's opinion — Restriction in 
 Nigeria and the Sudan — Justification of restriction — The Mos- 
 lem point of view — Concurrence of Government needed for 
 establishment of Missions — Mission spheres — Religious minis- 
 trations. 
 
CONTENTS. xxi 
 
 D. The Use of Intoxicants. — Import of spirits — Origin of movement 
 for suppression — The position in West Africa — Measures of 
 restriction— Prohibition by convention — The moral aspect of 
 the traffic — The material aspect — The present position and 
 policy — Native liquor — Control of native liquor — Distilleries . 586 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXI. 
 
 CONCLTJSION. THE VALUE OF BHITISH RULE IN THE TROPICS 
 TO THE BRITISH DEMOCRACY AND TO THE NATIVE RACES. 
 
 The nature of the task — The views of the " Labour Research De- 
 partment " — The cost to the British taxpayer — The benefits to 
 the democracy — Food and defence — TradeFand employment — 
 Openings for personal enterprise — Formation of national char- 
 acter—Motives for acquisition — Some moral incentives — Pres- 
 sure of population — The right of mankind to tropical products 
 — The verdict of democracy — Accusations in regard to treat- 
 ment of native races — Benefit to Africa — England's mission . 606 
 
 Index 621 
 
THE DUAL MANDATE 
 
 IN 
 
 BEITISH TROPICAL AFRICA, 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Contrast between Africa and the rest of the world — Its isolation — Causes 
 which led to the penetration of Africa — Moral progress — The respec- 
 tive tasks of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries — 
 Object of this book. 
 
 Afeioa has been justly termed " the Dark Continent," for 
 the secrets of its peoples, its lakes, and mountains and rivers, 
 have remained undisclosed not merely to modern civilisation, 
 but through aU the ages of which history has any record. 
 There are many regions in Asia — in Persia, Assyria, Arabia, 
 and Western China — in which modern explorers have claimed 
 to have made discoveries. But all these countries were the 
 seats of ancient civilisations, some of them highly developed, 
 and exploration was concerned rather with piecing together 
 chapters of past history than in discovery. The penetration 
 into the interior of Africa, on the other hand, may as truly 
 be described as discovery as that of America by Columbus. 
 
 The Muscat Arabs from Zanzibar were pioneers in the 
 exploration of the region of the great lakes and the Congo 
 basin, while in Western Africa the zeal of the Moslem Arabs 
 and Berbers led them across the Sahara. Here indeed a 
 great empire, famed for its culture, boasted a fragmentary 
 history dating back to the eighth or ninth centuries ; but 
 in this or any other part of tropical Africa, from the frontiers 
 of Egypt to the Zambesi, there are no traces of antecedent 
 
 A 
 
2 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 civilisations — no monuments or buried cities — like those of 
 the prehistoric civilisations of Asia and South America. 
 
 That portion of the north of Africa vs^hich is included in 
 the temperate zone, and contiguous to Europe, had been the 
 home of the most ancient civilisations, first of Egypt, dating 
 back some 4000 B.C., and later of the Phoenicians. But 
 Egypt had penetrated no further south than Ethiopia, while 
 the Carthagenians (though they had trade routes with the 
 interior) i for the most part confined their efforts to the 
 establishment of colonies on the coast. We read of one or 
 two expeditions to the interior both by Pharaoh Necho and 
 by Carthage, but they were barren of results. So were the 
 expeditions of the Greeks, who founded their first colony 
 at Cyrene 1000 years before Christ, and of the Eomans, who 
 later incorporated all North Africa as a Eoman province. 
 
 Accurate knowledge even of the coast-line, and the estab- 
 lishment of European settlements upon it, dates only from 
 the fifteenth century — synchronising with the discovery of 
 America. The outlet for commerce and the new fields which 
 this great discovery — together with the development of India 
 — afforded to adventurous pioneers, diverted for some three 
 centuries or more the tide of exploration which might other- 
 wise have set towards Africa. The voyages of Da Gama 
 and others in the fifteenth century had, however, already 
 produced one very notable restdt. Hitherto the gateway 
 which led to the great unknown interior had been situated 
 in the north. Access to Timbuktu was by caravan across the 
 desert from Tripoli or Algeria. The sea route discovered 
 by Da Gama disclosed a back door, which was henceforth to 
 become the principal entrance. As modern railways have 
 rendered the desert route obsolete, they may in the not 
 distant future restore it. 
 
 Thus the interior of Africa remained unknown. It appeared 
 on the map as a great blank space, with a fringe of names 
 all round its coasts, till Livingstone, Earth, and others began 
 its systematic exploration about seventy years ago. For 
 thirty or forty years tropical Africa remained a field for adven- 
 turous and sensational exploration, and it was not till 1885 — 
 when the Berlin Act was passed — ^that the modern develop- 
 ment of Africa began to assume definite and recognised form. 
 
 What, then, were the causes which led to the opening up 
 
 ' Heeren's Historical Researches — vol. African Nations, p. 17 et seq. 
 
nSTTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 of Africa, a continent whicli all the preceding ages of the 
 world's history had left untouched, though it lay close to the 
 homes of the early civilisations in Europe and Asia — a con- 
 tinent containing a fifth of the earth's land surface and a 
 ninth of its population ? 
 
 The root cause of Africa's isolation was, no doubt, that the 
 world had not hitherto had urgent need of its products, and 
 that its warlike tribes were able to repel unwelcome visitors 
 armed but Uttle better than themselves. Even when the 
 economic pressure caused by the rapidly increasing popula- 
 tion of Europe began to exert its inevitable influence, in driv- 
 ing men to seek for new markets and fresh supplies of food 
 and raw material, the discovery of America, and the new 
 fields for commerce in India, more than met the demand for 
 several centuries. It was not until the great industrial re- 
 vival which followed the Civil War in America that America 
 began herself to compete in the world's markets, and to 
 utilise her own resources primarily for the needs of her own 
 industry.^ 
 
 One of the more immediate causes which led to the opening 
 up of Africa was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Crippled 
 by her defeat. Prance proclaimed by the mouth of her prin- 
 cipal statesmen and writers ^ — just as she is doing to-day — 
 that it was to Greater Prance beyond the seas, and especially 
 in West and INorth-West Africa, that she must look for re- 
 habilitation. At that time, moreover, colonisation in tropical 
 Africa was believed to be both possible and desirable. Ger- 
 many, on the other hand, found herself with a great and 
 
 ' It is interesting to note that it was the conquest of the ocean which directly 
 led to the expansion of the peoples of Europe, and relieved them from the age- 
 long pressure of Asia on their frontiers. In 1492 Columbus discovered America, 
 and in 1494 Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape and opened up the way to India. 
 At that time (a.d. 1500) the population of Europe was about 70 millions. At 
 the end of the next three centuries (a.d. 1800) it is said to have been 150 
 millions, an additional 10 millions having migrated overseas. But at the close of 
 the succeeding century — which witnessed the industrial revolution, and the 
 advent of steam navigation — it is estimated (a.d. 1900) at nearly 450 millions, 
 with 100 million additional emigrants. Thus while the population of Europe 
 only doubled iteeU in the three centuries prior to 1800, it more than trebled 
 itself in the following century. The figures for Great Britain are : population 
 in 1600 (England only), 4,800,000 ; in 1800 about 16,000,000 ; and in 1900 about 
 42,000,000.— (Stoddard, 'The Rising Tide of Colour,' p. 155, Whittaker, &c.) 
 
 An additional reason for the demand for increased supplies of food and raw 
 materials at the close of the nineteenth century was to be found in the immensely 
 improved standard of living of the people. See pp. 614, 615. 
 
 ^ See M. Leroy Beaulieu, ' Histoire de la Colonisation chez les peuples 
 modernes. ' 
 
4 IMEODTTCTION. 
 
 increasing industrial population ia urgent need of raw materials 
 and additional food supplies. Not content with the whoUy 
 unrestricted market offered by British colonies, where Germans 
 were welcomed, and exercised every privilege equally with 
 their British rivals, she not unnaturally desired to have 
 colonies of her own. We have since learnt that she had other 
 motives — the creation of naval bases and world-wide wireless 
 stations, and the raisiug of negro armies for world conquest. 
 
 Humanitarian motives — the desire to suppress the slave- 
 trade, &c. — also played their part, but it was the rivalry of 
 these two great Contiaental Powers which was the immediate 
 cause of the modern "partition of Africa." By the BerUn 
 Act of 1886, and the Brussels Act of 1892, Europe and 
 America endeavoured in some feeble way to safeguard the 
 interests of the natives — but these Acts were practically in- 
 effective for their purpose. The one thing they did succeed 
 iu effecting was the restriction of the import of arms of 
 precision to the natives, theoretically as a check to the slave- 
 trade, but with the practical result of rendering the African 
 more powerless than ever to resist conquest by Europeans. 
 
 England was unwillingly forced into the competition. On 
 the one hand her colonies on the West Coast demanded some 
 effort, to save them from being cut off from all access to the 
 interior by hostile foreign tariffs, and becoming mere coast 
 enclaves. Her vital interests in India, on the other hand, 
 compelled her to protect her route thither — Egypt, the Suez 
 Canal, and the eastern shores of Africa. The essential interests 
 of Egypt, for which she had become responsible, demanded 
 the protection of the l^ile sources. 
 
 For a decade and more the " scramble " went on till it 
 was brought to a close by the conventions with Prance of 
 1898 and 1899, and the Pashoda incident of the latter year. 
 Germany had secured large colonies in East, West, and South 
 Africa, at the expense of prior British claims, but we recog- 
 nised her right to a place in the tropical sun. Prance added 
 largely to her territory in West and Central Airica, and 
 annexed the great island of Madagascar. 
 
 It was towards the close of this period of rivalry that Mr 
 Joseph Chamberlain became Colonial Secretary, and for the 
 first time in our history a policy of progress and development 
 found favour at Whitehall. The colonies were encouraged 
 to raise loans, supported if necessary by Imperial credit, for 
 the development of their resources, and had it not been for 
 
rNTEODUCTION. 5 
 
 the South African War this policy would, I know, have been 
 carried much further. During the twelve years which elapsed 
 between the South African and the recent world war, great 
 progress was made in the construction of roads and railways, 
 and the opening up of waterways, — for the material develop- 
 ment of Africa may be summed up in the one word " trans- 
 port." 
 
 Though we may perhaps at times entertain a lingering 
 regret for the passing of the picturesque methods of the 
 past, we must admit that the locomotive is a substantial 
 improvement on head-borne transport, and the motor-van is 
 more efficient than the camel. The advent of Europeans 
 has brought the mind and methods of Europe to bear on the 
 native of Africa for good or for iU, and the seclusion of ages 
 must perforce give place to modem ideas. Material develop- 
 ment is accompanied by education and progress. 
 
 The condition of Africa when Europe entered the continent, 
 which Isaiah so graphically describes as " the land overshadow- 
 ing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia ... a 
 people scattered and peeled," was deplorable. On the East 
 Coast, Arabs and half-castes were engaged ia a lucrative trade 
 in slaves for export to Arabia and to Turkish possessions. 
 In the west, powerful armies of Moslem States depopulated 
 large districts ia their raids for slaves. Europe had failed to 
 realise that throughout the length and breadth of Africa 
 inter-tribal war "was an ever-present condition of native life, 
 and that extermination and slavery were practised by African 
 tribes upon each other. 
 
 It was the task of civilisation to put an end to slavery, to 
 establish Courts of Law, to inculcate in the natives a sense of 
 individual responsibility, of liberty, and of justice, and to 
 teach their rulers how to apply these principles ; above all, to 
 see to it that the system of education should be such as to 
 produce happiness and progress. I am confident that the 
 verdict of history will award high praise to the efforts and 
 the achievements of Great Britaia in the discharge of these 
 great responsibilities. For, in my belief, imder no other rule 
 — ^be it of his own uncontrolled potentates, or of aliens — does 
 the African enjoy such a measure of freedom and of im- 
 partial justice, or a more sympathetic treatment, and for that 
 reason I am a profound believer in the British Empire and its 
 mission in Africa. 
 
 In brief, we may say that the eighteenth century was chiefly 
 
6 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 remarkable for the acquisition of large and almost uninhabited 
 portions of the earth, situated in the temperate zone. The 
 nineteenth century saw the development of these great 
 colonies into nations enjoying self-government. Its closing 
 decade witnessed the dawning recognition of the vital im- 
 portance of the tropics to civilisation, and the " discovery " 
 and acquisition of large non-colonisable areas ia tropical 
 Africa — ^no longer regarded as picturesque appanages of 
 Empire, but as essential to the very existence of the races of 
 the temperate climes. 
 
 To the twentieth century belongs the heritage of the tropics 
 and the task of their development. Two decades have already 
 passed and wonderful progress has been made, not only in 
 the improvement of the quality and quantity of the material 
 output, by scientific research, by organised method, and by 
 the expenditure of capital, but also ia methods of adminis- 
 tration for the welfare of the subject races, education, free 
 labour, taxation, and other similar problems. 
 
 A comparative study of the methods by which these vari- 
 ous problems — administrative and economic — have been ap- 
 proached in the several tropical dependencies of the Empire 
 and by other nations would form a fascinating study and 
 a useful guide,^ but the racial differences between Asiatics 
 and Africans are so great (as my own experience in India 
 and China have taught me) that methods applicable to the 
 one may be quite misplaced with the other. The tropical 
 dependencies in Africa, on the other hand, offer almost iden- 
 tical problems. 
 
 "Ifo serious attempt," says Mr Kidd, "has so far been 
 made to set forth the principles which should underlie our 
 future relations with the tropical regions of the world. . . . 
 Nowhere is there to be found any whole-hearted or con- 
 sistent attempt either to justffy the political relations which 
 already exist, or to define the principles of any relations which 
 ought to exist in the future." ^ The following pages have been 
 
 1 The great value of a bureau to collate and pubUsh the results of administra- 
 tive experience in various tropical countries was urged by Sir T Morison in a 
 letter to the ' Times ' of 21st July 1920. 
 
 2 ' Control of the Tropics,' pp. 15, 16. Compare the 'Times ' (1st Oct. 1901) 
 No attempt has been made to ascertain what are the special conditions of the 
 
 administrative problem in Equatorial Africa, no attempt has been made to formu- 
 late the general lines of a well-considered policy in dealing with that problem 
 and no machinery has been devised for maintaining continuity of administration '' 
 
INTEODTJCTION. 7 
 
 written in the hope that an experience, with short intervals, 
 of forty years in the tropics, and of over thirty in responsible 
 positions in Africa, may enable me to make some useful con- 
 tribution to the study of these subjects. During the first 
 half of these thirty years it was my privilege to assist in 
 some degree in bringing imder British control portions of 
 K"yasaland, East Africa, Uganda, and Mgeria, where the 
 difficulties of the pioneer had to be encountered. During 
 the second fifteen it has been my good fortune to be entrusted 
 with the development of Mgeria, and with the aid of capable 
 colleagues to lay the foundations of a system of administra- 
 tion upon which others may build. I shall endeavour to 
 describe the difficulties encountered, the methods used, and 
 the results obtained in administration — ^which forms the most 
 important part of our task in Africa. It is, moreover, also of i 
 great moment that the British democracy, faced with problems 
 which portend great changes in our social organisation, 
 should tmderstand the relation which our overseas depen- 
 dencies bear to the economic wellbeing of this country — how 
 vital to our industrial life are the products of the tropics, and 
 its markets for our manufactures. It is indeed essential that 
 democracy should take an intelligent and well-informed in- 
 terest in questions which affect the Empire of which it is the 
 inheritor and trustee. 
 
PAET I. 
 
 EUROPE AND TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 a?HE ACQUISITION OP THE BRITISH AITtlCAN TROPICS. 
 
 Reason for acquisition — Restraint of Britain — British policy of Free 
 Trade — The Berlin Conference and effective occupation — The Hinter- 
 land theory — Spheres of influence — The Government's dilemma — 
 Creation of Chartered Companies — Treaties as valid titles — ^Method 
 of obtaining treaties— The real sanction for intervention in Africa — 
 Status of Chartered Companies — The Royal Niger Company's 
 Charter — The Imperial British East African Company — The British 
 South African Company — -Advantages of the Agency of Chartered 
 Companies — Liabilities of Government on revocation — Lessons from 
 Chartered Company rule — Separation of administration and com- 
 merce — Disposal of lands and minerals— Contrast with the older 
 Charters — Other methods of acquisition — British Consuls in Africa — 
 India Office control — Foreign Office control. 
 
 The desire of France and Germany to acquire tropical posses- 
 sions was due primarily to the idea that they were colonisable 
 — an idea, as we shall presently see, not yet exploded in 
 Germany, and at one time shared by Great Britain, who, 
 however, having already acquired great tracts in the tem- 
 perate zone, had no need to seek a tropical outlet for her 
 emigrants. 
 
 The African possessions of Great Britain were not there- 
 fore acquired, as in the case of the Continental Powers, in 
 pursuance of a definite policy, for which they were willing 
 to risk war. The older " settlements " on the West Coast 
 were originally maintained to assist in putting an end to 
 the overseas slave trade, and so httle were they valued that 
 a Royal Commission in 1865 recommended their abandon- 
 
10 THE ACQTJISITION OF THE BRITISH APKICAN TEOPICS. 
 
 ment as soon as convenient. Missionaries — as in Uganda and 
 Kyasaland — were often the pioneers, and it was in defence 
 of their interests that the Government was forced to inter- 
 vene. The desire to extend protection and to introduce 
 justice and peace have from time to time led to the enlarge- 
 ment of frontiers, for law and order caimot exist side by 
 side with barbarism. In the west traders such as the Mger 
 Company took the lead as pioneers, but it was not till the 
 close of the nineteenth century that the value of the produce 
 of the tropics began to be realised in England. 
 
 When, however, the " scramble for Africa " followed the 
 Berlin Act of 1885, the popular demand that Britain, as 
 the foremost colonising Power, should not be backward in 
 claiming her share was irresistible, and it was due to this 
 popular demand to " peg out claims for futurity " — ^however 
 Mttle their value was understood at the time — that we owe 
 our African Empire of to-day. It was, moreover, felt that 
 whatever value our existing tropical possessions might have, 
 would be lost if other nations with exclusive tartSs appro- 
 priated their hinterlands. Their value as coaUng stations in 
 the scheme of Empire was indeed recognised, but the great 
 importance of these bases for attack and defence by sub- 
 marines, and for wireless installations, was a lesson for the 
 future to teach. The instinct of the nation recognised with 
 Dr Pearson that " the permanency of Empire consists in its 
 extension." The vital importance of the control of the tropics 
 for their economic value had, however, already begun to be 
 reahsed by the nations of Europe, and Prance, Germany, 
 and Italy, laying aside their ambitions in Europe, emerged 
 as claimants for large " colonies " in Africa. 
 
 When Great Britain took part in the scramble, she willingly 
 recognised the claims of Germany — a Power newly consoli- 
 dated, and with an increasing and industrial population. 
 She stood aside in the Cameruns, where the chiefs had 
 more than once formally asked for British protection. She 
 renounced the territorial claims which she might have asserted 
 in the Congo region in virtue of Cameron's treaties, and in 
 East Africa she was contented with a fraction of the territory 
 which the Sultan of Zanzibar offered. In South- West Africa, 
 bordering the tropics, her delay and indifference made it 
 easy for Germany to forestall her. 
 
 To the no less energetic action of Prance no opposition 
 
THE BEKLEN ACT, AND EFFECTIVE OCCtnPATION. 11 
 
 was offered, until her encroachments affected the interests 
 of our existing possessions so closely that national prestige 
 and honour were iavolved. 
 
 In one very notable particular the policy of Great Britaia 
 differed from that of her rivals. The great territories which 
 she controlled were entirely free to the trade and commerce 
 of all nations. Not merely were there no discrimiaating 
 tariffs, but the French and German merchants who estab- 
 lished themselves ia British territory were treated with pre- 
 cisely the same cordiality, and were afforded the same facili- 
 ties for travel ia the iaterior, and for acquiring land, as our 
 own nationals. " Our rise," says the German writer, Bnul 
 Zimmermarm, " depended essentially on the English policy 
 of the open door." ^ 
 
 The Berlin Conference of 1885 limited the necessity for 
 " effective occupation " — ^by which the validity of a claim 
 to territorial acquisition should be tested — ^to coast lands, 
 and defined it as " the necessity of securing the existence of 
 a sufBcient authority, ia the territories occupied, to ensure 
 respect for acquired rights, and if necessary for freedom of 
 commerce and transit ia the conditions ia which it may have 
 been stipulated." ^ The British delegate (Sir E. MaUet) had 
 proposed that this rule should be made applicable to ia- 
 terior lands,' but the proposal was negatived, largely at 
 the instance of the French delegate (Baron de Courcel). The 
 Conference therefore laid down no definite rule as to the 
 basis upon which the vahdity of claims to sovereignty ia the 
 interior should be recognised. 
 
 The principle of the " voluntary consent of the natives whose 
 country is taken possession of ia all cases where they have 
 not provoked the aggression " was put forward by the Ameri- 
 can delegate (Mr Kasson),* and it may be assumed that it 
 was tacitly accepted. For on 23rd February 1885 the presi- 
 dent of the International Association of the Congo submitted 
 to the Conference the various declarations and conventions 
 concluded with each of the Powers represented there, under 
 which they recognised " the formation of this new State," 
 and the declarations with Great Britain, the United States, 
 and Belgium set out that it was by virtue of treaties with 
 
 ' ' The German Empire of Central Africa,' pp. 2 and 5. 
 
 2 C. 4361/1885, Protocol 8, p. 219. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 214. '' Ibid., p. 209. 
 
12 THE ACQTJISITION OF THE BEITISH AFB.ICAN TROPICS. 
 
 the legitimate sovereigns in the Congo basin that vast terri- 
 tories had been ceded to the State with all the rights of 
 sovereignty.^ 
 
 Since the Conference had refused to deal explicitly with 
 the acquisition of territory other than coast lands, " the 
 hinterland theory " — made in Germany — ^which had not the 
 sanction of the Berlin Act or any precise definition, gradually 
 received acceptance, in so far as the " rights " of the Euro- 
 pean Powers and their relations towards each other in the 
 partition were concerned. By this dictum a Power in occupa- 
 tion of coast lands was entitled to claim the exclusive right 
 to exercise political influence for an indefinite distance inland. 
 Obviously in a very irregularly-shaped continent no method 
 could be more calculated to create diflftculties, and the climax 
 seemed to have been reached when Prance claimed to restrict 
 the frontiers of Nigeria, on the ground that they formed the 
 hinterland of Algeria on the Mediterranean. 
 
 The Powers, in their haste to declare the " spheres of 
 influence " which they claimed, had not in some cases .time 
 to go through the formality of making treaties with the 
 natives, and considered it sufficient to notify that they claimed 
 them as hinterlands, or because they had some special interest 
 in them. They were vaguely demarcated by lines of longi- 
 tude and latitude regardless of tribal limits, or by reference 
 to physical features which later exploration sometimes proved 
 to be scores of miles from their supposed position, or even 
 non-existent. 
 
 The conception of a " sphere of influence " was a new 
 departure in the vocabulary of diplomacy — already fore- 
 shadowed by Article 6 of the Act, ia which the exercise of 
 " sovereign rights or influence " is aUuded to. It was, I 
 think, invented by our Foreign Office, for Great Britaiu alone 
 appeared to have scruples as to the legality or justice of 
 assuming dominion based neither on conquest nor on the 
 assent of the iuhabitants. She would have preferred that 
 effective occupation should be a matter of gradual and peace- 
 ful penetration. The term " sphere of influence " was thus 
 used to designate those regions over which the right to exer- 
 cise exclusive political iufluence was claimed, but in which 
 no rights over the natives could be logically exercised, and 
 no properly accredited representative of the suzerain Power 
 
 ^ Berlin Act, Protocol 9, pp. 253-278. 
 
THE government's DILEMMA. 13 
 
 could be appointed, until some legal claim had been estab- 
 lislied. 
 
 The success of the expedient was short-Uved. Setting aside 
 her former opposition to Sir E. Malet's proposal, Prance now 
 insisted that effective occupation could alone confer title, 
 and in 1887 this was fully admitted by the British Govern- 
 ment. Lord Salisbury, in a despatch of 1887 to the Minister 
 at Lisbon, writes : "It has now been admitted on principle 
 by aU parties to the Act of Berlin, that a claim of sovereignty 
 in Africa can only be maintained by real occupation of the 
 territory claimed. You wiU make a formal protest against 
 any claims not founded on occupation, and you wiU say that 
 H.M.'s Government cannot recognise Portuguese sovereignty 
 in territories not occupied by her in sufficient strength to 
 maintain order, protect foreigners, and control the natives." 
 This passage is interesting, not only as stating the formal 
 acquiescence of the British Government in the theory of 
 effective occupation, but as containing a definition of what 
 constituted it, and a frank admission that territorial acquisi- 
 tion, whether under the name of Protectorate or otherwise, 
 meant nothing less than sovereignty and the control of the 
 natives. 
 
 The rulers of Great Britain were strongly opposed to ex- 
 tension of our territory in Africa, but the popular demand 
 left the Foreign Office no alternative.^ The Government 
 viewed with alarm the great cost of effective occupation, 
 as that phrase was translated in England. But the British 
 public never considers the cost of its demands, though it 
 holds the Government to strict account for any disaster 
 due to an inadequate staff and insufficient force to protect 
 its officers. We had not yet learned to think in hundreds of 
 milUons. The staff, the troops, and the money were lacking, 
 
 ' How clearly this was recognised abroad may be seen from the following 
 passage in Baillaud's authoritative work : " II faut, en eflfet, remarquer que, d'une 
 mauifere coutume, jusque dans ces toutea derniferes ann^ea, le Colonial Office, que 
 repr&entait le gouvemment anglais dans ces affaires, ne cessa de manifester, sauf 
 pendant le seul secretariat de M. J. Chamberlain, une opposition constante a 
 toute politique d'expansion et h tout acoroissement des attributions des pouvoirs 
 locaux ; et Mary Kingaley ('West African Studies,' p. 305) est bien autorisee a 
 dire, ' Juaqu'a nos jours le Colonial Office a 6t6, excepts dans le detail des affaires 
 interieures coloniales, une chaine d'entraves pour le ddveloppement de I'Augle- 
 terre en Afrique Occidentale. II a ^t^ nou pas indifferent, mais nettement 
 oppose. ' " — 'La Politique indigene de I'Angleterre en Afrique Occidentale,' 
 Introduction, p. xxvi. We need hardly recall Majuba, Gordon at Khartum, or 
 Mr Gladstone's decision to evacuate Uganda. 
 
14 THE ACQTnSmON OP THE BRITISH AFKICAN TEOPICS. 
 
 and neither the Colonial nor the Foreign OfSce had any 
 knowledge or experience of administration ia the interior of 
 tropical Africa, or of raising and commanding troops. Above 
 aU, the statesmen of Britain had not grasped the incalculable 
 value of the claims which the instinct of the nation urged 
 them to peg out. But something had to be done to prevent 
 European rivalries developing into a war. The comfortable 
 — albeit statesmanlike — expedient of a sphere of influence in 
 which rival diplomacy would cease from troubling, and 
 development might await the millenium, was repudiated by 
 the Continental Powers, and found no favour at home. Our 
 rivals were constantly encroaching on our shadowy boun- 
 daries. 
 
 The modem " Merchant Adventm;er " was ready to employ 
 his capital in the development of these regions, and to accept 
 the responsibiUty which the Government shunned, provided 
 that he was allowed to monopoUse the trade, to exercise rights 
 of taxation direct and indirect, and to acquire rights in lands 
 and minerals, which would not only afford a revenue for 
 administration and defence, but also a prospect of profit. 
 The Government of the day, ignoring the dictiun of Adam 
 Smith that " the government of an exclusive company of 
 merchants is perhaps the worst of all forms of government," ^ 
 found an escape from its dilemma. Boyal Charters on the 
 Elizabethan model were granted to three companies — ^the 
 Eoyal Niger Company in the west, the Imperial British East 
 African Company in the east, and the British South African 
 in the south, with Mr (now Sir G.) Goldie, Sir W. Mackinnon, 
 and Mr Cecil Ehodes as their founders. They were over- 
 whelmed with volimteers eager for adventure. To protect 
 them from foreign encroachments, the British Government 
 soon found itself compelled to declare the greater part of its 
 spheres of influence to be Protectorates, and the other nations 
 did the same. In many of these Protectorates, no treaties 
 had been made with outlying tribes, and regions as yet un- 
 explored were included. 
 
 The Foreign Office had at first hesitated to declare Protec- 
 torates, because it had acquired no legal right to do so. How 
 then could it grant charters which conferred powers of taxa- 
 tion and rights to lands and minerals 1 The diEficulty was 
 solved by a subterfuge unworthy of the high line hitherto 
 
 ^ ' Wealth of Nations," vol. ii. p. 302. 
 
TREATIES AS VALID TITLES. 15 
 
 taken by Great Britain. The precedent set by King Leopold 
 of Belgium was, as we have seen, acclaimed by all the Powers, 
 and more specifically by Britain, the United States, and 
 Belgium, that " treaties " with the natives, by which they 
 were supposed at short notice to have voluntarily ceded all 
 their sovereign rights, were to be accepted as vaUd titles to 
 the acquisition of the African tropics by the European nations. 
 Alternatively by conquest, provided the natives were the 
 aggressors — and this would not be difficult to demonstrate. 
 It was easy to stipulate that the charter powers were based 
 on the production of such treaties. The sensitive official 
 conscience was salved by this expedient, the real significance 
 of which it no doubt failed to appreciate.^ 
 
 The civilised nations entered for the competition with 
 avidity. Treaties were produced by the cartload in aU the 
 approved forms of legal verbiage — ^impossible of translation 
 by iU-educated interpreters.^ It mattered not that tribal 
 chiefs had no power to dispose of communal rights, or that 
 those few powerful potentates who might perhaps claim such 
 authority looked on the white man's ambassador with con- 
 tempt, and could hardly be expected to hand over their 
 sovereignty and lands or other assets had they understood 
 what was asked of them. The Sultan of Sokoto, for instance, 
 regarded the subsidy promised to him by the chartered com- 
 pany as tribute from a vassal. 
 
 '■ Though the Congo treaties were, I think, the first to gain International 
 recognition, treaty-making had begun at least as early as 1884, when Consul 
 Hewitt made thirty -seven treaties in West Africa, and the National African Com- 
 pany had made others dating from 1379. Hewitt's treaties, however, differ very 
 essentially from those upon which King Leopold and the Chartered Companies 
 in east and west founded their claims to territorial sovereignty. They stipu- 
 lated that the Queen should extend to the chiefs and their territories "Her 
 gracious favour and protection," while the chiefs undertook "to refrain from 
 entering into any correspondence, agreement, or treaty with any foreign nation 
 or Power, except with the knowledge and sanction of Her Majesty." Juris- 
 diction over British subjects was ceded, and the chiefs engaged to act on the 
 advice of the British Consuls. Under the East African Chartered Company's 
 treaties, on the other hand, the chief declared that he placed himself and his 
 people under the rule of the Company, and ceded to it all his sovereign rights 
 and rights of government. The Nyasa treaties "give all sovereign rights and 
 all and every other claim absolutely " over all their country to the Queen for all 
 time. — See Herslet, 'Map of Africa by Treaty,' vol. i. p. 166, quoted by Ilbert, 
 ' Government of India,' p. 430. Also Hall, ' Foreign Jurisdiction of British 
 Crown,' p. 217. 
 
 ^ In later and more advanced times, the best that an intelligent Mallam could 
 make of the phrase " The Protectorate of N. Nigeria," was to render it as " The 
 instruction of compassion of the Sudan," — thereby making absolute nonsense of 
 the context. 
 
16 THE ACQUISITION OF THE BRITISH AFEICAN TROPICS. 
 
 The treaties were duly attested by a cross, purporting to 
 convey the assent of the African chief, and this was suf&cient. 
 In some cases, it is said, the assent had been obtained by the 
 gift of a pair of boots, or a few bottles of gin — the Kaiser had 
 sent a parcel of opera-hats working with a spring. Else- 
 where, by a show of force, or by vague promises, which were 
 unrecorded and later ignored. Each nation pursued the 
 course it preferred, or which its representative found most 
 convenient. 
 
 No sooner was " occupation " effected by virtue of these 
 treaties, than the controUing Power usually found itself ia- 
 volved iu hostOities with the people with whom these treaties 
 of amity and friendship had been made. If, however, the 
 treaty-maker were too honest, or the native chief too shrewd 
 or too rapacious, it sufficed that the treaty should vest in 
 the European aU jurisdiction over aUens. Here is the descrip- 
 tion by Commandant Tout^e, one of the most successful of 
 French treaty-makers : — 
 
 " Quand un 6tat ou une tribu nfegre, pen importe, a commis 
 I'imprudence grande de donner I'hospitaUt^ ^ un voyageur 
 blanc, ce dernier n'a rien de plus press6 que de sorttr de sa 
 poche un traits d'alliance tout imprim6, et de ses cantines 
 un petit drapeau national. Le voyageur signe ce traits pour 
 son propre compte et prie le roitelet, plus ou moins color^, 
 d'ajouter sa signature k la sienne. 
 
 "Si le potentat nhgre ne salt pas signer, comme ce dernier 
 cas se pr^sente neuf fois sur dix, la haute partie contractante 
 et civUis^e signe pour la deuxifeme suppos^e sauvage et le 
 tour est jou4. 
 
 " II est arriv^ meme quelquefois que le voyageur blanc, 
 s'il est anglais surtout, a oublL6 de demander son nom au 
 n^gre signataire, mais ce vice de forme n'a jamais 6t6 con- 
 sider^ comme une cause s^rieuse de nullity du contrat." 
 
 The ' Temps ' (March 1903) thus summarises the process : 
 " One can see what it means : it is moral annexation. The 
 evolution of colonial empires of this kiud follows a weU- 
 known processus of which the stages are iu a measure ia- 
 evitable : first, travellers, missionaries, and traders ; then 
 treaties of commerce and friendship ; then a kiud of pro- 
 tectorate half concealed under the form of an unequal aUi- 
 ance ; afterwards the delimitation of spheres of iufluence and 
 the declaration of a kind of right of priority ; then a protec- 
 
THE EEAX SANCTION FOE INTBEVENTION. 17 
 
 torate properly so called, the establishment of tutelage, the 
 appointment of Eesidents and aU. that foUows in their train ; 
 and finally, annexation pure and simple." 
 
 It was thus that the conscience of Europe found relief. 
 Ignorance of African conditions, and perhaps a latent feeling 
 that the end justified the means, induced the rulers of the 
 nations of Europe to accept these treaties without too close 
 a scrutiny, and to persuade themselves that the omelette 
 had been made without breaking any eggs.^ 
 
 The frank assertion of the inexorable law of progress, based 
 on the power to enforce it if need be, was termed " fili- 
 bustering." It shocked the moral sense of a civilisation con- 
 tent to accept the naked deception of "treaty-making," or to 
 shut its eyes and ears and thank God for the results. 
 
 In some cases the native ruler was himself an alien con- 
 queror, holding in subjection tribes with which he had no 
 aflfinity ; in others he was a despot (as in Benin, Uganda, 
 Dahomey, or Zululand) exercising a bloody tyranny ; in 
 others again, pagan tribes carried on an internecine warfare, 
 and were powerless to defend themselves against organised 
 slave-raiders. 
 
 In such circumstances it was surely more justifiable for 
 the European Powers frankly to found their title to inter- 
 vention upon force, and to admit that the chiefs, whom they 
 recognised or appointed, derived their administrative and 
 judicial powers from them, and exercised it with such limita- 
 tions as they chose to impose, instead of assuming that they 
 themselves derived the right of intervention through cessions 
 of sovereignty, xmder the guise of " treaties," which were 
 either not understood, or which the ruler had no power to 
 make, and which rarely provided an adequate legal sanction 
 for the powers assumed. 
 
 The institution of courts of justice, the supervision of native 
 courts, the protection of the peasantry from oppression by 
 their rulers, and the deposition of the latter when incorrigible, 
 the reorganisation or imposition of taxation for revenue, the 
 prohibition of slave-raiding or slave-dealing, the restraint on 
 firearms, liquor, and the destruction of game, the disposal 
 in some cases of unused lands or minerals — in. a word, the 
 
 ^ For an alternative method of making treaties with natives, see "Treaty- 
 making in Africa," ' Proceedings Royal Geographical Society,' January 1893, p. 54, 
 and ' The Rise of Our East African Empire,' vol. ii. p. 579, by Captain Lugard. 
 
 B 
 
18 THE ACQXJISITION OP THE BKIXISH AFRICAN TROPICS. 
 
 arbitrary enforcement of justice and good government and 
 the safeguarding of natural resources, — all these are acts of 
 sovereignty which no African chief would wiUingly concede 
 by treaty to an unknown stranger, but which fifty and more 
 nations of the world have now formally recognised as the 
 essential duty of the Mandatory Powers, who under the cove- 
 nant of the League are to be nominated as the protectors 
 and trustees of backward races. For the civilised nations 
 have at last recognised that white on the one hand the abound- 
 iQg wealth of the tropical regions of the earth must be developed 
 and used for the benefit of mankind, on the other hand an 
 obligation rests on the controUing Power not only to safe- 
 guard the material rights of the natives, but to promote their 
 moral and educational progress. 
 
 The recognition of these great principles does away with 
 the " make believe " of the former illogical system, by which 
 the controlling Power, basing its rights on treaty, arbitrarily ex- 
 ercised sovereign powers often incompatible with those treaties, 
 whUe admitting (in particiilar cases) the right of a petty kinglet 
 to deflect the course of a railway, to restrict trade by arbitrary 
 taxes and toUs, and to oppress the peasantry at will. 
 
 The problem of the methods of acquisition was followed by 
 the problem of the methods of exercising control. The first 
 British experiment was, as I have said, that of chartered 
 companies, whose powers, so far as they related to the exercise 
 of sovereignty and jurisdiction over the natives, were based 
 on treaties with the chiefs, and were circimiscribed by the 
 necessity of obtaining the assent of the home Government 
 to their local regulations, and the vis6 of their accounts. 
 Their status vis-d-vis foreign Powers was that of delegates 
 of the British Crown. Their obhgations were to establish 
 that effective occupation and control which was called for 
 by the Continental Powers, and by the Press and Public of 
 England. It was immaterial whether the area of their opera- 
 tions was a sphere of influence or a Protectorate. 
 
 Before discussing the meaning of this latter term, it will 
 be worth while to review very briefly the results of the char- 
 tered company experiment. The modern adaptation of the 
 instrument by which the Hudson's Bay Company had added 
 the Dominion of Canada, and the East India Company had 
 secured India to the Empire, and to which some of our Ameri- 
 can colonies had owed their origin, cannot fail to be of interest, 
 
THE ROYAL NIGEE COMPANY'S CHAETEE. 19 
 
 the more so that, with the exception of Borneo, the new 
 experiment was confined to tropical Africa. 
 
 The three chariiered companies differed greatly in their 
 methods. The Eoyal Mger Company, which was the first 
 to obtain its charter (July 1886), held it for thirteen years. 
 It was conducted on business lines as an amalgamation of 
 various existing commercial interests, with a lucrative trade. 
 Prom the outset it incurred the bitter hostility of the Liver- 
 pool merchants, who complained that though the charter 
 conferred no monopolistic rights, these had in practice been 
 created. The company, while denying the charge, held that 
 a measure of exclusive privilege was necessary to enable them 
 to meet the cost of administration, which their rivals in 
 trade had not to incur. 
 
 The charter included vast territories in the north, from 
 Sokoto to Lake Chad, controlled by very powerful Moslem 
 rulers, with most of whom the company had made treaties, 
 but its resources were not sufficient to enable it to comply 
 at once with the dictum of " effective occupation," and 
 French aggression on its frontier was the primary cause 
 which compelled the intervention of the Imperial Govern- 
 ment. It was not, of course, easy to secure capital for interior 
 development while the commercial possibilities of the regions 
 nearer to the coast offered much more tempting returns for 
 investment. The achievement of its founders lay in the fact 
 that they had succeeded in amalgamating all European in- 
 terests on the Mger, and were thus enabled at the Berlin 
 Conference to claim on behalf of Great Britain the custodian- 
 ship of its free navigation. 
 
 The inherent defect of aU chartered government, where 
 dividends to shareholders must inevitably compete with ad- 
 ministrative expenditure, formed the chronic obstacle to the 
 desires of its patriotic directors. But if the exigencies of the 
 company's finance did not admit of effective administration, 
 it may honourably claim that, unlike the Congo State of those 
 days, the natives were not subjected to any form of forced 
 labour, or even to any direct tax, while the introduction of 
 spirits in the north, from which a large revenue would have 
 accrued, was prohibited.^ The baleful system of the " domain 
 
 ' That spirits had already begun to penetrate is clear from the appeal of 
 Maleki, Emir of Nupe, a Moslem state. — " United Liquor Committee " Keport, 
 November 1886, p. 31. 
 
20 THE ACQUISITION OF THE BRITISH AFEICAN TROPICS. 
 
 piiv^ " of the Congo State — of leasing lands and forests for 
 exploitation by private concessionaires — ^was imknown, and 
 the right of the native to his land and produce was not inter- 
 fered -with. He received a fair price, albeit his market was 
 practically restricted to the company's depots.^ 
 
 Germany in the east was no less keen a competitor for the 
 control of the tropics than France in the west. Not content 
 with the vast regions comprised in German East Africa, she 
 threatened to absorb Uganda and the Nile sources. Sir Wm. 
 Mackinnon — a man of large fortune — obtained in 1888 a 
 Eoyal Charter, with the patriotic object of securing for the 
 Empire the area which had been declared a British sphere of 
 influence. His co-directors were almost all men pre-eminent 
 for their public services, including Lord Lome, Lord Brassey, 
 Sir J. Kirk, Sir A. KembaU, Sir L. PeUy, Sir F. Buxton, 
 Sir D. Stewart, and Mr Burdett-Coutts. It was the great 
 misfortune, however, of the company that at the crucial 
 moment of its inauguration it was deprived of the unrivalled 
 experience of Sir John Kirk, who alone of the directors had 
 personal knowledge of East Africa, by his appointment as 
 British Plenipotentiary at the Brussels Conference. The com- 
 pany did not enter into the heritage of a " going concern " 
 as the Eoyal Niger Company had done. The country was 
 entirely unexplored, and such little trade as existed was in 
 the hands of the Zanzibar Arabs, who were already in revolt 
 against the Germans, and bitterly resented the measures 
 taken by Great Britain to put an end to their trade in slaves. 
 
 The company had only recently been inaugurated when 
 the notorious Karl Peters by way of the Tana river, and 
 Emin Pasha as a German emissary by the southern route, 
 started with the object of annexing Uganda. The British 
 public and the Foreign Ofiice looked to the company to secuie 
 effective occupation of a coimtry 800 nules from the coast — 
 from which it was separated by the warlike Masai tribe — 
 ere yet its headquarters had been fuUy established at its 
 coast port. Already it had sent an exploring expedition 
 thither in the hope of assisting Stanley in his quest for Emin. 
 It was not slow to respond to the new caU. The German 
 projects were frustrated — Uganda and the Nile sources, so 
 vital to Egypt, were secured. 
 
 But no revenue was coming in, and private funds could 
 
 ' Re this monopoly see Sir J. Kirk'e report, Africa, 3, 1896. 
 
ACHIBVEMENT OF THE EAST AERICA COMPANY. 21 
 
 not indefinitely sustain tlie heavy cost incurred. Moreover, 
 owing to the withdrawal by the Sultan of Zanzibar, acting 
 on the advice of H.M.'s Government, of the reserves under 
 which he had adhered to the Berlin Act, the company was 
 deprived of the revenue from import and export duties, which 
 were, it maintained, an integral part of the terms of the 
 concession from the Sultan under which it had acquired its 
 rights, and upon which it had based its fiscal poUcy.^ The 
 company's Board consisted chiefly of administrators, and its 
 earliest efforts had been directed to administration rather 
 than to commerce. It appealed to the home Government 
 for assistance, on the grounds that it had gone to Uganda 
 on the mandate of the nation. But Lord Eosebery was dis- 
 inclined to assist, and the company was forced to surrender 
 its charter in 1895, after an existence of only six and a half 
 years. 
 
 In spite of its apparent failure it had, like the Mger Com- 
 pany, succeeded in its great purpose. It had secured East 
 Africa and Uganda, when the Government of the day was 
 imwilling to move. For a moment there had been misgivings 
 lest Mr Gladstone should abandon the results which the 
 company had achieved at such sacrifice. The edict went 
 forth that Uganda should be evacuated, and with it a large 
 part of East Africa. But the feehng of the nation was too 
 strong for the Government, and supported the company's 
 continued and disinterested efforts for the " retention of 
 Uganda." A Protectorate was declared, and a new British 
 flag replaced the company's tattered ensign. The salubrious 
 highlands of East Africa, the kingdoms of Uganda and 
 Unyoro, with boundaries co-terminous with the Congo State 
 on the west, and with Abyssinia and the Egyptian Sudan 
 in the north, the continuous control of the Nile from its 
 sources in the great Victoria and Albert Lakes, were secured 
 to the Empire. 
 
 The credit due to the Mger Company for its treatment of 
 the natives, and its exclusion of the concessionaire, is shared 
 by the Imperial British East African Company. 
 
 A great part of the territory covered by the third charter — 
 that of the British South African Company — ^lay south of 
 the Zambesi, within the temperate or sub-tropical zone, and 
 
 1 See Memo, by Sir J. Kirk. ' British East Africa,' by P. L. M'Dermott, p. 
 446. 
 
22 THE ACQtnSITION OP THE BRITISH AFRICAN TEOPIOS. 
 
 therefore colonisable by Europeans. It was contiguous to 
 the colonies and Protectorates under the control of the 
 Colonial OfBce, and it therefore (unlike the other two) came 
 under the control of that office. The Duke of Fife was its 
 chairman, but the dominating personaUty and the founder 
 was Mr Cecil Ehodes. The charter was granted iu October 
 1889, and stiU continues. By the Northern Ehodesia Order 
 in Council of 4th May 1911 its powers were extended in 
 respect of territories north of the Zambesi. 
 
 The South African Company had to deal with conditions 
 for the most part very dissimilar to those which had con- 
 fronted the other two. Its territories, with a population 
 estimated at four to the square mile, had no access to the 
 sea, and the construction of railways was the first neces- 
 sity. It was believed to contain great mineral wealth, and 
 its frontiers marched with territories already peopled by a 
 considerable European population, largely concerned in the 
 mining industry, who hastened to peg out claims in the 
 company's territory. The ordinary trade in raw materials 
 and foodstuffs was hampered by lack of transport and dis- 
 tance from a seaport. The wealth of the founders, Messrs 
 Ehodes and Beit, and the patriotism and confidence in the 
 future of its other shareholders, rendered it possible, as in 
 East Africa, to dispense with immediate dividends. The 
 company rapidly became the parent of many subsidiary cor- 
 porations, which imdertook the exploitation of its mineral 
 wealth, the construction of its railways, and even the pro- 
 vision of the requirements of its principal cities. The char- 
 tered company, by virtue of its rights in lands and minerals, 
 whether acquired by treaties or inherent in it as a govern- 
 ment, retained a substantial interest in these concerns, whose 
 shares, of course, became the subject of Stock Exchange 
 dealings. As the European population increased, the inevi- 
 table demand for the revocation of the charter and the sub- 
 stitution of self-government in Southern Ehodesia arose — a 
 matter which was, of course, comphcated by the expenditure 
 incurred by the company. 
 
 North of the Zambesi, the pressing demand for immediate 
 effective occupation, which had overwhelmed the other two 
 companies, did not arise in so acute a form, though Belgium 
 succeeded in extending her frontiers to include the valuable 
 mineral districts of Katanga, and Germany was anxious to 
 
THE empire's debt TO CHAETEEED COMPANIES. 23 
 
 encroach to the south of Tanganyika. Treaties were made 
 and frontiers settled, and the company was free to open up 
 the country gradually. 
 
 Germany had coveted these regions — especially south of 
 the Zambesi — and it was due to the Chartered Company and 
 its great founder, Cecil Ehodes, that the British flag now 
 flies from the Cape to the Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa.^ 
 
 From this brief review of the causes which gave rise to the 
 creation of chartered companies in the nineteenth century 
 some interesting reflections arise. That they are at best an 
 imperfect form of government was shown conclusively by 
 Adam Smith one hundred and fifty years ago, and modern 
 experience has only confirmed his arguments.^ But it is due 
 to their agency alone that over a million square miles of 
 tropical Africa, with a population of over twenty-five miUions, 
 has been added to the British Empire. In contrast to foreign 
 methods they afford a striking illustration of the way in which 
 individual enterprise has ever in our history anticipated the 
 action of government.' They came forward at a moment 
 when the Government, compelled by the action of other 
 Powers to take some decision, not imnatuxaUy shirked the 
 responsibihty of directly administering great regions, at a 
 cost of which no estimate could be made. They formed a 
 buffer between the Imperial Government and foreign States, 
 which reduced the risks of international friction and of war, 
 and their temporary reverses did not involve Imperial prestige. 
 Alike from their successes and their failures the Government 
 was enabled to obtain most valuable experience, so that when 
 
 ' "In 1890," said the chairman at the last annual meeting, "Rhodesia, a 
 country as large as Central Europe, was sparsely inhabited by uncivilised and 
 barbarous peoples, who were hunted and raided by the strongest amongst them. 
 After thirty years of Chartered administration we see them immensely advanced 
 in numbers, order, contentment, and wealth. . . ■ Should His Majesty's Govern- 
 ment decide that Southern Rhodesia is fit for self-government, we shall cordially 
 concur in their decision. What higher tribute could possibly be paid to a cor- 
 poration such as ours, than to pronounce that in thirty years it had brought a 
 great territory from a state of primitive savagery to a condition in which it is fit 
 to take its place among the self-governing dominions of the Crown." — Report, 
 28th October 1920. 
 
 ^ Mr Kidd, writing in 1897, says: "Government by chartered company is 
 the oldest, the most indefensible, and in theory the most reprehensible of all 
 forms of government in the tropics." — ' Control of the Tropics,' p. 38. 
 
 3 Compare Adam Smith : " In one way, and one way alone, has the policy of 
 Europe contributed to the first establishment or the present grandeur of the 
 colonies of America. It bred and formed the men who were capable of achieving 
 such great? actions, and of laying the foundations of so great an Empire." — 
 ' Wealth of Nations,' Bk. iv. p. 400. 
 
24 THE ACQUISITION OF THE BRITISH AFEICAN TROPICS. 
 
 the time should come to substitute direct Imperial rule, a 
 more or less adequate knowledge of the nature of the task 
 was available. 
 
 On the other hand, the Government incurred unknown 
 UabiMties. Ill-advised action on the part of a chartered com- 
 pany might at any time involve the Government in serious 
 controversy with a foreign Power. Moreover, the bUl of costs 
 on revocation of the charter could be checked by no satis- 
 factory standard. Expensive mistakes must be paid for by 
 the British taxpayer, or iona-fide expenditure by the company 
 repudiated, with scant justice to shareholders who had sub- 
 scribed their money from motives of patriotism. Supposed 
 assets in land and minerals may prove untenable by Govern- 
 ment. Plantations and plant suitable to an industrial or 
 commercial company may find no purchasers. If rights in 
 land or minerals acquired by the company have already been 
 disposed of to third parties, a new difficulty arises. 
 
 The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has recently 
 ruled that if the Government cancels the charter of the British 
 South African Company, it is Uable for aU its administrative 
 deficits — a riding which would have made much difference to 
 the unfortunate shareholders of the East African Company. 
 Over the company's expenditure the Government had exer- 
 cised little or no practical control, and prior to the decision 
 of the Privy Council it had been assumed that the land and 
 minerals belonged to and would remain the property of the 
 company if the charter were revoked.^ 
 
 In the case of the Niger charter. Government compounded 
 for its own advantage by giving the expropriated company 
 a share in the minerals of the country. This forms a heavy 
 and increasing burden on the local government which follows 
 the company. It is short-sighted, because the minerals which 
 an undeveloped country may contain are, of course, of un- 
 
 ' The claim amounted to £8,800,000 plua accumulated interest on the yearly 
 deficits, less receipts from lands — about a million. Lord Cave's Commission has 
 since awarded the Company £4,400,000 plus £830,000 for public works, less the 
 value of lands appropriated by the Company, or disposed of otherwise than for 
 cash. Lord Milner, in his Memo, of December 1920, informed the elected 
 members of the Rhodesian Legislative Council that responsible government 
 would be granted if the demand was persisted in. The new government would 
 be responsible for a sum of about IJ million, the remaining liability to the Com- 
 pany being met by sales of unalienated land. — See Cmd. 547 of 1920, pp. 40 and 
 52, Cd. 1129 (Privy Council award), Cd. 1273 of 1921 (Lord Milner's Memo.), and 
 Cd. 7645, appendix i. 
 
LESSONS PEOM CHAKTEEBD COMPANY RULE. 25 
 
 known value. A parallel may be found in the land rights 
 retained by the Hudson's Bay Company when it agreed to 
 the transfer of the North-West Territory to the Canadian 
 Government. The value of these lands and minerals will, 
 of course, increase in proportion to subsequent expenditure 
 by the local government and private enterprise, briaging an 
 automatic profit to the origiaal shareholders, or more often 
 to those who had subsequently acquired the shares. It would 
 seem preferable that whatever compensation is paid for the 
 revocation of a charter should accrue to those who risked 
 their money in the original venture, rather than that a specu- 
 lative benefit should be conferred on the changing holders 
 of the shares of the commercial company which succeeds it. 
 Whatever may be said for a bargain of this kind, i£ contracted 
 with the natives of the country, whose descendants continue 
 to benefit, it is inapplicable to the conditions of a trading 
 corporation. 
 
 The chartered company experiment, even though it be a 
 bad form of government, may be said to have been justified 
 by its results for the Empire. The experience gained has 
 taught us many lessons, among which I venture to think 
 that the following may be included. 
 
 A chartered company should obtain its administrative 
 revenue rather from funds raised by the ordinary methods 
 of a government than from its commercial profits, and the 
 latter should be strictly limited to sources equally open to 
 its competitors. From customs and taxes, &c., paid equally 
 by its commercial branch as by its rivals, it should be in- 
 creasingly able to derive an adequate revenue for adminis- 
 trative purposes. In the early years, while they are still 
 uisufflcient, they must be supplerhented by loans from its 
 commercial branch, or if need be from the Imperial Ex- 
 chequer. Its dual functions of administration and commerce 
 should in fact be kept whoUy distinct. Though its adminis- 
 trative machinery need not be so elaborate and expensive 
 as that of the Imperial Government, the officers engaged in 
 administrative and judicial work should be separate from 
 those engaged in commerce, for it is impossible to maintain 
 the prestige of a Government (upon which so much depends 
 in Africa) if its officers have at one moment to drive a trade 
 bargain, and presently to act in a magisterial capacity towards 
 the same parties. H in a distant and unimportant district 
 
26 THE ACQUISITION OF THE BRITISH APEICAN TEOPICS. 
 
 a commercial agent should be caUed upon to act as an adminis- 
 trative officer, he shoidd do so by virtue of a commission as 
 Justice of the Peace. 
 
 The charter should not only preclude the possibility of 
 monopolies, direct or indirect, or any form of preference in 
 favour of the charter in the matter of customs dues, &c., 
 but railways and river transport services should be provided 
 and maintained from administrative fimds, and the com- 
 mercial branch should enjoy no privileges, either in rates 
 or priority of despatch, over its competitors. Coinage must 
 be guaranteed by an adequate reserve, and aU the servants 
 of the administration (including the troops and native em- 
 ployees) should be paid in the legal currency, and not in 
 " barter goods " at values arbitrarily fixed by the employer. 
 
 In view of the dubious right of chiefs to alienate lands 
 belonging to the community, and their total inability to 
 estimate the value of such grants, the charter should lay 
 down explicitly the principles to be observed in dealing with 
 lands and minerals. These principles should be identical with 
 those observed in colonies and protectorates administered by 
 the Crown. The administrative branch of the company in its 
 governmental capacity should alone be competent to acquire 
 rights in perpetuity in lands and minerals, acting as trustee 
 for the natives on the one hand, and as custodian for the 
 development of the country for the needs of civilised man- 
 kind on the other. It would grant leases to private com- 
 panies and individuals — ^including its commercial branch — 
 on reasonable and proper terms, the proceeds by way of 
 rents, royalties, &c., being spent as administrative revenue 
 only. If the charter is revoked, the Government which 
 succeeds it would inherit that revenue without compensation. 
 Actions at law, to which the Imperial Government and the 
 chartered company are parties — such as that recently before 
 the Privy Council— indicate a lack of foresight and a loose- 
 ness of conception in those responsible for drafting the charter. 
 Finally, a chartered company's reports should fully explain 
 its laws and general progress, and its administrative revenue 
 and expenditure, in order that the nation may know how its 
 delegated sovereignty over native races is being exercised. 
 
 It would be an interesting task to trace in some detail the 
 fortunes of the earlier charters granted to the Hudson's Bay 
 Company, the East India Company, and the Exeter Merchants 
 
CONTRAST WITH OLDER CHARTERS. 27 
 
 in West Africa, but it lies outside the scope of my present 
 work. The " Merchant Adventurers " of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury sought a Eoyal Charter to secure a monopoly of trade. 
 They fought their own battles against French, Spanish, 
 Dutch, and Portuguese, and the East India Company was 
 empowered to seize ships and goods of any traders not 
 Hcensed by itself, and to inflict " imprisonment, or such 
 punishment as for so high a contempt shall seem meet and 
 convenient." ^ The Hudson's Bay Company complained of 
 the " Free-Traders " who robbed it of its profits, and the 
 West African merchants made the same complaint regarding 
 their rivals, whom they called the " Interlopers." ^ But 
 Parliament did not greatly favour these monopoUes granted 
 by the Crown, and in 1698 private traders were recognised 
 on the West African coast.^ 
 
 But to say that the East India Company's conquests and 
 administrative successes were merely " a bye-product of trade, 
 which was the real object aimed at,"* is to ignore the spirit 
 of the resolution passed as early as 1689 : " The increase of 
 our revenue is the subject of our care as much as our trade ; 
 'tis that must maintain our force when twenty accidents may 
 interrupt our trade ; 'tis that must make us a nation in 
 India ; without that we are but a great number of inter- 
 lopers united by a Eoyal Charter, fit only to trade where 
 nobody of power thinks it their interest to prevent us, and 
 upon this ground it is that the wise Dutch in aU their general 
 advices that we have seen write ten paragraphs concerning 
 their government, their civil and military pohcy, welfare and 
 the increase of their revenue, for one paragraph they write 
 concerning trade." ^ 
 
 Nearly a century later the East India Company's adminis- 
 tration acquired legal sanction from the Moghul Emperor, 
 and Parliament at once questioned the right of a trading 
 company to acquire territorial sovereignty. For this privi- 
 lege they were caUed upon to pay £400,000 per anmma to the 
 home Government tOl 1773, when the Begulating Acts, 
 which culminated in Pitt's Act of 1784, brought the whole 
 machinery of administration under the control of Whitehall. 
 
 ^ ' Government of India,' Ilbert, pp. 5, 6. 
 
 ^ 'A Tropical Dependency,' Lady Lugard, p. 239. 
 
 ^ Adam Smith, vol. iii. p. 125. 
 
 * 'German Colonies," Sir H. Clififord, p. 28. 
 
 ' Ilbert, loc. cit., p. 25. 
 
28 THE ACQUISITION OF THE BRITISH AFRICAN TROPICS. 
 
 About the same time (1765) the whole coast of West Africa 
 was declared to be exempt from the jurisdiction of the African 
 Company (already deprived of monopoly, " regulated " and 
 subsidised though it was), and vested in the Crown for the 
 free trade of His Majesty's subjects.^ Crippled by the aboli- 
 tion of the slave-trade, the company was finally dissolved 
 in 1821. 
 
 Meanwhile monopoly rights (except as regards China) were 
 withdrawn from the East India Company in 1813, and finally 
 abolished in 1833. From this date it was required to wind 
 up its commercial affairs, and was vested with administrative 
 powers only, imder the strict control of the home Govern- 
 ment, by whom its Governor-General was appointed.^ It 
 continued to hold its territories " in trust for His Majesty " 
 tm superseded in 1858. 
 
 Even so brief an outline as this wiU serve to illustrate the 
 growth of the conception of charters. Begioning with a 
 trade monopoly, the older charters gradually acquired admin- 
 istrative powers, for the exercise of which the East India 
 Company had actually to pay the British taxpayer. To- 
 wards the close of the eighteenth century, ParUament 
 began to " regulate " them, to withdraw the monopoly, and 
 to charge them with administrative functions only, till the 
 Imperial Government was ready to supersede them. The 
 modem charter, on the other hand, started as an administra- 
 tion, the expenses of which were to be met from commercial 
 profits — in theory to be exercised without monopoly. For 
 protection against foreign aggression, and even in case of 
 serious internal trouble, it had to look to the home Govern- 
 ment. Thus the old charters were in theory monopolistic 
 trading companies, and when they assimied administrative 
 functions, the monopoUes were revoked and they became 
 Governmental agencies, with no trading fimctions. The 
 modern charter, on the other hand, was created for adminis- 
 tration, and when the charter was withdrawn it was left as 
 a trading company only, and without monopoly. 
 
 We have seen that the scramble for Africa and the demand 
 for effective occupation hurried the Government of the day 
 into the declaration of spheres of influence and the creation 
 
 ^ Adam Smith, vol. iii. p. 125. 
 
 = Ilbert, loo. cit., p. 65, from whom the chief facts regarding the East India 
 Company are taken. 
 
OTHER METHODS OF ACQinSITION. 29 
 
 of chartered companies, upon whom should fall the respon- 
 sibility for the three largest areas acquired by Great Britain. 
 There were, however, some smaller areas which were acquired 
 by a dijEferent method. The West African " colonies " at this 
 time (1889) consisted of small settlements on the coast. 
 Little or no attempt to develop their hinterlands was made 
 until in 1895-96, France, in pursuance of her pohcy of linking 
 up her various possessions in West Africa, alleging with truth 
 the absence of any effective occupation, seized the iaterior 
 lands, and threatened the territory immediately contiguous 
 to these colonies. Mr Hanotaux ia 1896 claimed that she 
 " thus gave effect to the hinterland pohcy before it had 
 received a name," but her action was ia fact a violation of 
 the policy. Under Mr Chamberlain's energetic direction each 
 of these colonies now bestirred itself to secure what was left 
 of its hinterland. An epidemic of treaty-making and expedi- 
 tions ensued, and eventually frontiers were fixed and de- 
 Umited, but not without " incidents " at Waima (Sierra 
 Leone), Wa (Gold Coast), and Meko, Kissi, and Borgu (Mgeria). 
 
 The limited areas thus secured were at once declared 
 Protectorates. The hinterland of the Oil Elvers, which had 
 now become the " Mger Coast Protectorate," was safe, for 
 the chartered company formed a buffer between it and foreign 
 aggression. British authority was represented by a Consul- 
 General, with several Consuls and Vice-Consuls distributed 
 along the coast. In its new rdle as an administrative depart- 
 ment the Foreign Oflfice now vested these officials with judicial 
 and administrative authority over the natives of the country. 
 
 Consular officers in Africa had indeed played unusual parts 
 for some time. Back in the 'sixties, in the early days of 
 African exploration, Livingstone, accredited to the chiefs in 
 the interior, with no jurisdiction or place of abode, had been 
 granted consular rank to facilitate his work as a traveller. 
 Later in 1878 Captain Foote, R.N'., was appoiuted Consul in 
 I^yasaland — at that time under the protection of no Euro- 
 pean Power — ^with instructions to watch and report on the 
 slave trade, and accredited by letters from Her Majesty to 
 the slave-trading chiefs. It did not enhance British prestige 
 that he was necessarily without power or influence. Shortly 
 before I reached IJTyasa in 1888 his successor had been seized 
 and stripped naked, and his life was only spared in considera- 
 tion of a ransom ; while British subjects, whom he was power- 
 
30 THE ACQXUSITION OF THE BEITISH AFRICAN TEOPICS. 
 
 to protect, were fighting for their lives at Karonga's 
 against the slave-trading Arabs. The Consul-General in 
 Southern Mgeria was, however, fully empowered as an ad- 
 ministrator. He collected revenue from customs, and differed 
 only in title from the Governors or High Commissioners 
 appointed by the Colonial Office. 
 
 As the jealousy and friction between Great Britain and 
 France, which had marked the era of acquisition, gave place 
 to more cordial relations, it became possible to facilitate each 
 other's task by reciprocal courtesies, such as extradition of 
 fugitive crimiaals, &c. The need for co-operation is sufQ- 
 ciently patent, and on the whole it may be said that African 
 administrators have been wonderfully successful in avoiding 
 friction, which it is obvious might easily be generated by a 
 thousand incidents, along hundreds of miles of frontiers, 
 where systems of rule and of taxation differ, and communities 
 are apt to migrate over the frontiers on the smallest provoca- 
 tion. There are many directions in which this co-operation 
 might be carried still further. 
 
 That the diversity of British methods of acquisition and 
 control might lack nothing in completeness, we find the India 
 Office controlling Berbera, and parts of the Somali Coast 
 from its base to Aden — a survival of the time when the 
 British representative at Zanzibar was an Indian appoint- 
 ment. 
 
 At a later date, in the equatorial NUe basin, the Foreign 
 Office, which already controlled such vast areas in tropical 
 Africa, either directly through its Consuls or indirectly through 
 chartered companies, exercised yet a third form of control 
 through the shadowy segis of the Khedive of Egypt, whose 
 sovereign rights, based on conquest, had lapsed through the 
 Mahdist revolt, and accrued by the same right to the con- 
 querors when the Mahdi was defeated. Here again a failure 
 to define our claims brought us into conflict with the French 
 theory of so-called effective occupation, represented by Colonel 
 Marchant's expedition to Fashoda in 1895.^ 
 
 1 In a series of very interesting articles the special correspondent of the 
 'Times' (April 1900) sketches "the opening of the Sudan." Here sovereic^n 
 rights were at once assumed by the conquerors, and a Governor-General vi°as 
 appointed with unlimited autocratic powers. "He unites in himself and dele- 
 gates from himself, all legislative, executive, and judicial powers. He' is his own 
 parliament, his own prime minister, his own chief justice, and his own com- 
 mander-in-chief. He 'notifies' his ordinances to the joint sovereigns (the 
 
FOEEIGN OFFIOB CONTEOL. 31 
 
 The Foreign Office, in tlie exercise of its proper functions 
 of conducting the delicate negotiations regarding territorial 
 claims and boundaries, had thus by the force of circumstances 
 found itself responsible for the greater part of British tropical 
 Africa. It was an unwelcome rdle, at variance with its tradi- 
 tions, nor did it possess the proper machinery, or the reserve 
 of trained officials from which to draw for its administrative 
 staff. Gradually, as the rivalries of foreign Powers were 
 adjusted and frontiers fixed, these territories — ^including the 
 protected State of Zanzibar, but not the Egyptian Sudan — 
 were transferred to the charge of the Colonial Office. 
 
 British and Khedival Governments), but he is under no obhgation to attend to 
 their advice." Such was the origin of rule in the Sudan— in striking contrast to 
 the orthodox regime which the Colonial Office endeavoured to impose from the 
 very earliest days of its administration, in those parts of Africa for which it was 
 responsible. 
 
32 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE STATUS AND CONDITIONS OF THE BRITISH TEOPICS. 
 
 Meaning of terms — The sphere of influence — Protectorates — In India — 
 In Africa — Status of the people — Crown colonies — Suggested modifi- 
 cation of status — Registration of British subjects — Tropics misnamed 
 " colonies " — Self-governing colonies — Colonies on tropical plateaux — 
 Asiatic colonisation — Contrast of temperate and tropical development 
 — Value of tropical products — Area and population of British tropical 
 Africa— The example of India. 
 
 The " sphere of influence " had served its purpose, and the 
 tropical African dependencies have now become " protec- 
 torates " and " Crown colonies." It is essential to an under- 
 standiug of the evolution of these territories that we should 
 have some clear conception of what these terms connote. 
 
 The sphere of influence, as we have seen from the circum- 
 stances in which it origLaated, " is a term to which no very 
 definite meaning is attached. ... It represents an under- 
 standing which enables a State to reserve to itseLE a right of 
 excluding other European Powers from territories that are 
 of importance to it politically or strategically. . . . Ifo juris- 
 diction is assimied, no internal or external sovereign power 
 is taken out of the hands of the tribal chiefs," says Hall.'^ 
 While foreign interference would be regarded as an ujofriendly 
 act, it is understood that " within a reasonable time a more 
 solid form wiU be imparted to the civilised authority." Juris- 
 diction is limited to British subjects, and would be exercised 
 over foreigners only with their own consent, or that of their 
 State, and over natives as a result of treaties. 
 
 " Protectorates " are difficult to define, but in aU cases the 
 
 ' See Hall's ' Foreign Jurisdiction of the British Crown,' on which these para- 
 graphs are based, pp. 228-234. Sir C. Ilbert similarly describes it, ' Government 
 of India, 'p. 431, note. 
 
PROTECTORATES IN INDIA AND AFRICA. 33 
 
 protected State has parted with its freedom of action in foreign 
 affairs. The control exercised over the protected native 
 States of India varies according to their standing. The 
 Mzam of Hydrabad, who rules over 83,000 square mUes and 
 a population of eleven miUions, imposes taxes, coins money, 
 inflicts capital punishment without appeal, and maintains a 
 powerful contingent of troops ; while Kathiwar, the lord of 
 a few acres, exercises only a shadow of judicial authority, 
 but is exempt from British taxation.^ 
 
 Generally speaking, the Government of India controls the 
 relations of the States towards each other, and since it guar- 
 antees a ruler against dethronement by his subjects, it accepts 
 a limited responsibility for preventing misrule, as well as for 
 the safety of British subjects and aliens. To ensure justice 
 to these it may enforce extra-territorial jurisdiction. Land 
 may be required for railways, and co-operation is expected 
 against external aggression. To give effect to these obliga- 
 tions a Eesident is appointed to the Court of the native 
 ruler. His influence in a minor State, or over a weak or 
 vicious ruler, may be very considerable. ^ 
 
 The African protectorates were for the most part declared 
 over uncivilised territories, in which (since the native Govern- 
 ments were incapable of maintaining law and order) there were 
 instituted courts of law and poHce for the benefit of both 
 Europeans and natives. With some exceptions, therefore, such 
 as Egypt and Zanzibar, they bear little resemblance to the 
 protected States of India, though, as we shall see, the method 
 of rule in the Moslem States of Nigeria has some analogies. 
 
 Great Britain for long held the view that the declaration 
 of a protectorate conferred no power or obligation except 
 towards British subjects, but it was evident that aU the other 
 signatories of the BerUn Act maintained that it conferred 
 jurisdiction over the subjects of other civilised States as well 
 as over the natives. The Act contemplated, and indeed 
 prescribed (Arts. 30-32), extensive assumption of internal 
 sovereignty by the protecting Power. It is true that the Act 
 had reference to coast protectorates only, but, as Hall re- 
 marks, since these differ from interior protectorates only in 
 that the difficulty of maintaining effective jurisdiction in the 
 latter is greater, it may be assumed that the powers were 
 not restricted to coast protectorates. 
 
 1 Ilbert, p. 204. ^ Ilbert, pp. 142-146, &c. 
 
 C 
 
34 THE STATUS AND CONDITIONS OP THE BRITISH TROPICS. 
 
 The Brussels Act carried these principles further, and en- 
 joined progressive administration and judicial organisation — 
 terms which amount to the recognition, as a principle of 
 iQtemational law, that ia an unciviHsed country the protect- 
 ing Power is charged with the duty of estabUshing adminis- 
 trative and judicial institutions. The British attitude, based 
 on the exploded theory of the indivisibility of sovereignty, 
 continued to be held tenaciously, even though, as we have 
 seen (p. 13), Lord SaUsbury had in 1887 clearly accepted the 
 other view. In Zanzibar, therefore, jurisdiction was based on 
 treaty,^ and there and in Somaliland foreigners were only 
 amenable by consent. The African Order in Council 1889, 
 by which jurisdiction was assumed over foreigners and natives 
 in those protectorates to which it was applied, was supple- 
 mented by the South African Order of 1891, and the Pacific 
 Order of 1893, which asserts jurisdiction over both classes, 
 irrespective of consent. The principles of the latter were 
 applied to regions contiguous to the Gold Coast, to which 
 neither the African Order nor the Berlin Act were applicable. 
 The Matabeleland Order went even further. Already the 
 South African Charter had conferred complete jurisdiction, 
 and the High Commissioner of South Africa was similarly 
 empowered in regard to the protectorates under his con- 
 trol. The Eoyal Mger Company also exercised a like 
 jurisdiction, based so far as the natives were concerned on 
 treaties. 
 
 However complicated and unnecessary this multiplicity of 
 Instruments may seem to a layman, it is clear that at the 
 time when Hall wrote (1894), and still more when Ilbert 
 published his book (1898), Great Britain had finally accepted 
 the view that " exercise of jurisdiction over aU persons within 
 a protected country is necessary, where native administrative 
 and judicial organisation is inadequate," both on behalf of 
 foreigners who are deprived of the protection of their own 
 
 ^ Even as late as October 1907 it was considered necessary for the Sultan of 
 AVitu, whose petty state " forms part of the territories known as the British East 
 African Protectorate," to announce by proclamation that the laws of British 
 East Africa applied to and were in force in his territory. The administration 
 of the Zanzibar Protectorate was transferred from the Foreign to the Colonial 
 Office in April 1914, and an Advisory Council, without legislative power, to be 
 convened at the discretion of the British Resident, with four official and three 
 unofficial members, was set up, with the Sultan as president. The High Com- 
 missioner was hardly justified in describing this as "complete autonomy and 
 independence." — Zanzibar Report, 1914, Cd. 7622 of 1915, pp. 28, 29. 
 
STATUS OF THE NATIVES OF A PEOTECTOEATE. 35 
 
 State, and on behalf of natives against foreigners.^ Such 
 powers are, " so far as they go, identical with those which 
 the Crown would have in a conquered country. ... It can 
 prescribe laws until Parliament chooses to legislate. It can 
 subject to its administration aU persons upon the protected 
 soil." 2 
 
 We arrive, then, at the general conclusion that " for pur- 
 poses of municipal law an African Protectorate is not, but 
 for purposes of international law must be treated as if it 
 were, a part of British dominions." ' 
 
 In some cases a community whose independence had been 
 specifically recognised by treaty — as, for instance, the Egbas 
 in Southern Nigeria — ^were nevertheless included in a protec- 
 torate — a contradiction of terms which involved so many 
 anomalies that the treaty was denounced at last by mutual 
 consent.* 
 
 Thus the term " protectorate " gradually changed its mean- 
 ing from that of a pact with the ruler of a State, which 
 maintained its internal but not its external sovereignty, to 
 a declaration of the territorial status of a region included in 
 the Empire, in which not only the external, but in varying 
 degrees the internal sovereignty also, had passed to the 
 controlling Power, in many cases (since unexplored regions 
 were included) without even the " treaty " consent of the 
 people. Powers of administration coequal with those of a 
 colony have been assumed. 
 
 The inhabitants of a British protectorate are styled " British 
 
 1 libert, p. 433. Hall, p. 219, 
 
 ^ Hall, p. 225. Sir S. Olivier writes : " Effective occupation and the capacity 
 to enforce the law of the sovereign power are a recognised condition of the right 
 to assert sovereignty. " — 'Contemp. Review,' Jan. 1919. 
 
 ' Ilbert, p. 431. 
 
 ■* International conventions relative to firearms and spirits were made appli- 
 cable to African protectorates by the Crown. The convention enforcing the 
 protection of wild animals, however, did not deal with imported articles, in the 
 interests of the natives themselves, but curtailed rights hardly less jealously 
 cherished than rights in land. Extra-territorial jurisdiction may be justified on 
 behalf of foreigners, but the claim to exercise it on behalf of wild animals, birds, 
 and fishes, and to make it an offence to kill an elephant though destroying crops, 
 is an assumption of internal sovereignty hardly compatible with "independence." 
 On the other hand, it has been suggested on high authority that the inde- 
 pendence recognised by the treaty was only intended to mean "independence 
 from other native control, " and was in effect construed in that way. Prior to 
 amalgamation in Nigeria I found that " neither the Colonial Office nor the Chief 
 Justice had any clear idea as to what jurisdiction the Crown could legally exercise, 
 or what executive powers were under the treaties vested in the Colonial Govern- 
 ment" in the Lagos Protectorate. — Cmd. 468, 1920, sect. 17. 
 
36 THE STATUS AND CONDITIONS OF THE BRITISH TROPICS. 
 
 protected persons," and do not enjoy the status of British 
 subjects, although, as HaU points out,i the term "British 
 subject " is defined in the African Order 1889 as " including 
 aU persons enjoying His Majesty's protection." The " natives," 
 however, are separately defined as "the subjects of any 
 country within the Umits of this Order not being British sub- 
 jects." The wording is therefore ambiguous, but in practice 
 the natives of a protectorate, who do not already enjoy the 
 status of British subjects, have apparently no rights or privi- 
 leges either within or beyond the limits of the protectorate. 
 A " British protected " SomaU complains in the ' Times ' that 
 although his people have been called on to fight for the 
 Empire, they are ineUgible for the Merchant Service because 
 they are not British subjects.^ 
 
 A Crown colony is annexed territory, and an integral part 
 of the Bang's dominions, acquired either by conquest, settle- 
 ment, or cession,^ and since aU persons born in it have the 
 status of British subjects, herein appeared to reside the chief 
 distinction between it and a protectorate. The injustice of 
 such a distinction may be seen, for example, in the case of 
 the Lagos Colony, whose boundaries had never been defined, 
 and were unknown to the judicial officers until the amalgama- 
 tion of 1st January 1914. They intersect tribes, and include 
 many who are still in the very lowest stage of primitive 
 savagery. 
 
 1 Hall, p. 128. 
 
 ^ 'Times,' 7th August 1920. Subjects of the Indian native states are not 
 British subjects. — Ilbert, pp. 436-457. The judge of the High Court of Mombasa 
 defined the status of a protectorate " which has never been acquired by settle- 
 ment, or ceded to, or conquered, or annexed by His Majesty, or recognised by 
 His Majesty as part of his dominions," and the status of the native inhabitants, 
 in the following terms, relying on the oasa of the King v. the Earl of Crewe 
 (2 K.B., 1900, p. 577) : " East Africa, being a protectorate in which the Crown 
 has jurisdiction, is in relation to the Crown a foreign country under its pro- 
 tection, and its native inhabitants are not subjects owing allegiance to the Crown, 
 but protected foreigners, who, in return for that protection, owe obedience." 
 — Cd. 6939 of 1913, p. 5. 
 
 ' Taring, 'Law Relating to the Colonies,' p. 3. The Governor of the Gold 
 Coast observed in a message to Council that " the colony was what it always had 
 been, a collection of little states, each of which is self-contained and entirely 
 independent of its neighbours," and adds that in none of the treaties or agree- 
 ments with the British Government was any cession of territory made or 
 contemplated. Yet the ' Colonial Office List ' states that the greater part of the 
 Gold Coast was acquired by cession (1921, p. Ixii.). If before annexation it was 
 difficult to say which part was colony and which protectorate, it seems equally 
 difficult to say now on what basis it was declared a colony, and how its status 
 has been affected by the change. 
 
CROWN COLONIES. 37 
 
 On the creation of tlie Kenya Colony, the ' Times ' corre- 
 spondent informed us that " the white settlers are in a better 
 position than as dwellers in a protectorate," but fails to 
 explaia in what way.^ To say that the native laws and 
 customs may be usefully retained in a protectorate as opposed 
 to a colony, is to ignore the fact that in old-estabUshed 
 colonies in West Africa the Supreme Court Ordinance enacts 
 that no person shall be deprived of the benefit of any existiug 
 native law or custom which is not repugnant to natural 
 justice. The grant of Crown colony status does not in itself 
 " give the settlers a fuller voice ia the control of public 
 affairs " than they already possessed ia the Legislative Coimcil 
 of the protectorate, the constitution of which does not depend 
 on the status of the country. 
 
 The Governor, when announcing the change, stated that 
 the chief result would be to enable the raisiag of a loan. 
 Nigeria, when raising a loan with the revenue of the protec- 
 torate as security, was only permitted to do so through the 
 instrumentality of the small colony of Lagos, where only a 
 microscopic fraction of the revenue originated. But what 
 are the grounds for this official limitation ? The adminis- 
 tration of the protectorate, and the security it offers, differ 
 in no way from those of the colony. The tenure of British 
 rule is as secure ia the one as in the other. 
 
 It was at one time understood that the institution of 
 slavery could not exist ia a colony, as beiag part of the 
 King's dominions, though it might be tolerated in a protec- 
 torate, which is not a " possession," and forms, as Ilbert 
 expresses it, "a convenient half-way house between annexa- 
 tion and complete abstiaence from iaterference." That 
 wholesome distinction has, however, been swept away by 
 recent annexations, and indeed domestic slavery still exists 
 in the Gold Coast Colony, the slaves being owned presumably 
 by British subjects, though not under Mohamedan law. Sir 
 C. Ilbert thought the liae of demarcation between a colony 
 and a protectorate "very thia." It has become attenuated 
 almost to invisibility since he wrote. 
 
 Formerly colonies possessed Legislative and Executive 
 Councils, while a protectorate had neither ; but here again 
 the distinction has become obliterated. Gibraltar and St 
 Helena (both Crown colonies) and also Ashanti (which is 
 
 1 ' Times,' 9th July 1920. 
 
38 THE STATUS AND CONDITIONS OP THE BRITISH TROPICS. 
 
 annexed territory) have none, while Cyprus, before it became 
 a colony, had a Legislative CouncU of an advanced type — 
 partly elected and with an unofficial majority, — and East 
 Africa, while still a protectorate, had, and ISTyasaland has, 
 one of the ordinary type.^ In Sierra Leone and the Gambia 
 (as formerly in Southern Mgeria) the Council of the colony 
 legislates for the protectorate. 
 
 The official distinction between colonies and protectorates 
 led for a time to the adoption of such meticulous devices as 
 the calling the oificer admioistering the government of the 
 former a "Governor," and of the latter a "High Commis- 
 sioner," while the laws of the one were styled " Ordinances " 
 and of the other " Proclamations," but these confusing differ- 
 ences have already disappeared. 
 
 The distinction between the two is now without practical 
 difference, nor is there any apparent good reason why in 
 Africa protectorates should not be accorded the status of 
 possessions of the Crown, or why jurisdiction and the right of 
 administration should not be based on the same prerogative 
 as in a colony. The moment at which the civilised Powers 
 of the world have asserted the unequivocal right and obliga- 
 tion of the more advanced races to assume responsibility for 
 the backward races seems an appropriate one to brush aside 
 these archaic and anomalous distinctions, and to abandon 
 the farce of " acquiring " jurisdiction by treaties not under- 
 stood by their signatories, and foreign to their modes of 
 thought. The time would seem to be ripe to declare the 
 annexation of the British African protectorates, and to merge 
 them, including the JSTile Sudan,^ with the Crown colonies, 
 
 1 Taring, he. cit., pp. 60-61, and ' Colonial Office List ' Regulations, chapter i. 
 
 2 The British and Egj'ptian flags at present fly side by side in the Anglo- 
 Egyptian Sudan. This territory, won originally by conquest, chiefly by Gordon, 
 was lost to Egypt by the Mahdist revolt, and Mr Hardinge, on behalf of the 
 Egyptian Government, wrote that it "declined any responsibility with regard to 
 the natives of those provinces which it has abandoned." — Desp. of 7/8/92. The 
 demoralised Egyptian troops, who had allowed themselves to be slaughtered like 
 sheep at Suakim, in spite of the leadership of Sir Valentine Baker, and who dare 
 not face the Dervishes, were reorganised by Kitchener, and some of them were 
 employed in the reconquest of the Sudan ; but it was British valour and British 
 money which saved Egypt from being overrun by the Dervish hordes, and 
 eventually overthrew the Mahdi. No impartial judge could maintain that Britain 
 owes any debt to Egypt on behalf of the Sudan— it is Egypt which owes her 
 salvation to the defence of her frontiers by British bayonets in the critical years 
 of 1884-85. There is, however, a nominal claim, I believe, for about £10,000,000 
 for advances before the Sudan became self-supporting in 1912— from which must 
 be deducted the customs, &o., retained by Egypt.— (Foreign Office Handbook 98 
 
EEGISTEATION OF BRITISH SUBJECTS. 39 
 
 under some designation more appropriate than the term 
 " colonies," accepting for all alike an obligation before civilisa- 
 tion to promote their progress and weLEare, and confirming 
 to each according to its degree of advancement, and in fulfil- 
 ment of all existing pledges, its present form of government. 
 
 From what I have said in a previous paragraph regarding 
 the ambiguity of the status of the natives of a protectorate, 
 it wiU, I think, be agreed that this question need form no 
 obstacle to the course proposed. In the British African 
 tropics it is only the educated class who would set any value 
 on the status of a British subject. It should, I suggest, be 
 made obligatory by Order in Council upon every person 
 claiming or desiring to be a British subject to register his 
 name within a prescribed period. The status would not be 
 denied to any persons who now enjoy it, or to others whom 
 the competent authority considered qualified. Failure to 
 register would, of course, leave a native in the same position 
 as at present, but any person born after the date of the 
 Order, whose father was not registered, would by the terms 
 of the Order cease to enjoy the status of a British subject, 
 and thus persons still in a condition of savagery would in 
 course of time cease to possess it automatically from the mere 
 accident of birth in a colony. On the other hand, registra- 
 tion would not, of course, deprive a native of the benefit of 
 the clauses in the Supreme Court Ordinance relating to the 
 application of native law and custom. Eegistered British 
 subjects would not be allowed to own slaves. 
 
 Such a system of registration of British subjects, as a 
 means of identification, is provided for in Eastern countries.^ 
 Failure to register entails liability to non-recognition as a 
 British subject, and to refusal of protection (the onus of proof 
 resting on the claimant), but there is no co-relative immunity 
 from the consequences of illegal acts, since even though un- 
 registered he cannot divest himself of h^s nationality. In the 
 African tropics, however, unregistered persons would eventu- 
 ally cease to have the legal status of subjects. They would 
 remain protected persons, whose rights as such would be 
 
 p. 158.) Thia claim might be referred to the arbitration of the Judicial Court of 
 the League of Nations. Our protectorate over Egypt haa now International 
 sanction, and so long as the Nile Sudan is under the control of an identical 
 suzerain, or even in the event of her complete independence, Egypt can have no 
 fear lest her essential interests should be neglected. 
 ' Hall, p. l!i9. 
 
40 THE STATUS AND CONDITIONS OF THE BRITISH TROPICS. 
 
 clearly defined in the Order. This principle has been adopted 
 by the French, who aUow natives of proved loyalty and good 
 character, who can speak French, and have means of their 
 own, to acquire the status of French citizens, with all the 
 privileges of Europeans.^ 
 
 The term " colony," as I observed, is as inappropriate in 
 the tropics as that of " protectorate " is vague and indefinite. 
 It originated in the idea — which, strange to say, was at one 
 time common to all the nations of Europe — that the tropics 
 were colonisable by the white races. That was the conception 
 which prompted France after her reverses in Europe in 1871 
 to endeavour to create a greater France in Africa,^ and caused 
 Portugal to ofier free domains (prazos) with the title of 
 " Donna " to Portuguese women who would settle in Africa. 
 It was this belief which caused England, according to Sir John 
 Keltic, to send out a number of women of indifferent reputa- 
 tion to the freed negro settlement in Sierra Leone, together 
 with a mmiber of English, Dutch, and Swedish colonists.^ 
 That the belief is still held in Germany we learn from Zimmer- 
 man, himseU: an extensive traveller in the German tropical 
 colonies, who argues that iU-health is not due to climate but 
 to alcoholic excess, which the presence of white women would 
 restrain.* 
 
 l<ro thoughtful man contemplating the incredible triumphs 
 of modern medical science would presume to assert that the 
 problem of tropical colonisation is insoluble ; but Great Britain, 
 with the attractions offered to her surplus population in the 
 Dominions, need never look for homesteads in the low-lying 
 tropics of Africa. 
 
 The true colonies situated in the temperate zone, and 
 possessing responsible government, are five in number, and 
 have within recent years been christened "Dominions." 
 They have nothing to do with the subject of this book, but a 
 very brief word regarding them may not be out of place. 
 The terms of their admission to the Peace Conference has 
 involved the recognition, not by Great Britain alone, but by 
 the whole civilised world, of their status as nations, and 
 when revising the nomenclature of the component parts of 
 the Empire they might well be caUed the " United N"ations 
 
 1 Decree of 25/5/1915 and Arrete of 29/10/1912, F. 0. Handbook, No. 100, 
 1920, p. 13. 
 ^ ' Control of the Tropics,' Kidd, jjp. 28, 29. 
 ' Keltic, 'Partition of Africa,' p. 78. 
 * ' The German Empire of Central Africa,' p. 78. 
 
COLONIES ON TROPICAL PLATEAUX. 41 
 
 of Great Britain." The change in their status is no mere 
 matter of sentiment. Hitherto the Imperial ParHament has 
 claimed the right to control their foreign relations, and to 
 make treaties on their behalf. Now they claim, and the 
 Mother Country admits their right, to have a voice in Britain's 
 foreign relations and treaties, which may iavolve the Empire 
 in war. The United Kingdom, by virtue of her tradition, 
 her population, her wealth, her navy and army, must be the 
 predominant partner, but claims only to be prima inter 
 pares. When granting responsible government to the Cape 
 and ZsTatal, the Mother Country recognised her special respon- 
 sibility as trustee for the welfare of the native races, and 
 certain large tribal units were placed outside the jurisdiction 
 of these Dominions. Over these the Governor of the Cape 
 assumed the title of " High Commissioner," and the Governor 
 of Natal that of " Paramount Chief." 
 
 Emphasis has been laid on the fact that the tropical de- 
 pendencies in Africa cannot be colonised by British emigrants. 
 Against this dictum the British settlements on the plateaux 
 of East Africa, and the German colonies on the slopes of 
 Kilimanjaro and the Camerun Mountain, hke those in the 
 Himalayas or the Nilgherries in India, and those in Ceylon, 
 may be quoted. Here the altitude creates a sub-tropical or 
 even a temperate climate, apparently well suited to the white 
 races. It has not yet, however, been conclusively established 
 that European children can grow to maturity in such con- 
 ditions, and many consider that the altitude which creates the 
 climate induces a tendency to nervous excitement and tension.^ 
 However this may be, the conditions of such colonies, owing 
 to their close proximity to the tropics, differ very radically 
 from those of a true colony. The presence of an indigenous 
 native population, which is available for the imskilled and 
 menial work, militates against true colonial development. 
 The agricultural immigrant, instead of tUHng his own fields, 
 becomes the supervisor of native labour, and is apt to look 
 on manual work as derogatory to his position. ^ " All of them," 
 
 1 See ' Official Handbook of Kenya,' I.D. 1216, p. 321. 
 
 ^ Sir Sidney Olivier expresses the view that " such settlements in Africa pro- 
 duce (as they have done in all ages and in all countries) first, slavery, predial or 
 domestic ; second, compulsory or indentured labour ; third, the expropriation of 
 the natives from the land in order to compel them to work for wages on the 
 estates ; fourth, pressure on the natives to labour for wages through direct or. 
 indirect taxation, — each of which has in turn given rise to reactions of the 
 humanitarian conscience." — 'Contemp. Review,' Jan. 1919. 
 
42 THE STATUS AND CONDITIONS OF THE BRITISH TROPICS. 
 
 say the bishops in their memorandum, " depend for their 
 very existence as farmers on native labour." ^ Where Euro- 
 pean enterprise depends for its success — and the greater the 
 success the greater the demand — not on the sole efforts of 
 the colonists, not on climate and soil, but on the labour of 
 a subject race, the elements of true colonisation are absent. 
 With this aspect of the subject I shall deal in the chapter on 
 labour. 
 
 White and coloured labour have not learned to work side 
 by side on equal terms in our dependBncies, and the attempt 
 has hitherto resulted in the demoralisation of both.^ It is 
 essential to remember that whereas the settlers in the Ameri- 
 can colonies, ia Canada, and in Australasia, found the in- 
 digenous races (with the exception of the Maoris) sparse, 
 decadent, and rapidly tending to extinction, the settlers in 
 Africa encounter a race, virile, iacreasing, and racially 
 potent. 
 
 While climate, except at the higher altitudes, and the 
 difficulties of labour supply, operate to some extent as de- 
 terrents to unrestricted white colonisation, they are not 
 deterrent to colonisation by Asiatics. The claims of Indian 
 British subjects to equal facilities with Europeans in this 
 regard, has of late become a matter of acute contro- 
 versy, which I shall discuss at some length in a later 
 chapter. 
 
 Turning from the questions of poUtical status, and of 
 different types of colonisation and settlement, let us consider 
 for a moment what is the justification of the assertion that 
 the custodian of these regions becomes a trustee for their 
 development on behalf of civUisation. 
 
 In the temperate zones the surplus population of the white 
 races can find new homes, create new wealth, and elaborate 
 new forms of government, looking in their earlier years to 
 the parent State for protection against foreign aggression, 
 and later becomiag sister nations. Such colonies as Canada 
 and Austraha, by reason of their vast area of productive land, 
 are able to export great quantities of surplus produce — 
 
 ' Cmd. 873 of 1920, p. 8. 
 
 2 It is reported that in Alabama, in the Southern States, " white and black 
 men work side by side in the mines, in the same gangs, and for the same pay " 
 ('Times,' 1st June 1921), a statement in startling contrast to the frequent 
 descriptions of lynchings of negroes in the Southern States, 
 
THE VALtTE OF TROPICAL PRODUCTS. 43 
 
 cereals, meat, fruit, hides, and wool, as well as miaerals — to 
 supplement the insufficient output of the congested countries 
 of Europe, and in the earUer years of their development 
 are eager to exchange these for the manufactures of the 
 parent country. Since some of them Ue south and some 
 north of the Equator, they are able — thanks to rapid ocean 
 transport — to interchange their summer produce without 
 competing with each other's markets. The exports of the 
 temperate colonies are, however, of the same character, 
 and in augmentation only of those produced in the parent 
 country, while their demand for manufactured goods in pay- 
 ment is likely to decrease as they themselves become indus- 
 trialised, and less dependent on the skUl and the machinery 
 of the older countries. Unless by a mutually agreed 
 system of preferential tariffs they eventually differ little, 
 from the economic and trade point of view, from foreign 
 countries. 
 
 The tropics, on the other hand, consist for the most part 
 of regions populated by backward races. Both for this reason 
 and on account of their climate, they offer no inducement for 
 permanent settlement by white races. The backward con- 
 dition of the people, and their preference for agricultural 
 pursuits, offer the prospect of continued markets for manu- 
 factured goods. The tropics produce in abundance a class of 
 raw materials and of foodstuffs which cannot be grown in 
 the temperate zones, and are so vital to the needs of civilised 
 man that they have in very truth become essential to civilisa- 
 tion. It was the realisation of this fact (as I have said) 
 which led the nations of Europe to compete for the control 
 of the African tropics. 
 
 Consider, for instance, the uses of vegetable oils — ^palm- 
 oil, kernel-oil, copra, beniseed, cotton-seed, shea, grotmd-nut, 
 &c. — aU of which come from the tropics. As food, soft nut- 
 oils are now, by a process of hydrogenisation, being hardened, 
 deodorised, and increasingly used as margarine, and the resi- 
 dues as cake for cattle food. Ground-nuts supply much of 
 the " oUve-oil " of commerce. As raw materials, only those 
 who have an expert knowledge of the processes of many 
 various manufactures can appreciate how essential they are 
 to many of our staple industries. Palm-oU is, of course, 
 used for the lubrication of rolling-stock and other machinery, 
 and for the making of soap ; it is also essential for the rolling 
 
14 THE STATUS AND CONDITIONS OF THE BRITISH TROPICS. 
 
 of tin-plates, which in turn are required for all " tinned " 
 provisions, roofing-sheets, &c. 
 
 The uses of rubber are endless, from the " waterproofing " 
 of cloth to the making of tyres, and of many medical appli- 
 ances. The number of hides and skins supplied by the tem- 
 perate zones would be wholly inadequate for the provision 
 of leather, whether for boots or for belting for machinery, 
 &c., unless they were largely augmented by the output of 
 the tropics. It is needless to poiat to the necessity for raw 
 cotton, — add to these coffee, tea, cocoa, rice, sago, tobacco, 
 sugar, jute and other fibres, gums, drugs, dye-stuffs, 
 and hard-wood timbers, and we can realise how inti- 
 mately our daily life is dependent on the produce of the 
 tropics. 
 
 This subject was admirably dealt with by Mr Kidd in 1898.^ 
 He gives the trade of the United Kingdom with the British 
 tropics in 1896 as £102,000,000. We may see how enormously 
 the dependence of the civilised world on the tropics has 
 increased since then by a comparison of the trade of British 
 tropical Africa (with which alone I am here concerned) in 
 the years 1899 and 1919. In the former year the value of 
 the imports of the Western Group was calculated at £3,390,758, 
 and the exports at £3,347,297— a total trade of £6,738,055. 
 The imports of the Eastern Group were valued in that year 
 at £2,600,000, and the exports at £1,900,000 — a total trade 
 of £4,500,000,2 of which more than half was with the little 
 island of Zanzibar. The value of the combined trade of 
 British tropical Africa — which I have assumed to include the 
 regions lying between the southern frontier of Egypt, lat. 
 22° N., and the Zambesi, lat. 16° S.— thus stood at £11,238,055 
 in 1899. Only twenty years later it had multiplied itself 
 more than 6| times, as may be seen from the following table 
 — ^for the figures of which (as well as those I have quoted 
 for 1899) I am indebted to the statistical branch of the Board 
 of Trade, with the exception of those in italics : — 
 
 1 ' Control of the Tropics,' p. 10. 
 
 ^ The Board of Trade return indicates that the value of the imports and 
 exports of the Sudan and Northern Rhodesia are not ascertainable for 1899. 
 The former, in the year following the defeat of the Khalifa, may be regarded as 
 negligible ; for the latter I have added £41,094 and £30,789 respectively to make 
 round figures. 
 
AREA, POPTJLATION, AND TRADE OF BRITISH TROPICS. 45 
 
 
 1 
 
 ftaj 
 
 Trade (exclusive of specie) in 1919. 
 
 
 Area(insci. 
 miles). 
 
 Population 
 in 1919. 
 
 ^B 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fl" 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Total. 
 
 head. 
 
 The Western 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gnoup. 
 
 
 
 
 & 
 
 £ 
 
 £. 
 
 
 Nigeria . . . 
 
 336,481 
 
 17,587,000 
 
 5S-2 
 
 10,766,580 
 
 14,675,790 
 
 25,442,370 
 
 28J11 
 
 Brit. Cameruna 
 
 31,150 
 
 a650,000 
 
 m-8 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gold Coast . 
 
 79,506 
 
 61,501,793 
 
 19-8 
 
 7,lii,919 
 
 10,779,444 
 
 17,981,363 
 
 2S8I3 
 
 Brit. Togoland 
 
 al2,500 
 
 $44,000 
 
 Z7-5 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sierra Leone . 
 
 24,908 
 
 1,.WO,000 
 
 60-% 
 
 2,047,.577 
 
 2,047,577 
 
 4,082,447 
 
 6415 
 
 The Gambia . 
 
 4,132 
 
 240,000 
 
 68- 
 
 1,229,924 
 
 1,229,924 
 
 2,403,916 
 
 WO/S 
 
 Totals . . . 
 
 488,677 
 
 21,822,793 
 
 U-6 
 
 21,087,361 
 
 28,732,735 
 
 49,820,096 
 
 4517 
 
 The Eastern 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Group. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Sudan (/) 
 
 1,014,600 
 
 4,000,000 
 
 3-9 
 
 4,930,874 
 
 3,108,464 
 
 8,039,338 
 
 4012 
 
 Somaliland (e) 
 
 68,000 
 
 336,000 
 
 4-y 
 
 503,212 
 
 231,011 
 
 734,223 
 
 S3/8 
 
 Kenya («) . . 
 Uganda (e) . . 
 
 248,800 
 111,828 
 
 2,627,103 
 2,962,650 
 
 10-5 
 B6-4 
 
 c4,4ol,905 
 
 3,563,724 
 
 8,015,629 
 
 2818 
 
 Zanzibar . . 
 
 1,020 
 
 196,733 
 
 192-8 
 
 1,905,175 
 
 2,439,817 
 
 4,344,992 
 
 44m 
 
 Tanganyika (e) 
 
 365,000 
 
 04,000,000 
 
 10-9 
 
 dl, 737,641 
 
 dl,994,016 
 
 3,731,657 
 
 1817 
 
 Nyasaland (e) . 
 
 39,573 
 
 1,203,758 
 
 30-4 
 
 591,505 
 
 413,062 
 
 1,004,567 
 
 16/8 
 
 N. Rhodesia , 
 Totals . . . 
 
 291,000 
 
 823,502 
 
 2-8 
 
 434,354 
 
 454,366 
 
 888,720 
 
 21/7 
 
 2,139,821 
 
 16,149,626 
 
 7-5 
 
 14,554,666 
 
 12,204,460 
 
 26,759,126 
 
 33/1 
 
 Western Group 
 
 488,677 
 
 21,822,793 
 
 44-6 
 
 21,087,361 
 
 28,732,735 
 
 49,820,096 
 
 4517 
 
 Eastern Group 
 
 2,139,821 
 
 16,149,626 
 
 7-5 
 
 14,554,666 
 
 12,204,460 
 
 26,759,126 
 
 33/1 
 
 Grand totals . 
 
 2,628,498 
 
 37,972,419 
 
 U-4 
 
 35,642,027 
 
 40,937,195 
 
 76,579,222 
 
 40/4 
 
 {a) Approximate ; (6) 1911 ; (c) Excluding a very small quantity of bullion ; (d) BllO 
 to £1 ; (e) Trade figures are for the 12 months ending March 1920 ; (/) £E1=£1, Os. 6Jd. 
 
 The trade statistics are somewhat abnormal. The year 1919 was still affected by war 
 conditions, while the year 1920, in which several dependencies show enormous increases 
 (Nigeria from 25J millions to over 42 millions, the Gold Coast from 18 millions to 27J 
 millions), was affected by the "boom" and the succeeding "slump." Trade has not yet 
 stabilised into normal conditions. 
 
 This Empire in the African tropics is nearly two and a half 
 times the size of British India, and nearly half as large again 
 as all India, including the N^ative States, and nearly twenty- 
 two times the area of the United Eangdom.^ Its population, 
 
 ' The figures are : British India, area 1,093,074 sq. miles ; all India, 1,802,629 
 sq. miles ; population respectively 244J millions and 315 millions. Area of 
 United Kingdom, 121,377 sq. miles. 
 
46 THE STATUS AND CONDITIONS OP THE BRITISH TROPICS. 
 
 though small for so vast an area — about 14-4 to the square 
 mile — is double the density of French tropical Africa, if we 
 exclude the Sahara, or nearly treble its density if we include 
 it.^ Its trade, which is rapidly expanding, is more than double 
 that of India per head of population, and more than a .quarter 
 of its total volume, and is equal per head to that of 
 Japan. 2 
 
 The problems of British tropical Africa, with which I am 
 concerned in this volume, have, of course, much in common 
 both with those sub-tropical regions in the north and south 
 of the continent, which are peopled by a large indigenous 
 African population, and also with India, the greatest of 
 British tropical dependencies. The Government of India has 
 been described as a model of beneficent, bureaucratic rule. 
 India's ancient civilisation and social organisation, based on 
 and an integral part of its religions, and the culture and high 
 intelligence of its educated classes, all combine to differentiate 
 the problems of its vast population from those of other 
 tropical regions of the Empire. ParUamentary debates, 
 national congresses, and the Press have made them almost as 
 familiar to us as our own. For a long series of years they 
 have been handled by some of the ablest administrators whom 
 Britain has produced. 
 
 Eecently the decision has been taken to grant to India 
 progressive self-government on Western models. It is a new 
 departure in the world's history — ^for Japan lies outside the 
 tropics — and only the event can show how far alien, demo- 
 cratic systems are adapted to the government of tropical 
 races. But apart from questions such as these, there is a 
 large range of subjects common alike to India and to Africa, 
 including the details of provincial and village organisation, 
 which are not beyond the region of useful discussion and 
 suggestion. In many of these there is much to be learned 
 
 ^ French tropical Africa consists of "French West Africa" (including Togo- 
 land), area 1,822,459 sq. miles, population, 11,969,377; "French Equatorial 
 Africa" (including Cameruns), area 1,037,131 sq. miles, population, 8,870,000; 
 Somaliland, area 5790 sq. miles, population, 206,000 ; and Sahara, area 1,544,000 
 sq. miles ; population, 800,000. Total area, 4,409,380 sq. miles ; population, 
 21,840,377. Density, 4-95. Excluding the Sahara, the density would be 7-3 
 to the sq. mile. — 'Statesman's Year-Book,' pp. 887, 891, and 895. 
 
 ^ Trade of all India, £287 millions— viz., 18s. per head ; Japan, 40s. ; British 
 tropical Africa, 40e. The independent States which have the lowest in the world 
 are Abyssinia 6s., and Liberia 4s. per head. Both are countries of enormous 
 natural possibilities. — 'Whittaker's Almanac.' 
 
THE EXAMPLE OF INDIA, 47 
 
 from Indian experience in spite of differences in social evolu- 
 tion, in religion, and in the intelligence of her people. 
 
 In the sphere of material development India is no longer 
 solely a producer of raw materials, and a consumer of im- 
 ported manufactured goods, for her factories, manned by 
 the cheap labour of a frugal and industrious race, now not 
 only supply a great part of her own needs, but compete 
 successfully with the manufactures of other nations. Ahke 
 in the early stages of iadustriaUsm, as in the methods and 
 results of research and experiment, in transport, and in 
 labour-saving devices, the results of India's experience should 
 be of the greatest benefit to Africa. 
 
 It is one of the defects of our system of State departments 
 that the invaluable lessons of Indian administration and 
 economic progress — the result of much costly experience and 
 research — and the history of its successes and failures, is not 
 more readily accessible to other tropical dependencies, which 
 are emerging from the stage ia which India was many years 
 ago. 
 
4S 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PRINCIPLES GOVERNING CONTROL IN THE TROPICS. 
 
 The Berlin and Brussels Acts — Unavoidable limitations of these Acts- 
 Effect of the war and treaty of peace — The convention of September 
 1919 — Delays and misunderstandings regarding Mandates — The power 
 to enforce observance — Omissions and suggestions — {a) Territorial 
 boundaries and adjustments — (6) Free trade — (c) Eevenue not to be 
 alienated — Amenability of officials to the courts — -International con- 
 trol — Summary of conclusions re Mandates — Responsibility to subject 
 races — Responsibility of suzerain to itself — French economic policy — 
 British economic policy — Alleged infringements of the "open-door" 
 policy — Contrast of French and British policy — Reciprocal obligations 
 on the part of the natives — Appendix, Article 22 of Covenant. 
 
 The principles which should guide the controlling Powers 
 in Africa were first laid down with international sanction in 
 the Berlin Act of 1885, which, in the words of Professor 
 Keith,^ " aimed at the extension of the benefits of civilisa- 
 tion to the natives, the promotion of trade and navigation 
 on the basis of perfect equaUty for aU nations, and the pre- 
 servation of the territories affected from the ravages of war." 
 The moral obligations towards the natives were dealt with 
 more explicitly and amplified by the Brussels Act, which 
 came into operation in 1892, and have lately received a 
 wider and more practical sanction under the Treaty of Ver- 
 sailles and the Convention of September 1919, to which I 
 shall presently refer more fully. 
 
 The Berlin Act was apphcable in its entirety only to the 
 " conventional basin of the Congo," and its results were 
 largely nuUifled by the failure to provide any means of en- 
 forcing its terms. Though the Congo was ostensibly an 
 " international State," the signatory Powers could not inter- 
 
 1 'Journal,' African Society, July 1918. 
 
THE BERLIN AND BRUSSELS ACTS. 49 
 
 vene, without grave risk of international friction, when the 
 provisions of the Act as regards the natives were set at naught, 
 or even when the commercial interests of the subjects of any 
 one of them were involved, or State monopolies contrary to 
 its spirit created. Free trade was suppressed in the " Congo 
 Free State," and Prance for a time adopted the same regime 
 in her neighbouring colonies, — a situation which was only 
 partially remedied by the Anglo-French Convention of 1898, 
 in which reciprocity in certain British and French territories 
 — outside the conventional basin of the Congo — was arranged 
 for a period of thirty years, simultaneously with a territorial 
 adjustment favourable to France.^ 
 
 The Berlin Act originated in the desire of the signatory 
 Powers to set up an international free State in the Congo 
 basin. Some of its articles extended to the existing coast 
 possessions of the Powers, but it was feared that its applica- 
 tion in its entirety to all the African territories of individual 
 nations would involve interference with sovereign rights. 
 The Congo State, by international consent, has now become 
 a Belgian colony, and has no longer an international status 
 under the Mandate of the Powers. 
 
 The Brussels Act essayed to apply certain principles — 
 especially in regard to the import of arms and trade spirits 
 into Africa — ^to all the territories under European control. 
 It was a notable advance towards the goal which the " Man- 
 date system " hopes to attain in respect of ex- enemy colonies, 
 but, Uke the Berlin Act, it provided no means of enforcing 
 its stipulations, and even the periodical reports which were 
 to show how far they were being carried out were in practice 
 neglected. 
 
 Some features of the era of aggressive acquisitiveness, 
 which the completion of the partition of Africa had brought 
 to a close, have been recalled by the allocation between the 
 victorious Allies of the tropical colonies wrested from Ger- 
 many. It was decreed by the Treaty of Versailles, which 
 embodied the Covenant of the League of liTations, that Ger- 
 many should forfeit these colonies on the grounds (as the 
 
 ' The clause in the Convention runs as follows: "Within the Ivory Coast, 
 Gold Coast, Dahomey, and Nigeria, the persons and goods of both countries and 
 of their colonies shall for thirty years enjoy the same treatment in all matters 
 of river navigation, of commerce, and of tariff, and fiscal treatment and taxes of 
 all kinds, but each may fix in its own territory tariffs, fiscal treatment, and 
 taxes." 
 
 D 
 
50 PRINCIPLES GOVERNING CONTROL IN THE TROPICS. 
 
 Allies explained) of misrule/ and that they should be held 
 by the respective Allies under Mandates, which should be 
 based on Article 22 of the Covenant. 
 
 A new Convention abrogated, as between the parties to 
 it, the Berlin and Brussels Acts, except as regards the matters 
 dealt with in Article 1 of the Convention, which appUed the 
 principle of " complete commercial equality " in an area 
 therein defined. It pledged the signatories to maintain in 
 their respective African territories " an authority and police 
 forces sufficient to ensure protection of persons and property, 
 and if necessary of freedom of trade and transit," and it 
 bound " the signatory Powers exercising sovereign rights or 
 authority in African territories, to continue to watch over the 
 preservation of the native populations, and to supervise the 
 improvement of the conditions of their moral and material 
 weUbeing." Finally, it endeavoured to remedy the defect 
 of the previous Acts by agreeing that " if any dispute what- 
 ever should arise between the signatory Powers relating to 
 the application of the Convention which cannot be settled 
 by negotiation, this dispute shall be submitted to an arbitral 
 tribunal in conformity with the provisions of the Covenant 
 of the League of Nations." A separate Convention was drawn 
 up to deal with the Uquor traffic.^ 
 
 The precise terms of Article 22 are of such importance 
 that I have appended it, for easy reference, at the end of this 
 chapter. It embodies the latest expression of the conscience 
 of Europe in regard to " peoples not yet able to stand by 
 themselves," and constitutes not only a pledge in respect of 
 Mandate territories, but a model and an aspiration for the 
 conduct of those already under the control of the signa- 
 tory Powers. It shows how great has been the advance, 
 alike in knowledge and in recognition of responsibility 
 towards the subject races, since the days of the poUti- 
 cal and economic rivalry which led to the partition of 
 
 ' Setting aside the atrocities exposed in Blue-books, one may judge of the 
 nature of German methods of promoting the moral and material interests of 
 the natives by the three regulations for S.W. Africa reported some years ago 
 in the 'Times.' (1) Natives are prohibited from acquiring any rights in, or 
 titles to land ; (2) from possessing any big cattle or riding animals without 
 special sanction ; and (3) every native must have a passport. On the otlier 
 hand, Herren Dernburg and Solf— Colonial Ministers— themselves visited Africa, 
 and expressed enlightened views regarding the natives, in opposition to the 
 local governors and the German colonists. 
 
 2 Conventions of 10th September 1919. Cmd. 477 and 478 of 1919. 
 
DELAYS AND DIFFICtTLTIES HE MANDATES. 51 
 
 Africa, and the tentative efforts of the Berlin and Brussels 
 Acts. 
 
 It is interesting, however, to note how close is the parallel 
 between the task of the Paris Conference of 191S> and that 
 of the Berlin Conference of 1885, when at the iavitation of 
 the German Emperor fourteen of the great Powers of the 
 world met to regulate (inter alia) " the conditions most favour- 
 able to trade and development, and the means of furthering 
 the moral and material wellbeing of the native populations 
 in certain regions of Africa." By the recognition of the 
 treaties concluded between the " International Association 
 of the Congo " and the various Powers signatory to the Act 
 (Protocol 9) " the new Congo State," said Prince Bismarck, 
 " is called upon the become one of the chief protectors of 
 the work we have in view," ^ and King Leopold of Belgiima, 
 its founder, became in point of fact the Mandatory of the 
 Powers. Have the lessons and warnings of this earlier Man- 
 date been fully appreciated in the new dispositions ? 
 
 There has been great delay in issuing the Mandates, due 
 no doubt to the difficulty of harmonising opposing views of 
 the Mandatory Powers as to their terms, and as to the inter- 
 pretation to be placed on Article 22. This has necessitated 
 carrying on the administration " on the assumption that the 
 Mandates as drafted by the Mandates Commission did cor- 
 rectly define the conditions of the trust," ^ in spite of the fact 
 that the Hague Convention expressly precludes a Power in 
 military occupation of conquered territory from altering the 
 civil administration.* 
 
 Their condemnation of German methods of administration 
 formed (as they said) * the justification of the Allies in con- 
 fiscating the German colonies, but the Hague Convention 
 remained unaltered, nor were " the Mandates as drafted " 
 made known to the officers charged with the task of adminis- 
 tration. There also appeared to be much misunderstanding 
 as to the functions and powers of the League of Nations in 
 regard to the Mandates.^ 
 
 1 C. 4361 of 1886, p. 303. 
 
 ^ Lord Milner (Chairman of Mandates Commission) in the debate of 29th 
 July 1920 in the House of Lords. 
 
 5 See also ' Official Manual of Military Law,' pp. 288-290. 
 
 ■* See reply of the Allies to Germany's protest, July 1919. 
 
 ^ Mr Asquith asserted that Article 22 prevented any Mandate from being 
 conferred by any authority other than the League, and Mr Bonar Law stated 
 that the League's confirmation was essential. — Debate of 18th June 1920. In 
 
52 PRINCIPLES GOVERNING CONTROL IN THE TROPICS. 
 
 Finally, though Article 22 says that " certain territories 
 can best be administered under the laws of the Mandatory 
 as an integral part of its territory," this phrase is quaUfled 
 by the words " subject to the safeguards mentioned, in the 
 interests of the indigenous population," and it was clear that 
 these safeguards apply to all Mandated territories.^ The 
 French, however, are reported to have claimed that their 
 portion of Cameruns and Togoland were not included in the 
 list of territories placed under Mandate, and to have de- 
 manded the right to administer them "without a Mandate, 
 though in the spirit of a Mandate," and, inter alia, to have 
 asserted the right to recriut troops for purposes other than 
 the defence of the country, which Article 22 specifically for- 
 bids.^ These views seem to strike at the very root of the 
 priQciples at stake, and jeopardise the whole Mandate system, 
 and with it the League of Nations itself.^ 
 
 The crucial difference between the Mandate system and 
 the former Acts lay in the fact that while the latter provided 
 no machinery for enforcing the obligations undertaken by 
 a signatory, the Mandates were supposed to have provided 
 something in the way of a supervising authority and arbitral 
 court. To what extent then has this vital principle survived ? 
 We now learn on the highest authority that the functions of 
 the League are limited to examining the draft Mandates 
 
 reply to a demand by the Liverpool Chamber that the League "shall revise all 
 laws and regulations, local and otherwise " (a function obviously incompatible 
 with the sovereignty of the Mandatory), the Foreign Office declared that "the 
 Mandates will be found to meet all the points raised" (Letters, 27th May and 22Dd 
 June 1920). Lord Milnerin turn declared that "neither the Supreme Council, 
 nor the Council of the League, nor any other authority, is competent materially 
 to alter the Mandates without upsetting the Covenant of the League itself," for 
 they are nothing more than a setting out in proper legal form of the provisions of 
 Article 22. 
 
 ' The article by implication excludes countries in tropical Africa from this 
 exemption. 
 
 ^ M. Sarraut (French Colonial Minister) is stated to have said that the Supreme 
 Council's decision of 7th May did not place the Cameruns and Togo in the 
 Mandate list, and that it decided on 9th December 1919 that the words " defence 
 of territory " did not mean local defence only, but included the mother country 
 if need be. France demanded complete sovereignty.— 17th Sept. 1919. A decree 
 (Depeche Coloniale, 25/3/1921) "regulates the status" of the Cameruns. It is 
 placed under a special " Commissaire," who is vested with the fullest powers, 
 and is assisted by an administrative council. The country is declared to be 
 autonomous administratively and financially. While assisted by a military grant, 
 it may be called upon to contribute to the budgets of neighbouring French 
 colonies with common interests. Equal commercial opportunity is recognised. 
 
 ' Since this was written France has accepted a Mandate, though in slightly 
 dififerent terms from the British. See Cmd. 1350/1921. 
 
THE ENFORCEMENT OF OBLIGATIONS. 53 
 
 (prepared by the Allied Powers) to see if they are ia con- 
 fonnity with the Treaty. It can alter nothing. It is stated, 
 however, that clauses have been iaserted in the Mandates 
 themselves, precluding alteration except with the consent of 
 the League. If it is the Mandatory itself which seeks the 
 alteration, a majority of the Council of the League can ap- 
 prove it ; but if the proposed alteration emanates from any 
 other source the decision must be imanimous, and hence the 
 Mandatory can veto it. A clause, it is said, is also inserted 
 providing for reference to the Court of International Justice 
 in the event of any dispute as to interpretation — ^not the 
 execution — of the Mandate. A permanent Mandate Com- 
 mission will examine the annual reports from Mandatories, 
 and report any breach to the Council, which would point it 
 out to the Mandatory Government, and rely on pubMc opinion 
 to cause the Government to redress it. 
 
 If the function of the International Court be relegated to 
 decisions on interpretation, and the control of the League 
 is to depend on the public opinion of the accused Mandatory, 
 the " safeguards in the interests of the natives," which Article 
 22 was designed to effect, become very shadowy. But it is 
 necessary to recognise the fact that great nations are un- 
 willing to accept Mandates of a precarious nature, subject to 
 revocation, and therefore, as M. Sarraut observed, unfavour- 
 able to continuous effort and liberal expenditure of capital. 
 E"or would they lightly submit to an inquisition on their 
 methods, and the loss of prestige which it would entail. 
 
 It is too late to hope that the altruistic professions of 
 justice to the native races should include the restoration of 
 original tribal boundaries, where these were violated by the 
 arbitrary political divisions made by the Powers in their orig- 
 inal appropriation of African territory, except where long usage 
 has rendered this no longer desirable by the natives, or where 
 there is a sufficiently important reason (such as the inclusion of 
 a port or railway in one or the other sphere) for maintaining 
 existing boundaries. Except in such a case it is imperative that 
 further injustice should not be perpetrated by fresh violation of 
 tribal boundaries in the assignment of Mandates. 
 
 It was at first proposed that the inhabitants of a country 
 included in a Mandate should have some voice in the selection 
 of the Power which would be appointed as their suzerain. 
 This was abandoned, ostensibly because in Africa, with the 
 
54: PEIWCrPLES GOVEENING CONTROL IN THE TROPICS. 
 
 exception of a few educated coast natives, the tribes would 
 be too ignorant to select between European Powers, but the 
 real reason lay in the competing claims of the Powers in- 
 terested. France and England iadeed undertook to com- 
 pensate Italy by cession of territory, if they increased their 
 possessions in Africa. 
 
 It can readily be understood that the exigencies of the 
 situation offered practically no alternative to this transaction. 
 But it is to be hoped that it is the last occasion on which 
 the conscience of Europe wiU permit the exchange of " pos- 
 sessions " in Africa as though they and their inhabitants were 
 mere chattels for barter, regardless of the pledges of protec- 
 tion, for the fulfilment of which the protecting Power is 
 individually responsible, and which it has no moral right to 
 transfer to another. It is a notable proof of the one-sided 
 character of the so-called treaties.^ 
 
 It is, I think, to be regretted that " equal opportunities 
 for trade and commerce " are Umited by the covenant to 
 members of the League, for it is admittedly essential that 
 Germany, with sixty-five million people, must have assured 
 access to sources of tropical raw materials for the employ- 
 ment of her industrial population.^ It is in her late colonies, 
 where methods so different from her own are to be employed, 
 that Germany should learn the better way. 
 
 Free trade from the point of view of native interests means 
 unrestricted markets, and the exclusion of aU forms of mono- 
 poly or preference, whether by private persons or by the 
 local government in the interests of the controlling Power. 
 The Mandate should include a precise stipulation to this 
 effect, and that aU profits accruing from the exercise of such 
 monopolies as the local Government may undertake iu the 
 interests of the country — such as railways, posts and tele- 
 graphs, river-transport services, &c. — shall (of course after 
 
 > The exchange of the Gambia for French Dahomey was at one time the 
 subject of prolonged debate (see Cd. 2ii of 1870 and Cd. 1409 and 1498 of 1876, 
 &o.), and has been revived from time to time up to the present day. It would 
 surely be an immoral and indefeasible transaction, unless with the consent of the 
 people. A French writer in the ' Observer ' (11th Nov. 1917) endorses this view. 
 
 ^ Germany's African possessions in 1914 are stated to have covered 931,460 
 sq. miles. The Allies, in reply to her protest at being deprived of them, pointed 
 out that only one-half of 1 per cent of her total trade was with them, and only 
 3 per cent of her raw materials was derived from them. This is hardly a 
 reasonable way of looking at colonies in an early stage of development, the more 
 so when it is remembered that Germany will no longer have such free access to 
 trade in the colonies of other nations as she enjoyed before the war. 
 
COLONIAL EEVENTJES INALEENABLE. 55 
 
 providing for the service of any loan) be credited solely to 
 the local revenue for the benefit of the country. It is to be 
 noted iu this connection that the territories to which the 
 system of Imperial Preference appUes, as detailed ia the 
 Board of Trade JouTnal,^ may by Order in Coimcil iaclude 
 any " ia respect of which a Mandate may be exercised by 
 the Government of any part of H.M.'s dominions." 
 
 To this principle — viz., that the revenues accruing from 
 a Mandated territory must be spent whoUy upon that territory 
 — a principle which apphes equally to dependencies not held 
 under Mandate — there may be possible exceptions, as there 
 are exceptions to every rule. If, for instance, in a territory 
 having a very hmited area capable of development, and a 
 very small population, a source of very great wealth be dis- 
 covered, entirely unconnected with native industries, and 
 from which the natives without foreign assistance would not 
 have derived any benefit ; in such a case the exploitation of 
 the wealth — ^be it mineral-oil or diamonds — ^by Government 
 or private enterprise, would in itseK bring high wages and 
 prosperity to the natives, and a fraction of the net profits 
 would sufBce to meet aU possible local needs for develop- 
 ment, &c. If the balance of the revenue realised from royal- 
 ties accrued to the Mandate Power, no possible injustice would 
 be inflicted upon the people. The case of the island of JiTaura 
 is an instance in point.^ 
 
 But in such rare exceptions there should be one essential 
 proviso to safeguard the great fundamental principle of 
 trusteeship — ^viz., that every case in which exception is sought 
 should be laid before Parliament, in order that the verdict 
 of the nation may be recorded by its accredited representa- 
 tives. For it should not be in the power of any one man, 
 however eminent, to decide ex cathedra that the circum- 
 stances were such as to justify an exception in a matter so 
 vitally affecting the national honour. 
 
 The principle that the oflEicials of the Government are 
 
 1 9th Sept. 1920. 
 
 ^ Nauru Island is eight miles square, with 1700 inhabitants. Together with 
 an even smaller neighbour — Ocean Island — it was surrrendered by Germany in 
 the war, and is now held under Mandate. It contains vast quantities of phos- 
 phates of very great commercial value, the exploitation of which is shared be- 
 tween Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. The justification of this 
 arrangement- was challenged in the debates of 18th June 1920 and later dates. 
 —See "The Crown Colonies and the British War Debt" in 'The Nineteenth 
 Century," 1920. 
 
56 PRINCIPLES GOVEENING CONTROL IN THE TROPICS. 
 
 amenable to the JTirisdiction of the local courts — ^which is 
 recognised in all British dependencies — ^is also one to which 
 efEect should be given by the Mandates. Some of these sug- 
 gestions were, I think, iacluded in the model Mandate pre- 
 pared by the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Society 
 at the suggestion of the Mandate Commission. 
 
 We have seen that the League is not charged with any 
 executive authority over a Mandatory Power. It cannot 
 therefore accept direct complaints from the natives or their 
 self-constituted champions, for that would lead not only to 
 international friction, but would so weaken the authority of 
 the Mandatory as to render its task impracticable. The 
 natives would regard the League as their real suzerain, and 
 it would in fact become an International Board of Adminis- 
 tration. For reasons such as these, if for no other, it is 
 inconceivable that (as has been suggested) the Powers already 
 in control of territory should voluntarily place them under 
 Mandate. 
 
 The Labour Party, however, desires that all territories in 
 tropical Africa, whether held under Mandate or not, should 
 be administered by a Commission under the supernational 
 authority of the League,^ and some sort of international con- 
 trol has found favour elsewhere. I concur with Professor 
 Keith, that such an expedient " must be ruled out as whoUy 
 unwise and impracticable." It would paralyse all initiative 
 and progress, and the dead hand of a super-bureaucracy 
 devoid of national incentive and patriotism would stifle all 
 enthusiasm. Great Britain with her long and hard- won 
 experience could never submit the poUcy and development of 
 her existing dependencies to the control of an international 
 board, on which she had only joint representation with 
 Prance, Italy, Portugal, and Belgiunx; nor would France 
 tolerate such a proposal for a moment, and it has been con- 
 demned by native spokesmen. It does not merit discussion. 
 
 The Mandate system has the serious and unavoidable 
 defect that, like its predecessors, it lacks the power of co- 
 ercion to enforce obUgations. It can only rely on the pubUc 
 opinion of the country whose Government is charged with 
 
 ' The reporter of the Labour Research Committee is constrained to admit that 
 it would work admirably in Africa only if the nations were guided solely by the 
 principles of the Sermon on the Mount. — 'Empire and Commerce,' L. Woolf, 
 p. 322. 
 
CONCLtrSIONS RE THE MANDATE SYSTEM. 57 
 
 infringement. This opinion is likely to support its Govern- 
 ment agaiast outside criticism. Each Mandatory submits a 
 full annual report, but since it is its own reporter the state- 
 ment must be ex 'parte, and independent investigation would 
 be resented as casting a doubt on its bona fides. Nor are the 
 principles iavolved capable of very precise definition in prac- 
 tice. Such limitations are, however, inevitable in the present 
 circumstances of the world. We must accept the fact that 
 the Mandates are practically irrevocable, and if the altruistic 
 hopes of idealists have not proved possible of fulfilment, we 
 must not minimise the substantial step achieved by the iater- 
 national recognition of the principles embodied ia Artiicle 22, 
 and the machiaery — ^imperfect as it is — set up to preserve 
 them. It is no mean achievement of the Conference of Paris, 
 that the nations assembled have succeeded in giving a more 
 precise and definite form to earlier ideals. Though limited 
 to ex-enemy colonies, their recognition of that ideal must 
 ■ of necessity influence their standards in the territories not 
 formally included in its scope. The camouflage which I 
 described in the last chapter is swept away, and the Powers, 
 instead of arguing over the theoretical basis of sovereignty 
 in Africa and the validity of so-caUed treaties, frankly recog- 
 nise that " the tutelage of nations not yet able to stand by 
 themselves must be intrusted to advanced nations who are 
 best able to undertake it." They accept control under the 
 Covenant, primarily in the interests of the subject races, 
 whether as Mandatories or otherwise. 
 
 The principle that " the weUbeing and development of 
 peoples not yet able to stand by themselves forms a sacred 
 trust of civilisation," though referring in its context to the 
 territories which before the war were under enemy control, 
 must obviously in future be regarded as no less applicable 
 to territories under the control of the AlUes. We may assume, 
 therefore, that the " vague humanitarian generalisations " (as 
 Sir S. Olivier calls them) of the earlier Acts have now given 
 place to a more exphcit obUgation sanctioned by international 
 consent. 
 
 The responsibility is one which the advantages of an in- 
 herited civilisation and a superior intellectual culture, no less 
 than the physical superiority conferred by the monopoly of 
 firearms, imposes upon the controlling Power. To the back- 
 ward races civiMsation must be made to mean something 
 
58 PRINCIPLES GOVEENESTG CONTROL IN THE TROPICS. 
 
 higher than the methods of the development syndicate, or 
 the assiduous cultivation of new wants. Where these prin- 
 ciples have been neglected, history has taught us that failure 
 has been the result. Without minimisiiig the great work 
 which Prance and Belgium are doing in Africa, it is to Eng- 
 land that Beauheu generously awards the palm ia having 
 led the way ia the recognition of the responsibility which is 
 inseparable from rule.^ The Brussels Conference met at the 
 iastance of our Queen to ampUfy the work of its predecessor 
 at BerUn, with this object, and to check iaternecine war with 
 imported firearms, and the evils of the spirit traffic. Eng- 
 land has consistently endeavoured to give effect to these 
 Acts, and has now cordially accepted the new charter of 
 liberty and progress. 
 
 The means by which practical effect may be given to these 
 aspirations merit full consideration. They include such ques- 
 tions as the methods of rule which shall give the widest 
 possible scope to chiefs and people to manage their own 
 affairs under the guidance of the controlling Power ; the 
 constitution of Courts of Justice free from corruption and 
 accessible to aU ; the advancement of education, and its 
 adaptation to the needs and the circumstances of the people ; 
 slavery and the institution of a free labour market ; the 
 creation of a system of taxation which shall be as little oner- 
 ous as possible, and protect the peasantry from the exactions 
 of the powerful ; land tenure ; the liquor traffic, and similar 
 problems. With these I shall endeavour to deal in sub- 
 sequent chapters : they constitute our moral obligation to- 
 wards the subject races. 
 
 Nor is the obligation which the controUing Powers owe 
 to themselves and their race a lesser one. It has been well 
 said that a nation, like an individual, must have some task 
 higher than the pursuit of material gain, if it is to escape 
 the benumbing influence of parochialism and to fulfil its 
 higher destiny. If high standards are maintained, the con- 
 trol of subject races must have an effect on national character 
 which is not measurable in terms of material profit and loss. 
 And what is true for the nation is equally true for the in- 
 dividual officers employed. If lower standards are adopted 
 —the arrogant display of power, or the selfish pursuit of 
 profit — the result is equally fatal to the nation and to the 
 
 1 Beaulieu, loc. cit., vol. i. p. 92, and vol. ii. p. 246. Quoted on p. 619. 
 
ECONOMIC POLICY. 59 
 
 individual. Misuse of opportunity carries with it a relentless 
 Nemesis, deteriorating the moral fibre of the individual, and 
 permeating the nation, as M. Leroy Beaulieu has shown in 
 his masterly survey of the standards and principles which 
 have guided the colonial policy of successive nations. 
 
 But if the standard which the white man must set before 
 him when dealing with uncivilised races must be a high one 
 for the sake of his own moral and spiritual balance, it is not 
 less imperative for the sake of the influence which he exer- 
 cises upon those over whom he is set in authority. The 
 white man's prestige must stand high when a few score are 
 responsible for the control and guidance of miUions. His 
 courage must be undoubted, his word and pledge absolutely 
 inviolate, his sincerity transparent. There is no room for 
 " mean whites " in tropical Africa. Nor is there room for 
 those who, however high their motives, are content to place 
 themselves on the same level as the uncivilised races. They 
 lower the prestige by which alone the white races can hope 
 to govern and to guide. 
 
 Turning now to questions of economic policy, we find that 
 the two chief Powers have adopted radically different prin- 
 ciples in Africa. The French, as M. de Caix expresses it, 
 adopt " a sort of economic nationalism," which aims at 
 preserving the products and markets of her colonies for the 
 exclusive use of France by every means in her power.^ It 
 was, as I have pointed out, only in certain specified colonies, 
 for a limited period, and as the price of territorial adjust- 
 ments in her favour, that she agreed to break down the 
 tariff waU. 
 
 This principle is regarded as essential to the theory that 
 her colonies form an integral part of France, mutually inter- 
 dependent and sufficing. After the war of 1870, and again 
 after the recent war, the doctrine was proclaimed that 
 " France can only remain a great Power by knowing how 
 to draw from her colonies all she requires." ^ 
 
 Dutch methods need not be discussed here, since they do 
 not affect Africa, but a succinct and most interesting account 
 may be found in Mr EUiott's work on the Philippines.^ 
 
 1 See " British and French Colonial Policy," by M. Devereux, ' Anglo-French 
 Eeview,' Sept. 1920. 
 ^ French Colonial Minister at Paris Conference of 1917. 
 ' ' The Philippines,' C. B. Elliott, pp. 15-18, and Prefatory Note by Mr Root. 
 
60 PRINCIPLES GOVERNING CONTROL IN THE TROPICS. 
 
 The conception that overseas possessions should be a source 
 of direct profit to their " owners " lost Spaia her South 
 American colonies. Tttrkey, the Congo under Leopold, Hol- 
 land and Portugal,^ have adhered to the priaciple, the dis- 
 astrous results of which not even Adam Smith has described 
 with more relentless logic than the great French writer, 
 M. Beauheu. France, however, while imposing no tribute, 
 maiataias the policy of monopoly and conscription. 
 
 When Great Britain undertook the control of great regions 
 in tropical Africa, she not only gave to her commercial rivals 
 the same opportunities as were enjoyed by her own nationals, 
 but she assisted in the development of these territories from 
 Imperial revenues — not as loans to be repaid when they grew 
 rich, but as free gifts — and later by the use of Imperial credit 
 to float loans for development, while her Navy, and on occa- 
 sion her troops, ensured their protection. She secured to 
 their inhabitants an unrestricted market for their produce, 
 and to aU engaged in their development, of whatever nation- 
 ality, equality of commercial opportunity and uniform laws. 
 
 She recognised that the custodians of the tropics are, in 
 the words of Mr Chamberlain, " trustees of civiUsation for 
 the commerce of the world " ; that their raw materials and 
 foodstuffs — ^without which civilisation cannot exist — must be 
 developed aHke in the interests of the natives and of the 
 world at large, without any artificial restrictions. Here are 
 his words spoken twenty-four years ago : " We, in our 
 colonial policy, as fast as we acquire new territory and 
 develop it, develop it as trustees of civilisation for the com- 
 merce of the world. We offer in aU these markets over 
 which our flag floats the same opportunities, the same open 
 field to foreigners that we offer to our own subjects, and 
 upon the same terms. In that poUcy we stand alone, because 
 aU other nations, as fast as they acquire new territory — 
 acting, as I beUeve, most mistakenly in their own interests, 
 and above all, in the interests of the country they administer 
 — all other nations seek at once to secure the monopoly for 
 their own products by preferential and artificial methods." 
 Viewed from this standpoint, the tropics are the heritage of 
 mankind, and neither, on the one hand, has the suzerain 
 Power a right to their exclusive exploitation, nor, on the 
 
 1 See Admiralty Handbook, I.D. 1189, p. 136. Reforms were instituted by 
 the law of August 1914. 
 
THE POLICY OP THE " OPEN DOCK." 61 
 
 other hand, have the races which inhabit them a right to 
 deny their bounties to those who need them. The respon- 
 sibility for adequate development rests on the custodian on 
 behalf of civilisation — and not on behalf of civUisation alone, 
 for much of these products is returned to the tropics con- 
 verted into articles for the use and comfort of its peoples. 
 
 The democracies of to-day claim the right to work, and 
 the satisfaction of that claim is impossible without the raw 
 materials of the tropics on the one hand and their markets 
 on the other. Increased production is more than ever neces- 
 sary now, to enable England to pay the debts she incurred 
 in preserving the liberties of the world. The merchant, the 
 miner, and the manufacturer do not enter the tropics on 
 sufferance, or employ their technical skill, their energy, and 
 their capital as " interlopers," or as " greedy capitalists," 
 but in fulfilment of the Mandate of civilisation. America, 
 since she became a world Power, has adopted the same 
 standards in the Philippines. 
 
 The policy of " the open door " has two distinct though 
 mutually dependent aspects — viz., equal opportunity to the 
 commerce of other countries, and an unrestricted market to 
 the native producer. The tropics can only be successfully 
 developed if the interests of the controlling Power are identical 
 with those of the natives of the country, and it seeks no 
 individual advantage, and imposes no restriction for its own 
 benefit. 
 
 It has been alleged that in the matter of certain export 
 duties on palm kernels in West Africa, as also in regard to 
 " Imperial Preference," these principles have been violated, 
 while the policy of " Empire cotton-growing " would seem to 
 depend for its success upon an arbitrary hypothecation of 
 the crop. The principles at issue in each of these cases are 
 of such importance that I propose to consider these allega- 
 tions in some detail in a later chapter (see pp. 268-279). 
 
 French writers have pointed to these measures as a viola- 
 tion of our vaunted policy of the " open door," and asked 
 how we can consistently condemn the exclusive tariffs of 
 Erance while adopting such measures ourselves. The prin- 
 ciple of Imperial Preference is that of voluntary sacrifice, 
 and cannot be compared with obligatory and exclusive tariffs 
 imposed on colonies in restriction of their markets ; if in 
 any case the latter have been imposed, it was, as we shall see, 
 
62 PRINCIPLES GOVEENING CONTKOL IN THE TROPICS. 
 
 as a temporary war measure only. Whether the exclusive 
 tariffs of other nations may compel us to adopt any other 
 policy the future will show, but there is no burking the 
 conclusion that unless it is adopted with the consent, or for 
 the benefit, of the dependency concerned, it would be con- 
 trary to our declared policy of trusteeship. 
 
 The acceptance of this policy of trusteeship involves, it, 
 may be said, some reciprocal obligation on the part of the 
 natives. Their lands, which Germany coveted, and their 
 liberties were at stake no less than our own in the recent 
 war. They owe it to their inclusion in the Empire that they 
 have escaped. Is, then, the native of the tropics to bear no 
 share of the economic burden which the war has left, or in 
 the cost of defence for the future ? The African is not by 
 nature ungrateful, and would not shirk his share of the 
 burden. I have no doubt as to the response he would make 
 to such a suggestion if he understood. Would, then, a trustee 
 be justified in demanding some reciprocity, or exactiag some 
 participation in the cost of defence, as an obligation properly 
 due from his ward, after consulting the vocal minority and 
 the more intelligent chiefs ? These are questions which merit 
 consideration in their proper context (see pp. 274, 275). 
 
 AETICLE 22 OP THE COVEJSTAlSrT OP THE 
 LEAGUE OP ISTATIONS. 
 
 To those colonies and territories which as a consequence of the late 
 war have ceased to be under the sovereignty of the States which for- 
 merly governed them, and which are inhabited by peoples not yet able 
 to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern 
 world, there should be applied the principle that the wellbeing and 
 development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilisation, and 
 that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in 
 this Covenant. 
 
 The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that 
 the tutelage of such peoples should be entrusted to advanced nations 
 who, by reason of their resources, their experience, or their geographical 
 position, can best undertake this responsibility and who are willing to 
 accept it, and that this tutelage should be exercised by them as 
 Mandatories on behalf of the League. 
 
AETICLE 22 OP THE COVENANT. 63 
 
 The character of the Mandate must differ according to the stage of 
 the _ development of the people, the geographical situation of the 
 territory, its economic conditions, and other similar circumstances. 
 
 Certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire have 
 reached a stage of development where their existence as independent 
 nations can be provisionally recognised subject to the rendering of 
 administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory, until such time 
 as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must 
 be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory, 
 
 Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stage 
 that the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the 
 territory under conditions which will guarantee freedom of conscience 
 and religion, subject only to the maintenance of public order and 
 morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms 
 traflSc and the liquor traffic, and the prevention 'of the establishment of 
 fortifications or military and naval bases, and of military training of 
 the natives for other than police purposes and the defence of territory, 
 and will also secure equal opportunities for the trade and commerce of 
 other members of the League. 
 
 There are territories, such as South- West Africa and certain of the 
 South Pacific Islands, which, owing to the sparseness of their popula- 
 tion, or their small size, or their remoteness from the centres of civilisa- 
 tion, or their geographical contiguity to the territory of the Mandatory, 
 and other circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of 
 the Mandatory as integral portions of its territory, subject to the safe- 
 guards above mentioned in the interests of the indigenous population. 
 
 In every case of Mandate, the Mandatory shall render to the Council 
 an annual report in reference to the territory committed to its charge. 
 
 The degree of authority, control, or administration to be exercised 
 by the Mandatory shall, if not previously agreed upon by members of 
 the League, be explicitly defined in each case by the Council. 
 
 A permanent Commission shall be constituted to receive and examine 
 the annual reports of the Mandatories, and to advise the Council on all 
 matters relating to the observance of the Mandates. 
 
0-1 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF BEITISH TBOPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 Units of administration — Climate and physical characteristics of the 
 country — History — Paucity of population — Hamites and negroes — 
 Physical characteristics of the people — Character of the typical 
 African — Illustration of lack of apprehension — Of fidelity and 
 friendship — Diversity in evolution — Administrative classification — 
 Primitive races — Settled tribes — Pastorals — The refugees — Social 
 organisation — Advanced communities — Pagan tribes — Alien con- 
 querors^Influence of Islam — Influence of Christianity — Summary 
 — The Europeanised African — Characteristics — Comparison with 
 Indian Progressives — The negro in the United States — Claims for 
 self-government — Scope in municipal work — The true path to self- 
 government — Opportunities now enjoyed — Pitness for responsible 
 positions — A native cadet service — Critics of the educated native — 
 Future of the educated African — The debt of Africa to him- — The 
 Syrian — Is civilisation a benefit ? — Some drawbacks and some benefits. 
 
 Before discussing the methods by which the controlliiig 
 Power can promote the material development of the tropics 
 and the welfare of the inhabitants, it will be of interest to 
 consider what manner of people they are, and the physical 
 characteristics of the country they inhabit. 
 
 British tropical Africa includes some of the most densely 
 populated and most richly endowed regions of the continent, 
 including Mgeria, which, in view of its area, population, and 
 trade, occupies a very prominent place among the depen- 
 dencies of the Empire. We have already seen (vide table, 
 p. 45) that, unUke India and the Dominions, the African 
 tropical empire is divided into a number of dependencies, 
 in some cases coterminous with each other, in other cases 
 separated by intervening territories under the control of 
 foreign Powers, each under its own Government and separate 
 laws, and all except the Sudan under the control of the 
 Colonial Office, which alone forms the nexus which co-ordi- 
 nates their policies. 
 
PHYSICAL OHAEACTEEISTICS OF THE BKITISH TROPICS. 65 
 
 In the sub-tropical regions south of the Zambesi there are 
 other dependencies which have been permeated by European 
 settlement — Southern Ehodesia, Bechuana, Basuto, and Swazi- 
 land, as well as the regions ia the South African Union. The 
 native peoples who inhabit them are still for the most part 
 in the tribal stage, and the problems of administration dis- 
 cussed in this volume apply in great part to them. 
 
 The climate and physical characteristics of a country which 
 extends over sixty-two degrees of longitude and thirty-eight 
 of latitude (say 4200 by 2600 mUes) must naturally be ex- 
 tremely diversified. In the northern hemisphere the heavy 
 rains faU in the summer months (June-October), in the south 
 from November to April, while on and near the Equator there 
 is a double rainy season partaldng of both characteristics. 
 
 Across the northern part of the conttaent, from the Eed 
 Sea to the Atlantic, stretches a zone of arid desert, waterless, 
 in parts devoid of vegetation, a sea of shifting, wind-driven 
 sands, whose billows form sand-dunes, and bury and baffle 
 the toil of man. Throughout its breadth in the British tropics 
 it is traversed by the wonderful Nile. In the east there are 
 great mountaias whose crests are crowned with eternal snow, 
 and elevated plateaux on which the climate and rainfall 
 invite the European colonist. Through the heart of the 
 country, from the temperate latitudes in the south to those 
 in the north — and beyond them across the Eed Sea to Northern 
 Palestine — ^runs the Great Eift VaUey, 3500 miles long, form- 
 ing the long and narrow lakes of Tanganyika and Nyasa, 
 with a maximum depth of 4758 feet and 2316 feet respec- 
 tively. 
 
 The equatorial belt in West Africa is a region of moist 
 forests and profuse vegetation, with a rainfall of 150 inches 
 on the coast, culminating on the western slopes of the Camerun 
 mountain in upwards of 400 inches. Here was no induce- 
 ment for the conquering pastoral tribes, for the grasslands 
 of the northern savannahs with their vast herds of cattle cease. 
 Animal and bird Ufe, other than the elephant, the hippo- 
 potamus, the buffalo, the monkeys which live in the tree- 
 tops, the great fish-eagle, and aquatic birds, is scarce. Man 
 is at perpetual warfare with the vegetable and insect world, 
 and in the deltas of the tropical rivers leads a semi-aquatic 
 life, subsisting on sylvan produce and fish. The British 
 tropics in Africa include a great part of those mighty rivers 
 
 E 
 
66 THE PEOPLE OF BKITISH TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 — ^the Mger and the Nile — and the great lakes of which 
 Victoria Nyanza is the largest, with an area of 27,000 square 
 miles, but little less than that of Ireland. 
 
 The history of these peoples of tropical Africa, except on 
 the coast fringe, has during the ages prior to the advent of 
 European explorers some sixty years ago been an impene- 
 trable mystery. Attempts to solve it consist chiefly in con- 
 jectural migrations of tribes and of mythical legends, except 
 in so far as the history of the West African empires of Ghana, 
 Melle, and Songhay have been recorded by the Arabic his- 
 torians of the Moorish Empire.^ Unlike the ancient civilisa- 
 tions of Asia and South America, the former inhabitants of 
 Africa have left no monuments and no records other than 
 rude drawings on rocks like those of neolithic man. 
 
 The paucity of the population of tropical Africa, as con- 
 trasted with that of Europe and Asia, is shown by the table 
 on page 45. ^ In the regions imder British control it averages 
 only 14'4 to the square mile, while in British and French tropical 
 Africa, covering over seven miUion square miles, it does not 
 exceed 8'5. It is, moreover, very unevenly distributed. Con- 
 siderable districts in Mgeria have a density of over 300, 
 while in vast areas in the Sudan, owing to the desert condi- 
 tions, there is only one person to two square miles. Northern 
 Ehodesia, more than twice the size of the United Kingdom, 
 fertile and well-watered, has only three to the square mUe. 
 This astonishing lack of inhabitants, though the races of 
 Africa are virile and prolific, has been due in the past to inter- 
 tribal warfare, slave-raiding, and the ravages of imchecked 
 epidemics — especially sleeping-sickness and smallpox, — in. more 
 recent times to the prevalence of venereal disease, with its 
 attendant infant mortality, and to the dissemination of dis- 
 eases by freedom of communications. 
 
 The fecundity of the women — apart from the effects of 
 venereal — appears to vary greatly in different tribes, and 
 while some are decadent, others are correspondingly proMc. 
 The custom, which seems fairly general among the negro 
 tribes, of sucHing a child for two or three years, during which 
 a woman lives apart from her husband, tends to decrease 
 
 1 See the account in ' A Tropical Dependency,' by Lady Lugard, of El Bekri, 
 Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Batuta, and others who wrote in the eleventh and fourteenth 
 centuries. 
 
 2 The density per square mile of the United Kingdom is 374, of Germany 311, 
 of France 197, of India 158, of Japan 320, and of China 97.— Whitaker, 1921. 
 
E.ACIAL CHAEACTEEISTICS. 67 
 
 population. Polygamy, in so far as it ensures that every 
 female is mated, would seem to conduce to increase, but the 
 accumulation of great numbers of women in the harems of 
 despotic rulers would have a contrary tendency. 
 
 It is essential to realise that tropical Africa is inhabited 
 by races which differ as widely from each other as do the 
 nations of Europe, and that some of the principal racial types 
 present even greater divergence than those of Europe and 
 parts of Asia.^ Broadly speaking, the coloured population 
 of tropical Africa divides itself into the races of Asiatic origin 
 which have penetrated the continent from the north-east 
 and east, with their negroid descendants, who chiefly occupy 
 the northern tropical zone, and the negro tribes which inhabit 
 the greater part of the remainder. ^ The immigrant races, 
 generally called Hamites, are supposed to have invaded 
 North-East Africa " probably a good deal more than 4000 
 or 5000 B.C." There was a Semitic invasion some 2000 years 
 later, but its elements have entirely disappeared, though it 
 has left indelible traces on the language and racial charac- 
 teristics of Abyssinia. The principal Hamite — or Hamitic 
 negroid — tribes in East Africa are the Abyssinians, the 
 Somalis, the GaUas, the Masai, the Wahima, and the IsTandi ; 
 in West Africa the Pulani, supposed to be descended from 
 the Berbers. All have been modified to a greater or less 
 degree by admixture with negro blood, which has produced 
 racial types differing from each other, and widely different 
 from the negro type. They vary in their mental and physical 
 characteristics according to the amount of negro blood in 
 their veins, which has shown itself extremely potent in 
 assimilating alien strains to its own type. Perhaps the most 
 distinctive external characteristic — ^much more reliable than 
 that of colour — by which the degree of negro blood may be 
 gauged, is the hair growth on the head and face, varying from 
 the wooUy head and smooth face of the pure negro, to the 
 straight hair and bearded face of the Asiatic. 
 
 ' Sir H. Clifford in his address to the Nigerial Council (Dec. 1920), received 
 since first these pages were written, gives a very striking description of the 
 greater contrast between West African tribes than between European nations. 
 ' ' Even the Singalese of Ceylon as an Aryan people are more nearly allied to the 
 English and Germans than are to one another many of the peoples of West 
 Africa." 
 
 ^ The existence of non-negro tribes in the extreme south is regarded by some 
 as evidence that in very ancient times the conquering Hamites traversed the 
 whole continent. 
 
68 THE PEOPLE OP BRITISH TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 The Hamites and Hamitic negroids are " slim and wiry 
 in build, markedly dolichocephalous, with high narrow fore- 
 heads, good features, reddish complexions, plentiful frizzy 
 hair, and small hands and feet." ^ They exhibit, as we shall 
 see, powers of social organisation and intellectual develop- 
 ment in advance of the pure negro stock. ^ They are capable 
 of immense physical endurance, but do not possess the phy- 
 sique and strength of the negroes. They are generally nomadic 
 and pastoral, and for the most part have embraced Islam. 
 
 The finer negro races, among whom are included the group 
 of tribes known as the Bantus, have no doubt in prehistoric 
 times assimilated alien blood, which has diilerentiated them 
 from the aboriginal negro type. They may, however, be said 
 to constitute the general negro race-type of to-day. The skidl 
 and forehead are better developed, and the thick lips, the 
 bridgeless nose, and the prognathous jaw are less pronounced 
 than in the more archaic type. Their intelligence is more 
 developed, and many tribes have reached a degree of social 
 organisation which, in some cases, has attained to the kingdom 
 stage under a despot with provincial chiefs of the feudal type. 
 
 The negroes, and the negroids who approximate most 
 closely in race-type to them, consist of innumerable tribes — ^ta 
 Northern Mgeria alone there are said to be about 380 — which 
 have each their own special traits, but they share in varying 
 degrees the general characteristics of the negro. In colour 
 they are very black, with woolly hair growing in little tufts 
 on the scalp, and with practically none on the face. They are 
 for the most part settled agriculturists, though the aborigtaal 
 types, such as the Pigmies, the Wanderobbo, and the Wasania 
 are nomad hunters. 
 
 The Bantus, and most other negroes, are physically fine 
 specimens of the human race. Powerfully built, they are 
 capable of great feats of strength and endurance. Indi- 
 viduals win carry a load of 100 lbs. on their heads from 
 morning till night, up hihs and through swamps, with but 
 brief intervals for rest. The King's messengers in Uganda, 
 in Mtesa's time, were, I believe, expected to cover sixty 
 miles in a day. 
 
 1 See Admiralty manuals, 'Kenya,' 1216, pp. 236, 237, and 'Abyssinia,' 
 pp. 104, 166, &c.. and Eliot, 'The East African Protectorate,' pp. 119, 133. 
 
 ^ We are told that the Bantus in Ruanda form 95 to 99 per cent of the popu- 
 lation, but are kept in a servile status by their Wahima overlords. — Foreign Office 
 Handbook 113, p. 10. 
 
DESCRIPTION OP THE APEICAN. 69 
 
 In character and temperament the typical African of this 
 race-type is a happy, thriftless, excitable person, lacMng ia 
 self-control, discipline, and foresight, naturally courageous, 
 and naturally courteous and polite, full of personal vanity, 
 with little sense of veracity, fond of music, and " loving 
 weapons as an oriental loves jewelry." His thoughts are 
 concentrated on the events and feeUngs of the moment, and 
 he suffers little from apprehension for the future, or grief 
 for the past. " His mind," says Sir C. Eliot, " is far nearer 
 to the animal world than that of the European or Asiatic, 
 and exhibits something of the animal's placidity and want 
 of desire to rise beyond the state he has reached," — in proof 
 of which he cites the lack of decency in the disposal of the 
 dead, the state of complete nudity common to one or other, or 
 to both sexes among so many tribes, the general (though not 
 imiversal) absence of any feeling for art (other than music), 
 and the nomadic habits of so large a section of the race. 
 
 Through the ages the African has evolved no organised 
 religious creed, and though some tribes appear to believe in 
 a deity, the religious sense seldom rises above pantheistic 
 animism, and seems more often to take the form of a vague 
 dread of the supernatural. It is curious that whereas in East 
 Africa Sir C. Eliot observes that prayers are always addressed 
 to a benevolent deity, in the West the prevalent idea seems 
 to be the propitiation of a malevolent spirit. Belief in the 
 power of the witch and wizard, and of the Juju-priest and 
 witch-doctor, in charms and fetish, and in the ability of 
 individuals to assume at wiU the form of wild beasts, are 
 also common among many tribes. To these superstitions the 
 Hamite is less prone. 
 
 The African negro is not naturally cruel, though his own 
 insensibility to pain, and his disregard for life — ^whether his 
 own or another's — cause him to appear callous to suffering. 
 He sacrifices life freely under the influence of superstition, 
 or in the lust and excitement of battle, or for ceremonial 
 display. The wholesale executions of Mtesa of Uganda, or 
 Behanzin of Dahomey, would seem to have been dictated 
 rather by a desire for the ostentatious display of power, or 
 even by a blood-lust, than by a love of witnesstag pain. If 
 mutilation and other inhuman punishments are inflicted, it 
 is because nothing less would be deterrent. 
 
 He lacks power of organisation, and is conspicuously de- 
 
70 THE PEOPLE OF BRITISH TEOPIOAL ABTIIOA. 
 
 flcient ill the management and control alike of men or of 
 business. He loves the display of power, but fails to realise 
 its responsibility. His most universal natural ability lies in 
 eloquence and oratory. He is by no means lacking in industry, 
 and will work hard with a less incentive than most races. 
 He has the courage of the fighting animal — an instinct rather 
 than a moral virtue. He is very prone to imitate anything 
 new in dress or custom, whether it be the turban and flowing 
 gown of the Moslem, or the straw hat and trousers of the 
 European, however unsuited to his environment and con- 
 ditions of life. He is an apt pupU, and a faithful and devoted 
 friend. 
 
 In brief, the virtues and "the defects of this race-type are 
 those of attractive children, whose confidence when once it 
 has been won is given ungrudgingly as to an older and wiser 
 superior, without question and without envy. " Valiant, 
 clever, and lovable, they bear no malice and nurse no griev- 
 ance." ^ 
 
 To attempt to condense into a paragraph or two a subject 
 which would provide material for as many chapters, is to 
 court contradiction, and indeed there is hardly a single trait 
 that I have named to which I caimot quote striking excep- 
 tions within my own experience. For the ability to evolve 
 an organised system we may point to the Baganda, the Benis, 
 and the Yorubas, no less than to the Abyssinians and the 
 Pulani ; for indigenous art to the bronzes and the wood- 
 carving of the Benis, the cloths and leather- work of the Hausas 
 and Yorubas, and the bead and straw work of Uganda ; for 
 natural religion to the ancestor-worship of the Bantus and 
 other tribes ; and so on. But, speaking generally, the char- 
 acteristics of the predominantly negro races are, I think, as 
 I have described them, and Sir Chas. Eliot from personal 
 experience extends his description to the West Indies and the 
 Southern States of America.^ 
 
 Perhaps the two traits which have impressed me as those 
 most characteristic of the African native are his lack of appre- 
 hension and iuabUity to visualise the future, and the stead- 
 fastness of his loyalty and affection. In illustration of the 
 former, I may recall two incidents, told elsewhere, which 
 
 ' Sir F. Fuller (of the Ashantie), 'A Vanished Dynasty.' 
 
 "^ His description of the African is, I think, the best I have read. — Loc. cit., 
 chap. iv. 
 
LACK OF APPREHENSION. 71 
 
 occurred in my earliest experience of Africa thirty odd years 
 ago, and seemed to me to afford a clue to his character and 
 modes of thought. 
 
 We were about to attack a powerfully-constructed stockade, 
 defended by a band of well-armed, slave-raiding Arabs. It 
 was a hazardous enterprise, and the event proved that it was 
 beyond our ability. We could not but expect a heavy loss of 
 life. We had made an all-night march to effect a surprise, 
 and as I lined up the men in the dark in front of the stockade, 
 which in a few minutes we were about to charge, they in- 
 stantly fell asleep ! Later our scouting parties caught a man 
 with a cow. He was a Mkond^, one of the timid unwarlike 
 tribe which had been wiped out by the slave-raiders, and to 
 whose rescue we had come. Questioned. as to how he had got 
 the cow, he replied that he had stolen it from the Arab 
 stockade. CrawHng up in the dark of night he had slowly 
 dug out one pole after another, and made a breach through 
 the wall until he had effected an entrance. Did he not feel 
 afraid when he heard the sentries of the Slavers chanting 
 their challenge to each other from their watch-towers close 
 by ? He explained in reply that there was no ground for 
 misgiving, since he himself was only worth as a slave a 
 quarter part of the value of the cow. The risk was worth 
 taking, for the prospective gain was 3 to 1 on his stake. 
 That it should make any difference that his own life was 
 the stake in question was outside his comprehension, and 
 his apologies were abject for his presumption in having 
 secured an article so much more valuable than himself. He 
 implored me to take it and spare his Ufe. When I praised 
 him for his pluck, and sent him away the possessor of the 
 cow, his delight was ludicrous, but both he and his captors 
 thought me mad. Criminals condemned to death show the 
 same lack of apprehension until the moment of execution 
 arrives. 
 
 I can give no better illustration of the constancy and 
 single-mindedness of the African's friendship than the letters 
 I continue to receive from chiefs in Uganda and Toro, though 
 it is over twenty-nine years since I left their country. They 
 cannot be prompted by any possible self-interest, and the 
 initiative was theirs. 
 
 The character in which the African presents himself de- 
 pends very greatly on the personality of the officer with 
 
72 THE PEOPLE OF BRITISH TEOPICAL AFEICA. 
 
 whom he has to deal. Continuity alike of personnel and 
 policy is essential to gain his confidence and to effect pro- 
 gress. Each new step must be introduced with care, and 
 above all there must be no vacillation or change of front, 
 and no broken promises. These natural characteristics have 
 been modified, and in many cases completely changed, by 
 two very powerful agencies. The first, as we have seen, is 
 the influence of Asiatic immigration ; the second is the 
 introduction of monotheistic religions and of European and 
 Asiatic education. 
 
 Such in brief are the peoples for whose welfare we are re- 
 sponsible in British tropical Africa. They have a fascination 
 of their own, for we are dealing with the chUd races of the 
 world, and learning at first hand the habits and customs of 
 primitive man ; not of some derelict and decadent remnaint 
 such as the aborigines of Australia, the Todas of India, or the 
 Ainus of the Japanese islands, but of a virile and expanding 
 race whose men are often models of symmetry and strength — 
 a race which Ulustrates every stage in the evolution of human 
 society, from the hardly himian bushman of the Kalahari 
 and the lowest type of cannibal, to the organised despotism 
 and barbaric display of a negro kingdom like that of Uganda 
 as we found it, where royalty is hedged about with more 
 observance than in a modern palace in Europe ; or to the 
 educated native community, a few at least of whose members 
 boast a training in the English universities and medical 
 schools, or who, on the other hand, have inherited a civilisa- 
 tion drawn from the East, and owing much to Arabic litera- 
 ture and the teaching of Islam. Manifestly the system of 
 administration suited to such diverse conditions of social 
 organisation must vary greatly if it is to command the co- 
 operation and hearty acquiescence of the people themselves, 
 and be effective in promoting the progress of each to a higher 
 standard. 
 
 From the point of view of the administrator, it wiU be con- 
 venient to classify the people of tropical Africa into three 
 groups, according to their social organisation — viz., the primi- 
 tive tribes, the advanced communities, and the Europeanised 
 Africans. Such a division connotes a more real and profound 
 difference than that of racial affinities, for intermarriage and 
 concubinage with alien captives and slaves have tended to 
 obliterate tribal characteristics. 
 
THE PEIMITrVE TRIBBS. 73 
 
 The primitive peoples are usually classed by the anthropo- 
 logist as settled tribes and pastorals.^ The latter are nomadic 
 in their habits, following their flocks and herds according to 
 the season of the year, and building no cities. The tendency 
 persists even among some of the settled tribes, who, like the 
 Eikuyu in East Africa, the Kanuri of Bornu, and some Congo 
 tribes, constantly desert their villages and fields and migrate 
 to new sites in search of fertUe land. 
 
 The settled tribes are almost entirely agriculturists, though 
 a small section is engaged in industrial crafts — ^weaving, 
 dyeing, and the forging of implements of agriculture or of 
 war. Exchange of such articles is conducted in well-attended 
 markets. Those tribes, however, which inhabit the coastal 
 regions intersected by innumerable salt-water creeks, and 
 covered by the densest forest growth, or interspaced by 
 dreary mUes of mangrove-swamp, are precluded from engag- 
 ing to any great extent in agriculture, and sustain life chiefly 
 by fishing. Since flocks and herds wiU not survive, and animal 
 life is scarce, they have no flesh diet, and often resort to 
 cannibalism." Here the exuberant vegetation is too much 
 for man, and the lowest and most primitive tribes are to be 
 found. 
 
 Thus before European intervention changed the conditions 
 of Ufe in Africa, it was the dweller in the plains and the 
 fertile plateaux, and not, as in Europe, the dwellers in the 
 mountains, who were the virile and fighting races. On the 
 plains the cattle-owning nomads must graze their herds, and 
 be prepared to defend them with their lives. The settled 
 population must no less be able to repel assaidt on the village 
 flocks and on their crops, and they built walled cities for 
 protection. The natural wealth of the African consists of 
 live stock, and it is the ambition of the labourer and the 
 peasant to buy one or two head of cattle and several wives. 
 The system of land-tenure (to which I shall refer later) does 
 not encourage the acquisition of personal property in land, 
 and it is held only as a means of satisfying the absolute 
 necessities of life. Women and children assist in production, 
 and no more land is desired than will produce these neces- 
 
 1 To these may be added the primitive hunting tribes, who wander in search 
 of game, like the Wanderobbo and the Pigmies. 
 
 '^ It is the craving for flesh which drives the human animal to cannibalism — in 
 Fiji the practice was abandoned on the introduction of swine. 
 
74 THE PEOPLE OF BKITISH TROPICAL AFBICA. 
 
 sities. But cattle represent individual and communal wealth. 
 The mountains, on the other hand, are the refuge of the 
 conquered, where they may escape extermination and lead 
 a precarious existence on the hill-tops. 
 
 Though as a rule the desires of the pastoral tribes are 
 limited to the acquisition of grazing lands, and they were 
 indifferent to territorial sovereignty, it would seem that small 
 sections were otherwise minded. Thus in South-East Africa 
 the cattle-owning Zulus (with their off-shoots, the Magwan- 
 gwara and Mangoni) founded in Zululand the dynasty of 
 Tchaka, and further north the Wahima became kings of 
 Uganda, Unyoro, and Ankol^. In the west the Pulani pas- 
 torals in like manner became the dominant race. The Masai 
 and the SomaUs, on the other hand, though they held un- 
 disputed sway over the greater part of East Africa, founded 
 no dynasties. But though in these instances the pastorals 
 created the governing caste over the settled agriculturists, 
 the bulk of the tribe remained as semi-nomad pastorals, com- 
 pletely out of touch with their aristocratic kinsmen, socially 
 less advanced than the settled and urban population, but 
 maintaining by rigorous ordeals and tests a high standard 
 of personal courage and endurance.^ The ruling classes, on 
 the other hand, became enervated by luxury. The offspring 
 of their innumerable negro concubines lost the distinctive 
 characteristics of their pastoral ancestors, and in Mwanga 
 of Uganda, Kabarega of Unyoro, and many of the Fulani 
 Emirs of Mgeria, we see the negro type markedly asserting 
 itself. Probably most of these pastoral tribes were of Asiatic 
 origin, and migrated slowly from north to south. 
 
 The aboriginal negroes, driven by the advancing migrations 
 from the plains and plateaux, found refuge in the mountains, 
 or in the dense forests or the interminable swamps of the 
 equatorial belt, such as surround the upper reaches of the 
 Wile and Zambesi, and the delta of the Mger. In such 
 regions — ^including the coast lands of West Africa — may there- 
 fore be found the purest negro types. Where detached moun- 
 tain masses afforded a refuge from pursuit, we find a con- 
 fusing number of remnants of tribes, so that in the single 
 
 ' Fulani youths voluntarily subject themselves to a merciless flogging before 
 they are allowed the privileges of manhood. If the youth flinches or cries out 
 he is degraded for a year. The scars of this flogging are generally visible all 
 his life. 
 
ADVANCED COMMUNITIES." 75 
 
 mountainous province of Bauchi (Mgeria) it has been esti- 
 mated that no fewer than sixty-four different languages are 
 spoken. 
 
 These primitive tribes vary in social status from those who 
 recognise no chief and are still in the patriarchal stage, lack- 
 ing any but the most rudimentary communal organisation,! 
 up to those with weU-deflned tribal institutions, till they 
 merge into the second class of more " advanced communities." 
 Every phase of human evolution may be studied as a living 
 force. Among the most primitive the family is the unit, and 
 even the village head has but little authority. Among many 
 both sexes are entirely nude. They are usually industrious 
 agriculturists or fishermen, but, especially in West Africa, 
 are generally the victims of gross and cruel superstitions 
 and of degrading practices, such as cannibalism, human sacri- 
 fice, and the murder of twins, &c.^ 
 
 Among those who have reached the tribal stage, with 
 recognised chiefs and some cohesion for attack and defence, 
 a few have evolved systems of government more or less 
 efficient imder paramount rulers, with an elaborate subdivi- 
 sion of authority and ceremonial observance. They have, 
 however, been unable to evolve a written language, or any 
 approach to culture.* 
 
 Where these institutions were of indigenous growth, or 
 fell under the rule of dynasties preponderantly negro, they 
 appear to have become despotisms marked by a ruthless 
 disregard for human life. Holocausts of victims were sacri- 
 ficed to appease the deity, or at the whim of the despot. 
 
 ^ Ifc is in the lowest stages of human intercourse that men and women herd 
 together, and individual effort and aspiration is effaced in the communal 
 principle. Yet in such communities, I believe, some bond, however fragile, 
 exists between a man and the mother of his child. It is to a still lower plane 
 which the cannibal savage — nay, the anthropoid apes — have left behind them — 
 the level of mere gregarious mammals, that Bolshevist theorists aspire to drag 
 western civilisation. 
 
 ^ Among the Baganda and Banyoro in East Africa, the birth of twins is, on the 
 contrary, an occasion of great rejoicing. — 'Notes on Waganda and Wanyoro 
 Tribes,' Felkin, pp. 62 and 82. It is interesting to note that the moral sense 
 finds expression even in the cannibal. Asked if he would eat his mother, a 
 cannibal expressed horror at the thought. Only "bad men," he said, would 
 so degrade themselves. 
 
 ^ The very remarkable chief of the little state of Fumban in the Cameruns 
 (whose dearest wish it was to be taken under British rule) had not only 
 introduced an administrative system inc5mparably more advanced than those 
 of his neighbours, but had even invented an alphabet, and reduced his language 
 to writing. — See the interesting account by Capt. Stobart in 'Blackwood's,' 
 March 1920, p. 380. 
 
76 THE PEOPLE OP BRITISH TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 Such were the kingdoms of Uganda and Unyoro in the 
 east, and of Dahomey, Ashanti, and Benin in the west. Even 
 where this wholesale butchery was not a primary feature of 
 the despotism, the social organisation was honeycombed by 
 secret societies, whose ritual was a mystic secret, appeasing 
 the deity by human blood, as in the ancient Toruba nation 
 under its semi-divine head, the Alafin. 
 
 But for the most part the progressive communities adopted, 
 and owed their advance to the adoption of, an aUen mono- 
 theistic rehgion, which brought with it a written language 
 and a foreign culture. It is to the creed of Islam that this 
 political and social iufluence has iu the past alone been due. 
 It has been the more potent as a creative and regenerating 
 force, because it brought with it an admixture of Aryan or 
 Hamitic blood, and the races which introduced it settled in 
 the country and became identified with its iahabitants. They 
 possessed greater powers of social organisation than the negro 
 aborigiaes, and may therefore claim to be of a superior race- 
 type.i 
 
 In West Africa the conquests of the Arabs and Berbers 
 from the north-east introduced the creed of Islam in the 
 belt bordering the southern edge of the Sahara early in the 
 eighth century. The modern history of the advanced com- 
 munities of Hausaland and Bornu in Mgeria " may be said 
 to date from the period at which they accepted the Moslem 
 religion, though the purer black races had established their 
 domination over the inferior, and ruled by force of superior 
 intelligence and cultivation long before that time." ^ They 
 founded kingdoms which, in the zenith of their prosperity, 
 rivalled the civilisation of Europe of that day. Their de- 
 scendants, the Pulani, stUl form the dominant caste, and rule 
 the Moslem States of Mgeria. 
 
 In East Africa, Arab Moslems from the Persian Gulf founded 
 the dynasty of Zanzibar, and Bedouin Arabs became the 
 rulers of the NUe Sudan ; but though their creed has made 
 its influence felt in UsTyasaland and in the Tanganyika terri- 
 tory, and was at one time dominant in Uganda, they cannot 
 
 1 " Neither in respect alone of colour, nor of descent, nor even of high intellectual 
 capacity, can science give us any warrant for speaking of one race as superior to 
 another. . . . There is but one absolute test of superiority. It is only the race 
 possessing in the highest degree the qualities contributing to social efficiency that 
 can be recognised as having any claim to superiority." — Kidd, loo. cit., p. 98. 
 
 ^ ' A Tropical Dependency,' Lady Lugard, p. 21. 
 
THE INFLTXENOE OF ISLAM. 77 
 
 claim to have founded any other native States in British 
 East Africa. 
 
 Moslem rule, while enforcing the social regulations of the 
 Koran, has generally incorporated whatever indigenous sys- 
 tems were worthy of survival. The system of government, 
 of dress, and of social observance thus obtained a hold upon 
 the people which the more alien habits and dress of Europe 
 — ^ill-adapted to a tropical country — could not achieve. Islam 
 looks for its language, literature, and culture to Arabic and 
 the East. As a religion it does not evoke in the pure negro 
 the ardent zeal which it excites in the races of alien or of 
 mixed blood, and there is often little to differentiate the 
 peasant or labourer who caUs himself a Mahomedan from his 
 pagan brother. 
 
 Islam as a militant creed which teaches contempt for those 
 who are not its votaries, panders to the weakness of the 
 African character — self-conceit and vanity. Centuries of law- 
 less strife have made the African a worshipper of force, and 
 he has been quick to adopt the creed of the conqueror, chiefly 
 for the prestige it brought. Its very excesses, the capture 
 of women as slaves and concubines, and the looting of 
 villages, though hateful enough when he is himself the 
 victim, form the beau ideal of his desires if he can be 
 the aggressor. It is the law of might to which he is 
 habituated. 
 
 And there is much else which appeals to the African and 
 suits his conditions, in the reUgion of Mahomet. It sanctions 
 polygamy, which is natural to the tropics. It not merely 
 approves the institution of domestic slavery, but has done 
 much harm by countenancing the ruthless raiding for slaves. 
 It has the attraction of an indigenous religion spread by the 
 people themselves, or by men of like race with similar social 
 standards, and not depending on the supervision of aUen 
 teachers. Its great strength lies in the fact that it combtaes 
 a social code with simple religious forms, and is thus inter- 
 woven with the daily life of its followers. Originating in the 
 tropics, it is essentially a code and a religion of the tropics, 
 which has never made headway in the temperate zones, just 
 as Christianity has been the religion of the temperate cHmates. 
 Considering, however, the many centuries of unopposed oppor- 
 tunity which it had enjoyed, Islam has made singularly little 
 progress in Africa, except among the Hamite and negroid 
 
78 THE PEOPLE OF BRITISH TEOPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 tribes, and, generally speaking, has not been adopted by the 
 negro races. ^ 
 
 Mr Bosworth-Smith shows that it is a religion incapable 
 of the highest development,^ but its limitations suit the 
 limitations of the people. It has undeniably had a civilising 
 effect, abolishing the gross forms of pagan superstition and 
 barbarous practices, and adding to the dignity, self-respect, 
 and self-control of its adherents.^ Though its tenets among 
 the ignorant peasantry are (as in India) far from orthodox, 
 and much coloured by superstition, its general effect has been 
 to encourage abstinence from intoxicants, a higher standard 
 of life and decency, a better social organisation and tribal 
 cohesion, with a well-defined code of justice. 
 
 Christianity, on the other hand, has not proved so powerful 
 an influence for the creation of political and social organisa- 
 tions, though in recent years, combined with Western educa- 
 tion, we have seen remarkable results in Uganda, and in a less 
 degree among the Egbas and others in West Africa. Its 
 more abstruse tenets, its stricter code of sexual morality, its 
 exaltation of peace and humility, its recognition of brother- 
 hood with the slave, the captive, and the criminal, do not 
 altogether. appeal to the temperament of the negro. 
 
 On the other hand, it has a most powerful auxiliary in its 
 hymns and church music, which are infinitely attractive to 
 him, as well as the frequent occasions it affords for a display 
 of oratory. Christianity is, I think, sometimes apt to produce 
 in its converts an attitude of intolerance, not intended by its 
 teachers, towards native rulers,* native customs, and even to 
 native dress, especially when wholesale conversions have over- 
 taxed the supervision of the European mission staff. Its 
 constructive efforts (combined with Western education) are 
 to be foimd chiefly among the Europeanised natives, to whom 
 I shall presently refer. 
 
 1 Eliot, loc. cit., p. 96. Sir F. Fuller, loc. cit, p. 223. Even among the 
 Nilotic negroes, most continuously exposed to its influence, Islam made little 
 progress, and a Sliilluk who became a Moslem was looked on as a disgrace to the 
 tribe.— F.O. Handbook 98, p. 55. 
 
 ^ ' Mahomet and Mahomedanism. ' 
 
 ' Dr Blyden, who has been acclaimed as one of the most distinguished of 
 native African writers, says of Islam in Africa : " It has been the most effective 
 instrument in moulding the intellectual, social, and political character of the 
 millions whom it has brought under its influence. ... It is the most effective 
 educational force in Negroland."— 'West Africa before Europe,' pp. 39, 74. 
 
 * See Fuller, loc. cit., p. 223, &c. 
 
THE ETIBOPEANISED APEIOAN. 79 
 
 The advanced commuaities, then, whether their organisa- 
 tion was self-evolved by pagan races, or due to the advent 
 of conquerors of alien blood, and the introduction of Islam, 
 held sway over their less progressive neighbours, whom they 
 raided and enslaved. They rapidly developed the commercial 
 instinct, and the traders of the Hausa States, the Yorubas 
 and others, carried the produce of one district, or the im- 
 ported goods from the coast, to another, in organised caravans. 
 They built great cities (but of no permanent material), and 
 developed the industrial arts. They introduced a highly 
 centralised form of government, systems of taxation, and 
 courts of justice, and jealously guarded their own customs 
 and social organisation from European interference. Agri- 
 culture, with the help of slave-labour, remained the staple 
 industry, and the dyer continued to grow his own indigo, 
 and the weaver his cotton. 
 
 I come now to the last group — ^the Europeanised Africans 
 — ^who are chiefly to be found in West Africa. Since they 
 form but an infinitesimal fraction of the thirty-eight million 
 tohabitants of British tropical Africa — ^though south of the 
 Zambesi they may be foimd in greater nxmibers — ^they wotdd 
 hardly seem to merit a class to themselves. But they occupy 
 a position of importance out of proportion to their mere 
 numbers. They sit on the Legislative Councils, and make 
 their voices and opinions heard through the medium of their 
 own press and in other ways. Whereas those progressive 
 elements which assisted in developing the " advanced com- 
 munities " penetrated Africa from the north-east across the 
 desert, — ^for the Zanzibar Arabs from overseas added little to 
 social progress, — European influence was the direct outcome 
 of the conquest of the ocean, and its earliest origin dates from 
 Vasco da Gama's circumnavigation of the continent in the 
 fifteenth century. European connection with tropical Africa 
 was at first suUied by the overseas slave-trade, and its educa- 
 tional and reUgious influence — which brought the European- 
 ised African into existence — can only be said to have become 
 an effective force in the west in the middle of the nineteenth 
 century, and some decades later in the east. 
 
 The Europeanised African differs not merely in mental 
 outlook from the other groups, but also in physique. Doctors 
 and dentists teU us that he has become less fertile, more 
 susceptible to lung -trouble and to other diseases, and to 
 
80 THE PEOPLE OF BRITISH TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 defective dentition — disabilities which have probably arisen 
 from in-breeding among a very limited class, and to the 
 adoption of European dress, which writers in the native 
 press say is enervating and inimical to the health of the 
 African.^ 
 
 Europeanised Africans represent no tribe or community, 
 but form a class apart in the principal cities of the West Coast, 
 where they reside in a varying minority among an illiterate 
 population ui the tribal stage of development, amid sordid 
 surroundings for men of education and culture. They may 
 belong to one or other of the neighbouriag tribes and speak 
 their language, or they may, as in Sierra Leone, be the 
 descendants of liberated slaves, ignorant of any African 
 language. Individuals complete their education in England 
 and return as ministers of religion, barristers, doctors, and 
 journalists. Some few are traders on their own account, 
 but the large majority have a very incomplete education, 
 and are content to fill subordinate posts as clerks in the 
 service of Government, or of commercial firms. Some have 
 shown a balanced judgment, and have been of assistance 
 to the local governments as members of the Legislature and 
 of Municipal Boards, but the native press is too often notable 
 for its invective and racial animosity. The most popular 
 professions are those of the law — which affords opportunity 
 for the African's gift of oratory — and journalism.^ 
 
 The educated African imitates European dress and customs 
 closely, however iU adapted to his conditions of life, and 
 may be heard to speak of going " home " to England. He 
 has, as a rule, little in common with the indigenous tribes 
 of Africa, and seldom leaves his native town except to travel 
 
 ^ The records in Sierra Leone "tend to show that the deaths considerably 
 exceed the births," and the population of the colony is apparently maintained by 
 immigrants from the protectorate. — F. 0. Handbook 92, p. 8. 
 
 ^ Writing of the American negro, Mr Graham observes that " he has a passion 
 for journalism in advance of his present development and capacity " (' Children 
 of the Slaves,' p. 53). Each of the British colonies in West Africa boasts of 
 several newspapers owned and edited by natives. The Governor of the Gold 
 Coast has recently pointed out the injury to racial co-operation done by the 
 local press. Its invective is much read by schoolboys, and Mr Carr (Acting 
 Director of Education, Nigeria — a native) was of opinion that it does much 
 "grievous harm." Dr Blyden remarks that at St Louis (capital of French 
 Senegal), "where there is every facility for such a thing, they have not a single 
 newspaper ; and they are happier for it than their brethren in other parts of 
 Africa, who rejoice in the advantages and 'freedom of the Press'" ('West Africa 
 before Europe,' p. 90). The French law of 1881 regarding native newspapers 
 has by a recent decree been made more stringent. 
 
INDIAN PEOGEESSIVES — AMERICAN NEGEOES. 81 
 
 by sea or railway.^ The Ettropeanised African is indeed 
 separated from the rest of the people by a gulf which no 
 racial aflfinity can bridge. He must be treated — and seems 
 to desire to be treated — as though he were of a difEerent race. 
 Some even appear to resent being called negroes, the universal 
 race-term in America. The Eev. E. Keable complains lq 
 ' East and West ' that even native priests showed in the 
 war a contempt for and aloofness from the natives ia their 
 spiritual charge unknown between white men of unequal 
 social standing. 
 
 The " Montague-Chelmsford Eeport " describes the poUti- 
 caUy-minded Indian in terms which are singularly appropriate 
 to the educated African. " He is a creation peculiarly our 
 own, the product of an educational policy in the past, which 
 aimed at satisfying the few who sought after English educa- 
 tion, without sufficient thought of the consequences which 
 might ensue from not taking care to extend instruction to 
 the many." It was due to that policy (says the report) that 
 the Indian adopted as a rule the non-practical professions bt 
 law, journalism, and teaching, which magnify the importance 
 of words and phrases, and he has only recently been encour- 
 aged to create wealth by applying his knowledge to industrial 
 enterprise. But the Indian progressive, however divergent 
 from the mass of the people in habits of thought, yet speaks 
 their language, shares their customs and religion, and knows 
 their country. Though the percentage of Indians who speak 
 English is infinitesimal compared with the total population, 
 it is probably twenty times greater than the percentage of 
 English-speaking Africans to the population of Africa, and 
 includes a certain number who have administrative and 
 municipal experience. 
 
 Perhaps it may be said that the number of Europeanised 
 natives in West Africa is too small to justify any generalisa- 
 tions. Let us turn therefore to America, where for a couple 
 of generations at least the African has had an opportimity 
 of vindicating his status, and of proving his capacity for 
 social progress. The negro population of the United States 
 reaches some 12,000,000 souls, and though there is a con- 
 siderable admixture of European blood, his progress there 
 will afford some clue as to the capability of the race for 
 intellectual development and social organisation. The ' Times ' 
 
 ' See the statement by Chief-Justice Sir K. Speed, quoted in Cmd. 468, p. 80. 
 
 P 
 
82 THE PEOPLE OF BRITISH TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 correspondent draws a disheartening picture,^ and American 
 opinion seems to be equally pessimistic. Dr Stoddard,^ like 
 M. Beaulieu,^ is emphatic that " black Africa is unable to 
 stand alone," and quotes Meredith Townsend's observation 
 that the negro race " has never evolved a civilisation, a litera- 
 ture, or a creed, or founded a stone city, or built a ship, or 
 exercised the smallest influence over people not black." * 
 
 Such men as Booker Washington and Moton prove, however, 
 that the negro race can at the least produce individuals of 
 great force of character and high ideals. Dr Moton's recent 
 book 5 combines high idealism with practical organising ability. 
 Du Bois — albeit not of pure negro blood — is said to have the 
 gift of leadership.^ He touches the true source of the im- 
 happiness and discontent of the Europeanised or Americanised 
 negro, when he asserts that " in order to attain his place in 
 the world the negro must be himself and not another." ' 
 
 ^ "The intellectual negro," he writes, "seems to take rather kindly to 
 socialism and organised agitation, and the further upwards they move in 
 the social scheme the greater their discontent. . . . The fact remains that, 
 after more than half a century of freedom and educational opportunity, they 
 have not been able to rise to a plane above that of agitator, or to carve out for 
 themselves a satisfactory position in the body politic." — ' Times,' 16th Oct. 1919. 
 
 ' ' The Rising Tide of Colour,' p. 102. 
 
 ' " Bien plus nous croyons que I'autorit^ Europienne ne devra pas dtre 
 temporaire dans la majeure partie de I'Afrique ; ce n'est pas une simple affaire 
 d'eduoation devant durer un ou deux siteles, c'est une organisation definitive. 
 Le climat des regions equatorials et tropicales de I'Afrique ainsi de la race qui 
 s'y trouve etablie ne nous paraissent pas de nature k pouvoir rendre jamais 
 compatible autant qu'on en pent juger la prosp^rit^ de ces contre^s et leur 
 absolue autonomic, 11 serait h craindre que une fois detaches mSme dans deux 
 ou trois sifecles des Metropoles ces pays . . . revinssent apres deux ou trois 
 generations k la barbaric primitive. Toutes les colonies ne sont pas destinfe 
 & s'emanciper." — Vol. i. pp. 291-2. See notes p. 198. 
 
 ■■ 'Asia and Europe,' pp. 92, 356-358. = ' Finding a Way Out.' 
 
 ' ' The Children of the Slaves,' S. Graham, p. 261. See also article, " The 
 Colour Problem," ' Edin. Review,' April 1921. 
 
 ' 'The Souls of Black Folk,' Du Bois, p. 8. A series of interesting articles 
 appeared in the Sierra Leone and Lagos native press in Feb. 1902. "The foreign 
 and uncongenial life can only avail to display the oddities and eccentricities that 
 naturally attach to abnormal or hybrid life," says the former ; while the Lagos 
 writer laments that by adopting foreign education and a foreign mode of life 
 Africans have become foreigners to their own people, with whom they can only 
 converse through interpreters. There is no class, says the writer, which is less 
 welcome to the lay Englishman than the " black white man " who has abandoned 
 his racial integrity and is quick to learn European vices. Compare Locke's 
 observation that to teach a child contrary to his natural bent is to produce 
 affectation. "The negro," says Lebon, " will never be fit for institutions which 
 are not in some way a direct outcome of the negro character." Dr Blyden 
 expresses the same view : " Progress must be along the line of our own institu- 
 tions. Intellectual development must be of his own powers — the present policy 
 makes the African a caricature." 
 
ASPIRATIONS OP THE EDUCATED APKICAN. 83 
 
 Dr Moton, head of the splendidly organised Tuskegee Institu- 
 tion, gave dignified expression to the same' feeUng when, after 
 a prolonged tour in Europe, he -wrote : " I landed on American 
 shores with the feeling that whatever may be the disadvan- 
 tages and inconveniences of my race in America, I would 
 rather be a negro in the United States than anybody else in 
 any other country in the world." ^ 
 
 This leads us to the consideration of the recent claims by 
 the educated West African for a larger share in the govern- 
 ment. I do not refer to the spectacle of Mr Garvey, " Pro- 
 visional President of Africa, arrayed in a flowing robe of 
 crimson slashed with green," claiming to found a single 
 republic for the whole continent, and parading the streets 
 of Hew York with six bands,^ for such wild schemes can only 
 fill the cultured and thoughtful African with regret and 
 misgiviQg, and in the words of Dr Moton, lead " many honest 
 and sincere white people to doubt the wisdom of educating 
 the coloured man." 
 
 But movements such as the Pan-African Congress, which 
 met at Paris under the presidency of M. Diagne — a native 
 African, and Deputy for Senegal — during the Peace Confer- 
 ence, stand, in a different category, and in so far as they 
 give expression to the desire for a larger individual and collec- 
 tive responsibility and liberty — ^which is the natural outcome 
 of British teaching — may be regarded as indications of pro- 
 gress. The principles to which the resolution of the Congress 
 gave expression are in the main reasonable, and differ little 
 from those which have guided Great Britain in her dealings 
 with the tropical races,' but like the so-called " National 
 
 ' Loc. cit., p. 152. ' 'Times,' 2nd Sept. 1920. 
 
 ^ The terms of the resolution were as follows : — 
 
 The Governments of the Allies and their associates should establish an inter- 
 national code of laws for the protection of natives. A permanent secretariat in 
 the League of Nations should see to the application of these laws. 
 
 The coloured races of the world desire that henceforth the natives of Africa 
 and peoples of African origin should be governed everywhere in accordance with 
 the following principles : — 
 
 (1) The Land. — The soil and its natural resources shall be reserved and safe- 
 guarded for the natives, who shall have effective ownership of the lands they 
 cultivate. 
 
 (2) Capital. — A system of concessions shaU be so fashioned as to prevent the 
 native from being exploited and the natural riches of the country from being 
 drained. These concessions should be only temporary, and be under State 
 supervision. Note should be taken of the growing needs of natives, and part of 
 tlie profits should be used for the moral and material development of the native. 
 
 (3) Labour. — The abolition of slavery and corporal punishment of any nature. 
 
84 THE PEOPLE OF BRITISH TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 Conference," which recently laid a petition before the King, 
 the Congress could lay no claim to be considered as repre- 
 sentative of Africa, which is, of course, too vast a country 
 and with too diversified a population to be represented by 
 any delegation from any particular region. 
 
 The latter body consisted of a group of native barristers 
 and others, for the most part resident in the Gold Coast, 
 whose claim to represent the advanced thought and progres- 
 sive elements of that colony was indignantly repudiated by 
 certain of its chiefs, while probably no one in Mgeria outside 
 the coast towns had ever heard of their existence. The 
 Governor (Sir H. Clifford) poured scathing ridicule on " the 
 fantastic claim to a common nationality," or to represent 
 either the advanced or the primitive peoples of Mgeria, 
 and the leading representative of native opinion in Lagos 
 " protested with aU the emphasis at his command at the 
 impudence of these people who style themselves representa- 
 tives of Mgeria." In these circumstances it is not worth 
 while to discuss their voluminous resolutions, but they were 
 not couched in any spirit of disloyalty.^ 
 
 In India the principle was enunciated that advancement 
 in self-government must depend on the extent to which the 
 educated class is in sympathy with, and capable of represent- 
 ing the illiterate sections of the people. In this respect the 
 claim of the African " intelligentsia " is, as we have seen, 
 very weak, nor has the educated native, generally speaking, 
 shown himself to be possessed of ability to rule either his 
 own community or backward peoples of his own race, even 
 under favourable conditions. " Can any one say that the 
 Governments of Hayti, San Domingo, or even of Liberia are 
 
 The abolition of forced labour, except as a penal procedure for the punishment 
 of crimes. The promulgation of official labour rules. 
 
 (4) Education. — Every coloured child shall be taught its mother tongue and 
 the language of the trustee nation. Professional education shall be available. 
 
 (5) Health. — A service of medical assistance, composed of hospitals and 
 doctors, shall be established by the State which shall be responsible for the 
 welfare of the inhabitants. 
 
 (6) The State. — The coloured races of Africa shall be allowed gradually 
 increased participation in the State, as their intellectual development improves, 
 by virtue of the principle that governments exist for peoples and not peoples for 
 governments. 
 
 ' Mr Hayford, a member of the Delegation, quotes in his book, ' Gold Coast 
 Native Institutions,' p. 312, the following appreciation of British rule: "We 
 labour in vain to find one spot (upon the world-wide map of the British Empire), 
 where the people possess in their own right such a rich and unhampered legacy 
 of liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement as we should enjoy on the Gold Coast.'' 
 See note on page 619. 
 
SCOPE FOR THE EDtTCATED CLASS. 85 
 
 successful," asks a native writer who does not fear to face 
 the facts.i 
 
 However strong a sympathy we may feel for the aspirations 
 of these African progressives, sane counsellors will advise 
 them to recognise their present limitations. At no time in 
 the world's history has there been so cordial a hand held 
 out to Africa, such genuine admiration for the achievements 
 of such men as Booker Washington and Moton, or a keener 
 desire to assist the African in the path of progress, and in 
 Mr Ehodes' words to grant " equal rights to all civilised men 
 irrespective of race." " I think," said the Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies (Mr Churchill), when addressing the Dominion 
 Premiers in June last (1921), " there is only one ideal that the 
 British Empire can set before itself, and that is that there 
 should be no barrier of race, colour, or creed which should 
 prevent any man by merit from reaching any station if he 
 is fitted for it." 
 
 Meantime there is abundant opportunity for the educated 
 African, if he wiU avail himself of it, in the sphere of civic 
 usefulness and the improvement of the conditions of the 
 people in the cities in which he lives, and the community to 
 which he belongs, and for whom he can claim to speak with 
 knowledge. Let us learn from him how these opportimities 
 can be enlarged, and he may rest assured that his opinions, 
 and above aU his visible efforts to realise the obligations of 
 his own municipality, will be met with sympathy. ^ Booker 
 Washington's " first and last word was co-operation " — ^the 
 aspiration to serve others and not himself. 
 
 As a professional man the educated native can establish 
 schools and obtain financial assistance under the educational 
 code, or he can conduct hospitals and dispensaries. As a 
 business man he can open hotels (which are much needed) 
 
 ' Nigerian ' Pioneer,' 13th Sept. 1918. See Stoddart's account of Hayti, loc. 
 cit., pp. 141 and 100, &c. The Bpeeches of the present and late Presidents of 
 Liberia are excellent essays on the art of government by a foreign ruler, but 
 the reports which reach us of disregard for native rights, insecurity of trade, and 
 lack of educational facilities testify to an inability to put them into practice. 
 
 ^ The determined hostility of the civilised native community to the imposition 
 of any rates strikes at the very basis of municipal independence. In Lagos a 
 moderate water-rate to defray in part the cost of a pure and abundant water- 
 supply led to riots. In Sierra Leone the limitation of the hut-tax to the protecto- 
 rate was adversely commented on by the Secretary of State. In the Gold Coast the 
 Governor at one time had it in contemplation to abolish the small rates levied in 
 certain coast towns, in view of the hostility of the people to them. This opposi- 
 tion has in all cases been led by an influential section of the educated classes. 
 
86 THE PEOPLE OF BRITISH TROPICAL Al'RIOA, 
 
 or employ his knowledge and capital in scientific farming. 
 In aU the channels of civic responsibility he can establish 
 his claim to municipal self-government. (See chapter xxix.) 
 
 The episode of the " National Conference Delegation " has 
 served to give prominence to a principle of far-reaching 
 importance, with which I shall deal more fully in the chapter 
 on native rule — ^viz., whether the path to self-government 
 alike among Oriental and African races may not better be 
 sought by the education of their own rulers, and the gradual 
 extension of their powers, than by the introduction of an 
 alien system of rule by British - educated and politically- 
 minded progressives. In a striking speech in the Gold Coast 
 Legislature, Chief Ofori Atta, C.B.E., supported by the other 
 three native members, maintained that the claim of a hand- 
 ful of educated lawyers and doctors to represent the people, 
 instead of their chiefs, was a base attempt to denationaUse 
 the institutions of the country. In his cabled version of it 
 to the Colonial Ofl&ce, the Governor says that the delegates 
 have brought discredit on education since " illiterates have 
 now a just complaint that education leads to belittling and 
 ignoring the native rulers." ^ 
 
 There is no colour bar in British Africa, and the educated 
 native enjoys the fullest liberty. He is allowed the utmost 
 licence in the newspapers he conducts, unless he oversteps 
 the limits which render him liable for defamation or sedition. 
 He engages in trade, in professional practice, and in recreations 
 on equal terms with Europeans, and there are many highly- 
 respected and influential native gentlemen who have availed 
 themselves to the full of these facilities. Africans are ap- 
 pointed to such posts in the administration as they are quali- 
 fied by education and character to fiU. 
 
 In an article on " the colour problem " contributed to the 
 ' Edinburgh Eeview ' of April 1921, I summarised my con- 
 clusions in the following words, which the President of the 
 United States recently quoted in a speech in the Southern 
 States, as seeming to him to indicate " the true way out " : ^ 
 
 ^ Telegram communicated to the Press by the Colonial Office at the request of 
 the Governor. The assertions were later denied by other chiefs. 
 
 ^ Speech at Birmingham, Alabama, 26th October 1921. Individual dislikes, and 
 aversion to social intercourse, which between persons of the same race would be 
 ascribed to their real causes, are often indiscriminately attributed to colour pre- 
 judice. The desire to tread a separate path in matters social and racial is, as some 
 coloured writers have assured us, as much desired by themselves as by whites. 
 
NO RACIAL DISCEIMINATION. 87 
 
 " Here, then, is the true conception of the inter-relation of 
 colour : complete uniformity in ideals, absolute equality in 
 the paths of knowledge and culture, equal opportunity for 
 those who strive, equal admiration for those who achieve ; 
 in matters social and racial a separate path, each pursuing 
 his own inherited traditions, preserving his own race-purity 
 and race-pride ; equality in things spiritual, agreed divergence 
 in the physical and material." 
 
 Addressing the Legislative Council in January 1921, the 
 Governor of the Gold Coast said that he hoped to see 50 per 
 cent of the present European stafE in the technical departments 
 replaced by natives, and announced the appointment of a 
 committee to elaborate the organisation of a native Civil 
 Service. In Nigeria a native African of exceptional ability 
 has long held the second highest post in the Education 
 Department in the south, and frequently acted as its head, 
 and was appointed by me to the highest executive post under 
 the Administrator of the colony. Pour hold appointments 
 as medical officers. In the Gold Coast the principal medical 
 officer was at one time a native. That there are but few 
 Africans in the higher branches of the Civil Service is in part 
 due to the fact that few are well quaUfled by force of char- 
 acter and educational attainments, and in part to the fact 
 that unofficial activities offer prospects of more lucrative 
 employment to the really capable. Few adopt the profession 
 of engineering, and it is obvious that difficulties are Ukely 
 to arise if a young African engineer is placed in charge of 
 British platelayers, artisans, and sMlled foremen, but the 
 Survey Department offers more scope. The subordinate 
 clerical service is entirely manned by natives, as also the 
 subordinate posts in the railway, engineering, medical, print- 
 ing, survey, and other technical departments. In Mgeria 
 it is roughly estimated that not less than 4500 posts in the 
 clerical and 2500 in the technical departments are so held, 
 with an aggregate of not less than £500,000 per annum in 
 salaries.* Outside the Government service half the unofficial 
 members of the Legislative Council of the colony and of the 
 Town Council of Lagos are natives, and they are represented 
 also in the Nigerian Council. Efforts have been made to 
 enlist the active participation of African gentlemen on the 
 advisory boards of the various townships, on school com- 
 
 1 Cmd. 468 of 1920, p. 18. 
 
88 THE PEOPLE OP BRITISH TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 mittees, and similar orgamsations, both in the colony and in 
 the protectorate. 
 
 While, therefore, as we have seen, the educated native has 
 not proved himself able to govern communities of which he is 
 iQ no way representative, it is, on the other hand, most desir- 
 able that natives who have the necessary quaMcations of 
 character and education shoidd be afforded every opportunity 
 of participating in the government of the community to which 
 they belong, whether as civil servants or as unofficial members 
 of municipal boards and councils, even if at first their stand- 
 ards of attaimnent faU below those of the British staff, for 
 it is only by the exercise of actual responsibility that efficiency 
 can eventually be attained, and that a tradition of public 
 service can be created. As Lord Milner, speaking at Oxford, 
 observed: "We may even to some extent have to sacrifice 
 efficiency of administration in order to promote contentment, 
 though we cannot as honest trustees afford to sacrifice it 
 too much." ^ 
 
 I am, however, reluctantly compelled to admit that, so 
 far as my own experience goes, it is extremely difficult at 
 present to find educated African youths who are by character 
 and temperament suited to posts in which they may rise to 
 positions of high administrative responsibility.^ 
 
 It is a natural presumption that the illiterate tribes would 
 have more confidence in one of their own race and colour, 
 who could speak their language fluently, view life from their 
 standpoint, and understand and sympathise with their pre- 
 judices as no European could. But I have been frequently 
 assured by those who know them best that the illiterate 
 native, even of the coast cities, is more ready to give his 
 confidence to the white man than to the educated native. 
 
 With the object of creating a class qualified by character 
 and educational attainments to fill responsible positions under 
 Government, I have suggested the formation of a native 
 Cadet Service, the members of which by prolonging their 
 
 • " We must be prepared to see Indian electorates hurt others— the helpless 
 as well as themselves. It is the only way in which the spirit of trusteeship can 
 be called into being and made to grow."— L. Curtis, quoted by Sir V. Chirol. 
 'Times,' 7th June 1918. 
 
 2 My personal experience is limited to the colony of Lagos, where a consider- 
 able number of the leading native gentlemen are immigrants from the older 
 colonies of Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, in which, no doubt, a larger number 
 are fitted for responsible positions. 
 
THE TRUE PATH TO SELF-GOVERNMENT. 89 
 
 studies during the earlier years of their service under special 
 arrangements, and specialising in such subjects as would 
 qualify them for the higher posts, would form a class from 
 which the Government could with confidence select proba- 
 tioners for the Civil Service. I shall discuss this more fully 
 in the chapter on education. The principle might perhaps 
 be inaugurated by the formation at headquarters of a group 
 of clerks specially recommended by heads of departments 
 as qualifled for positions of responsibility and control, and 
 by affording them facilities for special study. 
 
 Some bitter criticisms have been made upon the educated 
 African, and none perhaps more searching than that of his 
 distinguished representative, the late Dr E. Blyden. A 
 French writer draws the conclusion that a literary education 
 on European lines has mischievous results, and that " Great 
 Britain, though animated by a sense of duty and by a high 
 ideal, is creating classes of natives who feel no gratitude to 
 her, but, on the contrary, are bitterly hostile." ^ The edu- 
 cated native would indignantly repudiate this charge, for he 
 loves to present loyal addresses to the Throne. But he some- 
 times fails to realise that loyalty does not begin and end 
 by singing " God save the King," and is incompatible with 
 racial antagonism, which treats with contempt the sym- 
 pathetic efforts of those who, while recognising present limita- 
 tions, seek his best welfare. The more honour is due to those 
 Africans — such as Messrs Carr, Ajasa, and Sapara Williams 
 in Nigeria, and many others in the Gold Coast and Sierra 
 Leone — who with great moral courage have not feared to 
 point the true way to their countrymen, and to expose and 
 condemn false ideals. 
 
 When the Europeanised African has qualified in the school 
 of municipal training, and proved his ability to control his 
 own community and improve its conditions, he can claim, 
 and rightly be accorded, increased representation on the 
 legislative and other councils, and selection by elective vote. 
 The area over which the Legislative Coimcil exercises juris- 
 diction can be gradually extended to include the whole of the 
 tribe to which the native councillors belong, whose customary 
 law and language they understand, and whom they can in 
 fact represent. But it would be unjust to place under their 
 
 ' 'Lois Psychol ogiques de I'Evolution des Peuples,' Lebon. See 'Colonial 
 Journal,' April 1914. 
 
90 THE PEOPLE OP BRITISH TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 control the interior tribes, who themselves have a right to 
 a measure of seL£-rule. The laws which affect these tribes 
 must be made by those responsible for their government. 
 
 But though the claim of the educated African to represent 
 or to rule the people of the interior may be denied, though 
 the foibles and the foUies of some individuals may have 
 brought discredit on his class, and chagrin to those who have 
 a wider sympathy and culture, let us not forget the incalcul- 
 able debt which Africa owes to her educated sons. Adminis- 
 tration in West Africa would be impossible without the vast 
 army of clerks and accountants who fill the departmental 
 offices. Eailway extension would have been equally impos- 
 sible without the telegraphists, guards, signallers, storekeepers, 
 and the rest of the trained assistants. In every branch of 
 effort he bears his share, and both the Government and the 
 merchant would find it difficult to exist without his services. 
 He has, as I have said, a special claim to our sympathy, 
 since he is the creation of the system of education we have 
 introduced, and his aspirations are the natural outcome of 
 the ideals we have taught him. 
 
 I wQl not discuss in this place the races of alien origin 
 which have created so profound an influence in parts of 
 British tropical Africa. Of the Fulani in particular I shall 
 have something to say in the chapter on native adminis- 
 tration. But a bttle-known class in West Africa — the Syrians 
 — merit a word in passing. It astonishes the newcomer to 
 see a white man as pedlar or hawker in the streets of Lagos 
 or Accra, but he soon learns that the Syrian has come to 
 Africa to stay. He lives at first on the same plane as the 
 illiterate African, but he does not inter-marry with him. He 
 brings his wife, and rears his children in the tropics, and by 
 rigid thrift he often rises to positions of considerable affluence. 
 As a trader he is the counterpart in the West of the Indian 
 in East Africa. 
 
 The recent riots in Sierra Leone, in which Syrians were 
 attacked and their property destroyed, causes us misgivings 
 as to the ability of the Europeanised African to deal justly 
 by others when his material interests are involved — a mis- 
 giving which was enhanced by the inclusion among the " re- 
 forms " advocated by the " National Conference," of the ex- 
 pulsion of the Syrians, and their exclusion from West Africa, 
 on the grounds that they were a menace to the good govern- 
 
IS CIYILIgATION A BENEFIT? 91 
 
 ment of the land — a proposal stigmatised as " preposterous " 
 by an unofficial councillor in Mgeria, where there has been no 
 such movement. In French West Africa, however, " measures 
 have been taken by the Government to control the entry of 
 Syrian merchants into the territory and the conduct of their 
 bustaess with the natives," since they compete seriously with 
 the French merchants.^ 
 
 We are perhaps somewhat too apt to take it for granted 
 that the introduction of civilisation must add to the happi- 
 ness of the natives of Africa. The ascent of man to a higher 
 plane of intelligence, self-control, and responsibility is a 
 process not unattended by pain. We in England would not 
 hesitate to prefer our present cidture to the barbarism of our 
 woad-painted ancestors, but who shall say that we are either 
 happier or physically fitter than they ? 
 
 Under the conditions of primitive communal life the law 
 of might prevails. The community is at the mercy of its 
 most combative members, and the older men are generally 
 unable to control the headstrong young warriors who bring 
 war upon the tribe. It is the weak who suffer. Women, 
 after the first flush of youth, lead a life of perpetual toil and 
 slavery. The aged and the sick succumb to the law of the 
 survival of the fittest. 
 
 On the other hand, the enhancement of the value of life 
 to the individual brings with it apprehension. From the 
 ability to realise cause and effect spring many sources of 
 fear unknown to primitive man. A more highly-developed 
 brain and nervous system increases the sensibility to physical 
 pain. Evolution and progress are a law of nature, and since 
 the necessities of his existence compel civflised man to share 
 the produce of the tropics, let us see to it that the process is 
 accompanied by as much benefit and as little injury to the 
 natives as may be. Let us admit that the " blessings of 
 civilisation need not necessarily be limited to our civilisation, 
 and of religion to our religion, without giving a thought to 
 the value of other civilisations, older than and perhaps as 
 admirable in practice as our own, and to other religions in 
 which men have lived and died with comfort and hope for 
 centuries before we ourselves emerged from the rudest bar- 
 barism." ^ 
 
 1 Foreign Office Handbook, No. 100 of 1920, p. 14. 
 
 2 'Times,' 15th January 1907. 
 
92 THE PEOPLE OF BRITISH TKOPICAL APEIOA. 
 
 The practical man, however, recognises the futility of 
 theoretical disputations as to whether or not civilisation is a 
 benefit. Though the Allies in their reply to the German 
 demand for the restitution of her colonies, state that a Man- 
 datory Power will derive no benefit from the exercise of his 
 trusteeship, it would be absurd to deny that the initial motive 
 for the penetration of Africa by Western civilisation was 
 (with the exception of the religious missions) the satisfaction 
 of its material necessities, and not pure altruism. In the 
 circumstances, as Sir Charles Lucas says, the best protection 
 for the native against abuse of power by the white man is 
 to place the white man under the control of a civilised 
 Government.^ 
 
 It is impossible to strike a balance of the immediate profit 
 and loss to the native populations by the advent of civilisa- 
 tion. On the one hand, the freedom of inter-communication, 
 which followed the cessation of inter-tribal war, has had the 
 result of disseminating diseases previously confined to par- 
 ticular localities. It brought from the Congo the " Jigger," 
 and the sleeping-sickness which decimated the population of 
 Uganda. It has afforded to itinerant native traders access 
 to primitive commimities, which they did not previously dare 
 to invade, and they have carried venereal diseases with them 
 both in the east and in the west.^ 
 
 On the other hand, medical science has mitigated the 
 scourge of smallpox by vaccination, and is waging successful 
 war against leprosy, ankylostomiasis, sleeping-sickness, yellow 
 fever, and other endemic diseases. Civilisation has decreased 
 the sum of human misery inflicted by man upon man by tribal 
 war, barbarous practices, and slave-raiding. By promoting 
 trade and increasing wealth it has raised the standard of life 
 and comfort. 
 
 The white man was at first engaged in consolidating his 
 own position, and making the tropics more healthy for Euro- 
 peans engaged in their development. He has now accepted 
 the principle that they must be made more healthy for the 
 
 ^ ' The British Empire,' Lucas, p. 207. 
 
 ^ A Nigerian resident remarks in one of his reports that Fulani herdsmen now 
 penetrate unmolested into pagan areas, where before the era of British rule the 
 cannibal tribes would have disposed of him " by the complete method of eating 
 both him and his cattle. " 
 
BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS. 93 
 
 native population.^ If, then, we have to admit that the first 
 impact of civilisation on barbarism — ^no less than on an 
 Oriental social organisation — is boimd at first to produce 
 some untoward results, we may find encouragement and 
 promise for the future in the undeniable alleviation of human 
 suffering which it has also brought. 
 
 ^ Colonel Amery (Under-Secretary) in the debate on the Colonial Office vote, 
 August 1919. 
 
94 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SOME GENERAL PEINCEPLES OF ADMINISTEATION. 
 
 Nature and functions of the administration — Constitution of a Crown 
 colony — Two principles of administration : (a) Decentralisation — 
 Decentralisation and amalgamation — Reasons for amalgamation — 
 The case of Nigeria — Decentralisation in departments — Method of 
 amalgamation in Nigeria — The principles involved — (6) Continuity : 
 of personnel — Of records — Of Governor's instructions and policy — 
 Continuity in office of Governor — Scheme of continuous respon- 
 sibility — Anticipated advantages — The former system — Objections 
 by permanent officials — Object and limitations — The "Man on the 
 Spot " — The scheme abandoned — Suggestions for promoting con- 
 tinuity and co-operation — Tenure of office of Governor. 
 
 Tke British Empire, as General Smuts has well said, has 
 only one mission — for liberty and self-development on no 
 standardised lines, so that all may feel that their interests 
 and religion are safe under the British flag. Such liberty 
 and self-development can be best secured to the native popula- 
 tion by leaving them free to manage their own affairs through 
 their own rulers, proportionately to their degree of advance- 
 ment, under the guidance of the British staff, and subject to 
 the laws and policy of the administration. 
 
 But apart from the administration of native affairs the 
 local Government has to preserve law and order, to develop 
 the trade and communications of the country, and to protect 
 the interests of the merchants and others who are engaged 
 in the development of its commercial and mineral resources. 
 What, then, are the functions of the British staff, and how 
 can the machinery of Government be most efficiently consti- 
 tuted for the discharge of its duties in those coimtries in Africa 
 which fall under British control ? 
 
 The staff must necessarily be limited in numbers, for if 
 the best class of men are to be attracted to a service which 
 
THE MACHTNEEY OF GOVERNMENT. 95 
 
 often involves separation from family and a strain on health, 
 they must be offered adequate salaries and inducements ia 
 the way of leave, housing, medical aid — or their equivalents 
 in money — for their maintenance in health and comfort while 
 serving abroad, and this forms a heavy charge on the 
 revenues. Policy and economy alike demand restriction in 
 numbers, but the best that England can supply. 
 
 Obviously a consideration of the machinery of British 
 administration in the tropics involves a review of its rela- 
 tions to the home Government on the one hand, and of its 
 local constitution and functions on the other. I wiU take 
 the latter first. 
 
 The Government is constituted on the analogy of the 
 British Government in England. The Governor represents 
 the King, but combines the functions of the Prime Minister 
 as head of the Executive. The Councils bear a certain re- 
 semblance to the Home Cabinet and Parliament, while the 
 detailed work of the administration is carried out by a staff 
 which may be roughly divided into the administrative, the 
 judicial, and the departmental branches. 
 
 The administrative branch is concerned with the super- 
 vision of the native administration and the general direc- 
 tion of policy ; with education, and the collection and control 
 of direct taxes, which involve assessment and close relations 
 with the native popidation ; with legislation and the ad- 
 ministration of justice in courts other than the Supreme 
 Court ; and with the direct government and welfare of the 
 non-native section of the population. 
 
 The departmental staff is charged with duties in connec- 
 tion with transport, communications, and buildings (railways, 
 marine, and public works) ; with the development of natural 
 resources (mines, collieries, forestry, agriculture, and geology) ; 
 with the auxiliary services of government (medical, secretarial, 
 accounting, posts and telegraphs, surveys, &c.) ; and the 
 collection of customs duties. 
 
 The task of the administrative branch is to foster that 
 sympathy, mutual understanding, and co-operation between 
 the Government and the people, without which, as Sir C. 
 Ilbert has observed, no Government is really stable and effi- 
 cient. Its aim is to promote progress in civUisation and 
 justice, and to create conditions under which individual 
 enterprise may most advantageously develop the natui-al 
 
96 SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OP ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 resources of the country. The task of the departments, on 
 the other hand, is to maintain the Government machine in a 
 state of efftciency, and to afford direct assistance in material 
 development. Their motto is efficiency and economy. The 
 two branches work together, and their duties overlap and 
 are interdependent in every sphere. The efficient discharge 
 of those duties ia combination constitutes the white man's 
 title to control. 
 
 There are in my estimation two vital principles which 
 characterise the growth of a wise administration — ^they are 
 Decentralisation and Contiauity. Though, as Lord Morley 
 said of India, " perfectly efficient administration has an 
 inevitable tendency to over-centralisation," it is a tendency 
 to be combated. It has indeed been said that the whole 
 art of administration consists in judicious and progressive 
 delegation, and there is much truth ia the dictum, pro- 
 vided that delegation of duties be accompanied by public 
 responsibility. This is not applicable to the head of the 
 Government alone or in particular, but to every single officer, 
 from the Governor to the foreman of a gang of daily labourers. 
 The man who is charged with the accompUshment of any 
 task, and has the ability and discrimination to select the most 
 capable of those who are subordinate to him, and to trust 
 them with ever-increasing responsibiMty, up to the limi ts 
 of their capacity, will be rewarded not only with confidence 
 and loyalty, but he will get more work done, and better 
 done, than the man who trie§ to keep too much in his own 
 hands, and is slow to recognise merit, originaUty, and effi- 
 ciency in others. His sphere of work becomes a training 
 school, and he is able to recommend his best men for promo- 
 tion to greater responsibility than he himself can confer. 
 The Governor wha delegates to his Lieut.-Govemors, Eesidents, 
 and heads of departments the widest powers compatible 
 with his own direct responsibility to the Crown, will witness 
 the most rapid progress. 
 
 But delegation to an individual who is not equal to the 
 responsibility obviously means disaster, and it is there- 
 fore often advisable to entrust extended powers to the 
 individual rather than to incorporate them as a part of 
 the duties of his office. His successor, who must obviously 
 have less experience, and may or may not be his equal 
 in ability, will not then automatically enjoy the same 
 
DELEGATION OF POWEKS. 97 
 
 latitude, until he has proved his capacity in the higher 
 office. 
 
 Increased latitude to the individual is not, however, in- 
 consistent with increased delegation of duties to the office, 
 more especially ia the administrative branch of the service, 
 where posts must of necessity grow ia importance as the 
 country as a whole develops. It is a frequent ground of 
 criticism that the Colonial Office has been somewhat backward 
 ia appreciatiag the value of this principle in these young and 
 rapidly-growing dependencies. 
 
 The Governor, by delegatiag work to others, would seem 
 to lighten his own task, but in point of fact the more he 
 delegates the more he will find to do ia co-ordinatiag the 
 progress of the whole. Moreover, in order to have a right 
 appreciation of the abihties, and of the personal character 
 of each principal administrative officer and head of depart- 
 ment, he must be in close personal touch with them, and 
 make absolutely clear to them the essential features of his 
 policy. He must be the directiug brain, and leave the execu- 
 tion to others. The task he imdertakes is no light one, and 
 if he should be caUed on to create an administration db ovo, 
 or to lay down new Unes of pohcy in an old one, the work 
 may become more than the time at his command suffices for, 
 and the personal touch with his officers may temporarily 
 suffer from the insistent demands of his office, until he is 
 able gradually to delegate to those in whom he has confidence. 
 
 In applying the principle of decentraUsation it is very 
 essential to maintain a strong central co-ordinating authority, 
 in order to avoid centrifugal tendencies, and the multiplica- 
 tion of units without a sufficiently cohesive bond. I shall 
 revert to this point when discussing the grouping of colonies. 
 
 There are in British tropical Africa several blocks of terri- 
 tory under separate administrations which are contiguous to 
 each other, and the question arises whether it would be more 
 advantageous that they should be placed under a single 
 directing authority, with a single fiscal system, a common 
 railway policy, and identical laws — ^more especially if one 
 controls the coast area, and the other has no access to the 
 seaboard. Such a process would, of course, be in no way 
 opposed to decentralisation of the machinery of Government. 
 Amalgamation (that is, unification) and federation are both 
 natural processes of evolution, as we have seen in the United 
 
 G 
 
98 SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OP ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 States, in Canada, Australia, and South Africa, and more 
 recently in Nigeria. The French have gone even further, 
 and placed colonies widely separated from each other under 
 a central authority. I will deal here only with the question 
 of amalgamation. The federation or grouping of colonies 
 raises a separate issue, which I shall discuss later. 
 
 Where one administration comprises the coast area, and 
 collects the customs dues (which have hitherto formed the 
 bulk of the revenue in most African dependencies), whQe 
 another forms its hinterland, the latter must either estab- 
 lish an inland fiscal frontier, or share the duties collected 
 by its neighbour. The former expedient adds to the cost 
 of all imports — already enhanced by the inherent expense of 
 long and costly transport services (involving a slower turnover 
 of commercial capital), — and is obviously opposed to the 
 progress of trade and development, apart from the heavy cost 
 of the administration of an effective customs and preventive 
 service. The latter course is rendered most difficult by the 
 impossibility of arriving at a division of the customs revenue 
 which will not be resented by both. Imported goods which 
 have paid duty on the coast pass into the hands of native 
 middlemen, and their ultimate destination, by a thousand 
 byways of trade, may be in the hinterland ; or the export- 
 able produce for which they are bartered may originate in 
 the interior territory. It is clearly impossible to discriminate 
 with any accuracy in such circumstances between the value 
 and volume of the trade properly belonging to each adminis- 
 tration. The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce in July 1893 
 made strong representations in this sense to Lord Eosebery 
 regarding Nigeria. The French Governor- General, M. Eoume, 
 referring to the fiscal reorganisation of the French West 
 African colom'es, observed that " it was not right to continue 
 to allow the coast colonies alone to benefit by trade, a large 
 proportion of which was destined for the interior," and 
 Senegal had to make a subsidy to its hinterland. 
 
 A hinterland Government has not only to bear heavy 
 transport charges from and to the coast on its imports and 
 exports, but upon it falls the burden of frontier defence. In 
 order to balance its budget it will probably have to depend on 
 a grant from Parliament, paid by the British taxpayer, while 
 the coast Government may have a surplus revenue. A grant- 
 in-aid involves control by the Imperial Treasury — a depart- 
 
AMALGAMATION — ^WHEBE NECESSAEY. 99 
 
 ment whicli knows nothing of local needs, and is solely con- 
 cerned in reducing the charges — and the dual control of two 
 departments of State is inimical to aU progress. 
 
 With an increase of material prosperity, new and dis- 
 turbing factors arise. An interior administration depends 
 largely for its development on railways and improved water- 
 ways, for which capital is required — but loans are not per- 
 missible while as yet a country depends on an Imperial grant. 
 Even if sufficient revenue for its needs were raised by taxa- 
 tion, payment of taxes must be largely made in kind, which 
 can only be realised by conveying it to the coast. Some 
 smaU part may be sold to merchants for cash, but they 
 will not establish themselves, unless means of transport are 
 available. 
 
 The organisation and control of railways, waterways, and 
 telegraph lines traversing both territories must of necessity 
 be in the hands of a central administration. It would obvi- 
 ously be iaadvisable for one administration to treat the 
 other as foreign territory, and to conclude railway and postal 
 conventions with it in order to exercise separate control over 
 its own section. Increased cost of administration, obstacles 
 to trade, unnecessary accounting, and the certainty of fric- 
 tion must result. A comprehensive and far-sighted railway 
 policy, to which the efforts of both would be consistently 
 devoted, becomes impossible.^ 
 
 When legislation pursues two different channels, differences 
 in policy in regard to native administration, the courts of 
 law, and other vital matters are bound to arise, and it is 
 obviously inadvisable that contiguous communities should 
 be under different systems of taxation, and different penal 
 codes. The evil is accentuated by the fact that the frontiers 
 between the two — often fixed at a time when their geography 
 and ethnology were ahnost unknown, by lines of latitude 
 and longitude instead of by distinctive natural features — 
 must inevitably intersect tribal boundaries. It goes without 
 
 ' The railway in East Africa does not actually traverse Uganda, and the 
 di£Sculty is therefore not so acute, but it depends largely for its earnings on the 
 carriage of merchandise to and from Uganda. Hitherto Kenya has appropriated 
 its revenue. A railway Board has now been formed on which both countries 
 are represented. The control of the Board (unless amalgamation of the two 
 Governments is carried out) must presumably be exercised from Downing Street, 
 — a retrograde step opposed to decentralisation, and tending towards that 
 absentee control from London, which the Indian Railway Committee has so 
 unanimously condemned.— See Cmd. 1512/1921. 
 
100 SOME GENERAL PKIWCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 saying that a single co-ordinated effort will achieve more for 
 the permanent good of a country than the separate efforts 
 of two administrators, not focussed on a common objective. 
 
 Such conditions were applicable to Mgeria, and are still 
 probably applicable to Kenya and Uganda. They were fully 
 described by me iq a Memo, dated May 1905 ; but the amal- 
 gamation of Mgeria, though supported by the Governors of 
 the coastal administrations, was not decided upon till 1912, 
 when Mr Harcourt charged me with the task. To administer 
 such enormous territories as East Africa or Mgeria as a 
 single unit, decentralisation is more than ever necessary, but 
 how it can best be effected is not an easy problem. 
 
 In the administrative branch the chain of responsibiUty 
 from the most junior grade to the head of the Government 
 — the District Officer, the Eesident of a Province, the Lieut.- 
 Govemor — ^is easily forged, but the departments offer a more 
 difficult problem. If on the one hand each department is 
 under a single head, responsible to the Governor, the ten- 
 dency is towards a highly-centralised Government, in which 
 the Lieut.-Govemors are deprived of initiative and financial 
 control, and there is a danger lest their instructions to the 
 local representative of the department may conflict with 
 those of the departmental head. The Lieut. -Governor for 
 aU jyractical purposes ceases to frame his own budget. On 
 the other hand, the duplication of departmental heads in each 
 area under a Lieut. -Governor involves extra cost, and some 
 loss of technical efficiency and co-ordination. There are, 
 moreover, a number of departments whose functions are 
 indivisible, and they must remain under the direct control 
 of the central authority — such as the judicial, railway, mili- 
 tary, &c. 
 
 The scheme of amalgamation adopted in Nigeria was de- 
 signed to involve as little dislocation of existing conditions 
 as possible, while providing for the introduction later of such 
 further changes as were either foreseen, but not immediately 
 necessary, or might be suggested by future experience. They 
 would then be rather in the nature of natural evolution than 
 of reversal. There are twenty-one provinces in Mgeria — 
 exclusive of the Mandate territory in the Cameruns and of 
 the colony proper — each with an average area of 16,000 square 
 miles, and a population of 800,000. To invest each Eesident 
 of a province with large powers of autonomy, or at the least 
 
AMALGAMATION tN NIGERIA. 101 
 
 to create half a dozen Lieut.-Govemorships, would not be a 
 measure of decentralisation but the reverse, for the work 
 arising from each of the separate units — as well as from all 
 the departments — ^would be centralised in the hands of the 
 Governor. The truest principle of decentralisation was to 
 make the area placed under a Lieut.-Govemor so large and 
 important that the oflBicer appointed to its charge could reheve 
 the Governor of all the routine functions of administration, 
 leaving him to direct the general poUcy, initiate legislation, 
 and control those departments which must necessarily be 
 centrahsed. 
 
 The old northern and southern divisions of Nigeria were 
 retained intact (the colony being a separate entity), and 
 placed under Lieut.-Govemors, pending the unification of the 
 laws, the judicial system, and the general policy. It was 
 thought that when the fundamental divergencies in these 
 should have been removed, it would be possible (should the 
 experience gained point in that direction) to create a third 
 Lieut. -Governorship, or to make other changes. The task of 
 amalgamating and re-enacting the statute-books of the two 
 administrations was one which would necessarily take some 
 time. 
 
 The difficulty regarding the decentraUsation of the depart- 
 ments to which I have alluded was dealt with in the following 
 way. A central secretariat (which woidd naturally later 
 become the principal secretariat of Mgeria) was set up, while 
 Lieut. -Governors retained their own secretariats. The de- 
 partments which I have described as necessarily indivisible 
 remained under the Governor and the Central Secretary. 
 The other large departments, such as the Medical and Public 
 Works, were retained in each imit as fuUy organised entities, 
 and their receipts and expenditure were included in the Lieut.- 
 Governor's budget, but they were placed under the general 
 supervision of an officer senior to both the departmental 
 heads, who, without interfering with the Lieut.-Governor's 
 control, preserved uniformity and technical efficiency, and 
 acted as adviser to Government.^ Minor departments, such 
 as Police, Education, &c., whose spheres of action do not 
 
 ' In proportion as the head of a department ceases to exercise executive 
 functions, and acts as adviser to Government, he approaches to the position of 
 a "Minister" in a self-governing colony, and the germ of a future development 
 is introduced. 
 
102 SOME GENERAL PEESrCIPLES OF ADMINISTEATION. 
 
 overlap, remained separate in each unit. Departmental pro- 
 motion was in all cases to be determined by a common roster. 
 
 In fiscal matters the whole of Nigeria became a single 
 entity. All revenue was paid into the common Treasury (a 
 " central " department), and each Lieut. -Governor and the 
 heads of the central departments framed and submitted his 
 own estimates to the Governor, who personally examined 
 them with him, and assigned such funds for new works or 
 for departmental expansion as the requirements of the coun- 
 try as a whole permitted. I shall describe more fully the 
 functions and powers of the Lieut.-Governor and other ofl&cers 
 in the next chapter. It suffices to note here that the methods 
 by which it was sought to secure effective decentralisation 
 were {a) by the delegation of executive, financial, and adminis- 
 trative powers to Lieut.-Governors who would exercise re- 
 sponsibility and initiative, and not be merely Deputy-Governors 
 with no executive powers of their own ; ^ (6) the administra- 
 tion of native affairs, being regarded not merely as a depart- 
 ment, but as the most important duty of the administration, 
 the Resident of a Province was as far as possible reUeved of 
 all other administrative duties, in order that he might devote 
 his undivided time and thought to this work ; (c) the authority 
 of its head over a department was unfettered, and subject 
 only to the control of the Governor or Lieut.-Governor, as 
 the case might be. This scheme of amalgamation was adopted 
 in the particuJar circumstances then existing in Nigeria ; and 
 its general principles would of course require adaptation if 
 applied elsewhere, and wiU require modification to the chang- 
 ing conditions of the development of Nigeria itself.^ 
 
 To what extent the principles of decentrahsation may 
 be applied as between the Colonial Ofl&ce and the local Govern- 
 ment is a question I shall discuss in chapters vui. and ix. 
 
 The second of the two principles which I have described 
 as vital in African administration is Continuity, and this, 
 like Decentrahsation, is applicable to every department and 
 to every officer, however junior, but above all to those officers 
 who represent the Government in its relations with the native 
 population. The annually recurrent absence on leave, which 
 
 ^ Decentralisation is the key-note of the Sudan administration, where 
 Qovemors of provinces have the widest powers. 
 
 " A full report was submitted to the Secretary of State, and published as 
 Cd. 468 of 1920. 
 
CONTrNtUTT OF STAFF AND RECORDS. 103 
 
 withdraws each officer in West Africa from his post for about 
 a third of his time, the occasional invalidings and deaths, 
 and the constant changes rendered unavoidable of late years 
 by a depleted and iaadequate staif, have made it extremely 
 difficult to preserve in that part of Africa any continuity 
 whatever. The African is slow to give his confidence. He is 
 suspicious and reticent with a newcomer, eager to resuscitate 
 old land disputes — ^perhaps of half a century's standing — ia 
 the hope that the new officer ia his ignorance may reverse 
 the decision of his predecessor. The time of an officer is 
 wasted ia picMng up the tangled threads and informiag 
 himself of the conditions of his new post. By the time he 
 has acquired the necessary knowledge, and has learnt the 
 character of the people he has to deal with, and won their 
 confidence, his leave becomes due, and if on his return he is 
 posted elsewhere, not only is progress arrested but retro- 
 gression may result. 
 
 It is also essential that each officer should be at paias 
 to keep full and accurate records of aU important matters, 
 especially of any conversation with native chiefs, ia which 
 any pledge or promise, imphed or expUcit, has been made. 
 It is not enough that official correspondence should be filed 
 — a summary of each subject should be made and decisions 
 recorded and brought up to date, so that a newcomer may 
 be able rapidly to put himself au courant. The higher the 
 post occupied by an officer, the more important does the 
 principle become. 
 
 It is especially important that the decisions of the Governor 
 should be fuUy recorded in writing, and not merely by an 
 initial of acquiescence or a verbal order. This involves heavy 
 office work, but it is work which cannot be neglected if mis- 
 understandings are to be avoided and contiauity preserved. 
 The very detailed instructions regarding the duties of each 
 newly-created department which were issued when the admia- 
 istration of ^Northern Mgeria was first inaugurated, served a 
 very useful purpose in maintaining continuity of policy, tUl 
 superseded on amalgamation by briefer general orders. 
 
 In the sphere of administration there are obviously many 
 subjects — education, taxation, slavery and labour, native 
 courts, land tenure, &c. — in which uniformity and continuity 
 of policy is impossible in so large a country, unless explicit 
 instructions are issued for guidance. By a perusal of the 
 
104 SOME GENERAL PBINCIPLES OF ADMTMSTEATION. 
 
 periodical reports of Eesidents, the Governor could inform 
 himself of the difficulties which presented themselves in the 
 varying circumstances of each province, and think out the 
 best way in which they could be met, and could note where 
 misunderstandings or mistakes had been made. By these 
 means a series of Memoranda were compiled, and constantly 
 revised as new problems came to light, and as progress ren- 
 dered the earlier instructions obsolete. They formed the 
 reference book and authority of the Eesident and his staff. 
 
 In a country so vast, which included communities in all 
 stages of development, and differing from each other pro- 
 foundly in their customs and traditions, it was the declared 
 policy of Government that each should develop on its own 
 lines ; but this in no way lessens the need for uniformity in 
 the broad principles of policy, or in their application where 
 the conditions are similar. It was the aim of these Memo- 
 randa to preserve this continuity and uniformity of priaciple 
 and policy. ^Newcomers, by studying them, could make 
 themselves fuUy acquainted with the nature of the task 
 before them, the problems to be dealt with, and the 
 attitude of Government towards each of those problems. 
 Senior officers were spared the labour and loss of time involved 
 in frequent iteration, when noting any misunderstanding or 
 ignorance in the reports of. their subordinates, by simply 
 inviting attention to the pertinent paragraph of the Memo- 
 randum. Subversive policies cannot gradually creep in, and 
 any change must be deliberately inaugurated by the formal 
 cancellation of the particular instructions in the Memoranda. 
 Though the preparation of the Memoranda involves consider- 
 able labour, they result in an eventual saving in the time 
 both of the Governor and of senior officers. They are the 
 embodiment of the experience of the most capable officers, 
 co-ordinated by the head of the Government, who has access 
 to the reports and is familiar with circumstances of aU. When 
 any point of particular difficulty presents itself where opinions 
 are in conflict, and the information insufficient to form a 
 clear judgment on the principles involved, the Governor may 
 perhaps cause a precis to be circulated before a final decision 
 is reached. The little volume of ' Political Memoranda ' has 
 been of much use in Nigeria. It deals solely with the actual 
 problems of practical administration. 
 
 The Statute Book, the Eegulations and Orders made under 
 
CONTINXHTY IN OFFICE OF GOVEENOU. 105 
 
 the laws, the General Orders, and the Governor's Memoranda 
 on administrative subjects, contain between them in a readUy 
 accessible and compact form the whole structural policy of 
 the Administration, and constitute the " Laws and Usages " 
 of the country. Had such a quartette existed, revised de- 
 cennially since the earliest origin of our Indian Empire and 
 of our Crown colomes, they would have formed valuable 
 material for the history of the Empire. In Africa we are 
 laying foimdations. The superstructure may vary iu its 
 details, some of which may perhaps be ill-designed, but the 
 stability of the edifice is unaffected. Ton may puU down and 
 re-erect cupolas, but you cannot alter the design of the founda- 
 tions without first destroying all that has been erected upon 
 them. 
 
 Important as it is that the British Staff, so long as they 
 are efficient, should remain in the same posts without more 
 iutemiption than is necessary for the preservation of health, 
 and the prevention of ennui or " staleness," it is of stiU greater 
 importance that contiauity should be maintained in the case 
 of an efficient Governor, who directs the poUcy of the whole 
 country.! For in a rapidly-progressing country poUcy and 
 legislation are developed from day to day. Regulations and 
 Orders in Council for the carrying out of laws are matters of 
 daily consideration ; and in spite of every effort to decentra- 
 lise and to delegate powers, the Governor has to deal daily 
 with large numbers of Minute papers, each calling for a 
 considered judgment on some problem of sufficient importance 
 for reference to him. 
 
 It is above all important that he should be present towards 
 the close of the year, when the estimates are framed ia which 
 the programme of material progress — ^railways, roads, buildings 
 — and increases of staff, &c., are settled. These months, and 
 the first quarter of the new year, are far more important 
 from an administrative and business point of view than the 
 remaining months, which form the rainy season in the tropics 
 north of the Equator. The accounts are completed ; annual 
 
 ' The 'Times,' diecuosing the "Administrative problem in Equatorial Africa," 
 in a well-informed article some years ago (1st Oct. 1901), pointed out that the 
 entire absence of continuity in the administration of Uganda had produced 
 results which were alike "deplorable and discreditable." The bewUdering 
 rapidity of the changes in Commissioners, each of whom experimented with 
 the unfortunate country by introducing new and subversive policies, made it 
 impossible to fix any responsibility. 
 
106 SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 reports from all departoents begin to come in, and must be 
 reviewed ; and the yearly report to the Secretary of State, 
 for which they form material, must be compiled. Com- 
 munications are no longer impeded by washouts, or roads 
 too soft from rain to carry vehicles, and the season permits of 
 travel and iaspection. In order always to be present at this 
 season, a Governor ia West Africa must take his leave either 
 after eight or after about seventeen months in the country, 
 and so make his absence coincide with the raiay season. 
 By which arrangement wiU continuity be best preserved ? 
 
 The seventeen months' tour of service involves a heavy 
 strain. The Governor's absence on completing it would 
 extend over a period of about 6^ months, iacluding voyages, 
 thus seriously encroaching on the working season. During 
 so long a period many matters of first-class importance must 
 be decided without awaiting his return, new legislation must 
 be put through, and even questions of policy may be affected. 
 By so long an absence continuity is seriously sacrificed. 
 Another hand must guide the hehn, or there must be a period 
 of stagnation and delay. Important questions await his 
 return, and leave him but little time to read up aU that has 
 transpired during his long absence, so that he finds himself 
 wasting precious time in the hopeless endeavour to overtake 
 arrears at a moment of exceptional pressure, or dealing with 
 questions with which he is perforce imperfectly acquainted. 
 
 The eight months' period of residential service offers less 
 disadvantage in these respects, and is already applicable to 
 the judges in Mgeria. But even an absence of four months 
 in each year (including voyages) is a distressing break in con- 
 tinuity, if the Governor during this period is wholly detached 
 from his work. It was, however, found necessary by Lord 
 Cromer — though the climate of Cairo or Alexandria is better 
 than that of West Africa, — and I beUeve he attributed much 
 of his success to his annual holiday. The Governor-General 
 of the Sudan also takes an annual leave, bringing home with 
 him during the rainy season many of his senior officers, and 
 transacting much business for his Government during his 
 time in England. During the absence of Lord Cromer, or 
 Sir R. Wingate, the locum tenens could not initiate any new 
 policy or legislation. This was the Foreign Office solution of 
 the problem. The Niger Chartered Company had found it no 
 less necessary for their highest officers (the Agent-General 
 
CONTINUOUS ADMINISTRATION SCHEME. 107 
 
 and Chief Justice) to come home yearly, though iu their case 
 the admioistration was directed from London. 
 
 After six years' experience in West Africa, during which 
 an exceptionally robust constitution enabled me to adopt 
 the sixteen to eighteen months' period of foreign service, 
 and so to avoid absence at the essential period of the year, 
 I reaUsed very fuUy its disadvantages, and submitted to 
 Mr Lyttelton, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, a 
 proposal by which I hoped that this lack of continuity might 
 be overcome, and at the same time a closer touch assured 
 between the Governor and the Secretary of State and com- 
 mercial interests in England. The proposal was seen by 
 Mr Chamberlain, who had recently left the Colonial OfBce, 
 and he was inclined to approve it. The principle was also 
 approved by Lord Cromer and other statesmen.^ Mr Lyttelton 
 declared his intention of giving it a trial in Mgeria. 
 
 In brief, I suggested that " the Governor-General (of an 
 amalgamated Mgeria) should spend six months of each year 
 in Airica, and six in England, being on duty and not on leave 
 while at home . . . whether in England or in Africa he would 
 remain the sole working head of the administration." The 
 scheme was not cordially accepted by the permanent officials, 
 and did not at that time take effect ; but when in 1912 I was 
 invited by Mr (now Lord) Harcourt to undertake the amalga- 
 mation of the two Nigerias, he agreed to adopt it on the 
 basis of seven months' residence abroad and five months' 
 absence, including voyages — ^which I think is better than six 
 and six. With rapid sea passages it might even be eight and 
 four months. 
 
 The scheme was in operation for some years, and I doubt 
 whether the task of amalgamation, with the added difficulties 
 of the war, cotdd have been satisfactorily carried through 
 without it. Arrangements had been made so that the r61e of 
 the permanent officials at the Colonial Office should in no 
 way be interfered with by the presence of the Governor, while 
 his residence in England for four months during the rains 
 each year involved an absence from Mgeria no longer, though 
 more frequent, than the normal period of leave. He was in 
 
 ^ Sir A. Hemming, who had served for thirty years in the Colonial OfiBce, 
 latterly as head of the West African Department, and subsequently as Governor 
 of two Crown colonies, warmly supported it in a letter to the ' Times ' (26th 
 December 1905). 
 
108 SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 point of fact more closely in touch with his deputy than it 
 he had been travelling ia a distant part of Nigeria. His 
 deputy in Africa was vested with full powers to deal with 
 any emergency which might arise, and to carry on routine 
 work. 
 
 It was hoped that the arrangement would have beneficial 
 results in relieving the Governor for a period ia each year, 
 when he could best be spared, of the burden of routine work, 
 and enable him to devote time to the study of larger problems,^ 
 and to maintaiu a close touch with commercial interests in 
 England. For the latter reason it was welcomed by the mer- 
 chants." It was anticipated also that the Governor's presence 
 in England — ^not on leave but on duty — might, if duly utUised, 
 prove of value to the home authorities, and minimise despatch- 
 writing. 
 
 Under the normal Colonial Office system, the Governor 
 when on leave was rarely consulted, except on a matter of 
 very exceptional importance, and was at liberty to leave 
 England if he desired. No doubt it was the kiudly iutention 
 that he should have complete rest. The Acting- Governor was 
 vested with full powers, and for the time being entirely super- 
 seded the Governor, and was alone recognised by the Colonial 
 Office. Since the Governor did not see the despatches sent 
 to or received from his Government, he lost all touch, and 
 on his return he had a heavy task to overtake arrears and 
 possess himself of what had transpired in his absence. The 
 Foreign Office, as Lord Lansdowne told the House of Lords, 
 Uke the French Government, has a different tradition. 
 
 Experience did not lessen the hostility of the permanent 
 officials to the scheme.^ It was, they considered, contrary 
 
 ^ Compare Burke, addressing a member of the French National Assembly in 
 1791 : "They who always labour can have no true judgment. You never give 
 yourselves time to cool. You can never survey from its proper point of sight the 
 work you have finished before you decree its final execution. You can never 
 plan the future by the past. . . . These are among the effects of unremitted 
 labour, when men exhaust their attention, burn out their candles, and are left in 
 the dark." 
 
 " One of them had in fact advocated a very similar scheme — viz., that a 
 Governor " should return home for six months after nine in Africa, and be 
 responsible for his locum, tenens and all his acts during the interval." 
 
 ' An obviously well-informed article appeared in the ' Glasgow Herald ' of 
 13th July 1912, before the scheme was brought into effect, stating that Mr 
 Harcourt's decision "was strongly resented by the permanent ofBcials ... no 
 other Crown Colony [they said] is carried on in this way, which means the 
 practical supersession of the permanent Under-Secretaries." 
 
ITS OBJECT AND LIMITATIONS. 109 
 
 to all precedent, and even to constitutional usage. This 
 coidd not indeed be gainsaid, but the experiment could be, 
 and was, legalised Mke other experiments in Empire Ad- 
 ministration, by Letters Patent and Eoyal instructions. The 
 apprehensions of the permanent ofBcials were not unnatural, 
 for the presence of the Governor at the Colonial Office seemed 
 to threaten the anon5rmity of the Secretary of State, from 
 which they derived the powers so absolutely essential to the 
 working of the Colonial Office system. Eegarding this system 
 I shall have some remarks to make in chapter viii. ; but in 
 so far as this scheme is concerned, no interference with the 
 functions of the permanent officials was ever contemplated, 
 or alleged while it was in operation. The Governor, though 
 working in close relation with the department, was not part 
 of it, and had no claim to see the Office Minutes. 
 
 The primary object of the scheme, as I have explained, 
 was to promote a true continuity of responsibility and con- 
 trol, in lieu of a continuity which was not real. That there 
 is a tendency on the part of an Acting-Governor, vested with 
 the fullest powers, to inaugurate policies of his own, had 
 been the experience of more than one West African colony. 
 It may not go so far as the reversal of legislation — ^which 
 could be vetoed by the Secretary of State — and it may even 
 be due to misunderstanding rather than to deliberate inten- 
 tion, but the result is equally deplorable. 
 
 The practicability of the principle of continuous respon- 
 sibility of the Governor when absent from his post, and of 
 his annual return to England, must, of course, depend largely 
 on the distance of the colony and the time taken in sea 
 voyages. It is adapted only to a group of colonies under a 
 Governor-General — and the two Mgerias, in size, population, 
 and wealth, might be said to represent such a group — and 
 to colonies within a comparatively short sea voyage of Eng- 
 land. A scheme which has been found feasible for West 
 Africa, Egypt, and the Sudan would not be suitable for the 
 Straits Settlements, Ceylon, or Mauritius, unless aviation 
 introduces new possibilities in the future. The French system 
 in West Africa — ^which I shall presently describe — ^is not 
 dissimilar. 
 
 British pubUc opinion is in favour of trusting the " Man 
 on the Spot," who represents the King, and is held respon- 
 sible by the nation. If trouble occurs through the action of 
 
110 SOME GENERAL PEINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 his deputy, it is the Governor's policy which is blamed. He 
 should therefore have the same control over his deputy -when 
 he is in London as he would have were he absent in some dis- 
 tant part of the protectorate, where for all practical admiaistra- 
 tive purposes he would be less in touch than when in London. 
 But the scheme, as Mr Churchill wittUy said, involves an 
 enlarged definition of the " Spot," due to the rapid means of 
 transport and communications which steam and telegraphy 
 have introduced, in order to give effect to the essential prin- 
 ciple — control by the man who is held responsible. 
 
 No project can, however, be successfully carried out to 
 which one party is consistently opposed, and the scheme 
 has been abandoned, — nor shorild I have devoted so much 
 space to it were it not that its revival — possibly ia some 
 modified form — ^would certainly in my view be desirable, if 
 the proposal to " group " colonies — which I shall deal with 
 in chapter ix. — were adopted. 
 
 How, then, in the meantime can contiauity of responsi- 
 bility and co-operation best be preserved ? It has been said 
 that contiauity is maintained by the permanency of the 
 officials at the Colonial Office, whose r61e it is to oppose sub- 
 versive policy by a new Governor based on insufficient ex- 
 perience, or the assumption of too wide powers by an Acting- 
 Governor. This is, of course, an essential function of the 
 Colonial Office under the present system — a function which, 
 as we have seen, the Foreign Office had been accused of fail- 
 ing to perform in Uganda. The duty of acting as a drag on 
 the wheels may indeed preserve continuity, but it is not 
 necessarily a continuity of progress, and may even produce 
 an attitude of mind tolerant of delays, and hostile to new 
 lines of thought. 
 
 If it were made manifest to a Governor on leave that his 
 presence and assistance is welcomed at the Colonial Office ; 
 if he saw all correspondence with the Acting-Governor, and 
 were informed of all proposed changes ; if the atmosphere 
 of secrecy were exchanged for one of absolute frankness, not 
 only by the seniors but by the juniors of the Office, and he 
 were consulted in matters regarding his sphere of work, and 
 invited to Conferences and Committees ; if his period of 
 leave were invariably to coincide with the rainy season — 
 either annually with an absence of three to four months 
 only, or (siace conditions in West Africa now admit of longer 
 
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR CONTINUITY. HI 
 
 residence) every alternate year, with a total absence not 
 exceeding six months (say, from mid-March to mid-Septem- 
 ber) ; and finally, if the powers of the Acting-Governor were 
 strictly curtailed, and the continuous responsibility of the 
 Governor were officially recognised — much might be done not 
 only to promote continuity, but also to forward the best 
 interests of the country. 
 
 In the latter direction clear rules should be laid down 
 and published. The institution of legislation, the approval 
 of important leases, and the appropriation of any con- 
 siderable sums unprovided in the estimates, should be re- 
 served to the Governor. His deputy should have no power 
 to cancel or alter existiag Eegulations, General Orders, or 
 Governor's instructions, or to issue any iastructions contrary 
 to these in letter or spirit, or incompatible with the general 
 policy in regard to the native administration. He should 
 not alter the boundaries of provinces, depose or appoint 
 chiefs of the highest rank, alter the permanent distribution 
 of the military forces, or give pledges to merchants or mis- 
 sionaries which involve important principles, without prior 
 reference to the Governor. 
 
 The prosperity of a colony, and the welfare of its popula- 
 tion, must obviously depend very largely on the character 
 and energy of its Governor. It is therefore of the first im- 
 portance that the best men should be selected for these posts, 
 and that during their tenure of ofl&ce the Secretary of State 
 shoiild have frequent opportunities of judging of their ability 
 and sustained energy and enthusiasm. 
 
 The work and character of a Governor cannot be gauged 
 by his popularity, or by the hearsay evidence of juniors, or 
 of those whose pecuniary interests may have been affected 
 by measures needed for the good of the country, for they are 
 necessarily inadequately informed. Unpopularity arising 
 from questions of pubhc policy may indeed be a proof of 
 strength of character and of a disinterested sense of duty. 
 
 It is manifest that when the right man is in the right place, 
 it is to the benefit of the country that his tenure of office 
 should be prolonged ; but in order to avoid the retention of 
 a man who has not come up to the expectations formed of 
 him, or who, though thoroughly capable, is unsuited to the 
 particular post, the period of Governorship should be limited 
 as now to six years (though earUer transfers could, of course. 
 
112 SOME GENEEAL PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTEATION. 
 
 be made), and the extension of this term should carry with 
 it an increase of emoluments, so that the Governor may not 
 suffer in pocket or status, and the extension may be regarded 
 as a recognition of merit. There is a widespread feeUng in 
 the senior ranks of the service — the bitterness of which is 
 probably not appreciated in Downing Street — ^that present 
 methods provide no safeguard against inefficiency, and no 
 guarantee for the selection of the best men. 
 
 A Governor is often a married man with a family. In the 
 conditions hitherto prevailing ia Africa, except in the eastern 
 Highlands, he must be separated from the latter, even if 
 his wife (probably no longer young) is able to accompany 
 him. The best men, therefore, are apt to look for promotion 
 to a colony which does not necessitate such separations. 
 It is only within the last dozen years that Governors have 
 remained for their full period of office in West Africa. Formerly 
 they rarely remained for more than three years. Continuity 
 again suffers, for Governors appointed from the eastern colonies 
 (as so many have been in West Africa) have much to learn 
 and imlearn before they become familiar with African con- 
 ditions and African character — so essentially different from 
 those of the East. 
 
 In the self-governing colonies limitation of tenure of office 
 has special advantages. Continuity is maintained, not by the 
 Governor-General, but by his ministers. Past controversies are 
 buried with the advent of a new Governor, and the progress of 
 democratic institutions in the Mother Country, and her rela- 
 tions towards the colony, are more accurately represented. 
 The new Governor is, in fact, more up-to-date as the repre- 
 sentative of the feelings and changes in Great Britain. In 
 the tropical dependencies the case is otherwise. Personality 
 counts for so much with native races that the departure of a 
 man who has gained their confidence may set the clock back 
 and delay progress — and the same may be said of material 
 development. Given the right man, the longer he stays the 
 better, provided he retaias his energy and enthusiasm — as 
 results have proved in Egypt and elsewhere. On the other 
 hand, as decentraUsation proceeds, the force of these argu- 
 ments decreases. Continuity of method and policy is better 
 assured, and the " new blood " which the Colonial Office 
 constantly endeavours to infuse into the colonies has its 
 advantages in bringing new ideas and new experience, and in 
 
CONTINXJITY — THE PARAMOUNT NEED, 113 
 
 preventing an administration from becoming limited in its 
 channels of progress under the continued control of the same 
 man. 
 
 Continuity may therefore suffer in three ways : first, by 
 the short tenure of his post by a Governor ; secondly, by his 
 long absence on leave ; and thirdly, by the indefinite powers 
 given to his temporary deputy. 
 
 It may be said that as Faith, Hope, and Charity are to the 
 Christian creed, so are Decentralisation, Co-operation, and 
 Continuity to African Administration — and the greatest of 
 these is Continuity. 
 
 H 
 
114 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE MACHINERY OF ADMINISTEATION. 
 
 The Legislative Council — Unofficial representation : (a) European un- 
 official members ; (6) native unofficials ; (c) representation of the 
 masses — Method of enacting laws — The official vote — The Executive 
 Council — Its duties, procedure, and composition^Value of Executive 
 Council — Committees — The Nigerian Council — The Governor — The 
 Governor's deputy — The Lieut. -Governor — The Resident — The Ma- 
 layan and Nigerian systems — Conditions in Malaya — Contrast between 
 the two — The District OflSoer — His training — Necessity for acquiring 
 the language — Advantages of a lingud francd — Duties of the District 
 Officer — Continuity at his post. 
 
 Ttirning from general principles to the machinery of ad- 
 ministration, the Governor and the Councils over which he 
 presides first claim consideration. The powers and duties of 
 the Governor and the constitution and functions of the 
 Councils are laid down in the " Letters Patent " which con- 
 stitute each colony, or the Eoyal " Orders in Council " which 
 take their place in the case of a protectorate. These instru- 
 ments are supplemented by " Boyal Instructions," in which 
 they are further elaborated. 
 
 The constitution of the Legislative Council varies greatly 
 in different colonies and protectorates.^ In some of the 
 Crown colonies there is an unofficial majority, either nomi- 
 nated or partly elected by constituencies ; but in the African 
 dependencies the unofficial members are in a minority, and 
 are nominated by the Crown except in the case of Kenya, 
 which has eleven elected members. Colonial legislatures can 
 only exercise jurisdiction in their own territories, unless special 
 power is given to them to legislate for adjacent regions.* In 
 
 1 See Taring's 'Law relating to the Colonies,' p. 61. Also Colonial Regula- 
 tions, chap. i. — ' Colonial Office List ' (1921), p. 793. 
 
 2 Taring, pp. 61 and 132. 
 
TINOFFICIAI, EEPB,BSENa?ATION. 115 
 
 Southern Nigeria, prior to amalgamation, the Legislative 
 Council of the colony legislated for the protectorate,^ but its 
 functions are now Umited to the colony proper, and the 
 Governor legislates for the protectorate. Every protectorate 
 Bill is placed before the Executive CouncU before the Gover- 
 nor's assent is given, a draft having been published in the 
 official gazette for some time prior to enactment, unless the 
 BUI is urgent, or there is other good reason for not doing so. 
 This affords opportunity for the expression of public opinion 
 in regard to it, a course which is the more necessary in West 
 Africa, since the principals of most of the firms there retain 
 the direction of their commercial affairs largely in their own 
 hands in England, and their local representatives have, ac- 
 cording to their statements, insufficient authority to voice 
 their opinions.^ 
 
 Unofficial membership of the Legislative Council is shared 
 between the European and native communities. The " Mon- 
 tagu-Chehnsford Eeport " and the writings of Mr Lionel 
 Curtis and Sir Valentine Chirol regarding the great experi- 
 ment which is now being tried in India, have very clearly 
 demonstrated the danger of enlarging the powers of criticism 
 by increased unofficial representation — such as was accorded 
 by the " Morley-Minto Eeforms " — without the responsibility 
 which men feel when they may be called upon to translate 
 their theories into practice.^ A community, therefore, which 
 is ripe for representative Government should be able to pro- 
 vide individuals capable of holding high executive ofiBce.* I 
 shall revert to this question in the chapter on native rule. 
 
 The petition of the " National Conference " from West 
 Africa complained that nominated counciQors were not re- 
 presentative of the people (though its leading signatories 
 owed their position to nomination). It elicited from the 
 
 ^ These powers apparently grew out of the extra-colonial jurisdiction acquired 
 by Governor Maclean in the Gold Coast hinterland. They were formally 
 conferred on the Legislative Councils by a series of Orders in Council. 
 
 « See Cd. 6427 of 1912, question 99. 
 
 ' 'Dyarchy,' by L. Curtis. Letters to the 'Times' by Sir V, Chirol, 
 7th June 1918, &o. 
 
 * "Representative government" is the term used for an unofficial majority 
 in the Legislature, and is of course very different from " responsible government, " 
 viz., complete home rule. The danger of the premature grant of too advanced a 
 form of government was shown in the case of Jamaica, where, after twenty years 
 of friction and the refusal of the unofficial majority to vote supplies, the Con- 
 stitution was remodelled. Mr Alleyne Ireland considers "the divided counsels 
 of an elected Legislature " to be " the insidious evil of the Tropics." 
 
116 THE MACHTNERT OF ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Secretary of State (Lord Milner) his opinion that these de- 
 pendencies are not yet fitted for the principle of election or 
 of an unofficial majority. 
 
 It may be accepted as a pririciple of British colonial policy 
 that the interests of a large native population shaU not be 
 subjected to the wiU of a minority, whether of Europeans or 
 of educated natives.^ Thus in India the Governor-General 
 in Council legislated without reference to the Legislature for 
 scheduled (e.g., backward or primitive) districts and for 
 native states.^ In Natal, prior to the Union, the Governor 
 had a commission as " Paramount Chief " for the control of 
 extra-colonial natives, and the Legislative Council could not 
 interfere with this jurisdiction, while at the Cape the High 
 Commissioner governed the protectorates, and legislated for 
 them, in a separate capacity from that in which he presided 
 as " Governor " in the Cape Legislature. They remain under 
 his control, and are not subject to the Union Government. 
 
 The weight which the British unofficials should carry is ia 
 West Africa impaired by the lack of authority to which I 
 have referred. Miss Kingsley protested against the inade- 
 quacy of the representation accorded to British merchants, 
 but I do not recall any complaint by themselves. Though 
 the local representatives are assured of a sympathetic hearing 
 and a full investigation of any suggestions they may have to 
 offer, the methods of Crown colony Government as appUed 
 in the African dependencies enable the principals of firms in 
 England to carry their proposals direct to the Colonial Office, 
 and thus to be somewhat indifferent to local representation. 
 
 There are already indications that the rapid progress of 
 commerce in West Africa will bring with it a necessity for 
 responsible heads of firms, who can speak with authority, to 
 reside on the spot, and a fuller realisation of the duty and 
 privilege of bearing their share in the councils of the countries 
 in which their profits are made, so that as in the Eastern 
 colonies local questions affecting trade will increasingly be 
 decided locally without the delay and circumlocution involved 
 by Colonial Office intervention. Increased representation to 
 the merchants is only possible (unless there be an imofficial 
 
 ^ Sir C. Dilke expressed the view that autocracy ia preferable to a "veiled 
 oligarchy" such as would exist if a small body of unofficial Europeans were 
 invested with the power of taxing the natives. 
 
 ^ Ilbert, 'Government of India,' pp. 108, 121, and 214-15. 
 
REPRESENTATION OF THE MASSES. 117 
 
 majority or a large increase in the size of the councils) at the 
 expense of the banking and shipping interests, or of the 
 native members. In the Kenya Colony, where several thou- 
 sand British have settled, the case is of course quite different. 
 
 The Europeanised natives form a very important section 
 of the community, and in proportion to their numbers have 
 a substantial representation in the Legislature. They are 
 necessarily drawn from the English-speaking section, and are 
 not generally (as I have explained) representative of any but 
 their own class. Owing, moreover, to the great distances 
 and lack of means of rapid commimication, the choice of 
 native councillors is practically limited to the inhabitants 
 of the capital city, whose commercial and other interests 
 are not always identical even with those of their own class 
 outside the colony.^ 
 
 That the cry of " self-determination for small nations " 
 should have awakened aspirations, while as yet no claim to 
 a national status could be shown, is neither to be wondered 
 at, nor indeed to be condemned. For these aspirations, 
 though occasionally marred by ill-advised language in the 
 native press, have, on the whole, been characterised by 
 moderation, and conducted by constitutional methods.^ 
 Prosperity, combined with a wrong system of education and 
 widespread illiteracy, has indeed, alike in Ireland, in Egypt, 
 and in India, invariably given rise to unrest and sedition.* 
 
 The real problem is the representation of the bulk of the 
 population, more especially the second of the two classes, 
 which in chapter iv. I described as the " advanced com- 
 munities." Some of these are literate in Arabic, or in their 
 own language, but at present do not speak Enghsh, and are 
 too far distant from the seat of Government (which in West 
 Africa is unfortunately in all cases on the coast) to render 
 attendance by responsible representatives a practical pos- 
 sibility. 
 
 The obvious remedies are the spread of education, and 
 
 ' 'Times' correspondent in Nigeria, 24th May 1912. 
 
 2 The only serious exception appears to be the " Ethiopian Church movement" 
 fostered by American negroes, which was the probable cause of the Natal riots 
 and led to bloodshed in Nyasaland in 1915. 
 
 ' Never in the history of either Ireland or Egypt had a condition of such 
 material prosperity been reached as immediately preceded the outbreak of 
 disorder in both, while of India the 'Times' correspondent writes that "a 
 standard of prosperity never previously approached coincides with a situation 
 never comparably so menacing." — 22nd December 1913. 
 
118 THE MACHINEBY OF ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 especially the knowledge of English, the improvement of com- 
 mimications, and the delegation to such communities of the 
 largest possible powers of control of their own affairs. But 
 even so the desirability that the view of native rulers should 
 be heard in Council on questions of legislation which affect 
 them, and on other matters, cannot be denied. This could 
 perhaps best be effected under present conditions by the 
 appointment of an officer charged to ascertain and represent 
 their views, and to act as their spokesman, both in the Execu- 
 tive and Legislative Councils — just as the Protector of Chinese 
 Lq the Straits is charged with the interests of alien immi- 
 grants. His explanation to them of the Bills before Council, 
 and the opportunity offered to them of expressing opinions, 
 of asking questions, or of submitting motions through him, 
 would be of great value in identifying them with the Govern- 
 ment and in their poUtical education. 
 
 Ordinances applicable to the colony are enacted by the 
 Governor " with the advice and consent " of the Council. 
 They are operative on receiving the Governor's assent, and 
 are transmitted to the Secretary of State, and if not dis- 
 allowed by His Majesty become part of the Statute Book. 
 In Nigeria, in order to avoid duplication and tautology. 
 Bills which refer — as the majority do, wholly or in part- 
 to both colony and protectorate, are laid in fuU before the 
 Legislative Council, and passed " so far as the provisions 
 thereof relate to the colony," any clause which relates ex- 
 clusively to the protectorate being outside the purview of 
 the Council. If, as I have suggested in a previous chapter, 
 the colony and protectorate were merged under a new title, 
 the jurisdiction of the Legislative Council should remain re- 
 stricted. It might perhaps be made co-extensive with that 
 of the Supreme Court, where, as in Nigeria, that Court ope- 
 rates within " local Mmits." The Eoyal instructions direct 
 that Bills relating to certain specified matters shall not be 
 assented to, except in case of urgency, without prior instruc- 
 tions from His Majesty through the Secretary of State. Most 
 ordinances contain a section empowering the Govemor-in- 
 Council to make any necessary Eegulations for giving effect 
 to the law, and the main heads under which such Eegulations 
 may be made are usually specified in the ordinance. 
 
 The influence on legislation which is exerted by the Council, 
 and the extent to which Bills submitted to it are modified 
 
THE OFFICIAL VOTE. 119 
 
 and improved before being finally passed, depends, of course, 
 on the interest taken by members — especially by the unoffl- 
 cials — and the abUity with which their views are presented. 
 It is the desire of the Governments to appoint to the Legis- 
 lative Council those members of the community who are 
 most representative of its interests, and can best voice its 
 opinions. 
 
 The procedure of the Legislative Council both as to motions 
 and as to Bills is modelled on that of the Imperial ParUament. 
 The Government majority is represented by the offlcial 
 members — ^viz., the holders of certain offices named in the 
 " Letters Patent," who are expected to vote with the Govern- 
 ment — while the unofflcials represent the independent criti- 
 cism of the Parliamentary " Opposition." 
 
 This principle was laid down in a circular, dated 17th 
 August 1868, from the Duke of BucMngham and Chandos — 
 at that time Secretary of State for the Colonies. Ofificial 
 members may, if necessary, be required to support the Crown 
 — e.g., to vote ia favour of a Government BiU — ^but if an 
 officer of the Crown has conscientious scruples, which the 
 Governor is unable to remove, he may be excused from taking 
 part in measures to which he objects on these grounds. He 
 could not, however, continue to hold an office which carries 
 with it a seat on the Council, if his conscience should not 
 permit him to give to the Crown such support as may be 
 necessary. In practice, therefore, an official member may in 
 no case vote against Government.^ If there is a unanimously 
 hostile unofficial vote, a clause may (if the Governor so 
 directs) be inserted suspending the operation of the ordi- 
 nance until His Majesty's pleasure is known. 
 
 The Executive CoimcU consists of the holders of the prin- 
 cipal offices of the Government, who are named in the Boyal 
 instructions. They form an advisory body, before which the 
 
 ^ Lord Milner, speaking in the House of Lords on 12th May 1920, justified the 
 official majority in the following terms : " The only justification for keeping an 
 official majority in any colony is that we are convinced that we are better judges, 
 for the time being, of the interests of the native population than they are them- 
 selves. Unless we thought that, we should not be justified in keeping our 
 official majority. If that is the case, then I think that the argument that the 
 unofficial vote was against you is not an argument which possesses any force. 
 The responsibility rests with us. It is not as if we departed from the principle 
 of trusteeship. On the contrary, on the principle of trusteeship, we keep the 
 authority in the hands which we think for the time being most competent to use 
 it, and we must not be fearful about making use of that reserve power." Lord 
 Cromer expressed the same view. — ' Literary and Political Essays,' p. 12. 
 
120 THE MACHTNERT OF ADMINISTBATION. ■ 
 
 Governor must lay all matters of importance, and in par- 
 ticular any BiU which he proposes to bring before the Legis- 
 lative Council, or to enact for the protectorate, and any 
 Eegulation or Order which he proposes to make under any 
 ordinance which requires that the Eegulations, &c., shall be 
 made by the Govemor-in-Council. 
 
 In addition, various duties are laid upon the Council either 
 by Eoyal instructions or by Statute, or by His Majesty's 
 Colonial Eegulations,^ such as the final approval of all pen- 
 sions, gratuities, and other expenditure not specifically pro- 
 vided in the estimates, the review of aU capital sentences, 
 the confirmation of sentences of deportation, and inquiry 
 into cases of misconduct by any except very subordinate 
 officers. 
 
 The Governor presides, and in case of divergence of opinion 
 his decision prevails ; but any member may record his dis- 
 sent in the Minutes, which are periodically transmitted to 
 the Secretary of State. Only such matters are discussed as 
 are laid before the Council by the Governor ; but a member 
 who wishes to bring forward any question, and is not per- 
 mitted by the Governor to do so, may in like manner record 
 the fact with his reasons. The proceedings of the Council 
 are confidential, and every member is bound by oath not to 
 dividge the matters debated. 
 
 The Council may include unofficial members nominated 
 by the Crown, if so provided by the Eoyal iastructions. The 
 advice of such members may on occasion be of great value to 
 the Governor ; but, on the other hand, a merchant may find 
 his position embarrassing, should projects be discussed, or 
 information acquired in his capacity as ComiciUor, which 
 affect his personal interests, and are not known to his com- 
 mercial competitors. An Executive Councillor, moreover, 
 would usually be a member of the Legislative Council, and his 
 position as an independent critic of any BUI is prejudiced if, 
 as a member of the Executive Council — ^which is practically 
 the Government — ^he has already committed himself before 
 consulting public opinion. So far as Europeans are concerned, 
 business men in the tropics have rarely time to devote to the 
 
 ' These Regulations are merely directions given by the Crown to Governors of 
 Crown colonies and protectorates for guidance. They do not constitute a con- 
 tract between the Crown and its servants ; on the contrary, tbey are alterable 
 from time to time without the consent of Qovernment servants. — Taring, p. 56. 
 
VALUE OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL. 121 
 
 details of executive government. The new constitution of 
 Kenya provides for two unofflcials on the Executive Council. 
 
 In Mgeria and other dependencies of great size the Gover- 
 nor (unless he delegates all powers to his deputy) must be 
 able to summon a Council at more than one centre, if it be 
 only for the transaction of statutory obligations. This need 
 is met by the power vested in the Governor to summon 
 oflBcers as " Extraordinary Members." 
 
 The Executive CouncU is an institution of the utmost 
 value. It affords the Governor an invaluable opportunity 
 of inviting the criticism and suggestions of the ablest and 
 most experienced of his staff, not individually but collectively, 
 when the views of one are opposed or confirmed by another, 
 weak points are detected and new aspects brought to Mght. 
 Every dependency should be provided with an Executive 
 Council. There was none in Northern Mgeria prior to its 
 amalgamation with Southern Mgeria, and there is stiU none 
 in Uganda.^ 
 
 The Governor, of course, always has it in his power to 
 appoint a committee to deal with any particular matter ; and 
 in formulating any large scheme, or in drafting any specially 
 constructive ordinance, he would naturally have availed 
 himself to the full of the advice of the officers who had special 
 knowledge of the subject. But committees and departmental 
 experts are alike liable to take too restricted a view.^ When 
 the results of their labours — expanded it may be by the 
 Governor's own views and experience — are laid before the 
 
 ^ There are " Advisory Councils " in Zanzibar (see note, p. 34), the Sudan, and 
 Northern Rhodesia. The latter, consisting of the Administrator and Secretary 
 and five unoflBeial members elected by the European settlers, was created in 1918. 
 The unofficials submit a list of questions, to which the Administrator replies, and 
 resolutions are passed and recorded. In response to a petition from them for an 
 increased share in the government, the Chartered Company has agreed that all 
 details of revenue and expenditure, and all draft laws affecting Europeans (unless 
 urgent and affecting Imperial policy), shall be laid before them, and their views 
 submitted to the High Commissioner before the law is enacted. Lord Buxton's 
 Committee recommends the creation of a Legislative Council. — Cmd. 1471/1921. 
 
 The Governor-General's Council in the Sudan was created in 1910, and consists 
 of four ex-officio and two to four members nominated by him. The Budget and 
 all laws must be passed in Council. There is no Legislative Council. — F.O. 
 Handbook 98, p. 69. 
 
 ^ The East African 'Economic Commission' of 1919 (pp. 23, 24) suggests that 
 decentralisation could be achieved by the creation of Advisory Boards, and in 
 particular by an " Economic Development Board." The powers which it is 
 suggested should be conferred on this Board go far beyond those of an Advisory 
 Committee, and would almost certainly result in friction with the Legislative and 
 Executive Councils. 
 
122 THE MACHINERY OF ADMINISTEATION. 
 
 Executive Council, it has in my experience constantly hap- 
 pened that suggestions of great value are made, and flaws 
 detected, by the fresh minds brought to bear on the subject. 
 
 Government by committees is proverbially unsatisfactory, 
 and may degenerate into a means of shirking responsibility 
 or of limiting free discussion. Their chief value consists in 
 sifting evidence and recording opinions, upon which a larger 
 body, unbiassed as the representatives of particular interests, 
 may form a considered judgment. Undue weight is apt to be 
 attached to the recommendations of a committee of experts, 
 whose conclusions are not infrequently the result of a com- 
 promise on points of very unequal importance.^ The Execu- 
 tive Council forms an admirable body for fuU and free dis- 
 cussion, to which experts can, if desired, be summoned. 
 
 In a smaU colony in which the interests of the bulk of 
 the population are focussed in the capital city, or in which 
 the means of communication by railway are good, the Legis- 
 lative Council may be a fairly representative body. Its 
 unofficial members are influenced by a pubUc opinion voiced 
 in the Press, and made vocal wherever men meet and discuss 
 affairs. Membership is a dignity which carries with it con- 
 siderable responsibility. 
 
 Except perhaps in East Africa, where there is a large 
 number of European settlers, these conditions are not usually 
 found iQ an African dependency. Great distances intervene, 
 necessitating many days' travel, and the Press is not an 
 efficient organ of the best opinion — ^European and native. 
 In Mgeria, for instance, there is a considerable European 
 and educated native community, not only at Lagos, where the 
 Council sits, but at Kano, Kaduna, Bukuru (Minesfield), 
 Calabar, and Port Harcourt, none of which are less than 
 three days' travel by sea or land from Lagos — equal in point 
 of time to the distance between London and Gibraltar. Clearly 
 no ordinary Council can succeed in focussing public opinion 
 in such circumstances. 
 
 To afford in some degree a paUiative for this difficulty, 
 there has been established in Mgeria a Council which, like 
 the General Council of French West Africa, meets yearly, 
 usually on the last days of the year, and has a large member- 
 ship, including representatives — British and native — ^from 
 every important centre, and of aU important interests — 
 
 ' See Mr Bonar Law's opinions quoted on page 171. 
 
OBJECT OF THE NIGERIAN COUNCIL. 123 
 
 banking, shipping, commerce, and mining (the Lagos and 
 Calabar Chambers of Commerce, and the Chamber of Mines, 
 each appoint a member). The official members include all 
 Executive Councillors and Residents of Provinces, &c. The 
 unofficial members comprise six Europeans and six natives, 
 the latter including some of the leadiag chiefs from the most 
 distant parts.^ It is unfortunate that at present few of these 
 can speak EngUsh, but this wiU be remedied ia course of time, 
 and the prospect of attending the Council wiU form an incen- 
 tive to the rising generation to learn EngUsh. 
 
 The proceedings hitherto have consisted of an address by 
 the Governor, in which he reviews the events of the year, 
 gives the latest possible statistics of trade and finance, and 
 explains questions of policy and legislation. This is followed 
 by debates both on the address and on motions previously 
 submitted by members to the president. Thus ample scope 
 for criticism or suggestion is afforded in regard to legislation 
 past and future — or in regard to development works (railways, 
 harbours, &c.), or any other matter which members may 
 desire to bring forward. The Council has no legislative 
 powers. 
 
 The Mgerian CouncU is an attempt to bring together re- 
 presentatives from all parts of a vast country for purposes 
 of discussion, at least once in the year, siace distances and 
 lack of means of communication render it impossible for them 
 to assemble as frequently as is necessary in the case of a Legis- 
 lative Council. As an experiment still ia embryo, it may, I 
 think, claim some success,^ and the experience gained wiU 
 show in what directions its usefulness can best be augmented. 
 My successor has intimated that it is proposed to endow it 
 with some measure of financial control. Some of the desiderata 
 put forward by unofflcials may perhaps be better attained by 
 the Economic Board suggested in a later chapter (p. 492). 
 
 ^ The honour of appointment is much coveted. The Sultan of Sokoto was 
 eager to attend, though the journey involved 256 miles by road and over 
 700 by rail. 
 
 ^ The Member of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce vfho was deputed to 
 report for that body on the proceedings of the Council for 1916 writes : " After 
 reading the report through, as I have done, several times, I have become much 
 more firmly convinced that the Nigerian Council, so long as it is treated by the 
 Governor of the colony as a deliberative and active body (as now), has in it the 
 possibility of doing an immense amount of good service, and of developing the 
 colony on sound business lines, and we merchants should appreciate . . . the 
 idea of such a Council and its present formation and importance." 
 
124 THE MACHINEEY OF ADMINISTEATION. 
 
 West African merchants have raised the question of directors 
 of firms coming to Nigeria to attend the Council as temporary 
 extraordinary members, and the secretary of their association 
 remarks that it is due to the proceedings of the Council that 
 the merchants have been prompted to take a part in the dis- 
 cussion of the problems of Mgeria, instead of merely criticis- 
 ing Government action, as they have usually done in the past. 
 
 Coming now to the oflBcial personnel of the administration ; 
 — ^the Governor is appointed by a Eoyal Commission, and 
 his duties are defined in Eoyal instructions. " He is the 
 single and supreme authority, responsible to and representa- 
 tive of His Majesty . . . entitled to the obedience, aid, and 
 assistance of all military and civil oflBcers." ^ He may grant 
 pardons or remit penalties. He appoints, and subject to 
 certain Eegulations suspends and dismisses, public servants, 
 assents or refuses assent to Bills passed by the Legislative 
 Council, with the exception of Bills on certain matters re- 
 served for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure. He 
 issues warrants for the expenditure of money required for 
 the public service. " The Governor is, of course, bound to 
 obey the King's commands conveyed to him by the Secretary 
 of State in his legislative as well as in his executive capacity, 
 whether or not the course prescribed accord with his personal 
 views and opinions." ^ A Secretary of State recently observed 
 that " the authority and responsibility of the Governor is 
 the basis on which Crown colony administration is founded, 
 and it must not be weakened." 
 
 The autocracy of the Governor is limited on the one hand 
 by the control of the Secretary of State, who exercises a real 
 autocracy, and whose sanction is required not merely in matters 
 of importance, but in many which are absurdly trivial ; and 
 on the other hand, by the influence of the Councils.^ A 
 Governor normally holds office for six years. In West Africa 
 he is, or was, expected, like all other Government servants, 
 to take leave to England after twelve months' residence, 
 involving an absence from his duties of upwards of five 
 months (see pp. 105-110). 
 
 ■ Colonial Regulations. ^ Circular of 17th August 1868. 
 
 ' It is interesting to note that in the island of Guam the American Governor 
 exercises absolute powers, and lately issued a decree that since " the practice of 
 whistling is an entirely unnecessary and irritating noise, no person shall whistle 
 within the limits of the city," under penalty of $5 executive fine. — 'Times,' 29th 
 July 1920. 
 
POWERS OF THE ACTrNG-GOVEENOE. 125 
 
 During his absence the officer who takes his place is vested 
 ■with the full powers of Governor. He has the legal right to 
 make or repeal laws or regulations, to inaugurate or abandon 
 important works ; and ia matters of policy, especially as 
 regards native afEairs, he can give ruliags and pledges to 
 chiefs in the name of the Government. He occupies Govern- 
 ment House, and is addressed as " His Excellency." He 
 would not, however, in practice be allowed to reverse the 
 policy of the Governor or to initiate radical changes. 
 
 The officer who acts as Governor is usually the Colonial 
 Secretary, through whose hands all the Minutes and files have 
 passed which relate to the various matters which have been 
 submitted by the Governor. He is therefore famUiar with 
 the history and antecedents of each question which may 
 arise, and has been in close touch with the Governor, and 
 knows his views. These are undoubted advantages ; but 
 if we may assume that the guidance of the policy ia regard 
 to the native population, and discrimination ia matters in- 
 volving the interests of non-natives, constitute not only the 
 most important of the functions of the Governor, but also 
 the sphere in which the initiative rests primarily upon him- 
 self, and is not shared with the departmental officers of his 
 Council to the same extent as his other duties, it seems clear 
 that the officer who takes his place as Acting-Governor should 
 be a man of administrative experience, rather than one 
 with the training of a secretariat officer. To meet this diffi- 
 culty the experiment has been tried of appointing as secretary 
 the senior or most capable officer from the administrative 
 branch, but this course has two disadvantages. In the first 
 place, the administrative officer is without experience in the 
 management of a large office, and out of touch with depart- 
 mental requirements. In the second place, the staff of the 
 secretariat (to which it is especially necessary to attract 
 exceptionally good men) are afforded no prospect of attaining 
 to the highest post in their department, and it consequently 
 becomes unpopular. 
 
 It has been argued that a sacrifice of continuity is in- 
 volved if a Lieut.-Governor acts for the Governor ; but since 
 it can be arranged that the same Lieut.-Governor should 
 always act as deputy, continuity in the Governor's office 
 would be maintained; and since the same Resident would 
 usually act for the Lieut.-Governor (who as Deputy-Governor 
 
126 THE MACHINEEY OF ADMINISTKATION. 
 
 is himself present to ensure continuity), the argument does 
 not seem to have much force. Moreover, since it is probable 
 that the senior Besident would in due course succeed to the 
 Lieut.-Governorship if he has proved his competence, a greater 
 measure of permanent continuity would be secured. 
 
 In my judgment there should be at least one Lieut.-Governor 
 in every African dependency, and he (or the senior i£ there 
 is more than one) is the officer best qualified to act for the 
 Governor. The normal duties of a Lieut.-Governor in Mgeria 
 are (as we shall presently see) only less onerous and responsible 
 than those of the Governor himself ; and as a member of 
 the Executive Council he is already familiar with most of 
 the larger questions of material development, and in close 
 touch with the Governor. 
 
 The appointment of the Colonial Secretary to act as Gover- 
 nor compels the Secretary of State, when selecting a new 
 Governor, to choose between a man whose training has been 
 chiefly in an office, and one who has wide experience in 
 administrative work among the natives but has never been 
 tested as an Acting-Governor. Possibly this may have 
 prompted him to look outside the ranks of the Colonial Civil 
 Service. 
 
 The Lieut.-Governor — ^who would, as I suggest, act on 
 occasion as Deputy- Governor — would usually be selected from 
 the ranks of the Provincial Administrative Staff, though, 
 of course, exceptions would be made. He will bring to his 
 new post a wide understanding of the people and their lan- 
 guage, and as Eesident of a Province will have had practical 
 experience in the handling of men. A capable man will soon 
 pick up the threads of his wider administrative duties, and 
 his early course of training in the secretariat will have made 
 him sufficiently familiar with its routine. His capability for 
 the post will already have been put to practical test by acting 
 for the Lieut.-Governor in his absence — and there are plenty 
 of Besidents from whom to choose if one proves unsuitable. 
 
 The secretariat-trataed officer, on the other hand, has not 
 that experience of actual administrative responsibility which 
 is only acquired by the District Officer who has risen to be a 
 Eesident.i Nor does the proposal to combine the secretariat 
 
 1 Lord Curzon, when Viceroy of India, set himself to meet the criticism that 
 " the Government of India has been aystematised and formalised to such a degree 
 that the executive officers are the slaves of clerical routine, and the judicial ones 
 
POWERS OP LIEUT.-GOVEENORS. 127 
 
 with the administrative branch as a single department appear 
 to offer any better solution. Bach requires specialised tratu- 
 ing, and the qualifications which make for excellence in the 
 one are almost the reverse of those required in the other.^ 
 Moreover, since the number of admiuistrative ofificers in a 
 large protectorate may be twenty times that of the secre- 
 tariat, the latter under such a system would suffer from con- 
 stant change ; and since it is a department of record on 
 which the Governor depends for accuracy of reference and 
 knowledge of precedent, this would be fatal to its utility. 
 Some secretariat training is invaluable to a District Officer, 
 and for this he can be temporarily attached as supernumerary. 
 
 These views will no doubt be opposed by the office men, 
 who alone have the opportunity of writing Minutes on such 
 subjects ; but for my part I have no doubt as to which class 
 will have the widest knowledge of and sympathy with the 
 subject races, and the more practical experience of adminis- 
 trative problems. Neither have I any doubt from which class 
 the more useful type of African Governor can be recruited. 
 
 A Lieut.-Govemor in Mgeria is in supreme administrative 
 charge of the group of provinces for which he is responsible. 
 He prepares an annual budget, and submits it to the Governor, 
 and when it is approved he controls the expenditure votes. 
 Such of the Governor's powers, whether statutory or execu- 
 tive, as are delegated to him are precisely notified in the 
 ' Gazette,' in order that there may be no misunderstanding 
 either on his part or that of the public. They are as wide 
 as possible, and, generally speaking, exclude only matters 
 reserved by statute to the Govemor-in-Council (which can- 
 not be delegated), the initiation of legislation, the general 
 direction of policy, and the approval of unbudgeted expendi- 
 ture — ^in which the Governor himself has very limited powers. 
 
 The post of Lieut.-Govemor was not a new one in West 
 Africa, but hitherto the officer who held the appointment 
 
 of legal technicalities ; that both alike have lost their old touch with the people ; 
 and that the only classes which benefit by this development are the office Babus, 
 and the barristers and 'pleaders,' parasitic growths alien to the soil of India, 
 but thriving on the system we have introduced . . . that the District Officers 
 have lost their old touch with the people under the pressure of modern ' Secre- 
 tariat' government." — 'Times' (special correspondent), 13th November 1901. 
 
 ' In the very interesting description of Lord Curzon's "New Province" in 
 India, we are reminded that " a methodical and highly-trained administrative 
 class in proportion to its scientific evolution becomes less and less adapted to 
 pioneering in wild tracts." — Ibid. 
 
128 THE MACHINEB.Y OP ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 had, so far as I am aware, no clearly defined powers or 
 authority on which the public could rely. His functions and 
 duties were shadowy, and depended on the latitude given by 
 the Governor. When dealing with the subject of Decentralisa- 
 tion ia the last chapter, I discussed the relations of the Lieut.- 
 Governor with the Governor on the one hand, and the various 
 departments on the other. His most important duty is to 
 watch over and co-ordinate the political administration. 
 " The question," wrote Lord Morley, " is whether the judg- 
 ment of the Lieut. -Governor should be fortified and enlarged 
 by two or more competent advisers, with an ofi&cial and 
 responsible share in his deliberations." Later, the Lieut.- 
 Governor ia India was provided with an Executive CouncU of 
 three administrative heads — but no such step has as yet been 
 taken in Africa. 
 
 Next to the Governor and Lieut.-Governor, the most impor- 
 tant administrative officer in Nigeria is the Eesident of a 
 Province — the average area of which is 16,000 square miles, 
 with an average population of 800,000. As the senior official, 
 he is, generally speaking, responsible for the efficiency of the 
 pubUc service ia his province, but his first duty is with the 
 native administration, including the conduct of the pro- 
 vincial and native courts. The departmental services are 
 controlled by their own heads, who assign to their subordi- 
 nates their professional duties and responsibilities, and convey 
 their orders to them direct. 
 
 The Eesident is the backbone of the administration. He is 
 Judge of the Provincial Court, of which his staff are com- 
 missioners. Through them he supervises and guides the 
 native rulers — as I shall describe in chapter x. In the 
 provinces with the most advanced native organisation he is 
 counsellor and adviser, while among primitive tribes he must 
 necessarily accept a larger measure of direct administration. 
 His advice when given must be followed, and his authority 
 is supported by the weight of the British Administration. 
 His powers and duties are clearly and fully set out in the 
 printed iastructions which I have described in the last chapter. 
 Ahke for the information of the Governor — to enable him to 
 maintain uniformity of policy — and to afford the Eesident 
 a means of setting out his difficulties and describing his pro- 
 gress, he submits a yearly report under specified headings 
 (to which are appended a few statistical forms), dealing with 
 
RESIDENTS " IN MALAYA. 129 
 
 the provincial and native courts, taxation and assessment, 
 education, slavery, trade, general progress, and other matters 
 of interest. These reports stimulate thought, and form 
 valuable records. They afford to a Eesident's successor a 
 full account of aU matters of interest, and enable him to 
 preserve continuity.^ 
 
 A Eesident is relieved as far as possible of general adminis- 
 trative work (unconnected with the native administration) 
 by the Lieut.-Governor, and by " Station Magistrates " ap- 
 pointed to the principal centres. The provinces ia Nigeria 
 are so large — Sokoto and Bornu are each larger than Ireland, 
 and two others have a much denser population — ^that a 
 Eesident must rely largely upon his District Officers, and 
 delegate many duties to them. He and they are the medium 
 of aU important deahngs with the natives. 
 
 The Eesidential system of the Federated Malay States 
 has been quoted as similar to that set up in Nigeria, but siace 
 both in its origin and development it differed essentially 
 from it, it may be of interest to contrast the two. 
 
 When the Imperial Government replaced the Chartered 
 Company in Northern Nigeria, and effective occupation had 
 become necessary to establish British rights, the new Govern- 
 ment found itself compelled to overcome the hostility of the 
 Moslem Emirs, and to check their slave-raiding by force of 
 arms. They were conquered, or submitted, and the country 
 was divided into provinces, each of which was placed under 
 the charge of a Eesident, who was thus the representative 
 of the Governor in a country in which the King's sovereignty 
 had been asserted, and full responsibihty for administration 
 assumed. 
 
 In the early history of Malaya very different conditions 
 existed. The British settlements were surrounded by wholly 
 independent native states, with which the Imperial Govern- 
 ment had no desire whatever to interfere, in spite of their 
 requests for protection. In 1873 the chronic internecine war 
 which existed among them, and their interference with the 
 
 ' The report includes extracts from those of the DWisional OflBcers, so that the 
 progress of each division may be separately related as part of the single unit of 
 the province, under its various subject heads. Departmental statistics are 
 eliminated, but a general summary of the work of departments in relation to 
 their bearing on the provincial administration is given. The report deals with 
 facts, events, and conclusions. Recommendations and discussions are excluded 
 from it. 
 
 I 
 
130 THE MACHINEEY OF ADMINISTEATION. 
 
 trade of the British colony, induced Lord Kimberley to 
 suggest the possibility of appointing a British officer to reside 
 in such of them as might consent to the arrangement — on 
 the analogy of the Eesidents at the Courts of independent 
 Eajas in India. 
 
 In the event a Eesident was murdered, and a powerful 
 military force exacted reprisals. The effect of this punish- 
 ment, and the removal of obstructive chiefs, proved more 
 effective than many years of futile advice. Though Eesidents 
 were stiU instructed that they would be held answerable if 
 they exceeded their rdle as advisers, they were now feared, 
 and were able to engage a staff of Europeans, to raise a poHce 
 force, and to collect the revenue. This was adequate for 
 an effective administration, for the country was very rich. 
 State Councils, on which the Eesident and his assistant sat, 
 were set up, and Courts of Law, with European magistrates. 
 
 Sir P. Swettenham, from whose book I am quoting,^ speak- 
 ing of one of the Eesidents, says : " No doubt he consulted 
 the local chief in aU matters of importance, but he received 
 no help from that quarter, and simply pushed on alone, when 
 he could not carry him with him." The British officers had, 
 in fact, ceased to be " Eesidents " except ia name, and were 
 actually " administering the country in the name of the 
 Sultan " — a rdle which, when it had first been proposed, was 
 disapproved by the then Secretary of State. " Each Eesident 
 followed his own line in his own State without any particular 
 reference to his neighbours," and resented any interference 
 or suggestion from outside, until the differences, at first 
 irritating, became unbearable, and led to Federation — with 
 the approval of a Secretary of State of wider outlook (Mr 
 Chamberlain). " The system," says Sir F. Swettenham, 
 " was built up without much more than routine references to 
 the Governor," who only knew what Eesidents chose to tell 
 him — ^for Singapore was too distant for him to exercise any 
 effective control. They submitted an annual report and a 
 budget, which required the Governor's approval, and no vote 
 could be exceeded without his sanction — a " very great and 
 necessary safeguard," as Sir F. Swettenham observes. 
 
 Prom first to last the theoretical independence of the 
 States was the governing factpr in the system evolved in 
 Malaya. The so-called " Eesident " was in fact a Eegent, 
 
 ' ' British Malaya,' chapters viii. to xii. 
 
BESroENTS " IN NIGERIA. 131 
 
 practically uncontrolled by the Governor or by Whitehall, 
 governing his " independent " State by direct personal ride, 
 with or without the co-operation of the native ruler. He 
 had no aggressive European neighbours on his frontiers, and 
 in the last resort depended on his armed police and the 
 military forces of the colony, and his abundant revenue made 
 him self-supportiQg. This, as we shall see, is the very anti- 
 thesis of the Mgerian system. Sir P. Swettenham describes 
 how Downing Street disarmed the criticism of the non- 
 progressive party at home by reiterating that the Eesident 
 must only give advice, and the onus of exceeding those orders 
 was thrown on the men on the spot, as the only possible 
 way of avoiding failure, and of carrying out the wishes of the 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 Northern Mgeria up to the time of amalgamation was 
 still dependent on a grant-in-aid, and ia the early days it 
 had no great source of wealth and no industrious Chinese 
 to develop its resources, or to supply nine-tenths of the tax 
 revenue. By the Secretary of State's instructions, it had to 
 maintain a very large and costly military force, which absorbed 
 a.11 and more than all of its local revenue. To-day its native 
 administrations are comparatively wealthy, but the railway 
 which has created that wealth, and the whole machinery 
 of Government — outside the native administrations them- 
 selves — ^was, and is, paid for from general revenue. The one 
 " very great and necessary safeguard " imposed on the Resi- 
 dents of the Malay States — viz., that the votes in their ap- 
 proved budgets should not be altered or exceeded without 
 the Governor's sanction (though the States they administered 
 were independent, and solely self-supporting) — ^has, however, 
 been ruled by the Colonial Ofl&ce to be unnecessary in the 
 case of the native administrations of Mgeria. 
 
 Dissiinilar as the two systems were in origin and in method, 
 the problems which confronted the Eesidents were practically 
 identical, and have been solved with the same success in both 
 cases. The conclusion emphasised by Sir P. Swettenham is 
 " the advisability of letting people who live 8000 miles away 
 manage their own domestic affairs without foreign inter- 
 ference." 
 
 Every province is divided into three or four divisions, 
 each imder a District Officer, who again has assistant dis- 
 trict officers under him in charge of districts. The District 
 
132 THE MACHTNEET OF ADMINISTBATION. 
 
 OflBcer comes of the class which has made and maintained 
 the British Empire. That Britain has never lacked a super- 
 abundance of such men is in part due to national character, 
 in part perhaps to our law of primogeniture, which compels 
 the younger son to carve out his own career. His assets 
 are usually a public school, and probably a university, educa- 
 tion, neither of which have hitherto furnished him with an 
 appreciable amoimt of positive knowledge especially adapted 
 for his work. But they have produced an English gentleman 
 with an almost passionate conception of fair play, of pro- 
 tection of the weak, and of " playing the game." They have 
 taught him personal initiative and resource, and how to com- 
 mand and to obey. There is no danger of such men faUing a 
 prey to that subtle moral deterioration which the exercise 
 of power over inferior races produces in men of a different 
 type, and which finds expression in cruelty. The military 
 officer turned civiUan invariably becomes an ardent champion 
 of his prot^g^s, and no one shows greater aversion to mili- 
 tarist methods than he.^ If occasionally some colonial officer 
 suffers from " swoUen-head " (as a member complained in the 
 House), and exaggerates the importance of his office, may it 
 not be charitably ascribed to that very devotion to his work, 
 and realisation of its responsibility and magnitude which has 
 made our Empire a success ? No words of mine, after long 
 experience, can do justice to the unselfish, conscientious work 
 of these officers. 
 
 There is no career ia which the aspirations of youth can 
 take a finer form than ia the service of the Empire, and 
 
 ^ " The administration so far as the masses are concerned is mainly carried on by 
 the District Officers, . . . upon them the maintenance of latr and order largely 
 depends. They alone represent the British Baj in the minds of tens of millions 
 who have not the faintest idea of what a Legislative Council means. The 
 ultimate responsibility for the welfare of the native races rests not with the 
 educated native, nor yet with the native rulers, but in the hands of the control- 
 ling power — e.g., the District Officer, to whom the native ultimately appeals for 
 justice. He is the exact opposite of the bureaucrat." So writes Lord Sydenham 
 of India, and the words are equally true of Africa. — ('Times,' 10th August 1917.) 
 The code which must guide the administrator in the tropics is, as Mr Churchill 
 has finely said, to be found in no book of regulations. It demands that in every 
 circumstance, and under all conditions, he shall act in accordance with the 
 traditions of an English gentleman, whose first quality it is to comprehend the 
 point of view of the other side. — (Speech, June 1921.) Sir W. Geary, writing of 
 West Africa, says that to each individual native there has come prosperity, and 
 not merely acquiescence, but a joyous and friendly welcome of British rule. This 
 he ascribes to the high character and judicious conduct of the officials of the 
 Civil Service, which has admirably fulfilled its duty to the Crown and to Africa. 
 —('West Africa,'.6th November 1920.) 
 
THE BISTEICT OFFICER— NATIVE LANGUAGES. 133 
 
 there is none with less sordid ideals. To fit him for his duties, 
 the candidate selected for an administrative post in the 
 tropics must go through a special course of study in England. 
 He attends the lectures prescribed, and must show that he 
 has profited by them.^ After he has arrived in Africa he must 
 pass an examination in simple law, judicial procedure, and 
 in the ordiuances, regulations, and general orders of the local 
 Government. If his duties lie in a Moslem State, he must 
 know something of Koranic law, which controls ahke the 
 procedure of the courts and the social Ufe of the people. 
 He must study the native laws and customs, which react 
 on Koranic law in Moslem districts, and replace it in pagan 
 areas. Within a specified time he must pass a preUminary 
 examioation ia one of the most widely-spoken native lan- 
 guages, to be followed by a more severe test later on. Failure 
 to qualify in these tests may delay his promotion. 
 
 There is no need to emphasise how completely an officer 
 who knows nothing of the native language is in the hands 
 of his interpreter, who either from his imperfect knowledge 
 of Enghsh, or by criminal latent, may whoUy misrepresent 
 what he was told to translate, or, on the other hand, may 
 threaten an ignorant native that he will mislead the Dis- 
 trict Officer unless he is bribed. Incalculable harm has 
 thus been done, and the interpreter becomes the real power. 
 On the other hand, the officer who knows the language cannot 
 fail to acquire a keener iaterest in and sympathy with the 
 people. If the language used be some pagan dialect, and 
 the officer can speak the more generally known language, 
 it will be better for him to use it ia speaking to his inter- 
 preter, for by so doing he ensures simplicity of diction, and 
 the iaterpreter is more likely to understand his meaniag 
 than if he spoke ia fluent English. If he uses Enghsh he 
 should employ the simplest phrases, and make the interpreter 
 repeat what he is about to translate ; and later, if possible 
 (if the matter is of importance), he should verify his accuracy 
 by employiag a second interpreter. The vital importance 
 of this matter is my justification for this somewhat lengthy 
 reference to it. 
 
 An officer is fortunate if there be a siagle language in his 
 district, which has been reduced to writing with text-books 
 and vocabularies. It is ia the iaterest of the natives and 
 
 ^ See footnote, p. 138. 
 
134 THE MACHLNERY OF ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 of good administration that the Government should use every 
 endeavour to promote the use of a lingua franca — in Mgeria, 
 Hausa in the north and Yoruba, and Ibo iu the south ; in 
 East Africa, Swaheli. These are already generally understood 
 even among primitive tribes, owing to their use by itinerant 
 native traders. Where no such medium can be used, English 
 — even though it be " pidgin EngUsh " — ^is already a means 
 of communication, and will become more so as education 
 increases. 
 
 The duties which a District Officer is called upon to per- 
 form are very varied. In an isolated station he may have to 
 discharge the functions of all the departments — ^postal, cus- 
 toms, poUce, and engineer — ^in addition to his normal work. 
 He is the medium of communication between the military or 
 the departmental officer and the native chiefs in matters of 
 labour and supplies, and is especially charged to see that 
 labourers are fuUy paid and properly treated. To him alike 
 the missionary, the trader, and the miner look for assistance 
 and advice. The leper and the slave find in him a protector. 
 As in India, he combines judicial with executive powers, and 
 as Commissioner of the Provincial Court he deals with cases 
 on the spot, within the limits of the judicial powers conferred 
 upon him. These powers in Mgeria vary with the extent of 
 his legal knowledge and proved judicial competence, irrespec- 
 tive of his rank. He is also charged with the constant super- 
 vision of the native courts (see chapters xxvii., xxviii.) He 
 enforces the ordinances, issues licences, keeps up the pre- 
 scribed records, and renders the prescribed returns. These 
 are reduced to the minimum necessary, on the one hand, to 
 afford his superior officers an insight into the way he is doing 
 his work, and on the other, for the compilation of such ad- 
 ministrative and statistical records as the Government may 
 consider essential. " The work done by a political officer," 
 said Sir H. Lawrence, "in his district surrounded by the 
 people, is greatly superior to the work done in his office sur- 
 rounded by untrustworthy officials." Eecognising this great 
 truth, it must be the aim of the Government to reduce office 
 work in every possible way, and to leave the District Officer 
 free to travel and work among the people. 
 
 His duties as assessing officer of the direct (income) tax 
 effect much more than the mere collection of revenue. He 
 is brought into close touch with the people, and gains an 
 
DTJTIES OF A DISTRICT OFFICEK. 135 
 
 intimate knowledge of them, and of the personality and char- 
 acter of the chiefs and elders in every village. Dmiag his 
 visit to each town he administers justice, inquires iato and 
 settles disputes, collects valuable statistics of population, 
 agriculture, and industries. He uses every effort to detect 
 oppression and extortion if it exists, and impresses on the 
 village elders the allegiance they owe to their chiefs, and 
 through them to the Government, the obhgation to cease 
 from lawless acts, and the right of every individual to appeal 
 against injustice. 
 
 The primary object of travelling (accompanied when possible 
 by the local chief or district headman) is that the District 
 Officer may hear the complaiats of the people at first hand. 
 It is only by the advent of a British ofBcer that scoundrels, 
 misrepresenting the Government action, or extorting what 
 they will from the natives in the name of Government, can 
 be caught ; for the villagers in their ignorance, supposing 
 them to be genuine, dare not as a rule complain. It has been 
 abundantly shown by experience that " unrest," resulting in 
 murders and outrages, and eventually necessitating the use 
 of force, inevitably takes place among primitive tribes when 
 districts are not regularly and systematically visited. By 
 frequent touring, abuses are redressed before they become 
 formidable, the law-abiding people are encouraged to restrain 
 the turbulent and lawless elements, and trust and confidence 
 in Government is fostered. The results of the District Ofiicer's 
 careful and precise inquiries are contained in the ' Provincial 
 Eecord Book ' and in the map of the district, to which he is 
 always adding the new information acquired on tour. 
 
 The District Officer who has achieved success in the assess- 
 ment of his district will have done much to promote its pro- 
 gress and civilisation. The test of his work is the absence 
 of crime and the efficiency of the chiefs and native courts. 
 Nor must he neglect the development of its economic re- 
 sources, the best method of improving them and enhancing 
 their market value by proper preparation, and the cheapest 
 methods of transport. For this purpose he should maintain 
 touch with the traders, prospectors, and miners in his dis- 
 trict. The measure of his efficiency depends largely on his 
 interest in his work, and this is stimulated by the feeling of 
 responsibility, which is the natural result of being trusted. 
 
 A District Officer's influence in his district naturally depends 
 
136 THE MACHTNEET OF ADMTNISTEATIOPf. 
 
 on the extent to which" he has acquired the confidence of 
 chiefs and people, mastered their language, and studied their 
 local customs. It is therefore important that he should not 
 be transferred to another sphere of work, where he has to 
 begiD afresh — least of all should contiguous colonies have a 
 single roster of promotion as has been suggested. It may be 
 valuable for the newly-joiaed oflBcer to serve under different 
 Eesidents, and in different districts, in order to enlarge his 
 outlook, and enable him to learn from each ; nor is it possible 
 to retain juniors permanently ia the same district, or to gauge 
 their qualifications and special aptitudes imtil they have had 
 a varied opportunity. But as a District Officer gains seniority, 
 and with it enlarged powers, it becomes increasingly impor- 
 tant that he should remain in the district or province where 
 he has acquired local knowledge and influence, for the African 
 is naturally reserved and suspicious, and slow to give his 
 confidence. It is, moreover, disheari;ening to the zealous 
 District Officer to have to begui all over again in a new sphere. 
 There are some who like change. They are not the best. 
 When eventually he becomes the Eesident of a Province 
 he should never be changed without strong reasons. The 
 war, and the inadequacy of the staff even prior to it, have 
 no doubt nulitated greatly against the application of this 
 principle. 
 
137 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE BRITISH STAFF AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE IN 
 THE TROPICS. 
 
 The classification of the stafi' — Selection by nomination — Selection by 
 modified competition — Courses of study — Adequacy of staff — Cost of 
 the staff in West Africa — Medical examination of candidates — Wives 
 in the tropics — Housing in Northern Nigeria, 1898-1901 — Causes of 
 mortality — Improved conditions — Need of sanataria and recreation — 
 Native huts as dwelling-houses — House-building in the tropics — 
 Water-supply — Segregation — Food in the tropics — Medical and 
 nursing staff — Private practice — Hints for health — Medical work 
 among natives. 
 
 The staff in the tropical dependencies may be divided 
 into three classes — (a) the administrative and secretarial, 
 corresponding to the Covenanted Service in India — to which 
 may be added the judicial ; (6) the Departmental, corre- 
 sponding to the Indian Uncovenanted Service ; and (c) the 
 temporary staff, which consists either of officers seconded 
 from the permanent staff of other parts of the Empire, or 
 of men appointed on agreements with the Crown agents for 
 specific periods, and non-pensionable, who, however, after 
 completing a certain number of years' service, may be trans- 
 ferred to the pensionable staff. All military officers and 
 some few civilians belong to the seconded class, while to the 
 third category belong the large majority of foremen in the 
 public works and railway employees. 
 
 The employment of seconded officers in the Postal, Public 
 Works, Survey, and other departments has the advantage 
 of bringiag in up-to-date technical knowledge ; but unless 
 the department is entirely or mainly manned by such officers, 
 their introduction in the senior posts disheartens the per- 
 manent staff by robbing them of opportunities for promotion. 
 
138 BRITISH STAFF AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE IN TROPICS. 
 
 The administrative staff of the Home, Indian, and Eastern 
 Colonial services are recruited by open competitive examina- 
 tion. For the African tropics, candidates are selected by the 
 patronage department of the Colonial Office (for the Sudan 
 by the Governor-General). Selected officers must satisfy ex- 
 aminers that they have benefited by a course of lectures, 
 which they are required to attend before taking up their 
 appointments.^ This preliminary training was suggested by 
 me in September 1903, but proposals which were in advance 
 of existing methods eighteen years ago demand reconsidera- 
 tion with the enormous increase of the Tropical Civil Service 
 and its extension to the Mandated territories. 
 
 " The problem of maintaining order and creating civilisa- 
 tion in our African possessions," says Colonel Amery, " is 
 at least as difficult as that of administering a settled country 
 like India." The staff should, he considers, be recruited in 
 the same way as the Indian Civil Service, and on terms of 
 pay and pension equally attractive, and not by " the hap- 
 hazard methods of personal nomination, which have survived 
 from a bygone period." There is ample scope for the creation 
 of an African Civil Service, capable of playing a part as dis- 
 tinguished as that which the Indian Civil Service has played 
 in another field. ^ 
 
 While the Indian Civil Service seems likely to decrease 
 both in numbers and in attractiveness. West Africa can no 
 longer be regarded as a " death-trap," and the frequent leave 
 to England is a great attraction to those who have children 
 at school at home. Each group of colonies throughout the 
 Empire has its own attractions and disadvantages. In one 
 the climate is good, but long and bitter separations from 
 children, and perhaps from wives, are unavoidable. Another 
 offers better chances of promotion ; in a third, the nature 
 of the work is more attractive. 
 
 The results of an absolutely open competition have not, 
 I believe, been considered to be an unqualified success in 
 India ; but competition, qualified by such conditions as 
 
 ' Three courses, each of three months, held annually at the Imperial Institute, 
 were inaugurated in 1908. Lectures were given in tropical hygiene, criminal 
 law, procedure, and evidence, accountancy, and the cultivation, preparation, and 
 uses of tropical products — vegetable and mineral. There was also a separate 
 course in surveying, and facilities were afforded for learning Hausa, Arabic, &c. 
 Officers of the police forces could be attached for six months to the Royal Irish 
 Constabulary. 
 
 2 ' Union and Strength,' p. 284. 
 
SELECTION AND TEAININGt OF THE STAFF. 139 
 
 would attract the right class from our public schools and 
 universities, while excluding as far as possible the " bounder," 
 the "prig," and the "book- worm," would secure the best 
 that England can give, and would relieve the Colonial Offtce 
 of much irksome work. 
 
 Sir F. Swettenham, recognising this necessity for temper- 
 ing competition by selection, proposes that the candidates 
 should be required to obtain a nomination by the Secretary 
 of State before examination.^ This would, however, per- 
 petuate the burden on the patronage department, and the 
 same result might perhaps be attained by a headmaster's 
 certificate as to character and participation in field sports, 
 &o., which, equally with the medical certificate, would be a 
 necessary qualification for the open examination. The patron- 
 age department could still give nominations in exceptional 
 cases. Alternatively the task of selection might be entrusted 
 to a Standing Board — ^possibly a Standing Committee of the 
 Council suggested in the next chapter. It would seem desirable 
 that the subject should be thoroughly examined by an expert 
 committee, with a view to fixing a uniform method of selection, 
 and preliminary training of officers of the non-professional 
 branch of the Civil Service. 
 
 The courses of study would in the main be common to all, 
 but special classes would provide for special needs. They 
 coidd be arranged at the universities, or by such agencies as 
 the London School of Economics, the School of Oriental Lan- 
 guages, Kew, and the Imperial Institute. Since it is desir- 
 able that ofiBcers should not take up their appointments in 
 the tropics until they are twenty-three years of age, there is 
 ample time for takiiig a university degree. In the Indian 
 Civil Service selection precedes the imiversity course, and 
 thus an opportunity is afforded for specialised study, 
 which university candidates for the African tropics have 
 missed. 
 
 Such a scheme as I suggest would ensure that the existence 
 of these colonial appointments should be widely known in 
 the public schools and universities. The conditions of service 
 in each group of colonies (salaries, leave, pensions, &c.) 
 could be studied by intending candidates. Ignorance of 
 their existence has in the past restricted the list of well- 
 qualified candidates, and inquiries add to the correspondence 
 
 1 ' British Malaya,' p. 339. 
 
140 BRITISH STAPF AND CONDITIONS OF LEFE IN TROPICS. 
 
 entailed on the Colonial OfSce. The alternative methods 
 are : — 
 
 (a) A list of special subjects, including those peculiar to 
 any group of colonies, would be advertised. Young men 
 desirous of entering the Tropical Civil Service would specialise 
 in these at a university or elsewhere at their own expense. 
 The Selection Board would be largely influenced by the 
 diplomas obtained. 
 
 (&) Selection prior to special training, and the payment to 
 the selected candidate of a salary while undergoing it. 
 
 Writing in 1903, I pointed out that the French had long 
 had such a school. The course was three years, and the fees 
 £4 per annum. Those who passed the examinations were 
 granted diplomas which quaMed them for the public service, 
 and a list was sent to the ministers concerned. The Dutch 
 system appears to be somewhat similar.^ 
 
 It is of essential importance that the British staff, especially 
 on the first inception of an administration, should be adequate 
 for its very onerous duties. The lack of a sufficient staff in 
 the first years of an administration, when the work is heaviest, 
 means that whoUy impossible demands are made on a few, 
 at the cost of many lives and injured constitutions, that touch 
 cannot be kept with the native chiefs, and the motives of 
 Government explained, with the inevitable result of outbreaks 
 due primarily to misconceptions and baseless reports. Of 
 this there has been ample evidence, with needless loss of life, 
 both in East and West Africa. Delays in filling appointments 
 for which monetary provision has been made, and for which 
 there was an abundant supply of applicants — as in the early 
 days of Northern Mgeria — ^is especially deplorable, and has 
 called forth protests from the Press. ^ 
 
 ' Mr Alley ne Ireland states that "since 1864 no one is appointed to an 
 administrative post in the Dutch East Indies who has not passed the grand 
 examination for officials. ... It covers only the history, geography, ethnology, 
 laws, institutions, and customs of Netherlands India, and the Malay and 
 Javanese languages" — the subjects required being exclusively local. — 'Far 
 Eastern Tropics,' p. 183. 
 
 ^ "This is a poUoy of unintelligent parsimony. The question which Ministers 
 have consciously or unconsciously asked themselves is, ' What is the smallest 
 sum with which we can keep things going ? ' What ought to be asked is, ' What 
 sum is required to establish and maintain an efficient administration, and to 
 put the country as speedily as possible into a position to meet its expenditure 
 from its internal resources?' It is a form of economy which has repeatedly led 
 to disasters which have cost hundreds of thousands to rectify." — 'Times,' 
 1st October 1901. 
 
 When urging a more adequate sta£f for Northern Nigeria (in August 1905) I 
 
ADEQUATE BRITISH STAFF ESSENTIAL. 141 
 
 On the other hand, it must, of course, be recognised that the 
 staff of a tropical dependency must necessarily be small in 
 comparison with its area and population. A liberal grant-in- 
 aid — ^by way of loan if otherwise unobtainable — ^may at first 
 be necessary to supplement the local revenue, which is in- 
 evitably very limited until its resources are developed. Large 
 calls are made on that revenue, for the maintenance of troops 
 and police to preserve order and to guard its frontiers. In the 
 absence of railways and roads, the cost of transport for build- 
 ing materials and supplies are unduly heavy. Poor food and 
 bad housing add to the effect of a trying chmate, especially 
 in West Africa, and necessitate frequent leave, with a conse- 
 quential increase of staff to maintain the actual minimum for 
 duty, and a disproportionately large medical staff is reqtiired. 
 
 Financial considerations therefore reinforce those of policy, 
 and dictate the necessity of ruling through the native rulers 
 themselves, while devoting the efforts of the British staff 
 to making that rule at once effective and humane. This 
 policy, however, takes time to inaugurate. 
 
 In West Africa, to supply the vacancies caused by the 
 absence of officers on leave in England, one-third additional 
 staff has hitherto normally been required. But if to this be 
 added the deficiencies due to invaUdings, extensions of leave 
 for ill-health, and local absence from duty for the same cause, 
 the proportion actually available for duty is, or certainly was, 
 probably not more than half. In other words, the Eevenue 
 must provide for double the British staff required for the 
 efficient conduct of the administration.'- But it is not only 
 or even primarily a question of cost, even though efficiency 
 depends on meeting that cost. An even more serious aspect 
 lies in the drain thus caused on the yoimg manhood of the 
 Empire. 
 
 wrote : " In 1902-3, three years after the inauguration of the administration, the 
 Political department cost £30,545, and collected a revenue of £1260. In 
 1905-6 it cost £59,089, and collected £69,756, besides carrying out the whole 
 of the administrative and judicial work. The cost was rather less than 
 doubled, the receipts were multiplied by 56." 
 
 ' The committee appointed to consider the desirability of revising the leave 
 and pension rules for West Africa presented its report in March 1920. It is 
 recommended that the normal residential period of service abroad should be 
 from eighteen to twenty-four months, and it should be left to the discretion of 
 the Governor to allow any officer to proceed on leave after twelve months — an 
 extension of the former system in Northern Nigeria, which was afterwards 
 abandoned. A curtailment of the period of leave in England is also recommended, 
 with a grant of local leave, and officers are to be encouraged to take their wives. 
 
142 BRITISH STAPP AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE ESf TEOPICS. 
 
 Of late years this responsibility has been more fully recog- 
 nised. Candidates for West African service must be twenty- 
 three years of age, and have to undergo a medical examina- 
 tion before selection. If, as sometimes occurs, the local 
 medical officers attribute the death of an officer to physi- 
 cal causes which ought to have ensured his rejection, the 
 responsibility should be brought home to the officer who 
 " passed " him. It never is. Such cases are not frequent 
 in the Government service, but I am informed that they are 
 comparatively common among the young employees of com- 
 mercial firms. 
 
 In the debate on the Colonial Office Vote, the spokesman 
 of the Colonial Office (Colonel Amery) said that it was the 
 desire of the Secretary of State that married life should be 
 the rule rather than the exception in the Crown colonies and 
 Protectorates.^ That is the desire of every Governor, but 
 in the conditions of Africa it is difficult to reahse. In some 
 instances it would be impossible for a married man, accom- 
 panied by his wife, to discharge his duties efficiently, and 
 such instances form no small part of the total — as in the 
 case of District Officers, surveyors, and others, who are con- 
 stantly travelling, often in districts where a man would 
 hesitate to leave his wife alone in camp, while she would 
 seriously hamper his work if she were by his side. But puttiag 
 these aside, there remains the serious difficulty in regard to 
 children — ^inherent in a career in the tropics. Those who are 
 familiar with the conditions of life in India, which the writings 
 of Mr Kipling and Mrs Steel have pictured to the British 
 public, know that even there — where hill-stations with hotels 
 and boarding-houses aboimd, and there is a large " Society " 
 — the official tied by his work to the plains, and the " grass- 
 widow " in the hills, present conditions of life not altogether 
 attractive. 
 
 In the highlands of East Africa the case is, of course, 
 different, and in other parts of tropical Africa we may hope 
 that the reign of law and order on the one hand, and the 
 creation of attractive sanataria in the uplands on the other, 
 will in part at least provide a solution of the difficulty. The 
 advent of heads of commercial firms will tend to faciUtate 
 conditions favourable to European family life. 
 
 The necessity of proper housing is now recognised, though 
 
 1 Debate of 23rd August 1920. 
 
NECESSITY OF PROPER HOUSING. 143 
 
 the war interfered with this in the colomes no less than at 
 home. When I recall the deplorable conditions which existed 
 in 1898 and subsequent years, the measure of progress is 
 striking. British ofBcers in N. Mgeria then lived in tem- 
 porary grass-huts — ^not rain-proof, and liable to be carried 
 away by the violent tornadoes of the Mger Valley, and very 
 inferior to the well-thatched mud-waUed native house. A 
 year or two later we considered ourselves fortunate when 
 three oflacers, or five British N.C.O.'s, shared a wooden hut, 
 with a galvanised iron roof, containing three rooms 12 ft. 
 square. But it was long before all were thus accommodated, 
 even at headquarters. The expenditure for the whole civil 
 establishment, " including house-building, vessels, telegraph 
 construction, railway survey, &c.," in the first complete 
 financial year, 1900-1, is given in the official report as £96,407 
 only ! And £35,593 was " saved " from the available funds, 
 pitifully smaU as they were, " chiefly through the non- 
 appointment of officials till late in the year, more especially 
 the Director of Works, so that the urgent works — houses for 
 staff, &c. — ^were not begun till towards the close of the year." ^ 
 I recollect that at one time we desisted from retaining the 
 flag at half-mast, which signalled another death, because its 
 frequency had so depressing an effect. 
 
 I have served, with short intervals, for forty years in the 
 tropics, mostly in places with the worst climatic reputation, 
 and I think that the appalUng death-rate in those early 
 years in West Africa was due not so much to the climate as 
 to the absence of the necessary housing, &c., and that the 
 death-roll would have been hardly appreciably less had we 
 lived in the Thames Valley aU the year round in the same 
 conditions of overwork, anxiety, housing, and food. 
 
 Looked at from the meanest point of view, it was false 
 economy, for not only was efficiency sacrificed, but heavy 
 expense was incurred by invalidings, and revenue was wasted 
 by the inadequacy of the staff to collect it. It is, as I have 
 already said, a cruel mistake to ask of the early pioneers — 
 at a time of inevitable strain, anxiety, and heavy responsi- 
 bility, with impaired vitality due to bad housing, imnutritious 
 food, and latent malaria — that they should work incessantly 
 by day and night with the harassing feeling of inability to 
 overtake arrears of importance. Lack of adequate subordi- 
 1 Annual Reports, No. 377 of 1901, p. 43. 
 
144 BRITISH STAFF AND CONDITIONS OP LIFE IN TROPICS. 
 
 nate staff, moreover, compels an oflBcer to waste valuable time 
 in trivialities and the maintenance of necessary records, 
 and leaves him insuflBcient time to deal with essentials. He 
 works on, as a British officer will, over-wrought and losing 
 groimd, till his health breaks down, and a new hand has 
 to take his place, with a sacrifice of continuity and efficiency. 
 That is the tale I heard too often in those days. 
 
 Much of this mortaUty and deficiency of staff might have 
 been avoided by an Imperial loan charged against the revenues 
 of the future, if the nation had appreciated the value of the 
 country as Mr Chamberlain did. The Transvaal administra- 
 tion began with a loan of £30,000,000 ; Palestine and Mesopo- 
 tamia have cost unknown nulhons — ^but the whole authorised 
 civil expenditure of Northern Mgeria in the year of its in- 
 auguration was £86,000, with a further £50,000 for purchase 
 of worn-out steamers and for buildings ! "If the British 
 nation," I wrote in 1902, " is not prepared to bear the cost 
 of an enterprise which promises good returns, and already 
 shows substantial progress, it were better that it had never 
 undertaken it." ^ 
 
 Experience thus acquired has taught the home authorities 
 a better way. Great care is now taken to see to the physical 
 fitness of officers selected, and of those returning to duty. 
 But the chief cause to which the staff owe their improved 
 conditions is the material prosperity of the colonies. The 
 Secretary of State has no longer to persuade the Treasury, 
 and can afford to approve of adequate housing, improved 
 sanitation, and means of recreation, and even to contemplate 
 the creation of a local sanatarium, since the colony, and not 
 the Treasury, pays the cost. 
 
 A brief word as to what is needed. The diseases of tropical 
 Africa are comparatively few — ^blackwater, malaria, dysentery, 
 and ansemia are the principal ones. Lung diseases, enteritis, 
 cholera are rare or unknown among Europeans. We have now 
 in the African tropics a most efficient Medical Service, and, 
 generally speaking, excellent hospitals, with an adequate 
 nursing staff. To the skiU of the doctors, and to the im- 
 provements they have effected in sanitation, &c., it is due 
 that the returns of deaths and invaUdings show such a won- 
 derful decrease. It is time that the Governments in West 
 Africa considered the feasibility of providing a sanatarium in 
 
 1 ' The Making of Nigeria,' Capt. Orr, pp. 77 and 140. 
 
HOTJSE-BTJILDrNG IN THE TROPICS. 145 
 
 the higMands, where men who are nm down and need rest 
 might recuperate. One of the minor worries of African life 
 is the servant — especially the cook — difficulty. The sana- 
 tarium should therefore possess an hotel, where a man could 
 stay at a reasonable cost. Various forms of recreation are 
 essential. 
 
 It is indeed weU worth the while of Government to encourage 
 the formation of recreation clubs at every centre, by pro- 
 viding ground, and even by financial support at their incep- 
 tion. They should soon become self-supporting, under the 
 management of local committees. Polo, tennis, golf, cricket, 
 and even football have each their votaries, and Government 
 might build a racquet (or squash-racquet) court at each large 
 centre, as in India. A club-room, with a library, newspapers, 
 and even a biUiard-table, would add much to the amenities 
 of life, and promote healthy intercourse between officials and 
 non-ofiBicials. 
 
 So much has been written, and such admirable practical 
 results have been obtained by the medical staff, in matters 
 which come within the field of their endeavours, that notes 
 which I had put together some years ago are now quite out 
 of date. A few brief comments — ^the result of long tropical 
 experience — may, however, be of some use, albeit from a 
 layman. District OflBcers are not infrequently found to 
 prefer a well-made native hut to a European-built house. 
 It is cool and roomy, and if provided with properly-made 
 doors and windows to exclude wind and rain, it is not un- 
 attractive. The preference should, I think, be discouraged. 
 The thatch, though cool, becomes soaked with moisture in 
 the rains, which is driven inwards, through decomposing 
 matter, by the heat of the sun. The mud floor is unhealthy, 
 and, like the roof, favours rats, scorpions, centipedes, white 
 ants, and other unwelcome visitors. The darkness, especially 
 in the apex of the conical roof, harbours mosquitoes. Nor 
 is it an economical policy — apart from questions of health 
 and comfort, — ^for the annual renewals, added to the com- 
 pensation allowance, are more costly than the erection of 
 permanent houses. 
 
 The style of house best suited to the tropics is a matter 
 of much controversy and prohflc experiment. My own view 
 is that houses should, when possible, be built with an upper 
 storey, which should contain the hving, and especially the 
 
 K 
 
146 BRITISH STAFF AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE IN TEOPICS. 
 
 sleeping rooms, the ground-floor being used for dining-rooms, 
 office, and stores. The practice common with commercial 
 firms, of housing their employees in rooms buHt oyer produce- 
 stores is, however, to be deprecated, for the effluvia cannot 
 be conducive to health. The tendency to enlarge the verandah, 
 close it in, and use it as the living and sleeping portion of 
 the house, tends to make the interior rooms dark and imin- 
 viting. Its light roof is often insufficient protection from the 
 sun. Floors should be covered with linoleum, which is easily 
 washed, and prevents smeUs and draughts ascending through 
 a boarded floor. The houses should be oriented, so that the 
 sun passing over from end to end, as nearly as may be through- 
 out the year, does not render the front and back verandahs 
 alternately untenable. Windows should be low, and doors 
 half -glazed. 
 
 The space between the ce ilin g and the apex of a sheet- 
 iron roof in the tropics becomes fiUed with hot air during 
 the day, and ventilators in the ceiling only increase the 
 temperature of the room. VentUation should be secured by 
 open windows and doors, and by gauze-netting — or gratings 
 in a masonry house — around the outer walls near the ceiling. 
 Tiles are the best and coolest roofing material, and if locally 
 made have been found to be not appreciably more costly 
 than corrugated-iron sheeting, even though the framework of 
 the roof must be strengthened to carry their weight. For 
 wooden houses, corrugated iron or asbestos sheeting (uraUte) 
 laid on match-boarding is probably the best. Houses which 
 have only a ground-flour should be raised above the sur- 
 rounding level. If of wood, they should be built on masonry 
 or iron pillars, 2 ft. from the ground. The eaves should 
 descend to within 5 ft. 6 in. of the floor-level. Pitch-tar or 
 siderothen paint is invaluable for preventing the access of 
 white ants to any part of the wooden structure of a house. 
 
 The heat of a house in the tropics is caused, not so much 
 by the direct rays of the sun, as by radiation from the ground. 
 Some therefore prefer to break the back of the roof at the 
 edge of the verandah, and extend it for a few feet, at a very 
 gentle slope, supported by uprights outside the house. Of 
 aU vermin in the tropics, the most oilensive and insanitary 
 are bats. They will enter a building by incredibly small 
 orifices, and establish themselves in the roof, or between the 
 weather and match-boarding, and their odour is repulsive. 
 
MOSQtJITOES — ^WATEE SUPPLY. 147 
 
 Particular care must therefore be taken to close every crevice, 
 and protect every grating by wire-gauze. 
 
 The house should not be surrounded by so many trees as 
 to exclude the breeze and Ught. Vegetation which harbours 
 mosquitoes should not be allowed near to it. Compounds or 
 gardens should not be too large, and the servants' quarters 
 must be as distant as possible. Township by-laws wiU 
 regulate the erection of private houses, so that they may con- 
 form to a reasonable standard for health and general amenity. 
 
 Mosquito-proof sleeping cubicles of copper-gauze are now 
 much in vogue, but they have the disadvantage that mos- 
 quitoes which have gained access by the inevitable careless- 
 ness of servants are not as easily detected, or dislodged, as 
 in an ordinary mosquito-net. They also exclude the air. 
 Duplicate gauze windows and doors in an ordinary living- 
 room are in my experience excellent. They can be closed 
 in the evening, admit air, and exclude flies as well as mos- 
 quitoes, and temper too violent a breeze. Common-sense 
 dictates that dark-coloured clothes which harbour mosquitoes 
 should be kept folded up, and not hung on the waUs, and 
 that the mosquito-net should be carefully examined and well 
 tucked in before going to sleep. 
 
 The purity of the water-supply — a matter of vital import- 
 ance to health — ^is, of course, a question to which the medical 
 staff devotes unremitting attention. There is no need, there- 
 fore, for me to dwell here on the desirability of a pipe-borne 
 supply from an uncontaminated source ; on the necessity of 
 eliminating native villages from proximity to a stream which 
 supplies the township ; of drawing off the surface water 
 (which contains most larvae, &c.), and keeping reservoirs 
 stocked with fish ; of boiling drinking-water and using good 
 filters ; of protecting wells by a curb, and using a pump to 
 draw the water ; of preventing the sinking of weUs near con- 
 taminated ground ; of detaching pipes from rain-water tanks 
 till the first showers have cleansed the roofs, and allowing 
 feed-pipes to empty into a gauze bucket to prevent the ingress 
 of lizards, &c. — ^for these are now well-established customs.^ 
 
 1 A writer in the ' Pioneer Mail' (Srd February 1905) advocates the sterilisation 
 of water by chemicals in preference to filtration or boiling, since the latter are 
 often neglected for lack of vessels or time, and are suitable for stations, but not 
 for troops on the march. Permanganate of potash is not effective. Sulphate of 
 copper has not been fully tested. He advocates the passing through the water of 
 chlorine gas, " liquefied and stored in little cylinders like those used for carbonic 
 
148 BRITISH STAFF AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE IN TROPICS. 
 
 But it may be worth while to mention that in the early years 
 in Northern Nigeria we practically eliminated dysentery from 
 many centres by the use of portable condensers burning wood 
 fuel. These were procured through the Crown agents, and 
 are invaluable in isolated stations with a bad water-supply. 
 They are simple, and can be managed by a native, and trans- 
 ported by two carriers.^ 
 
 The question of the segregation of Europeans and natives 
 is one which merits a word here. We have learnt that malarial 
 germs — and at times those of yellow-fever also — are present 
 in the blood of most natives, especially of native children, and 
 their dark huts and insanitary surroundings foster mosquitoes, 
 by which these diseases are conveyed. Doctors, therefore, 
 urge that Europeans should not sleep in proximity to natives, 
 in order to avoid infection. 
 
 We do not go to Africa for our health, and every other 
 consideration must give way to the discharge of duties, which 
 iQ some cases — such as the headmaster of a school, the keeper 
 of a prison, missionaries, and others — must of necessity ren- 
 der the observance of this rule impossible. But where segre- 
 gation is compatible with work and duty, commercial firms, 
 no less than the Government, incur a moral responsibility not 
 to expose their employees to infection which can be avoided. 
 
 With this object in view, new townships are divided into 
 European and native reservations, separated by a non- 
 residential area 440 yards ia breadth, cleared of high grass 
 and scrub. Europeans are not allowed to sleep in the native re- 
 servation, and natives, other than domestic servants and other 
 necessary employees, may not reside in the European quarter. 
 
 The belt of clear groimd which intervenes between the 
 two quarters forms an effective fire-guard from bush-fires, 
 and the conflagrations, so frequent in the dry zone, of the 
 inflammable huts and enclosures of the natives,^ which also 
 harbour rats and other vermin. It may be used for recrea- 
 tion and parade grounds, railway and public works depart- 
 
 aoid for soda-water, with a, tube attached, liberating only one gramme at a time." 
 The chlorine kills every species of germ in thirty minutes, and by adding sulphate 
 of soda the taste is removed. A 5-lb. cylinder will sterilise 111,944 gallons at 
 a cost of Id. per 1000 gallons. 
 
 1 Condensed water was discarded in the Philippines as lacking the natural 
 salts. Artesian water was there obtainable. — Elliott, loc. cU., p. 204. 
 
 2 The serious fire which occurred in the Niger Company's premises at Burutu, 
 with a loss of some half-million sterling, due, it is believed, to natives cooking 
 over an open fire, is a case in point. 
 
THE POLICY OP SEGREGATION. 149 
 
 ment yards, cemeteries, &c., and even for buildings in which 
 Europeans or natives do not sleep, provided that they do 
 not form connecting links for the spread of fire, or resting- 
 places for mosqmtoes. They should for this reason never 
 be allowed on the side on which the native reservation is 
 located. In old townships these principles can only be in- 
 troduced very gradually ; and in order to avoid difficulties 
 in the future, much care and foresight must be exercised 
 when granting long leases in places which may eventually 
 expand into a township. Europeans should never be per- 
 mitted to reside in a native city, or close to but outside a 
 township. 
 
 Such in brief is " the poUcy of segregation " ^ which Lord 
 Milner considers to be desirable no less in the interests of 
 social comfort and convenience than in those of health and 
 sanitation.^ It is obviously applicable only to large centres 
 of population, and since Europeans and natives must neces- 
 sarily be in close association during the day-time, it affords 
 at best a very partial safeguard against insect-borne diseases, 
 for which the only real cure is the extermination of the 
 mosquito — or the rats which harbour the plague-flea — alike 
 in the native as ia the European quarter, and the isolation 
 of persons suffering from insect-borne diseases. 
 
 The policy has given rise to bitter controversy, and the 
 allegation by both British Indians and Africans that it is 
 merely a manifestation of racial arrogance and prejudice.^ 
 This is, I think, in part due to a misapprehension, in part to 
 an attempt to carry the policy to extremes. On the one hand 
 the policy does not impose any restriction on one race which 
 is not appUcable to the other. A European is as strictly 
 prohibited from living in the native reservation, as a native 
 is from living in the European quarter. 
 
 ^ The members of the African section of the Manchester Chamber of Com- 
 merce declare that they are, " without exception, strongly in favour of the 
 principle of the segregation of Europeans ; but they stipulated (a) that the 
 area proposed to be assigned to Europeans should be officially declared, and not 
 subject to alteration, with a view to avoiding the erection of buildings which 
 would become useless by a change of boundaries ; and (6) that there should be 
 no compulsion, and one or more Europeans should be allowed to sleep on the 
 business premises as a guard against burglary." — Letter to Colonial Office, 
 6th May 1921. The latter proposal is open to the objection that it accords to 
 Europeans an exemption denied to Africans. 
 
 2 Debate of 14th July 1920. 
 
 ^ See the presidential address by Mr Jewanjee at the Indian Congress, 
 Mombasa, 11th December 1920, and Indian and African press passim. 
 
150 BRITISH STAFF AND CONDITIONS OP LIFE IN TROPICS. 
 
 On the other hand, since this feeling exists, it should in 
 my opinion be made abundantly clear that what is aimed 
 at is a segregation of social standards, and not a segregation 
 of races. The Indian or African gentleman who adopts the 
 higher standard of civilisation and desires to partake in such 
 immunity from infection as segregation may convey, should 
 be as free and welcome to live in the civilised reservation as 
 the European, provided, of course, that he does not bring 
 with him a concourse of followers. The native peasant often 
 shares his hut with his goat, or sheep, or fowls. He loves to 
 drum and dance at night, which deprives the European of 
 sleep. He is sceptical of mosquito theories. " God made 
 the mosquito larvse," said a Moslem deputation to me ; " for 
 God's sake let the larvae Uve." For these people sanitary 
 rules are necessary but hateful. They have no desire to 
 abolish segregation. 
 
 In order that there may be no legitimate ground for alleg- 
 ing that public money is unduly spent on the " European " 
 quarter, separate rates should be levied in each reservation, 
 and spent wholly on the quarter from which they accrue, 
 whUe any grant from public revenue to the township should 
 be spent impartially on both. 
 
 Improvement in the quality of food in the tropics is a 
 matter of great importance for health and efficiency. Meat 
 (including fowls) is generally tough and tasteless, and, like 
 tinned foods, is deficient in nutritive qualities, while vege- 
 tables and fruit (except bananas) are rarely procurable. 
 " Mutton clubs " in India, by feeding the animals weU — 
 especially on grain — succeed in producing excellent meat, 
 and the same system can be adopted in Africa, and extended 
 to poultry, and the quality can be improved by crossing with 
 imported stock. Vegetables can be raised in properly-tended 
 gardens under municipal supervision, and sold to Europeans ; 
 but raw salads should be avoided in the tropics. Gardens in 
 the dry zone depend on irrigation, which can be effected by 
 raising weU-water by windmills. The French have set us 
 an example in the production of garden produce in Africa. 
 " Cold storage " in West Africa, especially in the coast towns, 
 now suppUes imported joiats, vegetables, and fruit, and is 
 capable of extension to inland centres by railway. Above all, 
 the need of training native cooks is a matter of such import- 
 ance that it is well worth considering whether cookery classes 
 
MEDICAL STAPP AND EESEAEOH. 151 
 
 could not be instituted as a special subject in Government 
 schools. Mrs Euxton and Mrs Tew have rendered a great 
 service by their admirable books on simple tropical cookery. 
 
 Too much emphasis cannot, of course, be laid on the neces- 
 sity of providing an adequate and weU- qualified Medical 
 staff, with specialised training in the splendid schools of 
 Tropical Medicine which now exist in this country for re- 
 search work. Well-equipped laboratories for local research 
 work — ^like the Wellcome Institute attached to the Gordon 
 College at Khartum, and the smaller institutions in Nigeria 
 and elsewhere — are doing increasingly valuable work, and 
 demand every encouragement from the local Governments. 
 
 It is to Mr Chamberlain's sympathetic foresight that we 
 owe the creation of an adequate Medical Service in the tropics, 
 the inauguration of Tropical Schools of Medicine, and, above 
 all, the institution of hospital nurses. The Colonial Nursing 
 Association, in which Mrs Chamberlain took a very promi- 
 nent part, was formed in 1896 by private subscription, with 
 the object of supplying trained nurses — a need which, I 
 think, I was one of the fijst to advocate, for nursing sisters 
 were unknown in Africa during my first eight or ten years' 
 service there. The Gold Coast has recently appointed women 
 doctors for the schools, to combat child diseases and mortaUty. 
 
 The utility of the Medical department can be greatly 
 increased by providing motor-cars or cycles for the doctors, 
 as we found in Mgeria during the war, when the bulk of our 
 medical staff was lent for war work elsewhere. By thus cover- 
 ing long distances, even over the roughest of native roads, 
 they are enabled to save many a life. The story of African 
 development is fuU of deeds of self-devotion by doctors, who 
 have travelled day and night under almost impossible condi- 
 tions to save the life of a sick comrade in an isolated and 
 distant post. 
 
 It is primarily due to medical research, and to the zeal 
 of medical officers, that the wonderful decrease in mortality 
 among Europeans in West Africa is to be ascribed, though 
 better conditions of Ufe, greater moderation in the use of 
 alcohol, and other causes, have of course had their share in 
 the result.^ Further decrease will no doubt result from the 
 
 ' Dr Sambon, Lecturer iu the London School of Tropical Medicine, in an 
 interesting paper contributed to the Press ('West Africa,' 3rd August 1918), states 
 that 100 years ago the mortality of white troops in West Africa was 1500 per 
 
152 BRITISH STAFF AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE IN TEOPICS. 
 
 improvement of sanitary conditions among the natives, and 
 from the discovery of an effective treatment for the great 
 scourges of blackwater fever and sleeping-sickness, — the case 
 mortality of the former has already greatly decreased, and a 
 cure for the latter appears to be in sight at last. The pro- 
 vision of dentists is a further departure of the greatest possible 
 value. 
 
 I shall not here discuss at any length the debated question 
 of private practice by medical officers in the Government 
 service. Since there are but a few centres where an income 
 can be made by this means, it is inevitable that there should 
 be heart-burnings and friction in regard to the selection of 
 officers for these posts. The salaries, pension, and promotion 
 of Government medical officers should be sufficiently generous 
 to attract good men, without such extraneous inducements ; 
 and if the acceptance of any fee, except as consultant, were 
 disallowed, the field would be left open to private practi- 
 tioners, and Government medical officers woidd have more 
 time to devote to research, and to free hospital and dis- 
 pensary work among the natives. 
 
 A few brief words to the newcomer to the tropics, before 
 he has had time to acquire experience, or to benefit from 
 the advice of the doctor, may be of use : — 
 
 Wear light flannel next to the skin, and use a cummer- 
 bund. Never be separated from your mosquito-net — a small 
 one can be carried on the saddle, — and see that it is well tucked 
 in at night, and that your feet or hands do not Ke against it 
 while asleep. Wear some head-covering when under an in- 
 sufficient roof or in a verandah, and on no account go into the 
 sun without a hat, even for a moment. When marching on 
 foot, wear thick wooUen socks and roomy boots. Bathe in 
 warm water. Be moderate in eating and drinking ; always 
 eat something before going to work,^ and eat frequently, but 
 not largely at one time. Eat fresh food, even though un- 
 appetising, in preference to tinned food. Obtain all the vege- 
 
 mille ! The average for the quinquennial period ending 1917 appears to have 
 been 9 "87 per mille for the Gold Coast, and 20*44 for Nigeria, in spite of war 
 conditions. Dr Sambon looks forward to the time when the African tropics, 
 like Panama, will be made colonisable by the conquest of parasitic diseases. 
 
 ^ Khatib Musa, who for forty years was Imam of the Mosque of Timbuktu, 
 without a single day's illness, attributed his good health to the observance of 
 three rules. "He never slept," he said, "exposed to the night air; he never 
 missed anointing himself at night, and taking a hot bath in the morning ; and 
 he never went out without breakfast." — ' Tropical Dependency,' p. 126. 
 
MEDICAL WOEK AMONG THE NATIVES. 153 
 
 tables and fruit you can, but eat sparingly of uncooked salads. 
 Boil aU drinking water and milk bought from the natives. 
 Take five grains of quinine daily, preferably in liquid form — 
 tabloids sometimes become so hard that they pass through 
 the system without dissolving. If unavoidably exposed to 
 mosquitoes, take an extra dose on alternate days for ten days. 
 Personally, see to the cleanliness of all cooking utensils by 
 frequent inspection. See that your clothes are not washed 
 in water used for this purpose by natives. 
 
 Turning to the native population, we need not be dis- 
 heartened because, as I have said, the first impact of civilisa- 
 tion has not brought with it all the alleviations and benefits 
 which we had hoped. The discouraging reports of the Belgian 
 Congo Commission,^ and of the East African Commis- 
 sion,* Sir H. Belfield's assertion that the population of the 
 Gold Coast is not increasing,^ and Sir E. Coryndon's report 
 to the same effect as regards Uganda,* will, rightly used, point 
 the way in which our efforts should be directed in the future, 
 no less in the sphere of administrative action than iu that of 
 technical research and medical treatment. In the one we 
 shall learn to abstain from interference in the mode of life 
 of the people, leaving them to work on their own land in their 
 own way instead of as hirelings under conditions which do not 
 suit them, or in places far distant from their natural climate 
 and food. In the other, as Dr Sambon says, a very much 
 larger staff is required to achieve adequate results. Vaccina- 
 tion should be more widely extended. Bad water, lack of 
 drains, open cesspools, iusanitary customs, such as burial 
 in houses, overcrowding, and absence of sanitation in the 
 cities, cause iofant enteritis and dysentery, with an appalling 
 
 ^ The Commission was constituted under the Belgian Congo Charter. It 
 reports that the depopulation of that country is rapid and alarming ; that 
 indigenous diseases, such as sleeping-sickness, have spread, and hitherto unknown 
 diseases, such as tuberculosis, cerebro-spinal-meningitis, and typhoid, have been 
 introduced ; that immorality and venereal disease have greatly increased, and 
 the population has decreased by half. 
 
 ^ The report states that evidence given shows that 50 % of our native popula- 
 tion are relatively incapable of physical exertion ; that pneumonia, malaria, yaws, 
 syphilis, phthisis, and heart- weakness, as well as infant mortality, are of appal- 
 lingly wide distribution. — P. 29. 
 
 * Cd. 6278, p. 12. The population of the Sokoto province (Nigeria), on the 
 other hand, is reported to have largely increased since 1893, — due, however, 
 largely to immigration. 
 
 •■ In several districts statistics show that 33 % of the children are still-born, in 
 others that the population is decreasing — due to venereal disease. — 'United 
 Empire,' June 1920, p. 396. 
 
154 BRITISH STAFF AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE IN TEOPICS. 
 
 infant mortality. The efforts made through the native 
 administrations by the establishment of dispensaries in the 
 cities, the provision of sanitary gangs (prisoners and others) 
 under expert supervision, of incinerators, and of improved 
 latrines, above all, of venereal hospitals and leper settlements, 
 need to be made on a more extended scale, and with a larger 
 medical staff and trained subordinates who can speak the 
 native languages. 
 
 On the other hand, in spite of inadequate resources in the 
 earlier years, we can claim some successes. Loss of life by 
 direct human agencies — tribal war, slave-raiding, witchcraft 
 ordeals, and fetish practices — has Ibeen checked by adminis- 
 trative action, while an enthusiastic Medical Service has been 
 established which affords treatment to the people. In Nigeria 
 — ^which I quote in illustration, solely because I have more 
 personal knowledge of that country than of others — vaccina- 
 tion, at first feared and disliked, is now, generally speaking, 
 popular. The advanced " native administrations," which 
 I shall presently describe, are showing increased apprecia- 
 tion of sanitation, and are establishing dispensaries supported 
 by native funds. They have taken up the cause of the leper 
 outcasts. When I left Nigeria the single asylum in Bornu 
 had 534 lepers, and a venereal hospital had been established. 
 In Sokoto, where leprosy is most rife, there has been a notable 
 decrease, the cause of which is obscure, but probably due to 
 better conditions of life — ^from 5 per miUe in 1910 to 3' 7 in 
 1916, and in the Gando division from 4-2 in 1911 to '56 ; lUo, 
 3'14 to 1*14. A similar decrease in the number of blind is 
 reported — from 6 and 7-6 per mille in two districts in 1911 to 
 1'2 and 1-9 respectively. The injection of chambuga-oU for 
 leprosy appears to promise success, and a definite policy for 
 leper settlements has received legislative sanction. 
 
155 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 The demand for reform — The constitution of the Colonial Office — The 
 Secretary of State — The Parliamentary Under-Secretary — The per- 
 manent Under-Secretary and staff — The work of the Colonial Office — 
 Results of congestion — Lord Elgin's reorganisation — Relations of the 
 Colonial Office with the colonies — Grounds of dissatisfaction — Inter- 
 vention by the Office — The Office view — Treasury control — The func- 
 tion of the Colonial Office— Results of the system — Ability of Colonial 
 Office officials — Government by departments— Suggested palliatives — 
 A second Under-Secretary — Sir C. Bruce's scheme — Alternative 
 schemes — Direct responsibility of Under-Secretary — A Director of 
 Protectorates — Committees and Councils — Standing Committees — 
 Councils — The Indian Council — Contrast with the Colonial Secretary. 
 
 Theee has been for many years past a consistent complaint 
 that the Colonial Office needs reform and adaptation to 
 modern requirements. Several leading statesmen have fore- 
 shadowed changes/ and many of the principal newspapers 
 and monthly journals have published articles with the object 
 of demonstrating its deficiencies — its delays, its unnecessary 
 interferences, and what not, — as exemplified in some par- 
 ticular matter or some particular colony ; but few have made 
 any definite constructive proposals, viewing the subject as 
 a whole. 
 
 I propose in this chapter to discuss the grounds of some 
 
 ' Lord Selborne and Lord Emmott, both of them former Under-Secretaries 
 at the Colonial Office, may be cited. The former says : " The Colonial Office, 
 excellent as the work of that department has always been within my personal 
 knowledge, has never been modelled to meet the conditions that are growing up 
 in West Africa in the way that the India Office, for instance, was modelled to 
 meet the conditions in India ; and I suggest that we are on the eve ... of 
 political developments in connection with West Africa, as well as commercial 
 developments."— Speech of 14th July 1917. 
 
 Lord Emmott says: "There must be, owing to this war, an enormous in- 
 crease in the responsibilities and work of the Colonial Office, and with this there 
 must be an increase of hberty so far as the colonies and protectorates which are 
 governed by us are concerned." — Speech, July 1919. 
 
156 THE HOME GOVBENMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 of these complaints, and to offer, with much diffidence, some 
 suggestions which may possibly form a basis for discussion 
 and reform. 
 
 Through the Press and Eeuter the public is made aware 
 of what happens in the most distant colonies, and the Secretary 
 of State is expected by Parliament to be conversant with their 
 affairs almost from day to day. With their growing import- 
 ance the office of Colonial Secretary has become one of the 
 most important in the State, to be held by a Minister whose 
 position in Parliament and in the Cabinet makes heavy de- 
 mands on his time, wholly unconnected with the duties of 
 his office. He comes to it generally ignorant of the problems 
 of most, if not all, of the colonies, and holds office for only 
 a brief period. Since Mr Chamberlain's time the average 
 tenure has been only two and a half years. 
 
 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary is the representative 
 of the Colonial Office in the House in which the Secretary of 
 State does not sit. He defends the policy of his chief, and 
 answers questions. He vacates his post on a change of Gov- 
 ernment, and may at any time do so on promotion. The 
 average tenure of the post in the same period has been less 
 than two years. He can caU for any papers in the Office and 
 minute upon them, and if so authorised by the Secretary of 
 State, may deal finally in his name with the less important 
 ones. He receives deputations, and acts as chairman of many 
 committees. His energy is usually unbounded, and he forms 
 a link between the department and the public. As most of 
 the questions with which Parliament expects him to be 
 familiar are new to him, his task is no light one ; but the 
 business of the Office goes on, whether he participates in it 
 to a greater or a less degree. 
 
 The permanent staff of the Colonial Office consists of one 
 Under-Secretary and four Assistant Under-Secretaries of 
 State — one for the Dominions, one as "Accounting Officer," 
 and two for the Crown colonies. The two latter are in charge 
 of the five departments into which the Crown colonies are 
 grouped, for office purposes. Each group is under the charge 
 of a "principal clerk." ^ Papers on aU subjects for sub- 
 
 1 See Colonial OflBce Liat, pp. xv.-xviii. The latest issue shows the "Account- 
 ing Officer" and "Dominions" combined, and the fourth Assistant Under- 
 Secretary as seconded from the India Office for Mesopotamia, Palestine, and 
 Arab areas. 
 
THE WOEK OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 157 
 
 mission to the Secretary of State pass through the permanent 
 Under-Secretary, who is his chief adviser, and acts in his 
 name in any matters to which he is not personally able to 
 attend. He deals with the diverse affairs of a couple of score 
 of Dominions, colonies, protectorates, and Mandate terri- 
 tories ; the representations of merchants, shipowners, and 
 mine-owners ; Imperial and other conferences and deputa- 
 tions ; Parliamentary and Treasury questions ; and a thou- 
 sand other matters. He has, as one of them said to me, no 
 time at all to tJiink. 
 
 Since the Colonial Office was set up as a separate depart- 
 ment in 1825 — ^ninety-six years ago — the post of permanent 
 Under-Secretary has only been held for an aggregate of 
 eighteen years by promotion from the office itself, pro- 
 bably in order that its head may bring to his task a wider 
 view than a lifelong training in the department would 
 secure. 
 
 Alm ost the whole of British tropical Africa is the creation 
 of the past three decades, for prior to 1890 it consisted chiefly 
 of small enclaves on the West Coast. The work of the Colonial 
 Office was, of course, greatly increased when, some fifteen 
 years ago, it took over the control of the African Protectorates 
 from the Foreign Office. Prom that time to the present day 
 expansion has been extremely rapid, and of late the territory 
 held under Mandate has been added, including Palestine 
 and Mesopotamia. 
 
 The increase of work is, however, due not merely, or even 
 primarily, to territorial expansion, but rather to the in- 
 creasing diversity and complexity of the problems arising 
 from the development of the material resources of these 
 dependencies by railways (which have facilitated the ex- 
 ploitation of vegetable and mineral products, with the con- 
 sequent influx of merchants and miners), the progress in 
 medical and sanitary methods, the increase in British staff, 
 and to a less degree the problems of native administration. 
 The improvement ia ocean and cable services has caused a 
 more rapid turnover of busiaess. Even a dozen years ago it 
 was estimated that the correspondence had already increased 
 four or five times in volume. The expansion of the depart- 
 ment of the Crown agents, who transact the purely business 
 requirements of the colonies, is typical. When I joined the 
 Colonial Service they occupied a few rooms on the ground 
 
158 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 floor in Downing Street, but they now find it necessary to 
 occupy a spacious block of buildings of their own. 
 
 It is clear that in these circumstances the Secretary of 
 State must delegate some of his functions, or that all except 
 the most important questions must be dealt with in his 
 name by the permanent officials. It is equally clear that the 
 work devolving upon the permanent Under-Secretary cannot 
 be dealt with by a single man, however able and industrious, 
 and that much must be left to the two assistants. These in 
 turn are compelled to relegate much of their proper work 
 to the clerks in charge of departments, who moreover are 
 called upon to attend many committees, and devote much 
 of their time to the endeavour to condense into minutes and 
 precis for their seniors the contents of despatches on important 
 questions which should be read in original. It is hardly 
 surprising that the result gives rise to much dissatisfaction 
 among the more zealous servants of the Crown in the colonies, 
 the extent of which is probably unknown to the Secretary of 
 State.i 
 
 In response to a Eesolution adopted at the Imperial Con- 
 ference in May 1907, Lord Elgin " reorganised " the Colonial 
 Office. Under his scheme it was to consist of three depart- 
 ments, styled respectively " the Dominions," " the Crown 
 Colony " (political and administrative), and " the General " 
 Department ; the latter included matters common to all the 
 Crown colonies (currency, banking, posts and telegraphs, 
 education, medical, pensions, &c.) The Crown Colony De- 
 partment was divided into four geographical " Divisions," 
 supplemented by four Standing Committees on patronage 
 and promotion, railway and finance, concessions, and pen- 
 sions. A single Under-Secretary remained as " the permanent 
 head of the whole Office, and the principal adviser to the 
 Secretary of State." Of the four Assistant Under-Secretaries, 
 two were assigned to the Dominions, and one each to the other 
 two departments.^ This scheme was later modified in the way 
 I have explained. 
 
 The object of this rearrangement was not to lighten the 
 
 1 Sir Charles Bruce writes : " Seventy years ago, Sir H. Taylor, speaking with 
 intimate knowledge from within, declared that the far greater proportion of the 
 duties performed in the Office were performed under no effective responsibility. 
 The whole history of the Office is a record of conflicts with the ablest, and even 
 the most trusted of Governors." — 'Broad Stone of Empire,' p. 182. 
 
 2 Cd. 3795, 1907, p. 4. 
 
KELATIONS WITH DEPENDENCIES. 159 
 
 burden on the Secretary of State and the permanent Under- 
 Secretary by judicious delegation, but primarily to satisfy 
 the Dominions, at whose instance it was undertaken, by 
 assigning to them " a distinct division " of the Office, and 
 facilitating the work of the Conferences. In point of fact, 
 it would seem to have actually increased the congestion in 
 the Crown colony branch, while the senior Assistant Under- 
 Secretary for the Dominions had apparently little to do, 
 and left England for a prolonged tour in them. The time is 
 probably not distant when the Dominions branch at the 
 Colonial Office will be transferred elsewhere.^ 
 
 When Mr Chamberlain took oflBce in 1895, " Downing 
 Street " was not popular. The criticism was, no doubt, 
 chiefly expressed by the self-governing colonies, for the 
 Crown colonies were then even less vocal than now. When 
 he left office a remarkable change had taken place ; but 
 it is impossible to talk with senior officials of the different 
 colonies to-day without noting the recrudescence of the 
 critical feeling. The cause of their dissatisfaction may be 
 exaggerated, but it is none the less subversive of that cordial 
 co-operation which should animate the two branches of a 
 service engaged in a common task, for which both are spend- 
 ing themselves freely — ^not for reward, but for the sake of 
 the work. I trust that in scrutinising the grounds for this dis- 
 satisfaction and in venturing to put forward some suggestions, 
 I may be credited with the sole desire to promote the best 
 interests of the Empire. 
 
 The dissatisfaction arises, I think, mainly from three alleged 
 causes : — 
 
 (a) First, that the considered recommendations of the 
 Governor and his expert advisers (which necessarily embody 
 the best local opinion) are overruled in important matters by 
 the senior Colonial Office officials, and in less important matters 
 by juniors, whose decisions are recorded over the lithographed 
 signature of the Secretary of State, against which there is no 
 appeal. 
 
 (6) Secondly, that the Colonial Office shows an increasing 
 
 ' The task of preparation for the Imperial Conferences is heavy, but the direct 
 work with the Dominions concerns the Premier, the Foreign OiEce, the War 
 Office, the Admiralty, the India Office, and the Board of Trade, equally with the 
 Colonial Office — viz., treaties with foreign States, defence by sea and land, alien 
 immigration, trade and Imperial preference, emigration, shipping rings, patents 
 and similar matters. 
 
160 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 tendency to interfere in matters of detail in internal adminis- 
 tration — an interference which is largely attributed to junior 
 officials, — with consequent delay in those other matters which 
 properly fall withia its duties. This delay is prejudicial to 
 the interests of the colonies, and complained of by both 
 officials in the colonies and by business men. 
 
 (c) Thirdly, that the Colonial Office lacks that element 
 of actual administrative experience which would understand 
 and sympathise with the difficulties of the man on the spot, 
 and that the Secretary of State and his office are out of touch 
 with the local administrations. 
 
 There seems to be no doubt that there exists at present a 
 widespread feeUng that there is a great deal of imnecessary 
 interference from Whitehall in the sphere of actual administra- 
 tion — ^which under the Eoyal Letters Patent is the function 
 of the Governor, — thereby increasing the work of the Colonial 
 Office, while delaying and impeding the task of government 
 in the colonies, and creating unnecessary friction — due, it is 
 alleged, to " the deplorable system of goverimient by junior 
 clerks." 
 
 Sir A. Hemming, in a letter to the ' Times,' ^ claims to 
 write with thirty years' experience in the Colonial Office, 
 where he was head of the West African Department, and 
 later as Governor of two Crown colonies. " A great por- 
 tion of the work," he says, "has been entrusted to junior 
 officials. These men have not and cannot have the experi- 
 ence and knowledge required for such duties, and it is natu- 
 rally galling to high officials in the colonies to know that their 
 suggestions are criticised by youths almost fresh from school 
 or college, and their mature and weU-weighed advice possibly 
 rejected on the recommendation of these embryo statesmen. 
 That the bulk of the work in the Colonial Office is done well 
 and conscientiously I should be the last to deny ; but the 
 pressure on the seniors, and especially on the Under-Secretary 
 of State, is too great, and the junior clerks consequently 
 obtain a much larger portion of authority and control than 
 their position properly justifies." ^ 
 
 1 ' Times,' 26th December 1905. 
 
 ^ Sir Charles Bruce (who, after long colonial service, was Governor of the 
 Windward Islands and of Mauritius) goes even further. The passage is too long 
 to quote in extenso. He argues that the Secretary of State is not informed 
 of all that is going on in his own office, and " must only know what it is good for 
 him to know, . . . the tradition was upheld in the Colonial Office for many years, 
 
UNNECESSARY INTERVENTION. 161 
 
 The Oflace, it is said, iatervenes in every detail of economic 
 development and of administrative policy. It demands ex- 
 haustive reports — ^tavolving iaterminable despatch- writing — 
 on matters often of trivial importance, and its sanction is 
 necessary for imbudgeted expenditure, however petty. Some- 
 times, says Sir C. Bruce (and I can corroborate it from my 
 own experience), a decision well adapted to the colony in 
 which it was evolved is offered in substitution of carefully- 
 considered proposals, as a solution of a problem where the 
 conditions render it merely "grotesque." Consequential 
 delay and apparent vacillation — perhaps for over a year — 
 before a scheme is eventually carried out with little if any 
 change, is placed by critics to the discredit of the local Govern- 
 ment, and is heart-breaking to those on the spot. 
 
 That this criticism does not origiaate merely from the 
 impatience of local officials and "prancing pro-Consuls" 
 may be seen from the opinion expressed in the House of Lords 
 by the late Lord Salisbury : " I do not think," he said, " that 
 our government is of much advantage to the Englishmen who 
 go into a new country. Almost everythiag that is done at 
 home is apt to hinder them ; and though we have officers 
 unparalleled in the world, they come generally with their 
 hands tied to their sides with red tape, and beside them sits 
 the spirit of the Treasury, like care Ibelund the horseman, 
 which paralyses every effort, and casts a shadow on any 
 enthusiasm they may feel. I do not think Governments aid 
 our people much when they go into the possession of a new 
 territory." ^ 
 
 The officer selected for the responsible post of Governor, 
 especially when he has acquired long local experience, is 
 
 during which grave inconvenience to the public service was caused by circum- 
 stances known to every member of the Office except the Secretary of State. . . . 
 The Office must decide to a large extent on what questions they may act without 
 his direct authority under cover of his constitutional responsibility, . . . but 
 the tradition is prolonged into a wider area of activity when the Office claims, 
 as it does, a rigidly exclusive monopoly of access to the Minister either by docu- 
 mentary or personal communication." He explains, with emphasis, that he 
 intends no reflection on the personal ability of the permanent officials, and 
 quotes Sir F. Swettenham's panegyric on the admirable ability and efficiency of 
 their work — the patient care with which each question is examined, and the 
 anxiety to be just in every case, — a description in which I think all who have 
 knowledge will concur. " What was deprecated was a system which placed in 
 the hands of a group of officials, living in the artificial atmosphere of a public 
 office in the centre of the Empire, absolute control over the destinies of com- 
 munities" living far away. — 'Broad Stone of Empire,' pp. 196-99. 
 ' House of Lords debate of 14th February 1895. 
 
 L 
 
162 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 justified in expecting to be trusted to decide (with the aid, 
 if necessary, of his Legislative and Executive Councils and 
 departmental advisers) such matters as the incremental pay 
 of a foreman of works, the promotion of very junior officers, 
 the engagement of a mechanic on some small increase of pay 
 in special circumstances, the writing off of small sums of 
 public money after full investigation by a committee and re- 
 vision by the Council, the amount of baggage which an officer 
 may carry free by local raU, or to take appropriate measures 
 in similar questions of a purely admiaistrative and local nature 
 in Africa. Or at most it should suffice to caU his attention 
 to any apparent inconsistency, of which the Office may 
 become aware — for it is, of course, well understood that such 
 matters are dealt with by juniors. In some cases it is alleged 
 that the Office has even xmdertaken the drafting of local 
 ordinances, and drawn up departmental regulations, with 
 the aid of subordinate colonial officers, for the Governor to 
 enact. A case is quoted in which the clerk in charge of a 
 department averred that a particular colony had for years 
 been administered from his room and not by the local Governor. 
 
 In larger questions which do reach the Secretary of State, 
 the Governor in Council may find his recommendations 
 overruled, without opportunity of personal explanation. For 
 the advice tendered to the Minister is " the office view," 
 limited by tradition and precedent, and uninformed by 
 personal experience. A strong Secretary of State like Mr 
 Chamberlain (whose office nickname was " Our Master ") 
 will exercise an independent judgment so far as time permits 
 of his studying the matter. A weaker, or an overpressed, or 
 less industrious Minister may allow the office view to pre- 
 vail, and be transmitted to the colony, justified and elaborated 
 by its exponent, over the signature of the Secretary of State, 
 whose decision must be loyally accepted.^ By the fine tradi- 
 tion of British statesmanship, the mistakes of the permanent 
 officials — if they make any — are accepted by the Secretary 
 of State as his own, to be defended before Parliament with 
 all the influence and ability at his command. 
 
 If a protectorate is dependent on a grant, Colonial Office 
 
 ^ "Every Secretary of State, however well-intentioned, energetic, and capable, 
 is likely, sooner or later, to become the medium, conscious or unconscious, 
 through which the permanent heads of the Office carry out their policy, . . . able 
 and trusted, but necessarily academic advisers." — Bruce, loc. cit., p. 200. 
 
THE FUNCTION OP THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 163 
 
 supervision is supplemented by Treasury control, which, says 
 the ' Times,' " largely consists in interference in technical 
 detail, refusing an extra draughtsman or a subordinate clerk, 
 and generally hampering and exasperating the responsible 
 administrator. It is this form of control in the past that has 
 kUled aU sense of financial conscience in the public service." 
 The Oflace then experiences something of the exasperation 
 which its own methods are apt to produce in the local Govern- 
 ment, when the responsible Administrator feels inclined to 
 exclaim with Job, " No doubt but ye are the people, and 
 all wisdom shall die with you, but I have understanding as 
 well as you." 
 
 That the function of the Colonial OfQce is not creative or 
 initiative — still less administrative — was a principle affirmed 
 by Mr Chamberlain — a limitation ignored in the public pro- 
 nouncements of several of his successors. Lord Onslow, his 
 Under-Secretary (than whom the men on the spot have never 
 had a more appreciative and generous supporter), stated that 
 it was Mr Chamberlain's settled policy never to interfere with 
 the decision of the policy of the Governor. All they asked for 
 at the Colonial OflBice in return was that they should be kept 
 fully informed of what the man on the spot intended to do, 
 and what he advised the Government to do.^ J. S. Mill thus 
 formulates the principle in regard to India : " The Executive 
 Government of India is, and must be, seated in India itself. 
 The principal function of the Home Government is not to 
 direct the details of administration, but to scrutinise and 
 review the past acts of Indian Governments ; to lay down 
 principles and issue general instructions for their future 
 guidance, and to give or refuse sanction to great political 
 measures, which are referred home for approval." The 
 Foreign OflBce apparently acts on this principle, for a recent 
 
 ^ 'African Society's Journal,' March 1907. The distinguishing characteristic 
 of ]tfr Chamberlain as Colonial Secretary, which rendered possible the great 
 development which took place during his eight years of office, and endeared him 
 to those who served under him, was the trust he placed in his Governors and the 
 latitude he allowed to those in whom he had confidence. The present Secretary 
 of State (Mr Churchill), in his speech at the Corona Club in June 1921, alluded 
 to Mr Chamberlain's success in inspiring co-operation and loyal comradeship, and 
 himself struck the same note. " The Colonial service (he said) must be a self- 
 reliant service, because its representative is constantly confronted with the 
 problems on the spot, and must have the initiative and resolution and the 
 conviction to decide upon the necessary action, and to take it when the decision 
 has to be made. It would not be possible to govern the British Empire from 
 Downing Street, and we do not try." 
 
164 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 inquiry regarding the Sudan elicited the response that the 
 Home Government is not concerned with the details of its 
 administration since the country is self-supporting and 
 manages its own affairs, the Home Government being only 
 concerned with such important questions as may be referred 
 to it. 
 
 The effect of unnecessary intervention in administrative 
 affairs is to dishearten the higher ranks and to weaken their 
 sense of responsibility, while engendering in the lower ranks 
 a feeling that it is not to the Governor and his Council that 
 they must look, but to an anonymous official at the Colonial 
 Office. Delay and friction are inevitable. It does not suffice 
 to say that these occasions of discontent are exaggerated, 
 or even in some cases fanciful, so long as they exist. If the 
 officials admitted their truth, they would no doubt regard 
 such results as inherent in the discharge of their duties as 
 " watch-dogs " — to quote a term recently used in a public 
 speech by the Under-Secretary. Watch-dogs are employed 
 to guard against an enemy, not against a partner in a joint 
 task. 
 
 I am anxious to emphasise the fact — as other critics have 
 done — that it is the system that is criticised and not the 
 individuals. 1 The individual officials have great experience, 
 and uphold the traditions of a most honourable service. 
 The seniors have grown grey in the study of Colonial affairs. 
 They form an invaluable repository of knowledge and pre- 
 cedent. It would be a crucial mistake to undervalue the 
 benefit of their moderating counsels, and of their influence 
 in preserving continuity and checking hasty changes by a 
 new and inexperienced Governor. That their lifelong training 
 in the Office should leave its mark upon them is inevitable. 
 The guardian of continuity may sometimes be slow to recog- 
 nise progress and reform, and ignorance of the local condi- 
 tions may lead to false analogies and misapplication of pre- 
 cedents. But all administrators alike have testified to the 
 conscientious industiy and ability and high sense of honour 
 which the officials of the Colonial Office bring to their task, 
 and their desire to do the thing that is just. 
 
 It has been said that " Government by Department is the 
 worst of aU forms of Government," and it is permissible, 
 alike for the British public and the colonies, to ask whether 
 
 ' See footnote, p. 161, 
 
SOME SUGGESTIONS. 165 
 
 in the interests of the Empire these high qualities are directed 
 into the best possible channels, and whether the officials 
 shoidd not bear a measure of public responsibility com- 
 mensurate with the powers they exercise ; and to demand 
 that the duties laid on them should be limited to what a 
 man weighted with responsibility can reasonably discharge 
 with efficiency. The public at large knows but little of the 
 administration of the colonies. Even an officer like myself, 
 who has served for twenty years in the highest office abroad, 
 knows so little of the internal organisation and methods 
 of the Colonial Office, that suggestions must of necessity 
 be made with diffidence and reluctance. Officials iq harness 
 may not speak, and those who have retired are glad to avoid 
 controversy and seek rest and quiet. 
 
 The causes of friction to which I have referred can never 
 be wholly removed, for it is in the nature of things that 
 dependent Governments should chafe at control, and that 
 Home Departments shoidd exhibit a leaning towards bureau- 
 cracy. There are, however, three ways in which I suggest 
 that on the one hand the dissatisfaction of the Colonial Gov- 
 ernments may be lessened, and on the other hand, the work 
 devolving upon the Secretary of State and the permanent 
 Under-Secretary may be so adjusted as to render its accom- 
 plishment less impossible. 
 
 (a) By duplicating, or even triplicating, the post of Under- 
 Secretary, and delegating to the Under-Secretaries some public 
 and personal measure of responsibility for their actions. 
 
 (b) By creating a CouncU, or Councils, to advise and assist 
 the Secretary of State in the discharge of his duties. 
 
 (c) By giving a wider latitude — especially in matters of 
 finance — to Governors, and by creating groups of Colonies 
 under Governors-General. 
 
 A combination of all three would no doubt be best. I will 
 essay a few remarks on each. 
 
 The volume of work at the Colonial Office has expanded 
 like a bladder, but it has still to pass through a single narrow 
 neck. It is suggested that there should be two permanent 
 Under-Secretaries, as in the Treasury, mutually independent 
 but acting in close co-operation, with independent access to 
 the Secretary of State. The Office alone can judge how the 
 duties could best be allocated between them. One might, 
 perhaps, deal with the general work of the Office, and control 
 
166 THE HOME G0V?;KNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 its legal, financial, and other departments, and supervise the 
 Mediterranean colonies with, or without the Eastern groups ; 
 while the second would deal with the tropical dependencies, 
 especially the large African groups, with or without those 
 in the East and the West Indies. He would supply that 
 closer touch demanded by the merchants interested, and would 
 encourage enterprise, which, it is alleged, under present con- 
 ditions has sometimes been driven to find other outlets ; and 
 he would maintain close personal touch with the Governors 
 and senior colonial oflficials when in England. ^ This would 
 ensure that all matters, other than mere routine, which were 
 not dealt with by the Secretary of State himself, would at 
 least pass under review of the most responsible officer. The 
 first Under-Secretary would probably be selected from the 
 ranks of the Colonial Office, the second from among the 
 Governors, with actual administrative experience in one or 
 more colonies, and his tenure of the appointment might be 
 limited to the period for which a Governorship is usually 
 held (five or six years), though renewable at the discretion 
 of the Secretary of State if he proved especially suited to 
 the post, in order that accumulated experience might be 
 available. Under such a regime. Governors would feel that 
 their difficulties were in the hands of a man who could appre- 
 ciate them from his own experience. There would thus be 
 two well-organised channels of communication with the 
 Secretary of State, each under responsible and experienced 
 officers, with time to deal adequately with the various ques- 
 tions, and to review the minutes of juniors.^ 
 
 The appointment of a second Under-Secretary is preferable 
 
 ^ This suggestion was made by me to the Secretary of State in 1904. It was 
 also made by Colonel Amery, writing in January 1908. — 'Union and Strength,' 
 p. 283, and the ' Times,' 29th April 1908. The transfer to the Colonial Office 
 of Mesopotamia, Palestine, Aden, and "Arab areas," which has been announced 
 since these pages were written, would suggest the provision of a third Under- 
 Secretary for the Eastern and Far Eastern dependencies. 
 
 ^ The existing system is thus trenchantly described by an " outside observer " 
 (of whose identity I am unaware) in the ' Times ' of 28th August 1917 : "The 
 permanent Under-Secretary is frankly and undisguisedly head of the whole 
 concern ; his ability, his familiarity with precedents, his devotion to public 
 interests, are all unquestioned. But his education has been purely literary, 
 he has sat in the office since he left the university, ... in a word, he is an 
 official and not a practical man." The functions of the political head of a 
 Government department, he argues, seem to resemble fairly closely those of 
 the chairman of a company — ' 'but in a Government department there is no 
 general manager, no man that is trained in the actual practical conduct of 
 business." 
 
ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS. 167 
 
 to the alternative of each assistant Under-Secretary dealing 
 direct with the Secretary of State, for this would result in 
 " water-tight compartments," tend to divergence and lack 
 of co-ordination, and render the position of the Under-Secre- 
 tary anomalous and tadeed impossible. 
 
 Sir C. Bruce suggests a division into " two branches, one 
 dealing with questions of politics and adminLstration, the 
 other with the development of the material resources of the 
 colonies." The latter, he considers, lies " altogether outside 
 the competence of the oflScials of the Colonial OfBce," and 
 must be manned by men of the first scientific attainments. 
 " Such an organisation," he adds, " would, of course, have 
 to be carried out in detail, so as to put an end to the deplor- 
 able, but apparently admitted system of government by 
 junior clerks." ^ Those who have intimate inside knowledge 
 can best decide whether such proposals are practicable from 
 the Colonial Office standpoint ; but if the administrative 
 affairs of each colony are to be dealt with by one branch, 
 and its material development in another, it can easily be 
 imagined that there would be many occasions for overlapping, 
 duplication, and friction. Moreover, the consequential amal- 
 gamation of the Colonial Office and the Crown agents would 
 constitute a somewhat unwieldy machine, and the system 
 proposed would probably result in a tendency to centraUse 
 admroistration ta Colonial Office experts, and to usurp the 
 duties and functions of the local Government. This is op- 
 posed to the spirit of the times, and imposes on the Colonial 
 Office a rdle of direct administration which, as Mr Chamber- 
 lain said, is not its proper function. 
 
 Others have poiated out that the present organisation 
 on a purely geographical basis postulates a competency 
 in the officials of each section to criticise aUke adminLstra- 
 tion, finance, currency, railways, harbours, commercial 
 questions, and every other problem of Government. The 
 knowledge of each of these subjects displayed by officials 
 is, they admit, surprisingly large, but it is purely critical 
 and local. They suggest that an organisation according to 
 subjects (though naturally subdivided geographically) on 
 the lines of the War Office and Admiralty would produce 
 " greater uniformity of policy, and a more helpful, active, 
 and less purely critical attitude." They would amalgamate 
 1 Loo. eit., pp. 187-188. 
 
168 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 the Crown Agent's Office with the Colonial Office, and the 
 former would supply several of the branches. These might 
 consist of administration, finance (including loans and cur- 
 rency), and public works and development branches, the heads 
 sitting together as a Colonial Office Departmental CouncU. 
 
 But though the appointment of a second Under-Secretary 
 would lighten the work of the present head of the Office, 
 it would not reUeve the Secretary of State. His constitutional 
 responsibility at present necessitates the use of his signature 
 on every despatch, however routine and trivial, and its litho- 
 graphed reproduction is evidence of how farcical its use has 
 become. Would it not be feasible to introduce a measure of 
 decentraUsation by allowing the two permanent Under-Secre- 
 taries to deal, over their own signatures, with correspondence 
 which does not demand reference to the Secretary of State ? 
 For, as I said in chapter iv., decentralisation and delegation 
 must be accompanied by public responsibility. The exercise 
 of power without personal and public responsibility is the 
 weakness of the present system. The anonymity conferred 
 by the use of the Uthographed signature, and even the time- 
 honoured fiction of being " directed to say that the matter 
 has received the consideration of the Secretary of State," 
 would disappear. The responsibility for that large class of 
 correspondence, which it is well understood that the Secretary 
 of State has never seen, would then frankly rest on the Under- 
 Secretary, while mere routine papers could be signed by an 
 Assistant Under-Secretary, and addressed to the Chief Secre- 
 tary of the colony. If in any rare instance the Governor 
 considered that a matter dealt with by the Under-Secretary 
 should be laid before the Secretary of State, he would be at 
 liberty to ask that this should be done. 
 
 It may be argued that the Governor, as the King's repre- 
 sentative, should take his instructions only from the King's 
 Minister, and that the Under-Secretary is not his senior in 
 rank and dignity. He would, however, be the delegate of 
 the Minister (who is not himself a delegate but the repre- 
 sentative of King and Parliament). In order to make this 
 clear, and to avoid over-sensitive susceptibilities, the use 
 of the first person might be avoided, and despatches (as in 
 the Army) be signed " By Order." This proposal may appear 
 to be of smaU moment, but I am convinced it would have 
 a far-reaching effect. 
 
A " DIBBCTOR OF PROTECTORATES." 169 
 
 When the Foreign Office controlled the greater part of 
 British tropical Africa, the post of "Director of African 
 Protectorates " was created. His duties included personal 
 visits to Africa.^ Were a second Under-Secretary appointed 
 at the Colonial Office, it might be possible for him to make 
 such occasional visits. It would, however, be necessary that 
 his position vis-d-vis the Governor should be most clearly 
 defined, in order to maintain that unchallenged responsi- 
 bility of the King's representative abroad which, as we have 
 seen, is "the basis of Crown colony Government." The 
 object of his visit would be to study at first hand, with the 
 friendly aid of the Governor, the local problems which could 
 only be inadequately described in despatches, more especially 
 in their relation to contiguous colonies and to the expressed 
 views of the Secretary of State. He would explain what is 
 being done in other colonies, and the opinion of the Secretary 
 of State. He would not pose as one authorised to give orders 
 or instructions, nor even as an adviser or critic, but as a 
 learner. He would not advise or give pledges to either officials, 
 unofficials, or native chiefs, or even interview them, except 
 with the concurrence and generally in the presence of the 
 Governor. Coming with the sole desire to acquire full informa- 
 tion, with the object of making himself more efficient and 
 his advice of greater value to the Secretary of State, his 
 visits should prove very useful. If, on the other hand, he 
 made any attempt "to go behind the Governor," to pose 
 as a higher authority, or to collect ex parte evidence to support 
 his own theories, he would probably find that the best in- 
 formed were also the most loyal, and his information would 
 be unreliable. I do not minim ise the delicacy of such a task, 
 and I recognise that its utility is open to question unless it is 
 discharged with the utmost tact. 
 
 Mr Chamberlain even desired that the Secretary of State 
 should himself visit the colonies, and did actually go to 
 South Africa ; while Mr Churchill, as Parliamentary Under- 
 Secretary, visited East Africa. In practice, however, this is 
 not generally feasible, and even were it possible, the informa- 
 tion thus acquired is lost on a change of Government. The 
 
 1 According to Mr Colquhoun, the French in 1908 were considering a scheme 
 by which a council of experienced ofBcials in Paris, aided by a body of inspectors 
 (who were frequently to visit and report on the colonies), would be responsible 
 for colonial affairs.— ' Morning Post,' 18th April 1908. Sir F. Swettenham ad- 
 vocates this system. — 'Malaya,' p. 340. 
 
170 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 knowledge gained by a permanent Under-Secretary would 
 be at the service of successive Secretaries of State. 
 
 The advocates of the system of Colonial Office reorganisa- 
 tion on War Office and Admiralty lines, which I have described 
 in a previous paragraph, would carry their analogy further, 
 and appoint an Inspector -General with a regular staff of 
 subordinates, competent to inspect in each branch, and they 
 express the view that such an organisation would strengthen 
 the hands of a competent Governor. I think that there is 
 little doubt but that the opposite would happen, and the 
 Colonial Office would look to the Inspector-General rather 
 than to the Governor, whose position would be almost un- 
 tenable. It is essential to remember that the War Office 
 and Admiralty are responsible for the direct administration 
 of every detail of the Army and Navy. Tor the Colonial 
 Office to assume such a rdle would be contrary to the traditions 
 of the Empire, and I believe fatal to its prosperity. 
 
 My second suggestion referred to the creation of a Council. 
 It is obviously desirable that the Secretary of State — and 
 also the Under-Secretaries — should have the best independent 
 advice on matters of policy, especially when they concern 
 more than one colony. Such advice may be obtained by 
 means of ad hoc committees — appointed with definite terms 
 of reference to inquire into some particular matter, and to 
 take evidence from aU available sources — or by Standing 
 Advisory Committees, or by a permanent Statutory Council. 
 
 The Standing Committee is usually concerned with a 
 technical subject, such as medical and sanitary matters, 
 surveys, &c., and consists of experts whose opinion must 
 carry the greatest possible weight. Such committees, how- 
 ever, have serious drawbacks, and are not always satisfactory 
 in operation, either to the Secretary of State or to the local 
 Governments, of whose special and varying conditions they 
 rarely have first-hand knowledge. They make large demands 
 on the time of the permanent officials deputed to attend them 
 as members or secretaries. 
 
 Once appointed, they are apt gradually to acquire powers 
 not originally intended. A member of one of them remarked 
 to me on the tendency shown to deal with matters of local 
 and minor detail, thus usurping the functions and duties of 
 the departmental heads, who may occupy seats on the Colonial 
 Executive and Legislative Councils, and be in close touch 
 
COMMITTEES AND COUNCILS. 171 
 
 with the Government policy. Subordinate officers are apt to 
 look to the Committee rather than to their own departmental 
 chief or Governor — especially if promotion depends on its 
 recommendation. Lack of identity with the colony in 
 which they are serving, and departmental indiscipline, are 
 the results. 
 
 But perhaps an even more serious and inherent defect 
 is that a committee of experts, without financial responsi- 
 bility for the execution of their proposals, is almost bound by 
 professional zeal to recommend counsels of perfection. " The 
 tyranny of the expert " is the bugbear of the administrator, 
 who has to balance the comparative urgency of many com- 
 peting claims when framing his budget. 
 
 " Government by Committee " shares with " Government 
 by Departments " the distinction of being dubbed the worst 
 of all possible forms of Government, and it was probably to 
 such Standing Committees that Mr Bonar Law referred in 
 his speech in the House on 15th and 22nd April 1915, when 
 he expressed, amid cheers, his disbelief in committees. " If 
 you wish to get something done, do not set up a committee, 
 but tell somebody to do it, and entrust him with it. . . . All 
 business must be done by an autocrat more or less. It could 
 never be effectively done in any other way." 
 
 A Council is a Statutory Standing Committee, and in 
 some ways shares its defects. Its object is to place at the 
 disposal of the Secretary of State the assistance of men of 
 ripe experience, and sufficient leisure to study the problems 
 presented to them. It may, like " the India Council," exer- 
 cise important statutory functions, both in regard to legisla- 
 tion and finance, or it may be purely advisory. 
 
 The India Office is the only department of State to which 
 we can turn for a working example of a Statutory Council, 
 for the Boards of Trade, and of Agriculture, and the Local 
 Government Board, in spite of their titles, possess no Boards. 
 The Army Council and the Admiralty Board afford httle or 
 no analogy, for they are, as I have pointed out, the actual 
 working heads of the Army and Navy, and they are not Uke 
 the India Office, concerned with the administration of terri- 
 tories under their own local Governments overseas. 
 
 The " Coimcil of India " is the descendant of the old East 
 India Company's " Board of Control," and inherited some of 
 its powers. It is the prototype of the Executive Council of 
 
172 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 the Governor of a colony. All orders emanated from the 
 " Secretary of State in Council," thus establishing the prin- 
 ciple of Executive control " in Council " as opposed to indi- 
 vidual autocracy. " It was a consultative body without 
 any power of initiative, and a very limited power of veto," 
 but its consent was necessary in financial and some other 
 matters. 
 
 Under Lord Morley its powers were greatly restricted, and 
 what one Liberal statesman had begun, his successors, Lord 
 Crewe and Mr Montagu, endeavoured to complete. By the 
 Council of India BUI of 1914 (which was shelved by the war) 
 the Secretary of State was empowered to transact business 
 with the aid of individual members ; and Lord Crewe's 
 Committee (9th July 1919) recommended its abolition, and 
 the substitution of a purely Advisory Council in its place, in 
 order " to establish the individual responsibility of the 
 Secretary of State to Parliament " — ^in other words, com- 
 plete autocracy. 
 
 Thus the history of the India Council is that of a body 
 vested originally with powers which curtailed those of the 
 Secretary of State ; of the efforts of the latter to free himself 
 from these restraints, at first by ignoring and evading the 
 Council, and finally by abolishing its powers altogether and 
 retaining it only as an advisory body.^ 
 
 The Secretary of State for the Colonies, on the other hand, 
 exercises a practically unfettered control, abte over the 
 legislation and the finances of the majority of the colonies. 
 He can, if need be, instruct the Governor to pass a law with 
 the aid of his official majority. He can disapprove any item 
 in the annual budgets, which, though passed by the local 
 legislatures, require his final approval. 
 
 The story of the India Council shows how strong is the 
 modern tendency towards bureaucracy imder the guise of 
 " the undivided responsibility of the Secretary of State to 
 Parliament " — at a time when the control of either Parlia- 
 ment or the Cabinet has dwindled to vanishing-point. It 
 is idle, therefore, to discuss whether the Colonial Secretary's 
 functions could be better discharged in the interests of the 
 Empire, if he had to act as " Secretary of State in Council " 
 
 1 See Dbert, ' Government of India,' p. 112 et seq. Also the 'Times' of 29th 
 June 1914 and of 10th July 1919, where the later history of the India Council is 
 admirably summarised. 
 
THE INDIA COUNCIL. 173 
 
 under the statutory restraints imposed on the Secretary for 
 India for the last half century. It would wholly depend on 
 the individuality of the Secretary of State. A beneficent 
 autocracy has much to commend it if the autocrat is sym- 
 pathetic, industrious, and has time to devote to his duties. 
 On the other hand, it may he doubted whether an Executive 
 Council of this kind would lighten those duties. It would no 
 doubt completely alter the position of the permanent Under- 
 Secretary, who could no longer be "frankly and undisguisedly 
 head of the whole concern." 
 
174 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 (Continued.) 
 
 An African Council : Its functions ; its constitution ; its procedure — 
 Wider latitude to Governors — Grouping of colonies — Position of 
 Governor - General — Governor - General's Council — Advantages of 
 federation — The French system — Summary of suggestions — Personal 
 touch with the Secretary of State — With the Under-Secretary — Inter- 
 change of officers —Juniors — Seniors — Commercial intelligence — Cost 
 of the Colonial Office — Crown colonies without means of expression. 
 
 If the principle of an Advisory CouncU were adopted at the 
 Colonial OfSce, it would probably be recognised that the 
 Secretary of State would require separate Councils to deal 
 with groups of colonies with such widely dissimilar conditions 
 as the Par Eastern, the Mediterranean, and the West Indian 
 on the one hand — all of which are colonies with constitutions 
 more or less advanced — and the group of African dependencies 
 on the other hand. But whether there be a single council 
 or two is immaterial, for their duties and functions would, I 
 assume, be practically identical. It is sufficient to deal here 
 with an African Council for tropical Africa lying between 
 the Union in the south and Egypt in the north. ^ 
 
 The object of the CouncU would be to place at the disposal 
 of the Secretary of State and the Under-Secretaries the ex- 
 perience, independent judgment, and local knowledge of men 
 who had held office as Governor, and of others who had 
 
 ^ I suggested such a Council as long ago as 1893 (see 'Our East African 
 Empire,' vol. ii. p. 658), and later in fuller detail to the Secretary of State. 
 It has also been advocated by Sir A. Sharpe, Sir C. Bruce, and others. On 
 the other hand, Mr Chamberlain, in 1901, dissented from its creation at that 
 time, and preferred appointing a powerful commission to proceed to West Africa 
 and report. — (Speech to Liverpool deputation. See Annual Report of Chamber 
 for 1901.) The Liverpool merchants have consistently supported the proposal 
 up to the present day. — See also 'Morning Post,' 18/7/1898. 
 
PROPOSED AFRICAN COUNCIL. 175 
 
 special experience of its material problems, thus serving the 
 same useful purpose as the India Council, without fetteriag 
 the authority of the Secretary of State. As an official body 
 it should not attempt " to make its voice heard, and to pro- 
 mote a continuous and weU-informed interest in Africa," as 
 suggested by the ' United Empire Journal,' for that is the 
 sphere of an independent pubUc body. Its advice would be 
 confined to matters referred to it for report. These would em- 
 brace most of the really important questions, to the exclusion 
 of those which are concerned with local administration, and 
 lie outside the sphere of Colonial Office intervention. It 
 might review and co-ordinate the policy underlying important 
 legislation, and report on large schemes of development, 
 changes in scales of emoluments affecting more than one 
 colony, new methods of raising revenue which diifer from 
 those in contiguous colonies, and similar questions. It 
 might, perhaps, with the consent of the President, discuss 
 and make recommendations on matters laid before it by its 
 unofficial members ; and if so invited by the Secretary of 
 State, it might submit suggestions for fllbng vacancies in 
 the highest grades. It might even assist a local Government 
 in the solution of a problem, by affording it information as 
 to how a similar matter had been dealt with in another colony 
 or in India. It might sift the accusations of philanthropic 
 bodies, and hold the balance between them and the merchants 
 and settlers. 
 
 The permanent Under - Secretary for the African depen- 
 dencies (if that post were created) would preside, and the 
 Assistant Under-Secretary would be a member. Two seats 
 might be filled by Governors who had retired within the five 
 preceding years, and in spite of the objection that officers 
 if appointed while still in the service would be fettered in 
 the expression of their opinions, I think that a seat might 
 be given to an officer who' had held office as Governor and 
 had not yet retired. The knowledge he would acquire of the 
 reasons which dictate the pohcy of the Secretary of State, 
 the point of view of the merchants, and the way in which 
 various problems of administration were being dealt with in 
 different colonies, would be of great value to the colony (or 
 group of colonies) he subsequently administered, while his 
 local and up-to-date knowledge would be most useful to the 
 Council. These three members would be appointed by the 
 
176 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 Secretary of State, and would retain their seats for, say, five 
 years, and be eligible for reappointment. If the system of 
 grouping colonies, to which I shall presently refer, were 
 adopted, the Governors-General shoidd, I suggest, be ex-officio 
 members of Council while in England, or at least attend its 
 meetings. 
 
 In addition to the five official and salaried members there 
 should, I suggest, be three unofficial members without salary. 
 Eepresentation on the permanent CouncU would no doubt 
 be welcomed by the African sections of the London, Man- 
 chester, and Liverpool Chambers of Commerce, in Ueu of the 
 conferences held three or four times a year at the Colonial 
 Office.^ The object of these meetings was to afford informa- 
 tion to the merchant, and not to frame recommendations to 
 the Secretary of State. 
 
 AH matters discussed by the Council would be regarded 
 as confidential. The members would be brought into close 
 working relations with the high officials of the Colonial Office, 
 and benefit by their accmnulated experience. A member of 
 Parliament who had shown special interest in colonial affairs 
 might on occasion be invited to attend meetings of the 
 Council. A secretary would be provided to record proceed- 
 ings, and the cost of the Council would be distributed between 
 the several African dependencies. 
 
 Business, it is suggested, could be transacted partly by 
 meetings and partly by written minutes. The former are 
 useful when it is desired to hear the evidence of experts, 
 or when the attendance of any Governor on leave is desired. 
 When the problem is complex and controversial, involving 
 reference to many documents, the best result wOl, however, 
 probably be obtained by written minutes, after a short pre- 
 liminary discussion. By this method the inherent defect of 
 committees is to some extent avoided — viz., that the most 
 fluent and argumentative members monopolise the discussion, 
 and there is a difficulty in arriving at definite conclusions. 
 
 ^ Miss Kingsley, in an address to the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, in 
 which she denounced the "Crown colony system" in very trenchant terms, 
 advocated in its place an African Council composed entirely of the " trade-lords " 
 who had pecuniary interests in Wsst Africa, whether they had resided in the 
 country or not. The German African Council appears to have consisted of 
 twelve merchants. It seems unnecessary to discuss at length why it would be 
 unwise for those members to predominate in the Council, whose advice, however 
 disinterested, might be condemned by the ill-informed as biassed by personal 
 interests, and who would have had no actual experience of administration. 
 
THE PTIBPOSE OF THE COUNCIL. 177 
 
 Incidentally the time of the President (the permanent Under- 
 Secretary), who has little to spare, would be saved. 
 
 A clearly- worded " reference " would be circulated to each 
 member with the papers on the subject. He would briefly 
 record his opinion, with the least possible delay, on the definite 
 points raised, and the reasons on which it is based. If the 
 opinions are divergent, a copy of them would be sent simul- 
 taneously to each member, who, with the opinions of his 
 colleagues before him — ^which may modify his earlier view — 
 would record his conclusion as though the final decision lay 
 with himself. The members would be men who have had to 
 deal with committee reports, and to base a decision on some 
 degree of compromise, and on the particular weight which 
 they attach to each recorded opinion. Sir A. Frazer told me 
 that in his experience as Lieut. -Governor of Bengal this 
 method had hardly ever failed to produce a imanimous con- 
 clusion. The Council minutes will form valuable records. 
 
 The Council would have no direct dealings with local 
 Governments. Its object would be to bring together the 
 heads of the service at home and representative men with 
 administrative experience, with a view to mutual understand- 
 ing and co-operation, and in order that their combined advice, 
 together with that of representatives of commerce, might be 
 at the disposal of the Secretary of State whenever he requires 
 it, and he could use it or not in Parliament as he might desire. 
 Such a Council would afford a means of retaining a lien on 
 the services of men with a specialised knowledge, and the 
 Umit fixed for their appointment (though renewable) would 
 enable the Secretary of State to dispense with their services, 
 without appearing to undervalue them, when by reason of 
 age, or of changes brought by time, they were no longer of 
 the same value. Outstanding instances of specialists whose 
 minds were stored with knowledge both accumulated and 
 secret, and who knew more of particular and exceptionally 
 complex situations than any other hviag authority, may be 
 found in Sir John Kirk (East Africa and Zanzibar and African 
 treaties, &c), Lord Cromer (Egypt), and Sir John Jordan 
 (China). 
 
 These suggestions are based on the assumption that the 
 Council would be constituted on the model of the India 
 Council (but without its very limited restrictive powers) — 
 viz., that it would consist of men of weight and experience 
 
 M 
 
178 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 to assist the Secretary of State with their advice. I have, 
 however, referred to the suggestion of a Council of a purely 
 departmental type, consisting of the heads of different branches 
 in the Colonial Ofllce, on the War Office and Admiralty model. 
 Such a Board would not be incompatible with the larger 
 Advisory Council which I have discussed. 
 
 My third suggestion raises the question whether it is pos- 
 sible for the Secretary of State to entrust to a Governor a 
 larger share of the responsibility which they divide between 
 them for the administration of a British colony, without 
 divesting himself of that ministerial responsibility which, as 
 Sir W. Laurier, speaking of the Dominions, so emphatically 
 insisted that it is necessary to maintain.^ The Government 
 of India Act claims to have set a precedent in this direction, 
 by delegating large powers to the Viceroy and his Council 
 which had hitherto been reserved to the India Office and the 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 We have already seen that this principle was carried 
 further by Mr Chamberlain than by any other Colonial Secre- 
 tary, and it earned for him a devotion which no other has 
 enjoyed in a like degree. N"or has any one been found to 
 deny that it was justified in its results by the progress achieved 
 during his tenure of office. Lord Milner has shown the same 
 broad-minded statesmanship and desire to grant a larger 
 measure of self-government. The stronger and more capable 
 the ruler, whether he be the Secretary of State at home or the 
 Governor abroad, the more ready he is to trust his subordi- 
 nates, and to encourage their initiative, when he has satisfied 
 himself that the trust will not be misplaced. " The tendency, 
 however, to-day," says the 'Times,' "is to increase the 
 numbers and the powers of the centralised bureaucracies, and 
 to decrease the staffs and the independence of the local ad- 
 ministrations." ^ Colonial Governors of acknowledged ability, 
 such as Sir P. Swettenham and Sir Charles Eliot, when they 
 had left the service and were free to speak, have urged the 
 desirability of greater latitude to the local administrator.^ 
 
 I have in a previous paragraph indicated how trivial are 
 many of the matters on which a Governor is criticised, or 
 regarding which his discretion is fettered. IS'or does there 
 
 1 Cd. 3795 of 1907, pp. 5 and 6. 2 'Times,' 19th June 1920. 
 
 3 'East African Protecterate,' Sir C. Eliot, p. 204. 'Malaya,' Sir F. 
 Swettenham, p. 840. 
 
GEOUPING OF DEPENDENCIES. 179 
 
 appear to be any discrimination between a Governor of long 
 standing and experience administering an important colony, 
 and one newly appointed to a minor post. Both alike are 
 controlled by rigid regulations, some of which seem very 
 inappropriate to the circumstances of a " first-class " colony.^ 
 I should weary my reader were I to go into details : it suffices 
 to refer to the sanctions required for writing off petty losses 
 — though investigated by committees and by the Governor 
 and his Council — and for incurring petty expenditure, and 
 the inconvenience caused by delay in approving the annual 
 budget while Colonial Office clerks elaborate detailed criti- 
 cisms of petty items.2 
 
 The principle of graduated responsibility would find ap- 
 propriate expression if the colonies — or some of them — ^were 
 formed into groups under Governors - General, and wider 
 powers might, it is suggested, be conferred on the experienced 
 and trusted officers, who would be selected for these respon- 
 sible posts. The burden of the Secretary of State and his 
 advisers would be proportionately reduced. ^ 
 
 I have in chapter v. discussed the advantage of amalgamat- 
 ing contiguous colonies, from the point of view of iaternal 
 administration and economic development. The grouping or 
 federation of colonies under a Governor-General (which was 
 suggested by me to the Secretary of State in 1907) is an 
 entirely different matter. For this purpose colonies need not 
 have co-terminous frontiers, or forfeit their separate identity. 
 The object is twofold : to promote some uniformity of policy 
 among colonies with common economic conditions, and more 
 or less identical problems of administration ; and to relieve 
 the pressure of work at home by decreasing the number of 
 units, and increasing the powers and responsibilities of the 
 high official selected to control each group. Some measure 
 of cohesion is advantageous, as, for example, the interchange 
 
 ^ Sir F. Swettenham, loe. cit. 
 
 ' The voice of East Africa, as expressed by the report of the Economic Com- 
 mission, 1919, is emphatic that there should be no Colonial Office interference 
 except where Imperial interests are affected. They stigmatise Crown Colony 
 government as "an autocracy disguised as constitutional government" — and 
 hence indefensible. Their very sweeping proposals must of course be taken to 
 refer to a colony such as Kenya, with a large and educated British unofficial 
 population. 
 
 * Mr Churchill, speaking in Manchester so long ago as December 1906, expressed 
 the view that " the day is not far distant when we shall be forced to embark 
 upon a great scheme of amalgamating all our West African Colonies under a 
 common organisation and control." 
 
180 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 of officials — ^in such varying degree as may be feasible, looMng 
 to diversity of native languages and conditions in the com- 
 ponent colonies, — the training of native subordinates, a com- 
 mon penal code, a uniform coinage, and to such an extent 
 as may be possible, uniformity in tariffs, mining laws, and 
 other legislation affecting economic development. Some 
 uniformity may also be possible in conditions of service and 
 rates of pay for the Civil Service. Each unit would retain 
 its own financial independence under its own Governor, 
 though it may, as in. the French system, be desirable that 
 each should contribute, proportionately to its revenue, to a 
 common fund for large works whose utility is shared by all. 
 At present even contiguous colonies have no means of know- 
 ing what is being done by their neighbour. 
 
 It would be premature to enter here into a detailed fore- 
 cast of the functions of the Governor-General, and the powers 
 he might exercise without invading the ministerial responsi- 
 bility of the Secretary of State, or unduly curtaiHng those of 
 the Governors administeriiig each unit. It would largely 
 depend on the size of the groups, and is a matter which would 
 require very careful consideration, and might well form a 
 subject of reference to such a Council as I have suggested. 
 Generally speaking, the more important legislation in each 
 unit would be approved if not actually initiated — subject, of 
 course, to disallowance by the Crown through the Secretary 
 of State — by the Governor-General, with a view to preserving 
 a measure of uniformity, and of identical poUcy, especially in 
 such matters as native administration and railway con- 
 struction. ^ The budgets of each would be scrutinised and 
 approved by him, subject (if considered necessary) to the 
 covering consent of the Secretary of State. The disposal of 
 the common fund for public works shared by all, and the 
 equalising of the incidence of the cost of military forces for 
 frontier defence, would rest in his hands. The imposition 
 of new taxation, and the inception of mUitary operations, 
 would be subject to his concurrence — advised in aU matters 
 by his Council. He alone would address the Secretary of 
 State, but routine correspondence, as I have suggested, 
 
 ' The High Commisaioner of South Africa assents to all legislation in the 
 Chartered Company's territories (Northern and Southern Rhodesia), and in the 
 three widely separated Protectorates under his control, — Swazi, Basuto, and 
 Beehuanaland. 
 
POWERS OF A GOVERNOR-GENERAL. 181 
 
 ■would be conducted between the Governors and the Under- 
 Secretary. 
 
 The " spot " over which he would exercise control would 
 be so large, and its units might be so widely separated, that 
 it would make Uttle difference to any particular one whether 
 he was within or beyond the ambit of his territorial jurisdic- 
 tion, and his instructions to his Governors should operate 
 wherever he may be. He would probably need no deputy 
 to act in his absence from headquarters, for the oflBcer ad- 
 ministering each unit would have ample powers to take 
 whatever immediate action might be required.^ 
 
 Governors of units, with a few other high officials, would 
 form a Council, as in the French colonies, meeting once a year 
 for discussion, and at other times if summoned by the Governor- 
 General. It has been suggested that the Council should con- 
 sist of " Ministers " for industries, education, communica- 
 tions, &c. Though some of the high officials, such as the 
 Judge of the Appeal Court, the commandant of troops, &c., 
 would no doubt reside with the Governor-General at the capital 
 of the principal colony, and be available as a subordinate 
 Council if desired, the appointment of Ministers controlling 
 the departments of the different colonies, and forming an 
 Administrative Council, would probably be premature in the 
 conditions of Africa, and would interfere with the functions 
 of the Governors and the independence of the colonies, and 
 tend rather to amalgamation than to federation. Sir H. 
 Johnston suggests that each group should have its own 
 agency in London to look after its own material requirements 
 and commerce.^ So far, however, as the principle of federation 
 is concerned, there is no need to supersede the Crown agents. 
 
 Such a system of federation of contiguous dependencies 
 could not, I think, fail to advance their material prosperity. 
 It would also, as I have pointed out, enable the Secretary of 
 State to delegate enlarged powers to the Governor-General, 
 and by reducing the number of units for which the Colonial 
 Office is responsible, would lighten his task. The proposal 
 f oUows in principle the analogy of the existing Appeal Courts in 
 
 ' A French writer (Mods. P. Millet) suggests that the British and French 
 Governors - General should meet regularly and discuss problems of common 
 interest — the use of ports, railways, and telegraphs, &c. — with a view to closer 
 co-operation. This would tend to eliminate causes of friction and difficulties 
 which are often due to exaggerated or false native reports. 
 
 2 ' The African World,' 17th August 1918. 
 
182 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 the Bast and West, and it is interesting to note that it received 
 support from the Under-Secretary, when moving the second 
 reading of the West India Appeal Court Bill on 30th July 1920.^ 
 
 East and West Africa form two convenient groups, though 
 if the Sudan and l^orthern Ehodesia be included, the East 
 African group might, temporarily at least, be divided into 
 two. 2 Southern Ehodesia belongs to the South African 
 group, whether included in the Union or not.^ 
 
 The French system in West Africa has been described, says 
 the official White Book, by an American writer as the best 
 and simplest in the world, and by French writers as a model 
 of efficiency. It is claimed that in actual results it has trans- 
 formed the French colonies from a costly incubus into pros- 
 perous and self-supporting possessions. It is therefore worth 
 while to describe the system very briefly.* 
 
 ^ A single Appeal Court for East Africa, Uganda, and Nyasaland was set up by 
 Order in Council of ISth February 1909. The " FuU " Supreme Courts of Nigeria 
 and the Gold Coast constitute a Court of Appeal for those colonies. 
 
 ^ The question of federating the various units in East Africa under a " Viceroy " 
 has of late (July 1920) been brought into prominence by a motion by Lord 
 Islington in the House of Lords, and in letters to the 'Times' from Sir T. 
 Morison (July 21, 1920) and others, who dwell on thejsimilarity of their problems, 
 and the dissimilarity of the methods at present employed in their solution. 
 
 In round figures the whole of British West Africa would aggregate about 
 490,000 square miles, with a population of some 21,900,000. The whole of East 
 Africa (including the Mandated Tanganyika Territory, the Sudan, and Northern 
 Rhodesia) would cover about 2,140,000 square miles (twice the size of British 
 India), with a population of 16,000,000. Were this divided into two, the southern 
 group might include the Mandate territory, Nyasalaud, and Northern Rhodesia, 
 with an area of about 695,600 square miles, and a population of 6,000,000. The 
 remaining units, with an area of about 1,444,200 square miles (including the great 
 deserts of the Sudan), would have a population of 10,122,000. (See Table, p. 45.) 
 
 ^ Since these pages were written, an apparently authoritative announcement 
 has appeared in the 'Times' (14th September 1921), that the Secretary of State 
 (Mr Churchill) "is engaged in an important scheme for the reorganisation of the 
 administration of the Crown colonies and protectorates, designed to give them 
 among other things a greater amount of autonomy." The pronouncement has 
 received no official confirmation, and cannot therefore be treated as accurately 
 indicating Mr Churchill's intentions, but it is interesting to note the statement 
 that " the main proposals are the grouping of the various colonies according to 
 their geographical position under High Commissioners, to whose shoulders will be 
 transferred some of the duties and responsibilities — especially in the way of 
 public appointments and concerning financial problems — which now devolve on 
 the Secretary of State." Each High Commissioner, it is said, will be assisted by 
 a council, partly elected and partly nominated, and will have control of Imperial 
 forces, naval and military, within his jurisdiction. 
 
 * See Foreign Office Handbook, No. 100 of 1920, and I.D.W.O. Memos, of 
 October 1902 and October 1904. The trade of the French West African Colonies 
 is stated to have increased from 66,200,000 francs in 1893 to 299,900,000 francs 
 in 1913 (imports calculated on value in Africa, exports on value at destination). 
 — ' What every Frenchman ought to know of French Occidental Africa,' by 
 G. Fran9ois. See 'West Africa,' 9/18/19. 
 
THE PEENCH SYSTEM. 183 
 
 The French possessions in West Africa are placed under 
 two Governors-General. One, with headquarters at Dakar, 
 controls those which comprise "French West Africa " — viz., 
 Senegal, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Upper Senegal 
 and Niger, Togo and Mauretania — an area of over 1,822,000 
 square miles and a population of nearly 12,000,000. The 
 other, with headquarters at Brazzaville, controls " French 
 Equatorial Africa " — viz., the Gabun, the Congo, Ubanghi- 
 Shari, and Cameruns (late German). 
 
 Taking the former in illustration of the system, we find 
 that as long ago as 1895 the necessity for co-ordination by 
 a Governor-General was recognised ; but it was not imtil 
 the Anglo-French Convention of 1898, and the declaration of 
 1899 had enabled her to link up the various colonies, that M. 
 Decrais in the latter year was able to procure the decree which 
 gave effect to the new system. It was elaborated and com- 
 pleted by later decrees of 1st October 1902, and finally that 
 of 18th October 1904. The powers of the home Government 
 are in a large measure entrusted to the Governor-General, 
 who exercises a more real control than can be exerted from 
 France. Subject to the decrees and laws made by the Presi- 
 dent and Chamber, he exercises wide powers — often tanta- 
 mount to legislation — ^by means of " arreUs." He appoints 
 all but the most senior officials, and those of the Treasury — 
 and these he recommends. All correspondence with the home 
 Government must pass through him. It is his duty to survey 
 French policy as a whole, and co-ordinate the activities of 
 the different colonies. Himself relieved of all direct adminis- 
 trative functions, "he is absolute and responsible arbiter in 
 all political and administrative matters." The Secretary- 
 General, who was liable to encroach on his powers, was in 1909 
 replaced by departments of Finance and General Business, 
 working solely through the Governor-General, with inspectors 
 of the different departments in the various colonies. He has 
 a Council consisting of the Lieut. -Governors, the principal 
 officials, and the influential natives from each of the four 
 important colonies — in all, from twenty to twenty-five mem- 
 bers. It meets yearly, and votes the general and colonial 
 budgets, and the Governor-General must consult it in matters 
 of finance and taxation. The different units, separated by 
 intervening British colonies, are under Lieut.-Governors, who 
 can also issue arreUs on local affairs, and have their own 
 
184 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 Councils, wMch they must consult on financial matters. 
 Each raises its own revenue, but all Customs dues and taxes 
 on shipping are paid into a common fund at the disposal of 
 the Governor-General and the financial experts appointed 
 by the home Government,^ from which assignments are 
 made for railways and large public works. ^ 
 
 The adoption of some or all of the suggestions I have 
 made would extend the principles of Decentralisation and 
 Continuity from the circumference overseas to the centre at 
 Whitehall. They would, it is hoped, lighten the task of the 
 Secretary of State and the higher officials, and remove the 
 chronic complaint that juniors usurp their powers, and would 
 tend to the more rapid despatch of important business. It is 
 of no use adding to the size of the bladder by iucreastag the 
 junior staff while the neck remains too narrow to cope with 
 the discharge. Merchants and others interested in material 
 development would obtain in the Council — ^where every side 
 of a question could obtain a hearing, and pertinent papers 
 would be presented — a recognised locus standi for the expres- 
 sion of their views more appropriate and dignified than that 
 they now enjoy. 
 
 The admission of administrative officers on the one hand, 
 and of merchants on the other, to share in the coimsels of 
 Downing Street, would be in accord with the liberal tendencies 
 of the time, and remove the complaint of bureaucratic rule 
 and secrecy. Already there are signs that persistence in 
 methods of exclusiveness may lead to a reaction under a 
 Labour Ministry, which it should be the care of wise and 
 prescient statesmanship to avert, by granting to the citizens 
 of the Empire, whether at home or abroad, a reasonable 
 voice in its development, and to the local Governments that 
 larger latitude in the management of their own affairs which 
 their growth and progress justifies. 
 
 The methods by which it is sought to give effect to these 
 principles are mainly two. First, the delegation by the 
 
 1 Decree, 12th December 1912. 
 
 ^ Mr Morel, who considers the French system incomparably superior to our 
 own, points out that every French colony which is not directly represented in 
 the French Chamber (as Senegal has been since 1834) is represented at the 
 Colonial Office by a delegate elected by vote of the white inhabitants. — 'Affairs 
 of West Africa,' p. 24. 
 
 The system has lately been largely reorganised by the decree of 4th July 1920. 
 For the General Council there has been substituted a Colonial Council of forty 
 elected members. 
 
THE VALUE OF PERSONAL TOUCH. 185 
 
 Secretary of State of some of his powers and duties to new 
 and responsible ofiBcers of the highest rank : — at home by the 
 creation of a second Under-Secretary, and the delegation to 
 those high ofl&cials who now exercise power in his name, 
 of a measure of public and executive responsibility ; abroad, 
 by the creation of Governors-General of groups of colonies 
 with extended powers, who may relieve the Secretary of 
 State of functions not essential to his ministerial responsi- 
 bility, decrease the number of units, and promote continuity 
 and a measure of uniformity of policy. Secondly, the utilisa- 
 tion ta the service of the State of the knowledge and experi- 
 ence, on the one hand of men who are no longer on the active 
 Ust, and on the other, of representatives of commerce, in 
 positions of public and responsible participation in the ad- 
 ministration of the Empire. 
 
 Miss Martineau, when describing how in 1825 it had become 
 necessary to have an additional Under-Secretary, remarks : 
 " We are beginning to learn how absurd it is to expect the 
 machinery of the Colonial Office to do the necessary work," — 
 the lesson has ever to be learnt afresh.^ 
 
 One of the main objects in view — ^the promotion of closer 
 touch between those responsible abroad and at home for the 
 guidance and control of the dependencies — ^may be promoted 
 in other ways, by far the most important of which is that 
 the Secretary of State should be on terms of personal and 
 unofficial intimacy with the Governors, of at any rate the 
 more important colonies, when they are in England. They are 
 not so numerous as to make it a matter of difficulty, and the 
 advantage should be reciprocal. The Secretary of State 
 would be enabled to form a personal estimate of the character 
 and abiUty of his Governors, while they would enjoy the 
 greatly valued opportunity of hearing from him any criti- 
 cisms of their policy which may have reached his ears, and 
 of verbally explaining their views and motives. There is a 
 limit to government by despatches, and it is personal touch 
 which stimulates the best efforts. That touch is lost if the 
 Secretary of State is only a respected chief, accessible by 
 rare interviews in his room at the Colonial Office. 
 
 Mr Chamberlain's success and popularity as Colonial 
 Secretary no doubt owed much to the pains he took to know 
 his Governors personally. Though I was one of the youngest 
 
 » 'Thirty Years' Peace,' vol. ii. p. 30, 
 
186 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 of them, he spoke with such entire frankness and freedom 
 from ofiScial reticence, as to make one feel how entirely he. 
 trusted one's discretion ; and Mr Lyttelton adopted the 
 same attitude. In his official relations the Governor, as I 
 have suggested, should be given every possible facility for 
 keeping in touch with the affairs of his Government, and be 
 fully consulted in every important matter whUe in England, 
 his deputy's powers being strictly limited. 
 
 But if it be desirable for the Secretary of State to be on 
 terms of social intimacy with his Governors, it is equally 
 desirable that the permanent Under-Secretary should per- 
 sonally know the senior colonial officials. It is he who makes 
 recommendations for the filling of the highest posts, and 
 personal knowledge is essential, for local popularity may be 
 the worst of guides. Governors and high officials who know 
 how irksome interruption is when pressed with work, hesitate 
 to intrude in office hours, or to stay longer than the business 
 demands, but the opportunities afforded by successive Under- 
 Secretaries for meeting them on terms of social intercourse have 
 been rare. The Colonial Service thus feels that an absence of 
 personal knowledge among the permanent officials in Whitehall 
 has been responsible for selections for promotion which in 
 many cases have been considered to be marvellously ill-judged. 
 
 It has been suggested that it would be of great advantage, 
 both to the Colonial Office and to the colonies, if officers were 
 interchangeable between the two Services, or at least if officers 
 from Whitehall served for some years abroad, and so gained 
 personal knowledge of the colonies. The worst possible ex- 
 pedient is the visit of a junior in search of " local colour." 
 There is already some misgiving that in the laudable desire " to 
 know what people are saying in the colony," junior officials at 
 home are led to discuss questions of policy with juniors on leave 
 from the colonies, and be guided by their irresponsible and 
 necessarily ill-informed views. The type of officer who lends 
 himself to such discussions is often one who is full of theories 
 of his own, and is rarely the best qualified to voice local 
 opinion. It is disheartening to the responsible officers to 
 discover that official opinions have thus been formed on a half- 
 knowledge of the facts. It is to obviate such fortuitous and 
 undesirable means of acquiring knowledge, that a closer 
 touch between responsible officers at home and abroad is so 
 much needed. - 
 
rXTEBCHANGE OF OPFICEES. 187 
 
 Second only to " Padgett, M.P.," are the ill results arising 
 from temporary service abroad of junior Colonial Office 
 clerks. As a junior the officer has little opportunity for 
 learning the reasons for any course of action adopted by the 
 Governor and his Council, and may probably never even have 
 heard of important matters outside his immediate sphere of 
 work. On his return to the Colonial Office, the junior who 
 has served temporarily in a colony is apt to be regarded as 
 " the man who knows all about it," and it may be that his 
 dicta may influence the views of his seniors, and be accepted 
 in modification of those of the Governor and his Council. 
 The only appointment in which an officer can become ac- 
 quainted with the instructions of the Secretary of State, 
 with the views of the Governor and his Council, and with the 
 opinions expressed on matters of administrative poUcy by 
 Lieut. -Governors and Eesidents, is as " Political Secretary " 
 to the Governor (or " Secretary for Native Affairs ") — a post 
 which should not be held by too junior an officer. 
 
 Interchangeability between the services, as distinct from 
 temporary service abroad, has, I believe, been adopted by 
 the Foreign Office in aU grades, and offers, I think, many 
 advantages. Under such a system officers of the home service 
 would serve for alternate periods at home and abroad, at 
 all stages of their careers, interchanging with selected officers 
 of the colonial service, as in the Navy and Army. The junior 
 is no longer a specialist if his seniors have also served abroad. 
 The exchange, for iastance, of junior officers of the home 
 service with colonial secretariat officers, for substantial periods 
 of service, would afford to the former a considerable insight 
 into the affairs of a colony, and to the latter a training in the 
 excellent office methods of the home department. These 
 conditions of service would, of course, have to be made clear 
 to those who enter for the competitive Civil Service examina- 
 tions. The old system in the Eastern colonies, which afforded 
 a period of training at the Colonial Office to cadets before 
 taking up their appointments, had much to recommend it. 
 
 The interchange of officers in the highest posts should, 
 above all, be beneficial to both services : Under-Secretaries 
 with Governors, Assistant Under-Secretaries with Lieut.- 
 Governors, and heads of Departments with the Secretaries of 
 Colonial Governments. 
 
 " Evidence," says Lord Crewe's Committee on the relations 
 
188 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 of the India Of&ce and the Indian Government, " has indicated 
 the great value of briaging the superior oflftcers of the Home 
 and Indian Administrations into close touch with each other 
 under daily working conditions, and it is presumed that the 
 system of deputiug these officers on special duty and with 
 definite objects from one country to the other, will be con- 
 tinued and possibly expanded." But they " do not think 
 it desirable or possible to arrange any formal system of inter- 
 change between members of the IncHa Office and the Indian 
 services." ^ 
 
 Before leaving the subject of Colonial Office organisation, 
 a word may perhaps usefully be added on the subject of com- 
 mercial inteUigence. Mr Churchill, when Under-Secretary, 
 said that while the business of the Office had doubled or 
 trebled in the last twenty years, the most remarkable increase 
 was in the commercial branch, which, however, had not 
 been altogether successful, and it was desirable that the 
 Colonial Office should get more in touch with business men.^ 
 
 Each colony nominates a correspondent with the Com- 
 mercial Intelligence Branch of the Board of Trade, and in- 
 quiries and samples can be transmitted to the Imperial 
 Institute and to Kew. There are also the CoUege of Science 
 and Technology, and the Overseas Trade Department ; ^ but 
 sources of information are too confused — or diffused — ^whether 
 for the colonies (which are somewhat out of touch with re- 
 search and progress in other countries), or for business men 
 who desire precise information, or direction as to where it 
 can be obtained. 
 
 An African Council on which commerce was represented 
 would no doubt go far to meet Mr Churchill's desires, but 
 it should be reinforced by special facilities for obtaining 
 information. The Imperial Institute is the natural Com- 
 mercial Department of the Colonial Office. It does not require 
 duplication, but the great possibiMties of usefulness which 
 it might afford seem to be hardly sufficiently utilised. 
 
 I suggest that the simple and inexpensive expedient of an 
 expansion of the library and reference-room at the Colonial 
 Office, superintended (as now) by a thoroughly efficient 
 librarian, whose services would be at the disposal of aU in- 
 
 1 Report of 9th July 1918. ^ Speech of 7th February 1907. 
 
 " See Board of Trade Memo, on ' Organiaation of Commercial Intelligence.' 
 Cd. 8715/1917. 
 
AN INFORMATION BUREAU. 189 
 
 quirers, would serve a very useM pxirpose. Here the legisla- 
 tion of each colony on each special branch of material de- 
 velopment would be collated for comparative study. Ques- 
 tions and answers and debates in Parliament on colonial 
 subjects could be tabulated for reference, with all command 
 papers and other Blue-books, and even useful and pertinent 
 magazine articles.^ Governors' despatches explaining the 
 nature and object of new legislation affecting trade and 
 industry, and the latest local regulations. Orders in Council 
 and departmental reports, received mail by mail, and even 
 Colonial Ofl&ce White-books, might be made available for 
 reference. Memoranda compiled in the colony, dealing with 
 the soil, climate, and labour-supply, the charges and conditions 
 under which land is available, transport by rail, river, and 
 road, customs dues, local markets, openings in agricidture, 
 forestry, or mining, shoidd be supplied for the encouragement 
 of new enterprise, with data as to the extent to which the 
 Colonial Government would be able to afford special encour- 
 agement. These and all other pamphlets and monographs 
 should be obtainable from the librarian without the formality 
 and delay of application to the Office. 
 
 A small staff would be required, whose duty it would be 
 to supply information needed by the colonies, and keep them 
 posted in the legislation and progress in other tropical countries 
 (including India) on economic subjects. A room might be 
 set apart where merchants, mine-managers, and others could 
 arrange meetings with Governors and colonial officials when 
 in England, explain their wishes, and learn to what extent 
 the finances would permit of their realisation. Much mis- 
 understanding and ill-informed criticism would thus be 
 avoided.^ 
 
 Some of the suggestions I have made would involve addi- 
 tional expense, but there would seem to be no objection in 
 principle were the colonies invited to bear a part of the cost 
 of the Colonial Office, as well as of an African Council, just 
 as the Indian Government has hitherto borne the cost of the 
 
 ' Some years ago a very useful quarterly periodical, styled ' The Colonial Office 
 Journal,' made its appearance, with Sir W. Mercer, one of the Crown Agents, as 
 its editor. It was published with the approval of the Secretary of State, though 
 he was not responsible for the opinions expressed in it. It is to he regretted 
 that this excellent publication has ceased to appear. 
 
 ^ If for lack of space or other cause this suggestion were found to be im- 
 practicable, possibly an arrangement could be made with the Royal Colonial 
 Institute on the same lines. 
 
190 THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 India Office. England, as we have seen, has treated her 
 colonies with great generosity : at first by free grants in 
 aid ; later, by the use of Imperial credit. There seems no 
 good reason why, when a colony has grown to prosperity, it 
 should not pay for the large amount of administrative busi- 
 ness undertaken on its behalf by the Colonial Office (in addi- 
 tion to contributing towards its defence, see p. 275), and 
 so relieve the Imperial Exchequer at a time when it is bur- 
 dened with such heavy liabilities incurred in the common 
 interest.^ Such contributions, in return for specific benefits 
 received, appear to me much more dignified and legitimate 
 than the profit of 50 per cent made by the Mint on silver 
 coin supplied to West Africa prior to the creation of a local 
 currency, in return for a hypothetical redemption risk.^ It 
 is said to have amounted to a very large sum per annum. 
 
 The Crown colonies and protectorates, Uke the Dominions, 
 have in the last decades advanced greatly in wealth and 
 importance. Many of them have a considerable population 
 of British merchants and others, and the British public has 
 invested large sums of money in their development. Under 
 the progressive and liberal rale of Lord Milner, Malta, Kenya, 
 and Ceylon have been granted wider powers of self-govern- 
 ment, and Jamaica may perhaps shortly realise her ambitions 
 in this direction. Mr (now Lord) Long, moreover, made a 
 notable departure in asking for the opinions of the colonies 
 on questions of economic policy and reconstruction after the 
 war. But for the most part they remain as they were fifty 
 years ago, without a voice which can be heard outside the 
 walls of the Colonial Office. They lack touch with centres 
 of progress in this country. Organisations have been formed 
 in England to meet this need — the West India Committee, 
 the China Association, &c. — but they can only proceed by 
 way of deputation to the Secretary of State, by periodical 
 banquets, and by press agitation. Philanthropic bodies inter- 
 ested in the tropics find powerful support — mission societies, 
 anti-liquor, anti-opium, the Aborigines' Protection, &c. — ^but 
 their sources of information are often very defective, and they 
 can only proceed in the same fashion. It is becoming more 
 and more an epoch of deputations, which waste much time, 
 and usually give little satisfaction to those interested. 
 
 ' See Sir F. Swettenham in the 'Empire and Century,' p. 889. 
 ^ See Mr Harcourt's speech to liquor deputation, August 1911. 
 
DEPENDENCIES WITHOUT A MEANS OF EXPRESSION. 191 
 
 It may pertinently be asked whether the time has not 
 come when the Crown colonies and protectorates may justly 
 demand some representation on Imperial Conferences. They 
 all have much the same administrative and economic condi- 
 tions and problems. If an administrator of proved experi- 
 ence were nominated to represent them (preferably a member 
 of the African Council if that body is formed), and if the 
 nomination were publicly announced some time before the 
 meeting of the Conference, and the colonies and home inter- 
 ests alike were encouraged to communicate with him as to 
 any matter of sufficient general interest to be placed, with 
 the Secretary of State's concurrence, on the agenda paper — 
 a representation would be accorded which would do some- 
 thing to meet the present complaints of bureaucracy and lack 
 of publicity in the conduct of the affairs of tropical depend- 
 encies. The party in the State which will reaUse the immense 
 and growing importance of the tropics,^ and the influence they 
 will exert in the progress of this century, and the statesman 
 who will take seriously in hand the problems of their adminis- 
 tration and material development, wiU beyond doubt perform 
 a great work for the Empire. 
 
 That abler men than myself have refraiaed from suggesting 
 reforms can, I suppose, only be attributed to the fact that 
 in criticising systems they must needs appear, however un- 
 intentionally, to criticise and offend the men who administer 
 them. 
 
 1 See 'The Empire and the Century,' 'The Tropics and the Empire,' by- 
 Lady Lugard, pp. 817-826. 
 
PAKT II. 
 
 SPECIAL PROBLEMS. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 METHODS OP EUXING NATIVE EACES. 
 
 The principle of co-operation — Divergent methods of self-government : 
 (a) Representative government : The new system in India ; (6) Com- 
 plete independence the goal ; (c) Dependent native rule — The Fulani 
 of Nigeria — Recognition of the principle of rule through chiefs — 
 Advanced communities in Nigeria — Relations with British staff — 
 Revenues of native administrations — Courts and jurisdiction — The 
 village unit — Essential features of the system — Application to non- 
 Moslem States — Limitations to independence : (a) Armed forces ; 
 (6) Taxation ; (c) Legislation ; (d) Land ; (e) Control of aliens — 
 Disposal of revenue — Alien races as native rulers — Education of 
 native rulers — Misuse of the system — System must vary with local 
 traditions — Administrative procedure — Siiccession — Extra-territorial 
 allegiance. 
 
 If contimiity and decentralisation are, as I have said, the 
 first and most important conditions in maintaining an effec- 
 tive administration, co-operation is the key-note of success 
 in its application — continuous co-operation between every 
 link in the chain, from the head of the administration to its 
 most junior member, — co-operation between the Government 
 and the commercial community, and, above all, between the 
 provincial staff and the native rulers. Every individual adds 
 his share not only to the accomplishment of the ideal, but to 
 the ideal itself. Its principles are fashioned by his quota of 
 experience, its results are achieved by his patient and loyal 
 application of these principles, with as little interference as 
 possible with native customs and modes of thought. 
 
 Principles do not change, but their mode of application 
 may and should vary with the customs, the traditions, and 
 
 N 
 
194 METHODS OF KITLING NATIVE KACES. 
 
 the prejudices of each unit. The task of the administrative 
 officer is to clothe his principles ia the garb of evolution, not 
 of revolution ; to make it apparent alike to the educated na- 
 tive, the conservative Moslem, and the primitive pagan, each 
 in his own degree, that the policy of the Government is not 
 antagonistic but progressives-sympathetic to his aspirations 
 and the safeguard of his natural rights. The Governor looks to 
 the administrative staff to keep in touch with native thought 
 and feeling, and to report fully to himself, in order that he in 
 turn may be able to support them and recognise their work. 
 
 When describing the machinery of Government in an 
 African dependency in chapter vi., I spoke of the super- 
 vision and guidance exercised by the Lieut. -Governor, the 
 Eesidents, and the District Officers over the native chiefs. 
 In this chapter I propose to discuss how those functions should 
 be exercised. 
 
 Lord MiLner's declaration that the British policy is to 
 rule subject races through their own chiefs is generally ap- 
 plauded, but the manner in which the principle should be 
 translated into practice admits of wide differences of opinion 
 and method. Obviously the extent to which native races 
 are capable of controlling their own affairs must vary in 
 proportion to their degree of development and progress in 
 social organisation, but this is a question of adaptation and 
 not of principle. Broadly speaking, the divergent opinions 
 in regard to the application of the principle may be found to 
 originate in three different conceptions. 
 
 The first is that the ideal of self-government can only 
 be realised by the methods of evolution which have pro- 
 duced the democracies of Europe and America — viz., by re- 
 presentative institutions in which a comparatively small 
 educated class shall be recognised as the natural spokesmen 
 for the many. This method is naturally in favour with the 
 educated African. Whether it is adapted to peoples accus- 
 tomed by their own institutions to autocracy — albeit modified 
 by a substantial expression of the popular wiU and circum- 
 scribed by custom — ^is naturaUy a matter on which opinions 
 differ. The fundamental essential, however, in such a form 
 of Government is that the educated few shall at least be 
 representative of the feelings and desires of the many — well 
 known to them, speaking their language, and versed in their 
 customs and prejudices. 
 
REPKESENTATIVE GOVEENMENT IN INDIA. 195 
 
 In present conditions in Africa the numerous separate 
 tribes, speaking different languages, and in different stages 
 of evolution, cannot produce representative men of education. 
 Even were they available, the number of communities which 
 could claim separate representation would make any central 
 and realty representative Council very unwieldy. The au- 
 thority vested in the representatives would be antagonistic 
 (as the Indian Progressives reaUse ^) to that of the native 
 rulers and their councils, — ^which are the product of the natu- 
 ral tendencies of tribal evolution, — and would run counter to 
 the customs and institutions of the people.^ 
 
 An attempt to adapt these principles of Western repre- 
 sentative Government to tropical races is now being made in 
 India. It is at present an Eastern rather than an African 
 problem, but as a great experiment in the method of Govern- 
 ment in tropical countries, the outcome of which " many 
 other native races in other parts of the world are watching 
 with strained attention," it demands at least a passing refer- 
 ence here. . 
 
 Though the powers entrusted to the elected representatives 
 of the people are at first restricted under the dyarchical 
 system (which reserves certaia subjects for the Central Au- 
 thority), the principle of government by an educated minority, 
 as opposed to government by native rulers, is fully accepted. 
 It must be admitted that there is a considerable body of 
 well-informed opinion in India and England — ^voiced here 
 by the India Association, Lord Sydenham (who speaks with 
 the authority Of an ex-Govemor of Bombay), and others — 
 which expresses much misgiving as to the wisdom of placing 
 aU political power " ia the hands of a disaffected minority 
 unrepresentative of India," and regards it as " an attempt to 
 govern India by the narrowest of oligarchies, whose interests 
 often conflict with those of the millions." ^ 
 
 The experiment has so far shown much promise of success, 
 but the real test is not merely whether the native coimcillors 
 
 ' "The extremist Press," says Sir Valentine Chirol, " has already frequently 
 denounced ruling princes and chiefs as intolerable obstacles to the democratic 
 evolution of ' Swaraj ' " (Home Rule). — 'Times,' 10th February 1921. 
 
 ^ See the assertion of Chief Ofori to this effect quoted on p. 86. "We claim 
 and we insist," say the spokesmen of tlie educated natives, while denouncing 
 the present system, and advocating a new policy, "that such a policy can be 
 adequately carried out only by giving an effective position in the legislatures to 
 ourselves." 
 
 3 ' Times,' 22nd December 1913. See>lsoj' Spectator,' 5th February 1921. 
 
196 METHODS OP RULING NATIVE RACES. 
 
 show moderation and restraint as against extremists of their 
 own class, but whether, when legislation has to be enacted 
 which is unpopular with the illiterate masses and the martial 
 races of India, there may be a reluctance to accept what wiU 
 be called " Babu-made law," though it would have been 
 accepted without demur as the order of " the Sirkar " — the 
 British Eaj. 
 
 It is, of course, now too late to adopt to any large extent 
 the alternative of gradually transforming the greater part 
 of British India into native States governed by their own 
 hereditary dynasties, whose representatives in many cases 
 still exist, and extending to them the principles which 
 have so successfully guided our relations with the native 
 States in India itself, and in Malaya in the past. It 
 is one thiag to excite an ignorant peasantry against an 
 alien usurper, but quite another thing to challenge a native 
 ruler. 
 
 Such a system does not exclude the educated native from 
 participation in the government of the State to which he 
 belongs, as a councillor to the native ruler, but it substitutes 
 for direct British rule, not an elected oUgarchy but a form 
 of government more ia accord with racial instincts and 
 inherited traditions. It may be that while dyarchy and 
 representative government may prove suitable to Bengal, 
 and perhaps to some other provinces, the alternative system 
 may be found to be best adapted to Mohamedan States, 
 and to other of the warlike races of India, where repre- 
 sentatives of the ancient dynasties still survive. Time 
 alone wiU show. I shall recur to this subject in the next 
 chapter. 
 
 The second conception is that every advanced community 
 should be given the widest possible powers of self-government 
 under its own ruler, and that these powers should be rapidly 
 increased with the object of complete independence at the 
 earliest possible date in the not distant future. Those who 
 hold this view generally, I think, also consider that attempts 
 to train primitive tribes in any form of self-government are 
 futile, and the administration must be wholly conducted by 
 British officials. This in the past has been the principle 
 adopted in many dependencies. It recognised no alternative 
 between a status of independence, like the Sultans of Malaya, 
 
INDEPENDBNT AND DEPENDENT NATIVE RULE. 197 
 
 or the native princes of India, and the direct rule of the 
 district commissioner. 
 
 But the attempt to create such independent States in 
 Africa has been full of anomalies. In the case of Egbaland, 
 where the status had been formally recognised by treaty, 
 the extent to which the Crown had jurisdiction was uncertain, 
 yet, as we have seen, iaternational conventions, including 
 even that relating to the protection of wild animals, which 
 was wholly opposed to native customary rights, were applied 
 without the consent of the " Independent " State, and powers 
 quite incompatible with independence were exercised by the 
 Suzerain.^ 
 
 The paramount chief might receive ceremonial visits from 
 time to time from the Governor, and even perhaps be ad- 
 dressed as " Your Eoyal Highness," and vested with titular 
 dignity and the tinsel insignia of office. His right to impose 
 tolls on trade, and to exact whatever oppressive taxes he 
 chose from his peasantry, was admitted, but his authority 
 was subject to constant interference. The last-joined District 
 Officer, or any other official, might issue orders, if not to 
 him, at any rate to any of his subordinate chiefs, and the 
 native ruler had no legal and recognised means of enforc- 
 ing his commands. He was necessarily forbidden to raise 
 armed forces — on which in the last resort the authority of the 
 law must depend — and could not therefore maintain order. 
 
 The third conception is that of rule by native chiefs, un- 
 fettered in their control of their people as regards all those 
 matters which are to them the most important attributes of 
 rule, with scope for initiative and responsibility, but ad- 
 mittedly — so far as the visible horizon is concerned — sub- 
 ordinate to the control of the protecting Power in certain 
 weU-defmed directions. It recognises, in the words of the 
 Versailles Treaty, that the subject races of Africa are not yet 
 able to stand alone, and that it would not conduce to the 
 happiness of the vast bulk of the people — ^for whose welfare 
 the controlling Power is trustee — that the attempt should 
 be made. 
 
 The verdict of students Of history and sociology of different 
 
 ' That one of the stipulations of the Egba "Treaty of Commerce and Friend- 
 ship " of 1893 should be the prohibition of human sacrifice, indicates that the 
 community was hardly ripe for self-government. 
 
198 METHODS OF RULING NATIVE RACES. 
 
 nationalities, such as Dr Kidd,^ Dr Stoddard,^ M. Beaulieu,' 
 Meredith Townsend * and others is, as I have shown (p. 82), 
 unanimous that the era of complete independence is not as 
 yet visible on the horizon of time. Practical administrators 
 (among whom I may include my succesbor. Sir P. Girouard, 
 in Northern Mgeria) have arrived at the same conclusion. 
 
 The danger of going too fast with native races is even 
 more Hkely to lead to disappointment, if not to disaster, 
 than the danger of not going fast enough. The pace can best 
 be gauged by those who have intimate acquaintance aUte with 
 the strong points and the limitations of the native peoples 
 and rulers with whom they have to deal. 
 
 The Pulani of Northern Mgeria are, as I have said, more 
 capable of rule than the indigenous races, but in proportion 
 as we consider them an alien race, we are denying self-govern- 
 ment to the people over whom they rule, and supporting an 
 alien caste — albeit closer and more akin to the native races 
 than a European can be. Yet capable as they are, it requires 
 the ceaseless vigilance of the British staff to maintain a 
 high standard of administrative integrity, and to prevent 
 oppression of the peasantry. We are dealing with the same 
 generation, and in many cases with the identical rulers, who 
 were responsible for the misrule and tyranny which we found 
 ia 1902. The subject races near the capital were then serfs, 
 and the victims of constant extortion. Those dweUing at a 
 distance were raided for slaves, and could not count their 
 women, their cattle, or their crops their own. Punishments 
 were most barbarous, and included impalement, mutilation, 
 
 ' Dr Kidd writes : " There never has been, and never will be within any time 
 with which we are practically concerned, such a thing as good government in 
 the European sense of the tropics by the natives of these regions. " He describes 
 the collapse of prosperity in the West Indies and Guiana which followed the 
 false conception that the British tropics, if given control of their own destinies, 
 would develop into modern states — and points to the gloomy picture of Hayti, 
 &o. — ' Control of the Tropics,' pp. 37, 51, 73, &c. 
 
 ^ "Unless every lesson of history is to be disregarded, we must conclude that 
 black Africa is unable to stand alone." — ' The Rising Tide of Colour,' p. 102. 
 
 ' "Les noirs d'Afrique sont au milieu de I'humanit^ des mineurs qui pour 
 parvenir k un certain ^tat de civilisation . . . ont beaoin d'etre diriges, guides, 
 gouvem^s pendant un bon nombre de dizaines d'anndes par les Europ&na. II 
 convient que ohaque nation qui a la r&ponsibilite d'une Colonie Africaine puisae 
 sur son territoire d'une absolue souverainite. " — Beaulieu, loc. cit., vol. i. pp. 361, 
 364. See note, p. 82. 
 
 * "None of the black races have shown within historic times the capacity to 
 develop civilisation. " — 'Asia in Europe,' p. 92, quoted by the American writer, 
 Dr Stoddart. He gives hia reasons at great length for his conclusions. 
 
DEPENDENT ETILE THEOUGH NATIVE CHIEFS. 199 
 
 and burying alive.^ Many generations have passed since 
 British rule was established among the more intellectual 
 people of India — ^the inheritors of centuries of Eastern civili- 
 sation — yet only to-day are we tentatively seeking to confer 
 on them a measure of self-government. " Festina lente " is a 
 motto which the Colonial Oflace will do well to remember in 
 its dealings with Africa. 
 
 That the principle of ruling through the native chiefs is 
 adopted by the different governments of British Tropical 
 Africa can be seen from recent local pronouncements. The 
 Governor of Sierra Leone, in his address to the Legislative 
 Council last December (1920), remarks that "nine-tenths of 
 the people enjoy autonomy under their own elected chiefs 
 . . . European officers are the technical advisers, and helpers 
 of the tribal authority." The Governor of the Gold Coast on 
 a similar occasion observed: "The chiefs are keenly appre- 
 ciative of our policy of indirect rule, and of the full powers 
 they retain under their native institutions." ^ The powers 
 retained by the Kabaka of Uganda and his Council are very 
 wide indeed.^ 
 
 ' The dungeon at Kano is thus described : " A small doorway 2 ft. 6 in. by 
 18 in. gives access into it ; the interior is divided by a thick mud wall (with a 
 similar hole in it) into two compartments, each 17 ft. by 7 ft. and 11 ft. high. 
 This wall was pierced with holes at its base, through which the legs of those 
 sentenced to death were thrust up to the thigh, and they were left to be trodden 
 on by the mass of other prisoners till they died of thirst and starvation. The 
 place is entirely air-tight and unventilated, except for one small doorway or 
 rather hole in the wall through which you creep. The total space inside is 2618 
 cub. ft., and at the time we took Kano 135 human beings were confined here each 
 night, being let out during the day to cook their food, &c., in a small adjoining 
 area. Recently as many as 200 have been interned at one time. As the super- 
 ficial ground area was only 238 square feet, there was not, of course, even standing 
 room. Victims were crushed to death every night — their corpses were hauled 
 out each morning. The stench, I am told, inside the place when Col. Morland 
 visited it was intolerable though it was empty, and when I myself went inside 
 three weeks later the effluvium was unbearable for more than a few seconds. A 
 putrid corpse even then lay near the doorway." — Northern Nigeria Annual 
 Report, 1902, p. 29. 
 
 ^ Captain Armitage says of the northern territories : " The powers of the chiefs 
 had largely lapsed, and it was the custom to put, one might almost say, the 
 village idiot on the stool. Our policy has been to re-establish the powers of 
 several big chiefs, and it has been a remarkable success. " 
 
 ' Before Uganda had been declared a British protectorate, and control assumed 
 by the British Government, I wrote (in 1898) : " The object to be aimed at in the 
 administration of this country is to rule through its own executive government 
 . . . the Resident should rule through and by the chiefs." — 'The Rise of our 
 East African Empire,' vol. i. pp. 649, 651. 
 
 Uganda proper is divided into Sazas, each of which has a ZuJciho, which 
 assembles weekly and deals with minor cases. They are inspected by the district 
 officers, and report to the Central Lukiko at the capital. This consists of some 
 
200 METHODS OP EtTLING NATIVE EAOES. 
 
 The system adopted in Nigeria is therefore only a par- 
 ticular method of the application of these principles — more 
 especially as regards " advanced commimities," — and since I 
 am familiar with it I vidll use it as illustrative of the methods 
 which in my opinion should characterise the dealings of the 
 controlling power with subject races. 
 
 The object in view is to make each " Emir " or paramoimt 
 chief, assisted by his judicial CouncU, an effective ruler over 
 his own people. He presides over a " Native Administration " 
 organised throughout as a unit of local government. The 
 area over which he exercises jurisdiction is divided into 
 districts under the control of " Headmen," who collect the 
 taxes in the name of the ruler, and pay them into the " Native 
 Treasury," conducted by a native treasurer and staff under 
 the supervision of the chief at his capital. Here, too, is the 
 prison for native court prisoners, and probably the school, 
 which I shaU describe more fully in the chapter on education. 
 Large cities are divided into wards for purposes of control 
 and taxation. 
 
 The district headman, usually a territorial magnate with 
 local connections, is the chief executive officer in the area 
 under his charge. He controls the village headmen, and 
 is responsible for the assessment of the tax, which he collects 
 through their agency. He must reside in his district and 
 not at the capital. He is not aKowed to pose as a chief with 
 a retinue of his own and dupUcate officials, and is simamoned 
 from time to time to report to his chief. If, as is the case with 
 some of the ancient Emirates, the community is a small 
 one but independent of any other native rule, the chief may 
 be his own district headman. 
 
 A province under a Eesident may contain several separate 
 " Native Administrations," whether they be Moslem Emirates 
 or pagan communities. A " division " under a British District 
 Officer may include one or more headmen's districts, or 
 more than one small Emirate or independent ^ pagan tribe, but 
 
 forty Saza chiefs presided over by the Kabaka with his Katikiro and other 
 ministers. The native administration has 20 per cent of the native tax — about 
 £16,000. The system, says the Governor, "is an excellent example of the beet 
 results of indirect rule." — ' United Empire,' June 1920, p. 395. 
 
 Sir H. Low and Sir F. Swettenham testify from their experience in Malaya 
 that "the only way to deal with the people is through their recognised chiefs and 
 headmen." 
 
 ' By the term "independent" in this connection is meant "independent of 
 other native control." 
 
RELATIONS OF NATIVE EXJLEE AND BEITISH STAFF. 201 
 
 as a rale no Emirate is partly in one division and partly 
 in another. The Eesident acts as sympathetic adviser and 
 counsellor to the native chief, being carefid not to interfere 
 so as to lower his prestige, or cause him to lose interest in 
 his work. His advice on matters of general policy must be 
 followed, but the native ruler issues his own instructions to 
 his subordinate chiefs and district heads — ^not as the orders 
 of the Eesident but as his own, — and he is encouraged to work 
 through them, instead of centralising everything in himself 
 — a system which in the past had produced such great abuses. 
 The British District Officers supervise and assist the native 
 district headmen, through whom they convey any instruc- 
 tions to village heads, and make any arrangements necessary 
 for carrying on the work of the Government departments, 
 but all important orders emanate from the Emir, whose 
 messenger usually accompanies and acts as mouthpiece of a 
 District Officer. 
 
 The tax — ^which supersedes all former " tribute," irregular 
 imposts, and forced labour — ^is, in a sense, the basis of the 
 whole system, since it supplies the means to pay the Emir 
 and all his officials. The district and village heads are effec- 
 tively supervised and assisted in its assessment by the British 
 staff. The native treasury retains the proportion assigned 
 to it (in advanced communities a half), and pays the remainder 
 into Colonial Eevenue. 
 
 There are fifty such treasuries in the northern provinces 
 of Nigeria, and every independent chief, however small, is 
 encouraged to have his own. The appropriation by the native 
 administration of market dues, slaughter-house fees, forest 
 licences, &c., is authorised by ordinance, and the native 
 administration receives also the fines and fees of native 
 courts. From these fimds are paid the salaries of the Emir 
 and his council, the native court judges, the district and 
 village heads, police, prison warders, and other employees. 
 The surplus is devoted to the construction and maintenance 
 of dispensaries, leper settlements, schools, roads, court- 
 houses, and other buildings. Such works may be carried out 
 wholly or in part by a Government, department, if the native 
 administration requires technical assistance, the cost being 
 borne by the native treasury. 
 
 The native treasurer keeps all accounts of receipts and 
 expenditure, and the Emir, with the assistance of the Eesident, 
 
202 METHODS OF KTJLING NATIVE KACES. 
 
 annually prepares a budget, which is formally approved by 
 the Lieut.-Governor. 
 
 In these advanced communities the judges of the native 
 courts — ^which I shall describe in a later chapter — administer 
 native law and custom, and exercise their jurisdiction inde- 
 pendently of the native executive, but rmder the supervision 
 of the British staff, and subject to the general control of the 
 Emir, whose " Judicial Council " consists of his principal 
 oflftcers of State, and is vested with executive as well as 
 judicial powers. ISTo punishment may be inflicted by a native 
 authority, except through a regular tribimal. The ordinances 
 of government are operative everywhere, but the native 
 authority may make by-laws in modification of native cus- 
 tom — e.g., on matters of sanitation, &c.,-^and these, when 
 approved by the Governor, are enforced by the native courts. 
 
 The authority of the Emir over his own people is absolute, 
 and the profession of an aUen creed does not absolve a native 
 from the obUgation to obey his lawful orders ; but aliens — 
 other than natives domiciled in the Emirate and accepting 
 the jurisdiction of the native authority and courts — are under 
 the direct control of the British staff. Townships are excluded 
 from the native jurisdiction. 
 
 The village is the administrative unit. It is not always 
 easy to define, since the security to life and property which 
 has followed the British administration has caused an exodus 
 from the cities and large villages, and the creation of in- 
 numerable hamlets, sometimes only of one or two huts, on 
 the agricultural lands. The peasantry of the advanced com- 
 munities, though ignorant, yet differs from that of the back- 
 ward tribes in that they recognise the authority of the Emir, 
 and are more ready to listen to the village head and the 
 Council of Elders. "The development of self-government 
 in India," says Lord Sydenham, " should begin with the 
 Panchayet " (Village Council).^ This is the base and unit 
 of the Nigerian system. 
 
 Subject, therefore, to the limitations which I shall pres- 
 
 ' ' Times,' 10th August 1917. The Indian Commission of 1912 reported in favour 
 of re-establishing the Panchayet, which previous reforms had tended to destroy. 
 They are created in response to a demand for greater participation in the control 
 of their own affairs, and are supported by voluntary taxation alone. — ('Times,' 
 19/12/1917.) In Egypt the "Omdehs" of the villages were Government officials 
 wilose qualification was ownership of ten acres of land. The system inevitably led 
 to great abuse and tyranny. — (Sir V. Chirol, 'Times,' 1/1/20. )J 
 
POWERS EXERCISED BY NATIVE RULER. 203 
 
 ently discuss, the native authority is thus de facto and de jure 
 ruler over his own people. He appoints and dismisses his 
 subordinate chiefs and officials. He exercises the power of 
 allocation of lands, and with the aid of the native courts, of 
 adjudication ia land disputes and expropriation for offences 
 against the community, these are the essential functions upon 
 which, in the opinion of the West African Lands Committee, 
 the prestige of the native authority depends. The lawful 
 orders which he may give are carefully defined by ordinance, 
 and in the last resort are enforced by Government. 
 
 Since native authority, especially if exercised by alien 
 conquerors, is inevitably weakened by the first impact of 
 civilised rule, it is made clear to the elements of disorder, 
 who regard force as conferring the only right to demand 
 obedience, that government, by the use of force if necessary, 
 intends to support the native chief. To enable him to main- 
 tain order he employs a body of unarmed police, and if the 
 occasion demands the display of superior force he looks to 
 the Government — as, for instance, if a community combines 
 to break the law or shield criminals from justice, — a rare 
 event in the advanced communities. 
 
 The native ruler derives his power from the Suzerain, and 
 is responsible that it is not misused. He is equally with 
 British officers amenable to the law, but his authority does 
 not depend on the caprice of an executive officer. To iutrigue 
 against him is an offence punishable, if necessary, in a Pro- 
 Aoncial Court. Thus both British and native courts are in- 
 voked to uphold his authority. 
 
 The essential feature of the system (as I wrote at the time 
 of its inauguration) is that the native chiefs are constituted 
 "as an integral part of the machinery of the administration. 
 There are not two sets of rulers — ^British and native — ^working 
 either separately or in co-operation, but a single Government 
 in which the native chiefs have weU-defined duties and an 
 acknowledged status equally with British officials. Their 
 duties should never conflict, and should overlap as Httle as 
 possible. They should be complementary to each other, and 
 the chief himself must imderstand that he has no right to 
 place and power unless he renders his proper services to the 
 State." 
 
 The ruling classes are no longer either demi-gods, or para- 
 sites preying on the community. They must work for the 
 
204 METHODS OP RULING NATIVE RACES. 
 
 stipends and position they enjoy. They are the trusted 
 delegates of the Governor, exercising in the Moslem States 
 the well-understood powers of " Wakils " in conformity with 
 their own Islamic system, and recognisiug the King's repre- 
 sentative as their acknowledged Suzerain. 
 
 There is here no need of " Dyarchy," for the lines of de- 
 velopment of the native administration run parallel to, and 
 do not intersect, those of the Central Government. It is 
 the consistent aim of the British staff to maintain and in- 
 crease the prestige of the native ruler, to encourage his in- 
 itiative, and to support his authority. That the chiefs are 
 satisfied with the autonomy they enjoy in the matters which 
 reaUy interest and concern them, may be judged by their 
 loyalty and the prosperity of their country. 
 
 Comparatively little difficulty, it may be said, would be 
 experienced in the appUcation of such a system to Moslem 
 States, for even if their rulers had deteriorated, they stiU 
 profess the standards of Islam, with its system of taxation, 
 and they possess a literate class capable of discharging the 
 duties I have described. No doubt the alien immigrants in 
 the northern tropical belt afford better material for social 
 organisation, both racially and through the influence of their 
 creed, than the advanced communities of negro stock which 
 owe nothing to Islam, such as the Baganda, the Ashantis, 
 the Yorubas, the Benis, and others. But the self-evolved 
 progress in social organisation of these latter communities 
 is in itself evidence that they possessed exceptional intelli- 
 gence, probably more widely diffused among the peasantry 
 than would be foimd among those over whom an alien race 
 had acquired domination. They too had evolved systems of 
 taxation and of land tenure, and had learnt to delegate 
 authority. The teaching of missions through many decades 
 had in most cases produced a class who, if their energies were 
 rightly directed to the service of their communities instead 
 of seeking foreign outlets, would form a very valuable aid in 
 the building up of a " Native Administration." That these 
 communities are fuUy capable of adopting such a system has 
 been proved in recent years in South Mgeria. 
 
 They have not produced so definite a code of law, or such 
 advanced methods of dispensing justice, as the Koran has 
 introduced, and they lack the indigenous educational advan- 
 tages which the use of Arabic and the rehgious schools have 
 
LIMITATIONS TO POWERS OP NATIVE RTJLEES. 205 
 
 conferred on the Moslem. On the other hand, many — 
 especially the Baganda — have benefited greatly by the 
 Christian schools, and a wider range of knowledge, including 
 English. Some of their chiefs — ^notably Khama of Bechnana, 
 and several of those in Uganda — ^have been remarkable men. 
 Among many of these commmiities the chiefs exercise an influ- 
 ence different in its nature from that accorded to an alien 
 ruler, and based on superstitious veneration. 
 
 The limitations to independence which are frankly in- 
 herent in this conception of native rule — ^not as temporary 
 restraints to be removed as soon as may be, but as powers 
 which rightly belong to the controlling Power as trustee for 
 the welfare of the masses, and as being responsible for the 
 defence of the country and the cost of its central administra- 
 tion — are such as do not involve interference with the authority 
 of the chiefs or the social organisation of the people. They 
 have been accepted by the Fulani Emirs as natural and 
 proper to the controUing power, and their reservation in the 
 hands of the Governor has never interfered with the loyalty 
 of the ruling chiefs, or, so far as I am aware, been resented 
 by them. The limitations are as follows : — 
 
 (1) Native rulers are not permitted to raise and control 
 armed forces, or to grant permission to carry arms. To this 
 tu principle Great Britain stands pledged under the Brussels 
 Act. The evils which result in Africa from an armed popula- 
 tion were evident in Uganda before it fell under British control, 
 and are very evident in Abyssinia to-day. No one with ex- 
 perience will deny the necessity of maintaining the strictest 
 military discipline over armed forces or police in Africa if 
 misuse of power is to be avoided, and they are not to become 
 a menace and a terror to the native population and a danger 
 in case of religious excitement — a discipline which an African 
 ruler is incapable of appreciating or applying. For this 
 reason native levies should never be employed in substitution 
 for or in aid of troops.^ (See p. 576.) 
 
 On the other hand, the Government armed police are never 
 quartered in native towns, where their presence would inter- 
 fere with the authority of the chiefs. Like the regular troops, 
 
 ' This rule does not seem to have been enforced in Kenya. " Administrative 
 chiefs, in order to assert and maintain their authority, have found it necessary to 
 form bands of armed retainers, to whom they accord special privileges which are 
 found to be oppressive." — Official Handbook 1216, p. 243. 
 
206 METHODS OF ETILrNG NATIVE RACES. 
 
 they are employed as escorts and on duty in the townships. 
 The native administration maintain a police, who wear a 
 imiform but do not carry firearms. 
 
 (2) The sole right to impose taxation in any form is reserved 
 to the Suzerain, power. This fulfils ths bUateral understand- 
 ing that the peasantry — ^provided they pay the authorised 
 tax (the adjustment of which to all classes of the population 
 is a responsibihty which rests with the Central Government) 
 — should be free of aU other exactions whatsoever (including 
 Tmpaid labour), while a sufficient proportion of the tax is 
 assigned to the native treasuries to meet the expenditure of 
 the native administration. Special sanction by ordinance — 
 or "rule" approved by the Governor — ^is therefore required 
 to enable the native authority to levy any special dues, &c. 
 
 (3) The right to legislate is reserved. That this should re- 
 main in the hands of the Central Government — ^itself limited 
 by the control of the Colonial Office, as I have described — 
 cannot be questioned. The native authority, however, exer- 
 cises very considerable power in this regard. A native ruler, 
 and the native courts, are empowered to enforce native law 
 and custom, provided it is not repugnant to humanity, or 
 ia opposition to any ordinance. This practically meets all 
 needs, but the native authority may also make rules on 
 any subject, provided they are approved by the Governor. 
 (See chapter xxvui.) 
 
 (4) The right to appropriate land on equitable terms for 
 public purposes and for commercial requirements is vested in 
 the Governor. In the Northern Provinces of Mgeria (but not 
 in the South) the right of disposing of native lands is reserved 
 to the Governor by ordinance. In practice this does not 
 interfere with the power of the native ruler (as the delegate - 
 of the Governor) to assign lands to the natives under his 
 rule, in accordance with native law and custom, or restrict 
 him or the native courts from adjudicating between natives 
 regarding occupancy rights in land. No rents are levied on 
 lands in occupation by indigenous natives. Leases to aliens 
 are granted by the Central Government. (See chapters xiv. 
 and XV.) 
 
 If the pressure of population in one commimity makes it 
 necessary to assign to it a portion of the land belonging to 
 a neighbour with a small and decreasing population, the 
 Governor (to whom appeal may be made) would decide the 
 
REVENUES OF A " NATIVE ADMINISTEATION. " 207 
 
 matter. These reservations were set out in the formal letter 
 of appointment given to each chief in Northern IsTigeria. 
 
 (5) In order to maintaia intact the control of the Central 
 Government over aU aUens, and to avoid friction and diffi- 
 culties, it has been the recognised rule that the employees 
 of the native administration should consist entirely of natives 
 subject to the native authority. If aliens are required for 
 any skilled work by the native administration, Government 
 servants may be employed and their salaries reimbursed by 
 the native treasury. For a like reason, whenever possible, 
 all non-natives and natives not subject to the local native 
 jurisdiction live in the " township," from which natives sub- 
 ject to the native administration are as far as possible ex- 
 cluded. This exclusive control of aUens by the Central Gov- 
 ernment partakes rather of the nature of " extra-territorial 
 jurisdiction " than of dualism. 
 
 (6) PiuaUy, ia the interests of good government, the right of 
 confirming or otherwise the choice of the people of the suc- 
 cessor to a chiefship, and of deposing any ruler for misrule 
 or other adequate cause, is reserved to the Governor. 
 
 The revenue of a native administration consists, as I have 
 said, not of an arbitrary sum assigned to it by the Governor, 
 but of a fixed proportion of the statutory tax collected by 
 its agency, together with the fines and fees from native courts, 
 market dues, and similar receipts assigned by the Governor. 
 Thus, though the Suzerain power imposes the taxes (whether 
 direct in the form of an income tax or indirect as customs 
 dues, &c.), and the general rate of the former is fixed by the 
 Governor, the actual assessment is in the hands of the native 
 ruler and his representatives — the district and village heads 
 — guided and assisted by the British staff. It therefore ap- 
 pears to the taxpayer as a tax imposed by his own native 
 ruler, though he knows that the vigilant eye of the District 
 Officer wHl see that no unauthorised exactions are made, 
 and that any injustice will be remedied. Since the salaries 
 of the ruler and the officials of the " ]l>)"ative Administration " 
 are paid out of their own native treasury funds, they cannot 
 be regarded by him as officials paid by Government. 
 
 The proportion assigned to the native administration in 
 advanced communities is a half of the general income and 
 cattle tax, — the proportion is less in pagan communities. 
 On the inauguration of the tax in Nigeria the proceeds were 
 
208 METHODS OF EUXING NATIVE EACES. 
 
 quite insufi&cient to meet even the necessary salaries of chiefs ; 
 but with improved assessment, a more honest collection, and 
 increased prosperity, the sum, without additional burden, has 
 become so large that in the more wealthy Emirates there is a 
 considerable surplus, when all the salaries of the very largely- 
 increased establishments of native oflBcials, police and prison 
 staff, &c., have been paid.^ From these fimds native court- 
 houses, treasuries, schools, and prisons for native court 
 prisoners have been built, and the balance, invested in a 
 reserve fimd, totalled in 1919 £486,654, exclusive of the large 
 sums voted by the Emirs towards the cost of the war. These 
 reserve funds — originally created to meet any emergency, 
 such as famine or cattle disease, when Northern Nigeria 
 had no colonial reserve, and was dependent on a grant-in-aid 
 — are now available for public works of benefit to the people.* 
 
 The revenues of the native administrations do not appear 
 in the colonial budget of revenue and expenditure, and are 
 independent of colonial treasury or audit control. The proper 
 expenditure of these large sums — obtained by taxes imposed 
 and enforced by the Suzerain Power — ^must obviously depend 
 in part on the ability of each native ruler, and in part on 
 the Eesident who advises him. " Unfettered control " may 
 in some cases mean that a Eesident, and not the ruling chief, 
 disposes of large revenues independent of the Lieut. -Governor ; 
 in other cases it may mean a tendency to multiply ofiBces 
 and pay high salaries, which either overburden the finances 
 of other less wealthy treasuries, or cause discontent among 
 its employees, and ultimately enhance the cost of labour 
 throughout the country — a result which is inimical to pro- 
 duction and progress, unless necessitated by economic causes. 
 It is a tendency which a Eesident, however much he has 
 identified himself in the interests of the native administration, 
 may not find it easy to resist, though he sets his face against 
 nepotism and the reckless exercise of patronage and display 
 — ^which are so apt to be regarded as the symbol of power by 
 a native ruler. 
 
 Pending the growth of a fuller sense of public responsi- 
 bility and of an enlightened public opinion, some check may 
 
 1 The aggregate revenues at the disposal of the native administrations increased 
 from £28,500 in 1906-1907 to £536,000 in 1919. 
 
 ^ A piped water-supply from a distant reservoir to Kano city was projected, 
 but the undertaking was delayed by the war. 
 
ALIEN NATIVE RACES AS RULEES. 209 
 
 be afforded by the preparation of animal estimates of revenue 
 and expenditure in a very simple form. These should require 
 the approval of the Governor (or of the Lieut.-Govemor), as 
 the colonial estimates require that of the Secretary of State, 
 and any subsequent alteration should require the like sanction. 
 While refraining as far as possible from interference in detail, 
 the Lieut.-Govemor can, by suggestion and comparison, 
 effect some co-ordination and imiformity where desirable, 
 and can best discriminate between the scope which may be 
 allowed to an individual, and the grant of extended powers 
 of universal application.^ 
 
 The habits of a people are not changed in a decade, and 
 when powerful despots are deprived of the pastime of war and 
 slave-raiding, and when even the weak begin to forget their 
 former sufferings, to grow weary of a life without excitement, 
 and to resent the petty restrictions which have replaced the 
 cruelties of the old despotism, it must be the aim of Govern- 
 ment to provide new interests and rivalries in civilised pro- 
 gress, in education, in material prosperity and trade, and 
 even in sport. ^ 
 
 There were indeed many who, with the picture of Pulani 
 misrule fresh in their memory, regarded this system when it 
 was first inaugurated with much misgiving, and believed that 
 though the hostility of the rulers to the British might be 
 concealed, and their vices disguised, neither could be eradi- 
 cated, and they would always remain hostile at heart. They 
 thought that the Fulani as an alien race of conquerors, who 
 had in turn been conquered, had not the same claims for 
 consideration as those whom they had displaced, even though 
 
 ' Some difference between the Colonial Office and local opinion arose in con- 
 nection with these funds. The Secretary of State directed that they should only 
 be used for works which the Government would not otherwise have undertaken, 
 and refused contributions made to the cost of the war — limitations which seemed 
 to hamper the utility of the projects undertaken, and to fetter the discretion 
 &nd wound the susceptibilities of the chiefs and their councils. Opinions also 
 differed as to the extent of the control over these large sums which should in the 
 present stage of evolution be exercised by the Governor, and as to the desirability 
 of some special accounting and audit staff, without unnecessary interference 
 or time- wasting "red-tape." These, however, were not matters of vital im- 
 portance. The principle at issue was that of dependent rule as opposed to 
 independence, and perhaps the local opinion, in its insistence on the advisability 
 of the former, was betrayed into too narrow a view in regard to financial 
 control. 
 
 ^ As Professor Elliott-Smith has justly observed, a people becomes decadent, 
 and population decreases, not so much from war or disease as from lack of 
 interests in life. 
 
210 METHODS OP EULING NATIVE EACES. 
 
 they had become so identified with the people that they could 
 no longer be called ahens. 
 
 But there can be no doubt that such races form an in- 
 valuable medium between the British staff and the native 
 peasantry. Nor can the difficulty of finding any one capable 
 of taking their place, or the danger they would constitute to 
 the State if ousted from their positions, be ignored. Their 
 traditions of rule, their monotheistic reUgion, and their in- 
 telligence enable them to appreciate more readily than the 
 negro population the wider objects of British pohcy (see 
 p. 220), while their close touch with the masses — ^with whom 
 they Hve in daily intercourse — ^mark them out as destined 
 to play an important part in the future, as they have done 
 in the past, in the development of the tropics. 
 
 Both the Arabs in the east and the Fulani in the west 
 are Mohamedans, and by supporting their rule we unavoidably 
 encourage the spread of Islam, which from the purely ad- 
 ministrative point of view has the disadvantage of being 
 subject to waves of fanaticism, bounded by no pohtical 
 frontiers. In Mgeria it has been the rule that their power 
 should not be re-estabhshed over tribes which had made 
 good their independence, or imposed upon those who had 
 successfully resisted domiuation. 
 
 On tbe other hand, the personal interests of the rulers 
 must rapidly become identified with those of the controlling 
 Power. The forces of disorder do not distinguish between 
 them, and the rulers soon recognise that any upheaval against 
 the British would equally make an end of them. Once this 
 community of interest is estabHshed, the Central Govern- 
 ment cannot be taken by surprise, for it is impossible that 
 the native rulers should not be aware of any disaffection.^ 
 
 This identification of the ruling class with the Govern- 
 ment accentuates the corresponding obUgation to check mal- 
 practices on their part. The task of educating them in the 
 duties of a ruler becomes more than ever insistent ; of in- 
 culcating a sense of responsibihty ; of convincing their in- 
 teUigence of the advantages which accrue from the material 
 prosperity of the peasantry, from free labour and initiative ; 
 
 ^ Soon after the establishment of British rule in Northern Nigeria more than 
 one "Mahdi" arose, and obtained a fanatical following, but in every case the 
 Fulani Emir actively assisted in suppressing the disturbance. In the Sudan 
 thirteen Mahdis arose between 1901 and 1916.— F.O. Handbook 98, p. 43. The 
 Germans in East Africa, in order to check the spread of Islam, encouraged pig- 
 breeding.— Cmd. 1428/1921, p. 30. 
 
SYSTEM MUST BE ADAPTED TO LOCAL TRADITIONS. 211 
 
 of the necessity of delegating powers to trusted subordinates ; 
 of the evils of favouritism and bribery ; of the importance 
 of education, especially for the ruling class, and for the filling 
 of lucrative posts under Government ; of the benefits of 
 sanitation, vaccination, and isolation of infection in checking 
 mortality ; and finally, of impressing upon them how greatly 
 they may benefit their country by personal interest in such 
 matters, and by the application of labour-saving devices and 
 of scientific methods in agriculture. 
 
 Unintentional misuse of the system of native administration 
 must also be guarded against. It is not, for instance, the 
 duty of a native administration to purchase supplies for 
 native troops, or to enlist and pay labour for public works, 
 though its agency within carefully defined limits may be 
 useful in making known Government requirements, and see- 
 ing that markets are well supphed. Nor should it be directed 
 to collect licences, fees, and rents due to Government, nor 
 should its funds be used for any purpose not solely connected 
 with and prompted by its own needs. 
 
 I have throughout these pages continually emphasised 
 the necessity of recognising, as a cardinal principle of British 
 pohcy in dealing with native races, that institutions and 
 methods, in order to command success and promote the 
 happiness and welfare of the people, must be deep-rooted in 
 their traditions and prejudices. Obviously in no sphere of 
 administration is this more essential than in that under dis- 
 cussion, and a slavish adherence to any particular type, how- 
 ever successful it may have proved elsewhere, may, if im- 
 adapted to the local environment, be as ill-suited and as 
 foreign to its conceptions as direct British rule would be. 
 
 The type suited to a community which has long grown 
 accustomed to the social organisation of the Moslem State 
 may or may not be suitable to advanced pagan commimities, 
 which have evolved a social system of their own, such as the 
 Yorubas, the Benis, the Egbas, or the Ashantis in the West, 
 or the Waganda, the Wanyoro, the Watoro, and others in 
 the East. The history, the traditions, the idiosyncracies, and 
 the prejudices of each must be studied by the Eesident and 
 his staff, in order that the form adopted shall accord with 
 natural evolution, and shall ensure the ready co-operation 
 of the chiefs and people.^ 
 
 Before passing to the discussion of methods applicable to 
 
 1 See p. 82, footnote 7. 
 
212 METHODS OF BTILING NATIVE EACES. 
 
 primitiye tribes, it may be of interest to note briefly some 
 of the details — as apart from general principles — adopted in 
 Nigeria among the advanced commmiities. 
 
 Chiefs who are executive rulers are graded — those of the 
 first three classes are installed by the Governor or Lieut.- 
 Governor, and carry a staff of office surmounted for the first 
 class by a silver, and for the others by a brass crown. Lower 
 grades carry a baton, and are installed by the Resident, or 
 by the Emir, if the chief is subordinate to him. These staves 
 of office, which are greatly prized, symbolise to the peasantry 
 the fact that the Emir derives his power from the Govern- 
 ment, and will be supported in its exercise. The installation 
 of an Emir is a ceremonial witnessed by a great concourse 
 of his people, and dignified by a parade of troops. The 
 native insignia of office, and a parchment scroll, setting out 
 in the vernacular the conditions of his appointment, are 
 presented to him. The alkali (native judge) administers the 
 following oath on the Koran : "I swear in the name of God, 
 well and truly to serve His Majesty King George V. and his 
 representative the Governor of Mgeria, to obey the laws of 
 Nigeria and the lawful commands of the Governor, and of 
 the Lieut. -Governor, provided that they are not contrary to 
 my religion, and if they are so contrary I will at once inform 
 the Governor through the Resident. I wiU cherish in my heart 
 no treachery or disloyalty, and I will rule my people with 
 justice and without partiaUty. And as I carry out this oath 
 so may God judge me." Pagan chiefs are sworn according 
 to their own customs on a sword. 
 
 Native etiquette and ceremonial must be carefully studied 
 and observed in order that unintentional offence may be 
 avoided. Great importance is attached to them, and a like 
 observance in accordance with native custom is demanded 
 towards British officers. Chiefs are treated with respect and 
 courtesy. Native races aUke in India and Africa are quick 
 to discriminate between natural dignity and assimied superi- 
 ority. Vulgar famiharity is no more a passport to their 
 friendship than an assimiption of self-importance is to their 
 respect.^ The English gentleman needs no prompting in such 
 
 ' " The Master said : The nobler sort of man is dignified but not proud; the 
 inferior man proud but not dignified. The nobler sort of man is easy to serve 
 yet difiBcult to please. In exacting service from others he takes account of 
 aptitudes and limitations." — ' The Sayings of Confucius,' L. Giles, p. 65. 
 
SITCOESSION TO CHIEFTAINSHIPS. 213 
 
 a matter — his instinct is never wrong. E'ative titles of rank 
 are adopted, and only native dress is worn, whether by chiefs 
 or by schoolboys. Principal chiefs accused of serious crimes 
 are tried by a British court, and are not imprisoned before 
 trial, unless in very exceptional circumstances. Minor chiefs 
 and native officials appointed by an Emir may be tried by his 
 Judicial Council. If the offence does not involve deprivation 
 of ofBce, the offender may be fined without public trial, if he 
 prefers it, in order to avoid humiliation and loss of influence. 
 
 Succession is governed by native law and custom, subject 
 in the case of important chiefs to the approval of the Governor, 
 in order that the most capable claimant may be chosen. It 
 is important to ascertain the customary law and to follow it 
 when possible, for the appointment of a chief who is not the 
 recognised heir, or who is disliked by the people, may give 
 rise to trouble, and in any case the new chief would have 
 much difficulty in asserting his authority, and would fear to 
 check abuses lest he should alienate his supporters. In 
 Moslem countries the law is fairly clearly defined, being a 
 useful combination of the hereditary principle, tempered by 
 selection, and in many cases in Mgeria the ingenious device 
 is maintained of having two rival dynasties, from each of 
 which the successor is selected alternately. 
 
 In pagan communities the method varies ; but there is no 
 rigid rule, and a margin for selection is allowed. The formal 
 approval of the Governor after a short period of probation 
 is a useful precaution, so that if the designated chief proves 
 himself unsuitable, the selection may be revised without 
 difficulty. Minor chiefs are usually selected by popular vote, 
 subject to the approval of the paramount chief. It is a rule 
 in Mgeria that no slave may be appointed as a chief or dis- 
 trict headman. If one is nominated he must first be publicly 
 freed. 
 
 Small and isolated communities, living within the juris- 
 diction of a chief, but owing allegiance to the chief of their 
 place of origin — a common source of trouble in Africa — 
 should gradually be absorbed into the territorial jurisdiction. 
 Aliens who have settled in a district for their own purposes 
 would be subject to the local jurisdiction. 
 
214 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 METHODS OF EULiNG NATIVE RACES — {Continued). 
 
 Arguments againat the system in case of primitive tribes— Eeasons for 
 its adoption — Changed conditions in Africa — Decay of tribal authority 
 — The task of the Suzerain power — Effect of direct taxation — Native 
 opinion of the system — Selection of chiefs — Study of primitive insti- 
 tutions — Summary of objects — Eesults in Nigeria— Loyalty of the 
 chiefs — Criticisms of the system of ruling through chiefs — Govern- 
 ment responsibility for misrule — Inadequate supervision — Not appli- 
 cable to Europeanised class — Interferes with departmental officers — 
 Lessons from Indian policy — The policy in Egypt — French policy in 
 Africa. 
 
 There are some who consider that however desirable it may 
 be to rule through the native chiefs of advanced communities, 
 such a pohcy is misplaced, if not impossible, among the back- 
 ward tribes. Here, they would say, the Eesident and his 
 staif must be recognised as the direct rulers, since among 
 the most primitive peoples there are no recognised chiefs 
 capable of exercising rule. The imposition of a tax is in their 
 view premature, since (they say) the natives derive no corre- 
 sponding benefit, and learn to regard the District Officer 
 merely as a tax-collector. Moreover, refusal to pay necessi- 
 tates coercive expeditions — scarcely distinguishable from the 
 raids of old times. To attempt to adapt such methods — 
 however suitable to the Moslem commimities — ^to the con- 
 ditions of primitive tribes, would be to foist upon them a 
 system foreign to their conceptions. In the criticisms I have 
 read no via media is indicated between those who are ac- 
 counted to rank as advanced communities, entitled before long 
 to independence, and direct rule by the British staff. 
 
 Let us realise that the advanced communities form a very 
 minute proportion of the population of British Tropical 
 Africa. The vast majority are in the primitive or early 
 
SELF-ETILE AMONG PEIMITIVE TEIBES. 215 
 
 tribal stages of development. To abandon the policy of 
 ruling them through their own chiefs, and to substitute 
 the direct rule of the British officer, is to forgo the high 
 ideal of leading the backward races, by their own efforts, 
 in their own way, to raise themselves to a higher plane of 
 social organisation, and tends to perpetuate and stereotype 
 existing conditions. 
 
 We must realise also two other important facts. First, 
 that the British staff, exercising direct rule, cannot be other- 
 wise than very small in comparison to the area and popula- 
 tion of which they are in charge.^ That rule cannot generally 
 mean the benevolent autocracy of a particular District Officer, 
 well versed in the language and customs of the people, but 
 rule by a series of different white men, conveying their orders 
 by police and couriers and aUen native subordinates, and the 
 quartering of police detachments in native vilLages. Experi- 
 ence has shown the difficulty in such conditions of detecting 
 and checking cases of abuse of office, and of acquisition of 
 land by aUen and absentee native landlords. There is a 
 marked tendency to litigation, and the entire decay of such 
 tribal authority as may previously have existed. 
 
 The changed conditions of AMcan life is the second im- 
 portant fact for consideration. The advent of Europeans 
 cannot faU to have a disintegrating effect on tribal authority 
 and institutions, and on the conditions of native life. This 
 is due in part to the unavoidable restrictions imposed on the 
 exercise of their power by the native chiefs. They may no 
 longer inflict barbarous and inhuman punishments on the 
 individual, or take reprisals by force of arms on aggressive 
 neighbours or a disobedient section of the community. The 
 concentration of force in the hands of the Suzerain Power, 
 and the amenability of the chiefs to that Power for acts of 
 oppression and misrule, are evidence to primitive folk that 
 the power of the chiefs has gone. This decay of tribal au- 
 thority has unfortunately too often been accentuated by the 
 tendency of British officers to deal direct with petty chiefs, 
 
 ' What a thoroughly efficient system of direct rule means, may be seen in the 
 "new territories" of Hong-Kong. In the matter of land alone, 40,000 acres are 
 divided into 350,000 separate lots, classified and described in 87 bulky volumes, 
 which for working purposes are condensed into 9. 24,000 receipts for rent are 
 issued yearly, the average value being Is. The preparation of the annual rent- 
 roll, and the collection of the rents, are tasks of some magnitude. — Hong-Kong 
 Land Reports. 
 
216 METHODS OF EIXLENG NATIVE RACES. 
 
 and to ignore, and allow their subordinates to ignore, the 
 principal chief. It has been iacreased in many cases by 
 the influx of alien natives, who, when it suited them, set at 
 naught the native authority, and refused to pay the tribute 
 wMch the chiefs were given no means of enforcing, or acquired 
 lands which they held in defiance of native customary tenure. 
 
 But the main cause of the great change which is taking 
 place in the social conditions of African life is to be foimd 
 in the changed outlook of the African himself. There is, as 
 a writer in ' New Europe ' says, " something fantastically 
 inconceivable about the pohcy of keeping the forces and ideas 
 of the modem world out of Africa," and it is the negation of 
 progress " to fasten down upon the African his own past. 
 . . . Over most of tropical Africa the old order of tribal 
 society is dead, dying, or doomed." He is apparently speaking 
 of Bast Africa.^ His views were strongly endorsed by the 
 Governor, Sir P. Girouard — than whom few have shown a 
 greater insight into problems of native administration. In 
 his report on East Africa for 1909-10, Sir P. Girouard enumer- 
 ates the various agencies which are " breaMng down the tribal 
 systems, denationalising the native, and emancipating him 
 from the rule of his chief." " There are not lacking," he 
 writes, " those who favour direct British rule ; but if we 
 allow the tribal authority to be ignored or broken, it will 
 mean that we, who numerically form a small minority in 
 the country, shall be obUged to deal with a rabble, with 
 thousands of persons in a savage or semi-savage state, all 
 acting on their own impulses, and making themselves a 
 danger to society generally. There could only be one end to 
 such a poHcy, and that would be eventual conflict with the 
 rabble." ^ 
 
 From every side comes the same story. " For fifteen 
 years," says Mr Wilson, writing of Nyasaland, " I have 
 watched the tribal system breaking up — ^nothing could infuse 
 new Ufe iato it." And with the rapid changes the native 
 character has deteriorated. Stealing and burglary are rife, 
 and the old village discipline and respect for chiefs has gone.' 
 
 ' 'The African MandateB,' by Fulani bin Fulani. 'New Europe,' 7th and 14th 
 July 1919. See also "Afrioanus" in the 'African Society's Journal,' January 1921, 
 p. 98. 
 
 ^ Cd. 5467 of 1911, pp. 39 and 47. For a description of the system adopted, 
 see Official Handbook 1216, p. 243. 
 
 ^ ' East and West,' January 1921. 
 
DECAY OF TRIBAL AXJTHOEITY. 217 
 
 In the West we find the mine manager with his wife and 
 flower-garden established in a district which a year or two 
 ago was the inaccessible fastness of a cannibal tribe. Ladies 
 in mission schools teach nude savage children the elements 
 of geography and arithmetic. The smattering of knowledge 
 and caricature of the white man's ways acquired by these 
 children react on their village, and upset tribal customs and 
 authority. A few years ago one would find communities in 
 which no individual had ever been twenty nules from his 
 home. To-day the young men migrate in hundreds to offer 
 their labour at the mines or elsewhere, and return with strange 
 ideas. Some perhaps have even been overseas from West to 
 East Africa during the war. 
 
 The produce of the village loom, or dye-pit, or smithy, 
 is discounted by cheap imported goods, and the craftsman's 
 calling is not what it was. Traders, white and black, circulate 
 under the pax Britannica among tribes but recently addicted 
 to head-hunting, and bring to them new and strange concep- 
 tions. The primitive African is called upon to cope with 
 ideas a thousand years in advance of his mental and social 
 equipment. " He cannot proceed leisurely along the road 
 to progress. He must be hurried along it, or the free and 
 independent savage will sink to the level of the helot and the 
 slave." 
 
 Here, then, in my view, Ues our present task in Africa. 
 It becomes impossible to maintain the old order — ^the urgent 
 need is for adaptation to the new — to build up a tribal au- 
 thority with a recognised and legal standing, which may 
 avert social chaos. It cannot be accomplished by super- 
 seding — ^by the direct rule of the white man — such ideas of 
 discipline and organisation as exist, nor yet by " stereotyping 
 customs and institutions among backward races which are 
 not consistent with progress." ^ 
 
 The first step is to hasten the transition from the patri- 
 archal to the tribal stage, and induce those who acknowledge 
 no other authority than the head of the family to recognise 
 a common chief. Where this stage has already been reached, 
 the object is to group together small tribes, or sections of a 
 tribe, so as to form a single administrative imit, whose chiefs 
 severally, or in Council as a " Kative Court" (see chapter 
 xxviii.), may be constituted a "Native Authority," with 
 
 1 Debate on Coloaial Offioe^vote, 26th April 1920. 
 
218 METHODS OF ETJIING KATIVE RACES. 
 
 defined powers over native aliens, through whom the district 
 ofBcer can work instead of through alien subordinates. His 
 task is to strengthen the authority of the chiefs, and encourage 
 them to show initiative ; to learn their difficulties at first 
 hand, and to assist them in adapting the new conditions to 
 the old — maintaining and developing what is best, avoiding 
 everything that has a tendency to denationalisation and ser- 
 vile imitation. He can guide and control several such units, 
 and endeavour gradually to bring them to the standard of 
 an advanced community. In brief, tribal cohesion, and the 
 education of the tribal heads in the duties of rulers, are the 
 watchwords of the poUcy in regard to these backward races. 
 As the unit shows itself more and more capable of conducting 
 its own afilairs, the direct rule, which at first is temporarily 
 unavoidable among the most backward of all, wiU decrease, 
 and the community will acquire a legal status, which the 
 European and the native agent of material development must 
 recognise. " The old easy-going days, when the probity of 
 the individual was sufficient title to rule, are gone. . . . 
 Intelligent interest, imagination, comprehension of alien minds 
 — these are the demands of to-day." 
 
 To this end the institution of the tax is the first begin- 
 ning. It marks the recognition by the commimity of the 
 Suzerainty of the protecting Power, and the corresponding 
 obligation to refrain from lawless acts. Failure to impose 
 it is regarded as a sign of weakness or of fear. The pay- 
 ment of " tribute " to a chief marks the transition from the 
 patriarchal to the tribal stage. It forms no burden, and is 
 only refused if a community deliberately desires to throw 
 off aU restraint and revert to lawlessness, in which case 
 coercive measures become inevitable for the protection of the 
 law-abiding. The most experienced Eesidents declare that 
 it is not resented, and is a definite curb on the impulse to 
 attack traders. 
 
 Throughout the whole of the British African tropics (except 
 the Gold Coast) the sum levied on the pagan tribes is a sub- 
 stantial one, but in Northern Mgeria it has generally been 
 nominal in amount,^ and there at any rate it cannot be said 
 to have been without a substantial equivalent, in the pro- 
 motion of trade and prosperity, in the construction of roads, 
 
 ^ It was at first fixed at 3d. per annum per adult — or at most at 6d. — and 
 later somewhat increased. In many protectorates it ranges up to 10s. or £1. 
 
DIRECT TAXATION ASSISTS PROGEESS. 219 
 
 in the begiimings of education, and in the suppression of 
 slave-raiding. " Since you have stopped slave-raiding," said 
 a pagan chief to a Eesident, " we are wiUing to do or give 
 what you hke." 
 
 The iaauguration of a treasury, in like manner, though 
 admittedly beyond the grasp of such peoples, is the embryo 
 conception which will later develop with education, and they 
 are quick to reaUse that the salaried chiefs and sub-chiefs 
 are not merely paid officers of the Government, but receive 
 a portion of the funds which they themselves collect from the 
 people. They do not exist merely to collect an aUen tax 
 as the agents of Government, but are selected as men who 
 will be trusted and followed by their people, and capable of 
 expressing their opinions. Among the primitive communities 
 it suffices that the share of the tax should be sufficient to 
 meet their salaries only, so long as they are incapable of 
 understanding or exercising any judgment regarding other ex- 
 penditure. Without a tax there can be no treasury, and with- 
 out a treasury no real eventual measure of self-rule. The impo- 
 sition of a tax at a later stage of development would be resented 
 as a breach of faith, and would generally lead to trouble. 
 
 It is not necessary that these embryo administrations 
 should follow closely the model adopted for the Moslem 
 communities, if any more natural line presents itself. Ex- 
 perience in the advanced pagan commtmities will suggest 
 divergencies. For, as I have said, there is no desire to impose 
 on the people any theoretically suitable form of government, 
 but rather to evolve from their own institutions, based on 
 their own habits of thought, prejudices, and customs, the 
 form of rule best suited to them, and adapted to meet the 
 new conditions. 
 
 Direct British rule among primitive tribes, unaccompanied 
 by any tax, may perhaps, if a fully adequate staff is pro- 
 vided, be the least troublesome, and temporarily at any rate 
 the most efficient — albeit the most costly — method. But it 
 shirks the more difficult task of education, and when the time 
 comes — as it inevitably will come — and the people demand a 
 voice in the control of their own affairs, we shaU find — as we 
 find in India to-day — ^that we have destroyed the natural 
 institutions of the country, that we have sapped the founda- 
 tions of native rule, and have taught them only the duty of 
 obedience. We can then only offer an ahen system, evolved 
 
220 METHODS OP RTJLIKG NATIVE RACES. 
 
 by Western nations to suit wholly different circumstances, 
 moulded on European and not on native habits of thought. 
 
 The Moslem Emir of Yola and his Council showed, I think, 
 a better appreciation of these principles than the critics I 
 have quoted. The natural instinct of a Eulani, they said, 
 when he has got over his fear of the pagans, is to treat them 
 as slaves, and he would then either be murdered by them or 
 convicted of oppression by Government. " If they think you 
 are trying to make them Pulani or Moslems they resent it. 
 I would not put a Pulani headman to live in their coimtry, 
 but he should constantly tour amongst them, and advise the 
 pagan chief, and tell all the people that they may appeal to 
 him, but he should not go behind his back." The Waziri 
 added : " As the British govern us through ourselves, so we 
 must govern the pagans through their own chiefs. If we 
 think we can deal directly with the pagan peasantry, we are 
 deceived. We should know nothing of what is going on, and 
 we should do no good." This view was not dictated by a 
 desire to please, for it was apparently opposed to the policy 
 of the Eesident at the time. How striking is this advance 
 from the methods of the Pulani conquerors. 
 
 It is of the first importance that the chiefs should be elected 
 by the community from among themselves, and be men of 
 influence and strength of character, neither middleinen traders 
 selected for their wealth nor Moslems. It is preferable also 
 not to employ the latter as judges of the courts, or teachers 
 in the schools, even though progress be slower. If the selec- 
 tion of an alien is inevitable he should not be allowed to 
 retain any armed following. The District Officer must be 
 tolerant of misrule due to inexperience in a chief who promises 
 well, and avoid damaging his prestige and influence. 
 
 In order to develop a system suited to their needs, the 
 District Officer must study their customs and social organisa- 
 tions ; for without a knowledge of their institutions the re- 
 sult must be failure. These in some tribes take the form 
 of a classification by age, the youths being circumcised in 
 batches, each of which forms a class with special duties 
 and standing.^ Most tribes develop a number of societies 
 
 ^ The senior class among the Ibos of West Africa — who number several millions 
 —form the ' ' Akang " club, the juniors the ' ' Ekpe " club. The clubs give enter- 
 tainments, and arrange for batches of labourers when required, &c. Compare 
 Sir C. Eliot's description of the age-classes of the Masai in East Africa, loc. cit, , 
 p. 136, and Handbook 1216, p. 241. 
 
SECRET SOCIETIES. 221 
 
 with secret ritual, whicli -will usually be found to have their 
 origin in some sound principle, such as the maintenance of 
 discipline among lawless sections or the promotion of tribal 
 cohesion. 
 
 In some cases it is reported that a society which formerly 
 existed for purposes of extortion, or even murder and human 
 sacrifice, has, owing to the native court system, which allows 
 of trial in open court, become innocuous. In other cases 
 the power wielded by those who conduct the secret ritual 
 may have caused the society to degenerate iato a cruel Fetish 
 cult, destroying its value as a social organisation. Or its 
 prestige and influence may have been misused to cover 
 the crimes or the greed of individuals, or a tribal " age-class " 
 may have adopted a ritual, and formed a society inimical to 
 the interest of the community. Careful iavestigation is neces- 
 sary to distinguish between Fetish cults, which exist to ter- 
 rorise the people by human sacrifice and witchcraft (such as 
 the " Chuku Juju " of the Aros, or the alleged " Human 
 Leopard Society " of Sierra Leone), and those which have 
 their origin in social customs, and may afford a framework 
 which, when divested of its harmful accretions, is capable of 
 development and understood by the people — ^to which class 
 very probably the " Ogboni " may belong. 
 
 These primitive tribes — as we shall see when disclissing the 
 courts — are capable, even in their present stage, of settling 
 ordinary social disputes in a tribunal composed of chiefs — 
 which, in default of rulers of sufficient individual importance 
 and prestige, it is often necessary to endow with executive 
 powers as the " Native Authority." 
 
 Turning now from the detailed discussion of the applica- 
 tion of this system to advanced communities on the one hand, 
 and to primitive tribes on the other, let us glance at its 
 results and the criticisms it has evoked. I think that there 
 a.re very hopefid possibilities for the future in the develop- 
 ment of the " Native Administrations " of Mgeria. Already 
 they bear a large share in the cost of the schools ; they are 
 showing an increasing interest in the establishment of dis- 
 pensaries, in the sanitation of the great cities, and in leper 
 settlements. Some, especially Sokoto, have taken a keen 
 interest in afforestation and artesian weU-boring. Kano, in 
 view of its congested population, has developed a scheme of 
 Tough-and-ready delimitation of farm lands by native sur- 
 
222 METHODS OF EULING NATIVE EACES. 
 
 veyors. Special classes for training youths in agriculture, 
 forestry, veterinary work, and survey wiU provide young men 
 (drawn from the provinces which need them) with some 
 technical training for service under the native administra- 
 tions. 
 
 The steady increase in the material prosperity of the 
 peasantry of the Moslem Emirates is the frequent theme of 
 the Eesidents' annual reports, and though this cannot be 
 attributed solely — or even primarily — to the system of native 
 administration, there can be no doubt that this system has 
 had a large share in the result. The growing wealth of the 
 people renders possible a steady iQcrease iu the tax, with a 
 corresponding addition to the fimds available for local develop- 
 ment. That the system has been successful is proved by the 
 contentment of the people and the loyalty of their chiefs. 
 The Emirs and their councillors appreciate the liberality of 
 the Government policy and the genuine sympathy of the 
 Eesidents, and any breach of the peace has come to be looked 
 on as an almost impossible occurrence. A perusal of the latest 
 reports (1917-18) from his Eesidents cannot but fiU the Lieut.- 
 Governor of the northern provinces with satisf action. ^ 
 
 The war, however, put the system to the crucial test. It 
 was well known that Britain was fighting agaiust Turkey, 
 a Moslem State with whom the Senussi, whose emissaries 
 from TripoU find easy access to Nigeria, was in active alliance. 
 A great rising took place ra the vast regions under French 
 rule bordering Mgeria to the north. Eeports, fully credited 
 
 1 I make a few extracts at random. Kano reports an increase of £32,000 in 
 the revenue, and 1000 miles of unmetalled or partially metalled roads fit for light 
 motors. Zaria, Nassarawa, lUorin, and other provinces state that the pagans, 
 who for generations have lived ou the hill-tops to escape the raids of the Fulani, 
 and from their inaccessible eyries have been a menace to traders, are Increasingly 
 coming down to live peacefully in the plains in well-planned villages. In Zaria 
 the revenue has quadrupled in four years ; the facilities of the bank are used for 
 surplus funds. The Mallamai take pride in their work, and now keep registers 
 of births, deaths, and migrations. Sanitary reform includes the use of incinera- 
 tors and refuse-bins. Sokoto reports a like progress in sanitation, and adds that 
 the population has nearly trebled since the British advent in 1903, due largely to 
 immigration over the frontier. Village heads report to the district head and to 
 the native courts cases of cattle disease, breach of isolation rules, and any 
 robberies in their vicinity. The prisons are admirably kept, the prisoners well 
 cared for, and the discipline good. The officials of the native administration 
 work cordially with those of the Government, both executive and judicial, and 
 the " i)ojrarai " afford all assistance to the police. The credit of inaugurating 
 and giving practical and successful effect to this method belongs wholly to the 
 Residents and their staff — Messrs Temple, Goldsmith, Gowers, Amett, Gall, 
 Palmer, among others. 
 
EESXILTS m NOETHEEN NIGEEIA. 223 
 
 by the French themselves, reached the country that Agades 
 — ^the desert capital — ^had faUen before a Moslem army well 
 equipped with cannon. Hostile forces were said to be rapidly 
 advancing towards Sokoto. The French asked our assistance. 
 Half our own forces, and most of the oflBcers well known to 
 the natives, had already gone to East Africa. But not for a 
 moment was there the slightest doubt of the loyalty of the 
 Emirs. The garrison of Kano itself was withdrawn, and re- 
 placed by police. Sokoto and Katsena, the border States, 
 were eager to raise native levies to assist. 
 
 Each year of the war the native treasuries offered £50,000 
 towards its cost. The last year they subscribed £11,000 to 
 the Eed Cross Fund — ^the Sultan of Sokoto preferring that 
 he and his chiefs should subscribe from their private means 
 for such a purpose rather than from the pubUc treasury. Daily 
 prayers in aU the mosques were offered for the victory of the 
 King's arms. 
 
 Dr Solf, when Minister for the Colonies ia Berhn, visited 
 Nigeria. He expressed to Mr Harcourt his appreciation of 
 our methods, and wrote to me (for I was absent at the time) 
 that he intended to adopt them in the German Cameruns. 
 
 The system described has, of course, like every other 
 possible system, found its critics and opponents. The edu- 
 cated native very naturally dislikes it, for it places the native 
 chief, who has no schoolroom education, and is probably 
 ignorant even of the English language, ia a position of 
 authority over his people, and tends to make him independent 
 of the educated native lawyer or adviser. 
 
 The criticism of Europeans is, so far as I am aware, chiefly 
 confined to those who have not had personal experience of 
 its working, or adequate opportunity to examine for them- 
 selves the truths of statements they have read in the native 
 press. Bishop TugweU, whose long and faithful service in 
 West Africa has chiefly laia in the coast area and its imme- 
 diate hiaterland, writes : " ' Indirect rule ' is direct rule by 
 indirect means. The Emir's position and salary are secure. 
 His sway, backed by British authority, is rendered absolute, 
 while his people become his serfs, or those of the British 
 Government. Their life is thus robbed of aU initiative or 
 desire for progress — ^intellectual, social, moral, reUgious, or 
 pohtical." The Emir, he adds, who is appointed by the 
 Government, is the instrument of the Eesident, and " the 
 
224 METHODS OF RULLNG NATIVE EACES. 
 
 name of Christ must not be proclaimed lest this blighting 
 system should be overtiimed." 
 
 The statement is inaccurate, lor there are very many cases 
 on record in Mgeria, extending from the earliest beginnings 
 of British rule in the north up to the present day, where not 
 only the highest ofl&cials of the native administration have 
 been deprived of their positions and subjected to the rigours 
 of the law for misconduct, but even Emirs and principal 
 chiefs have been deposed for misrule. As regards the peas- 
 antry, it is incontestable that they have never enjoyed such 
 liberty and material prosperity as they now possess, such 
 security of land tenure and immunity from oppression. The 
 new Government schools are opening up avenues for intel- 
 lectual and social progress. (See chap, xxii.) With the 
 question of Christian propaganda in Moslem States I shall 
 deal in a later chapter. 
 
 But Bishop TugweU, unconsciously perhaps, gives imper- 
 fect expression to an aspect of the matter on which I have 
 already touched. It was naturally a cause for anxiety and 
 misgiving that the British Government, by supporting native 
 rule, and the authority of the native courts, should accept 
 some measure of responsibility for evils which its meagre 
 staff of British officials was unable to control adequately, 
 seeing that the one was exercised by men who had behind 
 them a century's tradition of such tyranny and oppression 
 as I have described, and the other had become corrupt and 
 inflicted barbarous sentences. To overthrow an organisation, 
 however faulty, which has the sanction of long usage, and is 
 acquiesced in by the people, before any system could be 
 created to take its place — ^before, indeed, we had any precise 
 knowledge of Moslem methods or of native law and custom 
 — would have been an act of folly which no sane adminis- 
 trator could attempt. The very necessity for avoiding pre- 
 cipitate action, and the knowledge that reform could only 
 be effective, and enlist native co-operation, if it was gradual, 
 made the responsibility all the more onerous. To infer that 
 it was not realised, or was lightly regarded, is to do a great 
 injustice to the administrative staff of the early Government 
 of Northern Mgeria, who struggled to cope with a burden 
 which taxed them beyond their strength. Some died, and 
 some left with health impaired. 
 
 That the supervision exercised was insufficient, in spite 
 
CEITICISMS OF THE SYSTEM. 225 
 
 of their efforts, is a reasonable criticism, for the staff was 
 quite inadequate. In the year 1903-4, in which the whole 
 of the Moslem States first came under British control, Northern 
 Mgeria provided in its budget for forty-four administrative 
 officers.^ Of these, as I have shown (p. 141), we can only 
 assume that a half were actually at work. Thus in the fourth 
 year after the administration was inaugurated there was only 
 about one officer available for each 11,600 square miles and 
 400,000 head of population — and most of them very young 
 and new to the work ! 
 
 On amalgamation with Southern Nigeria in 1914 I had 
 hoped that the finances would at last admit of an adequate 
 provision of staff, and of decent houses for them to Mve in. 
 But the Great War broke out, and the staff was again depleted 
 below the uttermost safety limit, to allow every possible 
 officer to join the fighting forces. The conditions have re- 
 tarded progress in the pagan areas, and must be borne in 
 mind by those who criticise the inadequacy of supervision 
 in the past. 
 
 That the system is inapphcable to communities of Euro- 
 peanised natives educated on Western lines is admitted. The 
 method of their progress towards self-government lies, as I 
 have said, along the same path as that of Europeans — ^in- 
 creased participation in municipal affairs untU they prove 
 themselves fitted for the larger responsibilities of Government 
 of their own commimities, by a majority vote in the councils, 
 by popidar election, and by appointment to posts of respon- 
 sibility in the Civil Service. 
 
 A local criticism is that the natives are taught to look to 
 the District Officer only, that the latter is intolerant of any 
 departmental officer exercising authority in his district, and 
 that it is impossible for a departmental officer to feel a keen 
 interest in his work, and achieve the best results, if he is 
 practically dependent on a jimior administrative officer, and 
 can get nothing done without reference to him. 
 
 The reply is that orders to the local headman emanate, 
 not from the District Officer, but from his own chief (to whom 
 any wishes of Goverimient in the matter are communicated 
 by the Eesident). The District Officer, who knows the head- 
 men personally and speaks their language, is the natural and 
 best means that the departmental officer can employ for 
 
 1 ' Gazette ' of 30th April 1903. 
 P 
 
226 METHODS OF EULING NATIVE RACES. 
 
 making his demands known, and obtaining the sendees of an 
 agent from the chief to procure labour, &c. In technical 
 details he gives his orders direct. In case of difficulty it is 
 not to the District Officer but to his own chief that the head- 
 man appeals for instructions. The chief in turn only invokes 
 the advice or intervention of the Eesident if he needs it. 
 
 Our experience in India (to which I alluded in the last 
 chapter) seems to me to afford a strildng confirmation of the 
 principles which underlie the policy I have advocated. " Brit- 
 ish India " (comprising nearly two-thirds of the country and 
 over three-quarters of its population) has been subjected to 
 direct British rule, which foreign critics have praised as a 
 model of efficiency. But when the inevitable time arrived, 
 and India demanded a measure of self-government, the bases 
 on which it had rested for centuries are found to have been 
 destroyed, and to-day the situation in British India is described 
 as the most serious with which England has ever been con- 
 fronted, for the policy of the past rated administrative efficiency 
 more highly than education in self-government. 
 
 In the remaining part of India we have ruled indirectly 
 through the native princes. The limitations to their inde- 
 pendence were less onerous than those which are necessary 
 in Africa,^ for they were the inheritors of an ancient civilisa- 
 tion, and their relations with the Suzerain Power were estab- 
 lished by treaty, and not by conquest. The conditions which 
 obtain in their territories to-day are in marked contrast with 
 the disorder around them. Their progress has been fostered 
 by the tactful and devoted guidance of the British Eesidents 
 at their courts.^ Their loyalty has been so unquestioned that 
 of late years they have been encouraged to maintain standing 
 armies of their own, which have been freely placed at the 
 service of Government, and we have ceded to them fortresses 
 such as GwaUor, which we formerly maintained to overawe 
 them. Their institutions and enlightened rule rival those of 
 British India. Their peasantry are said to be happier and 
 more satisfied under the rule of their own chiefs than under 
 the system of direct rule. 
 
 ' See Ilbert, loc. dt., chap. ii. pp. 141-145, and chap. vii. 
 
 2 It was not till 1909 that Lord Minto directed that Residents should no longer 
 press reforms upon the native rulers. Their policy in future was to be one of 
 non-interference in internal affairs. Direct British rule continued, however, to 
 be exercised when the heir was a minor, and his education was the care of the 
 Suzerain Power. 
 
THE SYSTEM OP EXILE IN EGYPT. 227 
 
 In Egypt European " advisers " were appointed to the 
 various Ministries in Cairo, whose tittdar head was an Egyp- 
 tian, and this system was extended to the provincial " Mndi- 
 rates." Even under the watchful eye of Lord Cromer — ^tied 
 as he was to headquarters at Cairo— the tendency for these 
 "inspectors," as they were infelicitously called, to assume 
 the rdle of de facto rulers, had already become marked. The 
 mudirs, as Lord MUner observed ^ (writing in 1892), " did 
 not so much miad taking orders themselves, if it was clearly 
 tmderstood that they alone were entitled to give orders to 
 their subordinates. ' TeU us what you want done,' they say 
 to their foreign monitors, ' and we wUl take care that your 
 wishes are carried out, but do not attempt to see to their 
 execution yourself.' " This is the whole difference between 
 direct rule and rule through the native rulers. Until it has 
 become a tradition, enshrined in precise written instructions 
 (necessarily somewhat detailed), and maintained by constant 
 personal touch between the head of the Government and his 
 administrative officers, the tendency of the energetic, capable 
 British officer to overstep his rdle as adviser will inevitably 
 assert itself. " Instances, however, were not wanting (in 
 Egypt) in which Englishmen have got on thoroughly weU 
 with provincial Governors, and come to be regarded by them 
 as friends and helpmates, and not as spies and intruders." 
 Lord Milner emphasises the absolute necessity of supervision 
 and control over native officials. " The whole problem," he 
 says, " is how to exercise this control, which is indispensable, 
 without destroying the prestige of the permanent officials, 
 which is equally indispensable." The problem could not 
 have been better or more concisely stated.^ 
 
 With the passing of Lord Cromer, the tendency to direct 
 rule by the inspectors, appointed " to advise the Advisers," 
 became more pronounced, and junior inspectors assumed the 
 right to dictate to the mudirs, on whom in theory the respon- 
 sibility rests.^ 
 
 1 'England in Egypt,' p. 110-111. 2 ib;<j^ p_ 334, 
 
 ' See articles on "Egyptian Unrest," 'Times,' 9th September 1919,jand7th 
 January 1920. The writer proposes that the British staff should become executive 
 officers, responsible to their Egyptian official superiors — the mudirs — who are 
 again controlled by the Egyptian Ministers with their British advisers. I have 
 ventured to suggest that, however anxious both might be to fulfil their obliga- 
 tions with loyalty, nothing but disharmony and friction could result from such a 
 system, and the best qualities of both would be nullified. — (Letter to ' Times,' 
 16th September 1919, with which Lord Milner expressed to me his general con- 
 
228 METHODS OF RULING NATIVE EACES. 
 
 Foreign nations have never, so far as I am aware, adopted 
 a policy similar to that of Great Britain, in whose colonies, 
 even where direct rule by British officers is maintained, the 
 native chiefs retain their titular positions, and are allowed 
 the exercise of restricted powers. In French West Africa 
 chiefs are appointed as Government officials, but there is no 
 organisation of former native kingdoms under their traditional 
 rulers, as in Nigeria or Uganda. On the contrary, the sons of 
 former native chiefs are deprived of all titles of sovereignty. 
 
 As native officials they are employed in matters of sanita- 
 tion, the levying of taxes, road construction, engagement of 
 labour, &c., and in subordinate posts under the Government. 
 A portion of Senegal is 'governed directly and exclusively by 
 white officials. Though the older conception of the assimila- 
 tion of the native races appears to be giving place to one of 
 trusteeship, the quondam native rulers remain mere subordi- 
 nates of the Europeans, who conduct the native affairs.^ The 
 French system proceeds on the hypothesis that the colonies 
 are an integral part of France, and its inhabitants French- 
 men, with consequent Uability to conscription, &c. We learn, 
 however, that the secret of General Lyautey's success in 
 Morocco is that he introduced collaboration with the native 
 chiefs, and the principle of dual administration between the 
 protector and the protected, and by this means he everywhere 
 conciliated the populations he subdued.^ 
 
 The object of substituting for British rule, in which the 
 chiefs are mere agents of the Government, a system of native 
 rule under the guidance and control of the British staff, 
 whether among advanced or backward communities, is pri- 
 marily educative.^ Among backward tribes the chiefs have 
 
 currence). The mudir should take his orders only from his official chief, the 
 Egyptian Minister, and he alone should give orders to the village sheikhs. The 
 British inspector tenders advice, and sees that abuses do not exist, and should be 
 responsible only to his British chief — the adviser to the Minister. In the Sudan 
 Egyptians and Sudanese are appointed as mamurs (police officers, and magistrates 
 of districts), and their numbers are increasing. Foreign Office Handbook 98, p. 60. 
 
 1 Foreign Office Handbook No. 100, 1920, pp. 6 and 10. 
 
 2 ' La France au Maroc,' Berthe Georges Gaulis. 
 
 ' Mr Qilmour, reviewing in the ' African Society's Journal ' (April 1912) two 
 books 1 in which this system of native rule was described, thus summarises : 
 " Like a silver thread the proposition of the paramount importance of helping 
 the African to become a better African, and not endeavouring to turn him into 
 a caricature of a European, runs through both books, and is obviously regarded 
 
 1 'Tlie Making of Northern Nigeria," Captain Orr. 'Nigeria, its Peoples and Problems," 
 B. D. Morel. 
 
THE PBTTVTABY OBJECT IN VIEW. 229 
 
 to learn how to exert and maintain authority, and establish 
 a chain of responsibility reaching down to the village head. 
 Among the more advanced their interest is directed to educa- 
 tion, forestry, sanitation, prevention of disease, and public 
 works. In aU alike the endeavour is to prevent denationalisa- 
 tion, to develop along indigenous hnes, to inculcate the 
 principle that the function of the ruler is to promote the 
 welfare of his people and not to exploit them for his own 
 pleasure, and to afford both to rulers and people the stimulus 
 of progress and interest in life. 
 
 by both authors aa the fundamental proposition o{ the Nigerian policy." " The 
 policy of the administration," he says later, "is directed to developing the 
 resources of the country, through the agency of the natives rather than by 
 concessions to Europeans." 
 
230 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Direct tax — The basis of native administration — Tax on Pagans accords 
 with native custom — Tax in Moslem districts^ — Tax denotes progress 
 — Delay in imposition inadvisable— On primitive people should be 
 light — Taxation as an incentive to work — Is indirect taxation suffi- 
 cient — The tax on advanced communities — Nature of the tax — 
 Income and "profits" — Tax on average standard of production — 
 Profits on trades other than agriculture — Rate of tax — Abuses of the 
 old system : (o) Absentee landlords ; (b) Tax-gatherers ; (c) Dis- 
 connected areas of jurisdiction — Summary of reforms— Disposal of 
 tax — Definition of vQlage and town — Principles of assessment — Tax 
 is not a land rent — Method of assessment : (a) Native officials ; 
 (J) The District Officer's task — Taxation of primitive communities — 
 Payment in cash, kind, or labour — By whom payable — Drastic 
 changes to be avoided — Personation — The hut-tax — Contrast with 
 the tax proposed — Summary of results of direct taxation — Minor 
 direct taxes — Licences and market dues. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The hut-tax 'in Africa — In Sierra Leone — Uganda — Nyasaland — East 
 Africa — Northern Bhodesia — South Africa — Foreign Nations. 
 
 1^0 system of rule can be effective — whether gOTemmental 
 or mtuiicipal — ^unless it enjoys some measure of financial 
 independence ; and, as I have said, the fundamental basis 
 upon which the policy I have described in the last chapter 
 rests, is the assignment to the native rulers of a definite 
 revenue with which to pay the salaries of their officials, and 
 to inaugurate schemes of development. This revenue must 
 obviously be found by taxation, and ta Mgeria (to which I 
 again refer in illustration, because it is the dependency which 
 I know best) it is derived from a direct tax — ^based on the 
 principle of an income-tax — collected through the machinery 
 of the native administration, in accordance with native law and 
 custom, and imder the close supervision of the British staff. 
 
DIRECT TAX THE BASIS OP NATIVE KTJLE. 231 
 
 The native rulers who share it are not therefore salaried 
 officials of Government, but derive their incomes as proper 
 dues from their own people, in return for their work as rulers, 
 or judges, or employees of the native administration. They, 
 and even the more intelligent of the peasantry, can see that 
 a substantial portion of the tax is spent by themselves in 
 their own immediate interests, and can appreciate the neces- 
 sity of devoting the remainder to the central Government. 
 They thus have an interest in its collection in fuU, and there 
 is no perennial complaint of an insufficient grant for the 
 maintenance of the native administration, disproportioned to 
 their particular claims. 
 
 Moreover, it is obvious that the native rulers must have 
 some means of livelihood, and of maintaioing their position. 
 If there be no legal and recognised tax, the necessary iucome 
 must be obtained by arbitrary levies on the peasantry, subject 
 to no control by Government. In the Moslem States the tax 
 is the corollary of the abohtion of slavery. 
 
 It has been asserted that, with the exception of those 
 communities which have accepted the Koranic system of 
 taxation, the natives of Africa are unaccustomed to, and 
 radically opposed to, direct taxation, and that it is therefore 
 better to adopt indirect taxation, the incidence of which they 
 do not understand. 
 
 The African is not peculiar in disliking taxes, but as soon 
 as any degree of tribal cohesion is reached, the obligation to 
 pay tribute to the head chief — ^generally iu the form of slaves, 
 concubines, food, and unpaid labour — ^is recognised. As the 
 tribe advances in organisation, and its rulers become more 
 powerful and luxurious — as in such pagan communities as 
 the Baganda, the Yorubas, Benis, &c. — ^the demands become 
 increasingly heavy. It is probable that the Moslem con- 
 querors in HsForthem Nigeria merely superimposed the Koranic 
 tithe upon the pre-existiug scheme of taxation among the 
 Habes. But Mahomedan rule admitted of a more systematised 
 method. 
 
 Only among the most primitive peoples, where the authority 
 of a paramount chief has not yet emerged, do we find an 
 entire absence of taxation, for there is no authority to demand 
 or enforce it. Such communities regard the payment of 
 tribute as the token of acknowledgment of a Suzerain, with 
 the consequent obligation to refrain from murders and rob- 
 
232 TAXATION. 
 
 beries. Provided that it is not collected by alien native tax- 
 gatherers, and is not unduly onerous, they do not appear to 
 resent its imposition ; and, as I have said in the last chapter, 
 refusal to pay is usually a formal and deliberate prelude to 
 an outbreak of lawlessness. 
 
 A direct tax is not therefore contrary to native custom 
 or prejudices among those who have reached the tribal stage,* 
 and the disUke of it is not due to any objection to the prin- 
 ciple, but to the imposition of a tax in addition to, instead of 
 in substitution for, the tribute. The Yorubas, who at first 
 resented it strongly, asked for its imposition when they 
 imderstood the system, and the hostility of the Pulani was 
 similarly converted to a whole-hearted co-operation. 
 
 The tax imposed by aUen Moslem conquerors on those who 
 adopted the Faith was the Koranic tithe, with a much more 
 onerous levy on conquered pagans (which was doubled in 
 case of rebellion), while imconquered tribes were regarded as 
 slave preserves. With the growth of luxury the tendency is 
 for the rich and powerful to evade it, while the peasantry, 
 even though nominally Moslems, are subjected to increasing 
 burdens. The rulers no longer lead in war, the Jihad de- 
 generates into the slave-raid, and the tax is collected by 
 deputy, while the chiefs live in luxury at the capital, sur- 
 rounded by slaves, eunuchs, and concubines. The erstwhile 
 leaders of the armies become fief -holders farming the taxes 
 of large districts, or particular cities, and appointing then- 
 relatives and favourites as their deputies.* 
 
 The payment of direct taxes is in Africa, as elsewhere, an 
 unwelcome concomitant of progress. It marks the recognition 
 of the principle that each individual in proportion to his 
 means has an obUgation to the State, to which he owes security 
 
 " Sir W. Macgregor, who expressed this view, nevertheless recognised the 
 obligation to pay the customary direct tribute to the chiefs, and himself under- 
 took to reassess it among the lUeshas, when it had lapsed owing to the decay of 
 tribal authority consequent on the advent of the British ('Gazette,' 16/1/04). 
 The regular tribute among the Yorubas and Illeshas, paid by both men and 
 women, is said to have varied from 6s. to 10s. It was supplemented by obligatory 
 personal service, and there were special taxes, including death-duties. 
 
 2 These were the characteristics of the decadence of Fulani domination in 
 Northern Nigeria, which necessitated its overthrow by the British administration. 
 The Sultan of Sokoto admitted that the fall of the Fulani dynasty was a just 
 punishment for their misrule. All kinds of additional and irregular taxes — on 
 special classes or on particular crops or possessions— had been introduced. The 
 ancient kingdom of Bornu appears to have approached to something like an 
 income-tax and death duties. 
 
EESTILTS OF DIRECT TAXATION. 233 
 
 for life and property, and his increased wealth, — due to fair 
 wages for his labour, improved transport, and a large com- 
 petitive market for his produce. 
 
 By its means the upper classes can be paid salaries for 
 public work ; slavery, forced labour, and all other forms of 
 exactions from the peasantry can be declared Ulegal without 
 reducing the ruling classes to poverty. The freed slave, on 
 his part, renders to the State a small and fixed proportion 
 of the profits of his industry. The tax may thus in a sense 
 be regarded as a means of promoting the recognition of in- 
 dividual responsibility, which is inseparable from liberty, but 
 is destroyed by the system of slavery. It was by this means 
 that in Mgeria we sought a solution of the difficulties attendant 
 on the aboHtion of the legal status of slavery, and to support 
 the ruling classes while protecting the peasantry. 
 
 It emancipates justice by freeing the salaried native judge 
 from the temptation of bribes and unjust fines. It lightens 
 the heavy burdens on trade, both by rendering possible the 
 abolition of the tolls levied by native rulers, by decreasing 
 the amount which must otherwise be raised by customs, 
 and by promoting, as no other agency can, the introduc- 
 tion of coin currency. The task of assessment promotes an 
 intimate touch between the British staff and the native 
 officials who assist in it on the one hand, and the inhabitants 
 of remote and almost inaccessible villages on the other hand, 
 who but for this assessment might have remained unknown. 
 The District Officer comes as the herald of a just and equitable 
 tax to replace extortion. 
 
 Among unorganised communities, not previously subject 
 to tax, where native rulers cannot be said to exist, the tax 
 affords a means of creating and enforcing native authority, 
 of curbing lawlessness, and assisting ia tribal evolution, and 
 hence it becomes a moral benefit, and is justified by the 
 immimity from slave-raids which the people now enjoy. 
 
 Though the project of instituting a tax before the intro- 
 duction of a coin currency should have afforded a means of 
 converting it into revenue seemed at first impossible, I soon 
 became convinced that postponement would be a weak and 
 short-sighted policy, which would render the eventual neces- 
 sity all the harder of attainment. For the time must come, 
 as it has come to every community in the world, when some 
 form of direct tax for revenue purposes must be imposed. 
 
234 TAXATION. 
 
 That necessity has been recognised (with, I believe, the sole 
 exception of the Gold Coast) by every administration in British 
 and foreign tropical Africa. If delayed, its imposition is 
 certain to be resented, and to lead to trouble and bloodshed. 
 If it is imposed at once it is recognised as part of the white 
 man's rule, and accepted as such. The inauguration of British 
 rule is the moment at which to lay the foundations, not merely 
 in view of subsequent necessities for revenue, but in order to 
 establish the principle of personal contribution to the State 
 in proportion to wealth, to which I have referred. 
 
 But though the principle in my view should be asserted 
 at the outset, it is of no less importance that the tax should 
 in primitive communities be very light at first, since it is 
 there intended to be educative rather than a source of revenue. 
 If it is in principle an income tax (though in a primitive com- 
 munal society it becomes a poll-tax) it will automatically be 
 proportioned to the ability to pay. It wiU correspond in some 
 degree with the expenditure incurred in the district. Now 
 that new territories are falling under British control by the 
 Mandate of the Powers, it is worth while to emphasise the 
 necessity both for the early imposition of the tax, and for 
 making it a Ught one. 
 
 There are those who advocate direct taxation primarily as 
 a means of compelling the natives to work. This was the 
 underlying principle of a clause in Mr Ehodes' " Glen Grey 
 Act " (which, however, provided that the proceeds of the 
 tax should be appUed to their own benefit).^ Mr Chamberlain 
 ridiculed the idea that the South African method was akin 
 to slavery. The native, he considered, should be made to 
 work, because he had for so long forced his women to work 
 in order that he might live in idleness. The substitution 
 of labour for the payment of a tax, or the imposition of a 
 heavier tax if the native cannot prove that he has worked 
 for a specified time, are expedients which ia the past have 
 been adopted elsewhere. 
 
 If, as has been alleged regarding natives restricted to 
 Eeserves, the males of a community are found to be living 
 in habitual idleness and drunkenness, special taxation may 
 perhaps be justified in their own best interests ; but in that 
 case the native should be free to earn the money by working 
 
 ^ The clause remained a dead letter for eleven years, and was then formally 
 repealed. — B. Williams' 'Life of Cecil Rhodes,' p. 212. 
 
INDIEECT TAXATION mSXIFFICIENT. 235 
 
 on his own land, or by offering his labour to whom he chooses. 
 The object in view would be the education of the native, 
 not the procuring of labour for Government or European 
 employers, or the increase of revenue.^ I shaU recur to this 
 subject in the chapter on labour. 
 
 Under normal conditions the African rarely needs com- 
 pulsion to work, and this is not the object of the tax I have 
 proposed, but in so far as the tax stimulates productive 
 industry, and compels a man, as in England, to provide an 
 extra margin wherewith to meet the obligation, or if it 
 diminishes the large surplus of the grain crops, which among 
 many pagan tribes is set aside for brewing hquor with 
 which to indulge in frequent drunken orgies, its effect can 
 only be good (pp. 603-4). 
 
 It was reported in IsTorthem Mgeria that in districts where 
 taxes had formerly been paid to the Pulani but had lapsed, 
 considerable areas had gone out of cultivation, and the male 
 population, deprived, as in South Africa, of its principal 
 occupation of fighting, had taken to drinking and quarrelling. 
 In Southern Mgeria the tribute to the chiefs had in many 
 cases been discontinued on the advent of the British, and 
 tribal aiuthority had consequently been weakened. The High 
 Commissioner of Uganda expressed the view that the direct 
 tax " will prove to be the making of the country, not only 
 because of the revenue it brings, but because of the habits 
 of work it inculcates, which are rapidly altering one of the 
 natxiral characteristics of the people." 
 
 It may be asked whether, so far as revenue is concerned, 
 a sufficient sum could not be raised both for Government 
 requirements and to support the native administration, by 
 indirect taxation ? The only substantial source of revenue 
 from indirect taxation accrues from customs duties. It is 
 not possible that such duties should provide a revenue ade- 
 quate for the needs of the Government, and none at all could 
 be spared for native administration. In Mgeria the customs 
 duties were estimated in 1919 to provide less than a third 
 (29| per cent) of the total revenue (including the sums re- 
 tained by the native administrations), in spite of the fact 
 
 ' See chapter xix. Lord Milner in the Transvaal, and Sir G. Lagden in 
 Basutoland, both agreed that the primary object of the tax should not be to 
 compel labour. Lord Milner's later pronouncements as Seci'etary of State, both 
 in a despatch published as a White-book and in the debate in the House of 
 Lords, are quoted in the chapter referred to. 
 
236 TAXATION. 
 
 that they had been recently increased by a third, by special 
 export duties which were not iatended to be permanent.^ 
 In East Africa — ^taking a naean between the years 1913-14 
 (pre-war) and 1917-18 — the customs provided only 13| per 
 cent of the revenue ^ — ^in the Sudan only 12 per cent.* 
 
 The trade of the tropics consists of the export of raw 
 materials in exchange for manufactured goods, and customs 
 duties offer the simplest and cheapest form of taxation, but 
 they have their limits. Though a necessary adjunct, they 
 retard the development of trade, and fall very unequally on 
 the population. Provinces distant from the sea and the 
 railway consume the minimum of customable goods, and 
 hence pay but little indirect tax, though they are the most 
 costly to administer by reason of the heavy transport charges. 
 Other forms of indirect taxation, of which fines and fees of 
 court are probably the most considerable, are not easily 
 expandable. 
 
 Where direct taxes already exist, the object in view is to 
 consohdate them into a single annual payment, based on 
 native law and custom and the indigenous institutions of 
 the country, while ensuring that the sum demanded is just 
 and reasonable, and that the method of collection is such as 
 will distribute the burden equitably in proportion to the 
 wealth of the individual, and finally to see that it is clearly 
 understood by chiefs and people alike that any demand in 
 excess of this authorised tax is illegal. The chiefs must be 
 warned that any attempt to make a larger demand — even 
 indirectly as compulsory labour, or the exaction of suppUes 
 or food without payment — ^will lay them open to a charge of 
 extortion, and the peasantry are informed that in such a 
 case they can appeal from the village to the district head, or 
 in the last resort, to the Emir and the British staff. 
 
 In the Moslem States of Northern Nigeria the immediate 
 task was to consolidate the multipUcity of taxes into a single 
 " general " tax, payable on a single demand after the harvest, 
 and whenever possible in CTirrency instead of in Mnd. The 
 
 ' Prior to the abolition of the import of " trade spirits," an abnormal revenue 
 was raised by the duties imposed on these imports, which in 1913 amounted to 
 about two-thirds (64 per cent) of the total customs receipts (£1,138,000 out of 
 £1,760,400). The duty was about 250 per cent ad valorem. Customs were 
 51 per cent of revenue. 
 
 ' ' East African Economic Commission's Report,' p. 7. 
 
 3 Handbook 98, p. 168. 
 
TAX ON INCOME OE PEOFITS THE BEST. 237 
 
 task of the District Ofl&cer was to assist the district and 
 village headmen to assess it, year by year improving the 
 graduation in proportion to wealth. It rests with the head 
 of the Government to see that as far as possible some measure 
 of uniformity, and of equaUty of incidence, is introduced in 
 the different provinces.^ Among primitive communities, 
 where no recognised tribute exists, the communal basis of 
 society compels a capitation tax, but this is susceptible of 
 gradual modification as rights in individual property emerge 
 with the growth of tribal organisation, and of individual 
 enterprise in trade. 
 
 The tax most suitable for Africa is, in my judgment, an 
 income or property tax — ^in other words, a contribution to 
 the needs of the State by each individual according to his 
 means, whether he be an argiculturist or a craftsman, a trader 
 or a collector of sylvan produce, a nomad herdsman or a 
 dweller in cities, a chief or a peasant, or, on the other hand, 
 whether he be a Moslem, a Christian, or a pagan. 
 
 It should not be levied on a man's hut or cultivated land, 
 to neither of which has the State any right, and any claims 
 on which he will cordially resent, but on the income or profits 
 of each individual, regardless of the source from which he 
 derives it. This is the basis of Mohamedan taxation accord- 
 ing to the Koranic law, and is therefore in strict accord with 
 native law and custom in Moslem States. It is not an 
 " economic land rent." 
 
 The vast bulk of the population of Africa are agriculturists, 
 and it has been argued that if a community consumed all 
 
 ' The first tentative efltort in Northern Nigeria, before the country was fully 
 brought under administrative control, was " to secure to the revenue a certain 
 proportion of the taxes on land and produce levied by the native chiefs, and did 
 not in any way touch the nature of those taxes or restrict the power of the 
 chiefs as to the extent to which they might tyrannise over or extort from the 
 peasantry." In due course, when adequate information had been collected, this 
 was followed by an enactment, the object of which was "to lay down limits to 
 the taxation by native chiefs, to define and legalise the various taxes, and to place 
 them under the supervision of the administration, and at the same time to assign 
 an adequate portion of the revenue so collected to the Government." — Governor's 
 Despatch of 26th April 1905. Even if the Government were to take no share of 
 the proceeds, the task of assessment and the supervision of the payment of the 
 tribute is a duty which cannot be avoided, so long as the system of ruling through 
 the chiefs is maintained. For "if Government enforces their demands, it must 
 see to it that they are reasonable and not extortionate ; otherwise, not only 
 would Government be the instrument of misrule, but revolt would take place in 
 every province " ; for already, owing to the extortion of the past, the peasantry 
 were declining to pay any dues whatever. — Governor's Despatch of 23rd August 
 1905. 
 
238 TAXATION. 
 
 its com and stock in feeding itself, there being no profits, 
 no tax could be levied, and the result woidd be that the 
 industrious who produce a surplus would be penalised, and 
 the idle, who only produce enough for their own wants, 
 would escape taxation. Moreover, it would be exceedingly 
 difficult to determine what proportion of produce and stock 
 should be properly assigned to the actual needs of the culti- 
 vator. 
 
 The argument has special force in a country like Africa, 
 where primitive man has few wants, and lacks incentives to 
 accumulate wealth, where even among the advanced communi- 
 ties the bulk of the peasantry would seem to have few in- 
 ducements to increase that margin of profit which among 
 civihsed nations becomes a necessity. A TniniTrm m of labour 
 — ^largely done by his women-kind — ^is required to build his 
 hut, to weave his cloth from his own cotton, and to furnish 
 his needs in food. But the African, as soon as he has ceased 
 to be nomadic, and has settled down on the land,^ is not 
 immune from the natural human desire to make profits.^ As 
 soon as he has emerged from primeval savagery — often indeed 
 before he has done so — ^he becomes a keen trader, eager in 
 the pursuit of gaia. Even the least progressive are anxious 
 to set aside some margin for the purchase of articles outside 
 their bare necessities, — whether it be gaudy cloths and beads 
 for ornament, or potent spirits, or to grow a surplus of com 
 with which to brew the beer that they love. 
 
 In order, however, to meet the case of the idle and the 
 least progressive, I enacted in the " I^'ative Eevenue Proclama- 
 tion " of Northern Mgeria (March 1906) that "the principle 
 on which the estimate or valuation of lands shall be made, 
 shall be the amount of produce or profit which can be annually 
 obtained from, and the number of live-stock that can be 
 annually raised and supported on such land, by a person 
 cultivatiag and using the same, in the manner and up to the 
 average standard of cultivation and use prevailing in the 
 
 1 The nomadic pastorals have, of all the peoples of Africa, the least use for 
 the amenities of civilisation and the least desire to trade. They are generally 
 content to go naked or clad in skins, and look to their cattle for all their 
 requirements. 
 
 2 See Adam Smith on profits, loc. ciL, Bk. II., chap. iii. "The desire of 
 bettering our condition . . . comes with us from the womb, and never leaves us 
 till we go into the grave " ; it is a " universal, continual, and uninterrupted 
 efifort" (pp. 19 and 27). 
 
DEFINITION OF "PEOFITS." 239 
 
 neiglibotirhood." This clause introduces the important prin- 
 ciple that the tax is not an income tax pure and simple, but 
 a tax on the potential proiits — ^viz., profits realisable by the 
 expenditure of ordinary and normal industry and effort. It 
 is described by the " Northern Nigeria Lands Committee " 
 as embodying " the principles of a regular revenue assess- 
 ment," which, however, owing to lack of staff and other 
 reasons, had not in 1907 been appUed in their entirety. ^ 
 
 To assess the tax due on the potential jdeld of a given 
 acreage of land under cultivation, which has no special facili- 
 ties of transport, or proximity to a good market, or exceptional 
 water supply, &c., is not an insuperably difficult task. The 
 normal yield of such land would be known, and would have a 
 recognised value, varying slightly from year to year, and 
 easily estimated by the village headman. This forms the 
 basis so far as the agriculturist is concerned. It remains to 
 ascertain how much cultivable land and stock is held by 
 each farmer, and whether its value is augmented by special 
 conditions. The cultivator must therefore exert himself to 
 cultivate his land to at least the normal standard, so as to 
 produce sufficient to pay his tax in addition to his own con- 
 sumption. Agricultural " profits " therefore means the usu- 
 fruct or yield of the land if cultivated to a normal standard, 
 inclusive of the consumption of the owner. 
 
 If the term " profits " be appUed to sources of income 
 other than land, it means the gross revenue derived. Property 
 from which revenue is derivable, though none be actually 
 realised, is of course assessable to tax as in England — e.g., 
 a, house inhabited by its owner. In the rough-and-ready 
 system which in the early years replaces the lack of any 
 system at all under a native despotism, the tax paid by the 
 normal agriculturist forms the datum of assessment, and the 
 peasant who lives on the same general standard, whether he 
 be a craftsman or a fisherman, &c., would pay the same tax. 
 It is assessed by the village headman and his council of 
 elders, who are the only competent judges of the comparative 
 wealth of individuals. This may to some extent be gauged 
 by the number of a man's wives, his Uve-stock, and the style 
 of his hut. Nomad cattle-owners can pay a fixed sum per 
 head of stock. 
 
 The rate of the tax is fixed by the Governor, and in Northern 
 
 I Cd. 5102 of 1910, p. XV. 
 
240 TAXATION. 
 
 Nigeria it is nominally the Koranic tithe (under the name of 
 Earaji) — ^vlz., a tenth of the gross annual income ; but there 
 are probably few who pay so much, and the poorer classes 
 may be rated at 4 per cent to 8 per cent only. In the case 
 of the small farmer it is estimated that this 10 per cent of 
 gross profits is the equivalent of 25 per cent net profits (a 
 ratio, I beUeve, accepted in Burma). It may be more con- 
 venient to take the net income as the basis in the case of 
 those who, hke traders, Uve on the profits of capital, or in 
 localities where the cost of living is unduly high, but it is 
 difficult to define the term. In primitive Africa, necessary 
 living expenses, other than food, are negligible. 
 
 In Northern Mgeria the highest average for a district is 
 given at about 5s. to 6s. (probably equal to 9d. per cultivated 
 acre) per annum, and in some pagan districts it does not 
 exceed 6d. Eemissions are freely made in case of local 
 failure of crops, and there are some few exemptions, such 
 as the salaries of native officials of Government and of the 
 native administration, ex-soldiers who have won decorations, 
 and the blind and infirm. This compares favourably with 
 most other tropical dependencies, where the tax is fixed at 
 10s. or £1, and it is undoubtedly a great relief to the peas- 
 antry. Yet the amount reaUsed (including receipts from native 
 courts, &c.) has increased in fliteen years from £20,861 ia 
 1904-5 1 to about a mUlion in 1919. 
 
 It is interesting to note in what particular ways the pre- 
 existing system in Northern Mgeria had become an instru- 
 ment of oppression, since the only hope of continued success 
 must obviously lie in avoiding such mistakes in future.^ 
 
 Apart from the multiplicity of taxes and their undue 
 severity, absentee landlordism was a fruitful source of evil. 
 Alike in Uganda and in Northern Nigeria it was customary 
 for a territorial chief to reside principally at the capital, 
 leaving his district to be misgoverned by a deputy, or through 
 agents and tax-gatherers, whose chief aim it was to squeeze 
 aU they could out of the people, both on their own account, 
 and in order to earn favour with their chief and retain their 
 
 ' 'Colonial Office Annual Reports,' 476 of 1905, p. 21. Lord Cromer writes 
 that, " in countries such as Egypt and the Sudan, low taxation should be the 
 keystone of the arch." Works, however desirable, should be postponed "rather 
 than that the principle of maintaining taxes at a low figure should be in any 
 degree infringed." 
 
 ^ Compare the abuses described by Lord Cromer, ' Modern Egypt,' vol. i. p. 169. 
 
ABUSES OF NATIVE SYSTEM. 241 
 
 posts. The teiritorial chief held his lands at the will of the 
 paramount chief. He was afraid to be absent from the capital 
 lest reports — true or false — to his disadvantage should reach 
 the ear of the rvder, or some other favourite should replace 
 him. The ruler on his part feared to let these powerful 
 provincial chiefs out of his sight, lest they should grow inde- 
 pendent and defy his authority. Both employed tax-gatherers, 
 who seem to have generally collected their demands through 
 local headmen.^ 
 
 These tax-collectors became a veritable curse to the country, 
 and were the most hated feature of the system. They not 
 only collected, but assessed the demand. Their arbitrary 
 powers, and the fact that they alone had the ear of the chief, 
 enabled them to practise what extortion they pleased. Natur- 
 ally they made as much as they could, both for their employers 
 and for themselves. They acted as spies, informers, procurers, 
 and accredited agents, and were universally detested by the 
 people. 
 
 The lands thus arbitrarily assigned to the rapacious rule of 
 the Emir's nominees were frequently not homologous. A 
 district which happened to be available, owing to the death 
 or removal of its feudal chief, would be granted to a favourite, 
 irrespective of whether it lay near his territory or not. More- 
 over, in the confusion of war it might happen that a party 
 of fugitives settled down on a spot far removed from the 
 rest of the community, but continued to recognise the ties 
 of clan and afllnity, to pay allegiance to their own tribal 
 chief, and to ignore the authority of the local district 
 head. 
 
 Thus a chief might exercise jurisdiction over, and claim 
 taxes from a number of detached areas, situated like islands 
 in another chief's territory, accentuating the evils of absentee- 
 ism, and inviting a conflict of authority. It is clearly necessary 
 that such extra-territorial allegiance should be gradually 
 abolished, while all new migrants acknowledge the local 
 authority as a condition of settlement. 
 
 The urgent reforms which would seem to be of universal 
 application in Africa, wherever a system of indigenous taxa- 
 tion exists, may be summarised briefly, nor are the principles 
 
 ' In Southern Nigeria (Yoruba-land) there was a tendency for the " Bal& " of 
 the great cities (some of which had a population of over 100,000) to settle down 
 and create a court of their own. 
 
 Q 
 
242 TAXATION. 
 
 they cover less applicable if taxation is beiag introduced into 
 a district de novo : — 
 
 (a) The abolition of a multiplicity of taxes, and their 
 consolidation into a single tax, due at a fixed time, and 
 limited to a known amount, and the abolition of the system 
 of farming out taxes. 
 
 (6) The selection of competent men (whether the former 
 territorial chief or another), and their appointment as salaried 
 district headmen, directly responsible to the native ruler, 
 and residing in the districts assigned to their charge. 
 
 (c) The collection of the tax from the individual (in cash 
 if possible) by the village headman and his advisers, super- 
 vised by the district head and the British staff ; from the 
 village by the district head ; with the abolition of the tax- 
 gatherer, and a right of appeal to the head chief and to the 
 British staff. 
 
 (d) The recognition of the imdivided authority of the 
 native ruler and his delegates, and the payment to them of 
 the taxes, of which the ruler retains the portion assigned to 
 him, and transfers the remainder — ^in cash if possible — to the 
 Government. 
 
 The district headman can and should have a house at the 
 capital, where he can attend to receive the instructions of 
 the native ruler and answer for his stewardship. But the 
 former fief -holders who prefer to reside permanently at the 
 capital would cease to be recognised as part of the native 
 administration, and would receive no salaries unless selected 
 for an official post under the native ruler. ^ Some would 
 become traders, others farmers of their own lands. Un- 
 authorised demands on the peasantry must be treated as 
 criminal offences. Accredited messengers of the chief or 
 native coiirt should carry symbols of oflQce to prevent abuses. 
 
 The tax, as we have seen, is collected in the name of the 
 native ruler, who in the advanced communities usually re- 
 tains a half for the native administration and pays half to 
 the Government. In primitive communities, where there are 
 no highly paid officials, and the whole machinery of a native 
 administration is in embryo, a quarter of the total may 
 suffice, whUe in districts where it has not yet been possible 
 
 1 It waa in Uganda obligatory for a chief to reside for three months at the 
 capital (Felkin, 'Notes onWaganda,' p. 46). The "Sazas" when absent now 
 appoint a deputy to represent them in the lutiko (council). 
 
NATIVE KXJLERS SHAKE THE TAX. 243 
 
 to create any such machinery, 5 per cent or 10 per cent 
 may be enough for the remuneration of the village head- 
 men. 
 
 The principle of participation in the proceeds of the tax, 
 however smaU the percentage assigned to primitive com- 
 munities may be, should be introduced simultaneously with 
 the tax to promote co-operation. The proportion to be 
 credited to the native administration is fixed by the Governor, 
 and may not be altered without his sanction. Of the moiety 
 retained by an advanced native administration, from 5 per 
 cent to 10 per cent is paid to the viUage headmen. This 
 payment may take the form either of a percentage of the 
 amount actually collected by him — ^which ensures his interest 
 in the collection — or, when his integrity has been fuUy estab- 
 lished, of a fixed salary. The amount would vary in propor- 
 tion to the work he is called upon to do. In smaU farm 
 villages his duties may hardly encroach at aU on his ordinary 
 occupation of farming, and the prestige of the position, with 
 a small bonus, will suffice. But in large villages, which in- 
 clude a number of craftsmen and traders, the duties of the 
 village head may become very onerous, and may probably 
 occupy his whole time. In such cases he would generally 
 be put on a fixed salary. 
 
 The district headman, who will probably require at least 
 one scribe and several messengers to assist him, must receive 
 a liberal salary, to enable him to maintain his position with- 
 out resorting to illicit practices. The ruUng chief, and the 
 principal officers who form his council and transact the 
 business of the treasxiry, &c., must also be liberally paid.^ 
 Probably 50 per cent of the native share of the tax in an 
 advanced community may be devoted to these purposes, the 
 remainder being available for the pay of the poUce, the 
 maintenance of the prison, the salaries of the native staff in 
 the schools, and other administrative expenditure, leaving a 
 considerable surplus for public works, such as court-houses, 
 treasury buildings, roads, &c. The incUnation to spend an 
 imdue amount on the capital city must be avoided. A for- 
 ward step in decentraUsation and delegation of responsibihty 
 would be taken by the ruling chief assigning a portion of this 
 surplus to each of his district headmen, to be spent in de- 
 velopment work for the general benefit of the taxpayers. 
 
 1 In North Nigeria the principal Emirs receire £4800 per annum. 
 
244 TAXATION. 
 
 The French, I believe, recognised this principle in some 
 districts.^ 
 
 On the first inauguration of the tax in Northern Nigeria, the 
 native ruler and all oflBcials were paid in percentages, but as 
 on the one hand experience was gained as to the salaries re- 
 quisite, and as on the other hand the revenue iacreased, fixed 
 salaries were, as I have said, substituted in aU cases except 
 the small village head. The receipts from the native courts 
 fuUy balance the expenditure on the salaries of the judges, 
 &c. The undesirable parasites — ^favourite slaves and eunuchs 
 — ^who, imder a native despotism, are invariably to be found 
 surrounding the native ruler and exercising a baleful influence, 
 soon disappear when their maintenance becomes a charge on 
 the chief's personal income, but he is reUeved of the cost of 
 police and other officials charged with public duties. Un- 
 fettered financial independence has a tendency to multiply 
 superfluous court officials and parasites. 
 
 I referred in the last chapter to the recognition of the 
 village as the imit of administration, and to the difficulty 
 of defining it, since with security to life and property the 
 tendency of the peasantry is no longer to congregate in 
 walled towns, but to build their huts on the land they tUl. 
 In an advanced civilisation Uke that of England, the State 
 has a personal account with each individual citizen, but in 
 tropical Africa (as in India) the village must be the imit of 
 taxation. For this purpose scattered groups of tenements, 
 which cannot even be dignified with the name of " hamlets," 
 must be considered as forming part of the town or viflage 
 from which they emanated, and to which in association they 
 belong. 
 
 On the other hand, the tendency to group a number of 
 contiguous villages under a single head must in my opinion 
 be avoided, for it strikes at the root of the principle of the 
 village unit. That principle is that a measure of responsi- 
 bility in the assessment for taxation (as in other matters) 
 
 ' Monsieur Boberdean, Governor of the Ivory Coast, when introducing the 
 direct tax, is reported to have said that the necessity for its imposition " makes it 
 equally necessary that the authority of the chiefs should be more extended and 
 efficient. For it is the chief who should assess the tax, should distribute it 
 fairly, and should be charged with applying the necessary proportion to the 
 interests of the village taxed. " It was to supersede all direct tributes, and was 
 to be divided as to one-third to the chief, one-third to public works in the 
 village, and one-third for the local administration. 
 
THE PEmcrPLES OP ASSESSMENT. 245 
 
 should be conEerred on the chief of each distinct village, 
 assisted by councillors selected by the villagers themselves. 
 Its practical eflficiency depends on the recognised headman 
 having some personal knowledge of the standing and wealth 
 of every member of the community, and a personal iofluence 
 over them, and being able to collect the tax himself without 
 employing tax-gatherers, whUe he in turn is under the in- 
 fluence of their opinion. 
 
 When the size of the community and the diversity of its 
 occupations begin to render this impossible, the vfllage may 
 be said to have become a town or city. For purposes of taxa- 
 tion (and of general administration) a town is divided into 
 wards, each imder a ward head, who occupies a status similar 
 to that of a village head. They are responsible to the district 
 head either directly or through a headman of the town. 
 
 The tax is based on the principles which characterise the 
 evolution of taxation in all countries — viz., the right of the 
 ruler, on behalf of the community, to a share of the usufruct 
 of the land. This was the basis of the Hebraic as of the 
 Islamic system. It was the ancient custom in India, and still 
 obtains in some of the smaller States. The British system 
 in India, though theoretically founded upon it, revolutionised 
 its fundamental principles, by taking immense trouble to 
 ascertain the average yield of each field, and its money value, 
 and then demanding from the cultivator the Government 
 share in cash. Thus in a bad year the ryot was often driven 
 to the money-lender, and he lost also by the conversion 
 into cash. 
 
 This ancient method of dividing the produce of the land 
 between the overlord and the cultivators has survived in 
 France under the mMayage system, but the share was the due 
 of the landlord and not of the State. The claim of the State 
 in Mgeria abolishes that of the landlord until he emerges 
 again in a later stage of evolution. (See chapter on land.) 
 
 The difificulty in giving practical effect to the principle 
 lies in the necessary inadequacy of the British supervising 
 staff, and in the ignorance of the native subordinates, their 
 fear of assuming responsibility, and their liability to succumb 
 to temptation and to adopt irregular practices. An ideal 
 assessment cannot be effected without a trained and costly 
 staff, but it is well to keep the ideal in view. Assessment 
 on an average yield need not, however, necessarily produce 
 
246 TAXATION. 
 
 unfair results, provided that the unit of area is not too large, 
 that the Government is ready to make remissions in excep- 
 tional cases, and above all that the average price (as distiact 
 from the average yield) of produce is not fixed. For unless 
 the diminution iu a bad year is due to a very local cause, 
 the output md probably fetch a higher than the average 
 price, and as the tax is paid in cash and not in kind, the 
 peasant should not suffer. 
 
 We have seen how a rough-and-ready assessment of the 
 amount due from each cultivator may be arrived at by the 
 district and village headmen, as a percentage of the potential 
 yield of his land — viz., a tax on his profits or wealth. To 
 caU this (as the Northern Nigeria Lands Committee do) 
 a " land rent " is, from the poiut of view of the native 
 occupier, the same thing as asserting that the land belongs 
 to the Governor, who is to him the embodiment of the abstract 
 idea of " the State." If he can only obtain the right to use 
 it by payment of a rent, he considers that the land has been 
 taken from him, and it is for this reason that the people of 
 Southern Nigeria and the Gold Coast have evinced such a 
 dread of the application of the Northern Nigerian system to 
 their lands. I shaU deal with this subject iu chapter xiv. 
 
 Moreover, if the tax is treated as a land-rent and propor- 
 tioned to the area occupied, each cultivator naturally en- 
 deavours to reduce his acreage, especially if he has a risky 
 crop, which may fail and leave him nothing with which to 
 pay his rent.^ The taxpayer is only Uable for the authorised 
 percentage of the harvest which his land should yield in any 
 particular year if properly cultivated, whether that yield be 
 large, or whether, in consequence of drought, or locusts, &c., 
 it be small. A rough survey by natives to assist in the calcu- 
 lation of area imder cultivation, total yield, and individual 
 holdings, is very useful. (See p. 301.) 
 
 The District Officer, aided by the native district and village 
 headmen, assesses in a rough-and-ready manner the amount 
 
 ^ This was illustrated in Sokoto, where a fixed rental resulted in 3641 rice 
 farms (about half the total area of that crop) going out of cultivation, with a 
 corresponding decrease in the tax collected. Conversely, Sir H. Fowler (Secretary 
 of State), in the Indian Budget debate of 1906, remarked that "the land-tax iu 
 India cannot be called taxation in any shape or form. It resembles the relation 
 of landlord and tenant . . . (since) the land in India had for centuries belonged 
 to the Crown." The land-rent was Is. 8d. in the £, other taxes Is. lOd. per 
 head per annum. 
 
THE TASK OP THE NATIVE OFFICIALS. 247 
 
 which each village has to pay, by taking a census of the 
 population and live-stock, and noting the amount of cultivated 
 land, the proximity of markets, water-supply, &c., and the 
 number of craftsmen and traders it contains. The profit on 
 village cattle (as on those owned by nomads) is for con- 
 venience calculated at an average rate per head (Is. 6d.). 
 Craftsmen (blacksmiths, tanners, weavers, dyers, &o.) may 
 be assessed by a comparison of their standard of liviag with 
 that of the agriculturists, or grouped in classes according to 
 their visible profits.^ Fees for special services or privileges 
 are, of course, additional to the tax, such as market dues 
 (spent on the control and improvement of the market). 
 
 This assessment is obviously not an easy task, but when 
 once the tax of a normal village, enjoying ordinary facilities 
 as to markets, &c., has with much pains and discussion been 
 arrived at, additions and deductions can be made with suffi- 
 cient accuracy for other villages in the district. To the 
 ordiuary value of the usual crops must be added that of 
 special irrigation crops, and of live-stock, together with the 
 profits of the non-agricultural population, including traders. 
 The total is then divided among the adult population in pro- 
 portion to their wealth by the village headman. K an indi- 
 vidual earns a separate income — as, for instance, by working 
 as a casual labourer during the season when his farm does not 
 demand his attention — he would be liable for the percentage 
 of his profits in the place where they are earned, and no 
 account of them would be taken in the village assessment. 
 
 The district headman collects the tax from the various 
 villages, and takes it to the ruling chief, unless (as in a small 
 community) he is himself the chief. The Ust of villages with 
 their assessments is carefully checked by the chief and his 
 coimcU each year just before the harvest, when the crop 
 can be estimated with fair accuracy, in order that any small 
 additions due to increase of population and wealth, or de- 
 creases due to migration and other causes, or alterations due 
 to seasonal variation may be effected. As time permits the 
 District Ofiflcer would check these revisions on the spot. The 
 modifications, and the reasons for them, are explaiaed to the 
 villages by the village head, who is thus trained and encour- 
 aged to accept responsibiUty. The final assessment is, of 
 
 ' In Bornu they were grouj-ed in four classes — spaying respectively Ss,, 2s., Is., 
 and 6d. per annum. 
 
248 TAXATION. 
 
 course, subject to remission by the Governor for any excep- 
 tional canse.i 
 
 The District Officer on his part compiles a statistical register, 
 showing the number of men, women, and children, of live- 
 stock and huts, with notes on the area under cultivation, 
 the special conditions affecting each village, and the method 
 by which he arrived at the amount of assessment. The 
 report, illustrated by a map, contains such historical and 
 ethnological information as he has been able to coUect, with 
 notes as to the incidence of former taxation, the existence of 
 any communities which own a separate allegiance, the pros- 
 pects of introducing new cultures, and any other matter of 
 interest. In Northern Mgeria these assessment reports are 
 admirably compiled, and have been found of quite extraor- 
 dinary interest. 
 
 The task is obviously a laborious one, though full of in- 
 
 ^ The apportionment of the tax by the village head ia adopted in India (as 
 indeed it must be in any tropical dependency). The magistrate, says a writer in 
 the ' Asiatic Quarterly,' appoints the Panchayet (Council of Five), under the Act 
 of 1856, to apportion the tax, and this is done either " (o) by actual valuation of 
 property, which is rare, or (6) by their general knowledge of the circumstances 
 of each individual, a system which works much better. " 
 
 The method followed at Sokoto is thus described by the Resident : " First there 
 is a discussion with the district headman regarding taxation prospects generally, 
 condition of crops and trade ; whether an increase of last year's tax is justifiable, and 
 what changes are desirable (whether increase or decrease) for particular villages. 
 Then the village headmen are called in, each in turn ; the district headman makes 
 his recommendation, the village headman is invited to express an opinion, and the 
 tax is then decided. The Political Officer records the tax in the Tribute Register, 
 and writes the name of the village, the amount of its tax, with initials and date, 
 on a slip of paper. He hands this slip to a native scribe, who writes the name 
 and the amount of tax in the vernacular, while at the same time a second scribe 
 enters the name and amount in the vernacular on a list. When the district is 
 complete the vernacular list with its total is handed to the district headman 
 together with the separate slips which he will distribute to the village headmen. 
 The village head has this documentary record of the amount due, to show to the 
 village elders when they assemble with him to distribute the tax among the 
 people and draw up the annual list of taxpayers. Many villages will be paying 
 the same as the previous year, but probably 75 per cent are changed, generally 
 by a slight increase. 
 
 " Not every district is summoned to Sokoto every year. In most years the 
 European stafif admits of some districts being revised on the spot — viz., at the 
 headquarters of the district. This has the advantage that in cases of doubt as 
 to the capacity of the village, an inspection and census can be taken. The 
 object of this annual revision is to adjust inequalities caused by inter-village 
 migration, between the five or six years that elapse between one assessment by a 
 District Officer and the next. . . . The Sarkin Musulmi (e.g. , Sultan of Sokoto) 
 has ordered all district heads to prepare a census annually, on which their tax 
 revision will be based. . . . There is no doubt that the periodical visits of the 
 headmen to Sokoto has done much to strengthen the Sarkin Musulmi's control. " — 
 Resident Amett, 11th October 1916. 
 
THE TASK OF THE DISTRICT OFFICEE. 249 
 
 terest. The result is called an "approved assessment." 
 Until it can be undertaken, the tax imposed must neces- 
 sarily be a mere guess, based on information derived from the 
 district head and the former tax-gatherers, which in aU cases 
 has been foimd to be unreliable, and very much less than 
 the proper amount. These assessments have been in progress 
 for many years in Northern Mgeria, and though interfered 
 with by the depletion of the staff during the war they are 
 approaching completion. 
 
 The education of the district and village headmen in the 
 duties of assessment and apportionment of the tax is a very 
 important part of a District Officer's work, but he must be 
 content to find that the results of his efforts will only be 
 very gradually apparent, and be satisfied with uniformity 
 in principles.^ He is responsible to the Eesident, as the dis- 
 trict head is to the native ruler. He hears appeals in con- 
 sultation with the district head, and a final appeal to the 
 Eesident is provided by law. Defaulters are dealt with by 
 the provincial or native court. 
 
 Collection by natives is apt to give rise to fears of mal- 
 practices, but the replacement of the tax-gatherer by respon- 
 sible native officials, the prior notification of the amount due, 
 the check exercised by the native ruler and his cotmcil, as 
 well as by the British staff, and the right of appeal to both 
 — all these are efficient checks. It is, moreover, most de- 
 sirable, on the one hand, to train the native administration, 
 and on the other hand, that the peasantry should regard the 
 British officer not as a tax-gatherer, but as a friend to whom 
 they can appeal against injustice ; and he has an opportunity 
 of judging of the capacity and the integrity of native head- 
 men. 
 
 Among primitive tribes the work of the assessing officer 
 is simplified, for in the communal stage the tax falls equally 
 upon aU, and is in fact a levy on the common stock. From 
 that stage of evolution onwards through the tribal organisa- 
 
 ' 111 some of the provinces of Northern Nigeria, ^however, the amount at which 
 each individual has been assessed is entered by the village head in a register, and 
 receipts are given on application. Copies of this register are kept up to date in 
 the Waziri's office at the capital. Such a result would have been considered a 
 counsel of perfection a few years ago. The individual account is, however, 
 superfluous, except in the case of wealthy traders. Papers of different colours, 
 showing the amount due and receipts for payment, are useful as being easily 
 distinguishable by illiterates. 
 
250 TAXATION. 
 
 tion to the " advanced community," the bulk of the people 
 have — though in a constantly decreasing ratio — an identical 
 standard of living, and of "wealth." The tax therefore 
 develops pari passu -with the progress of the community from 
 a poU or capitation tax to a graduated income tax. 
 
 TJntU efficient district heads have been trained, the District 
 Officer will have to collect the tax himself from the family 
 or village heads. The important point is to ensure that the 
 rate is widely known, otherwise the village head, if a strong 
 man, may practise extortion, and if a weak man will fail to 
 exact it from those who refuse to pay, and will seize an excess 
 amount from those who are imable to resist. Experience in 
 Northern Mgeria shows that independent pagans are not 
 unwilling to pay, provided they can do so direct to Govern- 
 ment and not through an overlord or tax-gatherer.^ Police 
 should never be employed in the collection of the tax. 
 
 When discussing native administration I remarked that 
 among such folk the institution of a treasury seems to be a 
 farce, for they are incapable of understanding it, but (as 
 in the case of the primitive native courts) I think that much 
 value attaches to these early beginnings, for they are steps 
 towards the fulfilment of the aim of the Government, to push 
 each community a step further up the ladder of progress, by 
 the reaUsation of the conception of individual and civic 
 responsibility. 
 
 Though the collection of so small a tax from primitive 
 tribes may seem to-day to give more trouble than it is worth, 
 its chief value does not lie in the revenue collected. The 
 most useful result — as the French and Belgians have also 
 foimd — ^is the close contact between officials and natives which 
 assessment and collection necessitates, and the consequent 
 mutual understanding and confidence which invariably results. 
 Moreover, those who pay the tax are quick to resent the 
 immunity of others. 
 
 The tax should be collected simultaneously in all provinces 
 immediately after the harvest. Quick collection minimises 
 opportunities for misappropriation, and obviates the necessity 
 
 ^ Yola and Bauchi are two provinces with a large population of independent 
 pagan tribes. The Resident of the former writes (September 1919) : "I do not 
 think the tax is resented even by the wilder tribes — refusal to pay is generally 
 rather a revolt against all constituted authority than objection to paying the 
 tax itself." The latter reports that "the tax is brought promptly even by 
 the most backward tribes, and there is no trouble." 
 
PAYMENT IN CASH, KIND, OK LABOTJK. 251 
 
 of large workmg balances in the native treasury. The single 
 demand is popular. The cattle tax shoidd be collected during 
 the raiQS, when the flocks and herds have all returned from 
 the marsh-lands to their own districts. 
 
 To avoid the trouble of transporting bulky produce, the 
 native quickly appreciates the advantage of securing suffi- 
 cient cash to pay his tax, thus promoting the adoption of 
 currency, which facilitates trade.^ If payment in cash is 
 not possible, the produce most easily saleable would be ac- 
 cepted, and its sale i£ possible witnessed by the payers ; but 
 as Khama pointed out, European traders should be urged to 
 pay cash for the produce they buy, in order that the native 
 may get cash to pay his tax.^ 
 
 I have said that the amount of the tax on primitive tribes 
 should be very small — the equivalent of a few days' labour. 
 In Uganda a month's labour is, or was, I beheve, exacted in 
 lieu of the tax — a system I deprecate as being liable to be 
 misunderstood for forced labour. It is, I think, desirable to 
 avoid the acceptance even of labour's equivalent — e.g., wood 
 fuel for steamers, &c., — ^it is better to pay for such things in 
 cash, and receive the cash back as tax, that there may be no 
 possible mistake as to forced labour. Such a course, more- 
 over, lessens the chance of the whole tax falling on the poorer 
 classes, while the traders and well-to-do escape. Since women 
 are at least equally with men the producers of wealth, all 
 adults pay the tax, but women usually pay one-third less 
 than men. 
 
 AU persons in Northern Nigeria who are subject to the 
 native jurisdiction pay the tax through the machinery of the 
 native administration. Native traders and others not sub- 
 ject to the native jurisdiction, but "residing or being" in a 
 province to which the ordinance applies, pay to the British 
 staff, deducting any municipal rate to which they may be 
 
 ^ In Uganda, where distance from a seaport renders the realisation of produce 
 paid in kind equally difficult as in Northern Nigeria, the administration was 
 fortunately able to form a "local produce scheme," by which the natives were 
 encouraged to cultivate or collect saleable produce and bring it to the Govern- 
 ment stations, where it was handed over to merchants for cash. The feasi- 
 bility of such a scheme depends of course on merchants being available at a 
 sufficient number of stations throughout the country. 
 
 2 " The white men who trade with us object to pay money. They like to give 
 us the goods they sell in exchange for such things as we have a desire to dispose 
 of. In order that we may find money for paying our taxes . . . the white 
 traders must pay money for what they buy." — Letter of 11th November 1895, 
 Blue-Book. 
 
252 TAXATION. 
 
 liable in a township. Ifatives not resident in the area to 
 which the ordinance applies remain Uable in respect of any 
 property or income derived from that area. 
 
 The lack of precision in the original scheme of taxation in 
 Mgeria, which the Colonial Office was disposed to criticise, is 
 not in my view a defect. For the object is to evolve reform 
 by organisation and adjustment, without dislocation of cus- 
 toms and traditions to which the people are accustomed, so 
 that these conservative forces may be auxiliary and not an- 
 tagonistic to the improved methods — ^in a word, the develop- 
 ment of indigenous institutions rather than the sudden intro- 
 duction of alien methods, however excellent. " There has 
 been no great shock and no convulsion, only into the veins 
 of a decadent civilisation new blood has been introduced 
 which has brought with it the promise of a new era of life." '• 
 
 The most serious obstacle experienced iu Mgeria when the 
 tax was inaugurated was the difficulty of suppressing per- 
 sonation. A credulous and illiterate people, long accustomed 
 to oppression, were easily victimised by any scoundrel who, 
 producing an old envelope picked up in a deserted camp, or 
 even a piece of newspaper, as his credentials, would declare 
 himself to be the authorised emissary of the Government, 
 and demand what he chose. If the villagers demurred he 
 would threaten their extermination by Government, or bring 
 lying accusations of disaffection. Patient investigation, the 
 gradual education of the peasantry, and very deterrent sen- 
 tences on the culprits when caught, can alone deal with this 
 offence, which causes the Government to be misrepresented 
 and hated. 
 
 In most parts of Africa direct taxation has taken the form 
 of a hut tax. The hut was, of course, intended as the 
 symbol of population, and there was no intention of claiming 
 property in it, or of charging a rent for it. But the method 
 was unfortunate, for as Miss Kiagsley justly observed, the 
 African assumes that " the thing you pay any one a fee for 
 is a thing which is not your own," * and that Government has 
 confiscated his hut. 
 
 Apart from the defects in form and operation of the tax 
 on a native hut which experience has brought to light, this 
 tax differs from the one proposed in this chapter, in that it 
 
 ' 'A Tropical Dependency," p. 500. 
 
 ' Letter to 'Spectator,' 19th March 1898. 
 
GENERAL EESULTS OF DIRECT TAX. 253 
 
 appears to be superimposed upon any system of taxation 
 by the cMefs, which in Uganda at any rate must, I presume, 
 be tolerably substantial. It thus becomes a purely white 
 man's tax. The method I have advocated has this essential 
 difference, that the tax is imposed in the name of the para- 
 mount chief, is shared with the native administration, and 
 is substituted for aU existing forms of taxation. 
 
 The general results which may be anticipated to accrue 
 from a system of direct taxation shared with the native 
 administration may be thus summarised : — 
 
 (a) In the case of advanced communities a substantial 
 revenue should be secured to the native chiefs and oflftcials, 
 to replace the loss of slave-raiding and slave-trading, the 
 levies on traders which crushed trade, the extortions from 
 the peasantry, and the fines and bribes which perverted jus- 
 tice. As individuals they would have adequate salaries, which 
 they earn by discharging responsible duties for the adminis- 
 tration, and as rulers they would have revenue for the pro- 
 gress of the country.^ 
 
 (6) A considerable and increasing revenue can be secured 
 to Government, due to better organisation and collection of 
 the tax, and its universality ; while coin currency with its 
 immense influence for trade and progress is promoted. 
 
 (c) The peasantry is emancipated in the true sense of the 
 word to an even greater extent than woidd be the case by the 
 abolition of domestic slavery. The tax they pay should be 
 very moderate, and they are freed from arbitrary exactions. 
 Industry and personal initiative are encouraged instead of 
 being the mark for spoliation. 
 
 (d) The absentee ruler or landlord is replaced by the dis- 
 trict headman, who has responsible executive duties, dele- 
 gated by the ruHng chief, instead of being an idle place- 
 holder. Decentralisation of powers relieves the ruler of work 
 he could not properly perform, limits opportunities for mal- 
 administration by him, increases the Eesident's effective 
 
 ^ The revenue of the native administrations in the northern provinces of 
 Nigeria amounted in 1918 to £492,663. The salaries of all grades, including 
 native courts, police, and prisons, amounted to £304,996, being about OJd. per 
 head of population, and leaving about £188,000 for other expenditure (public 
 works, education, &c.) In 1919 the total collected was over £950,000, of which 
 the native administration share was £536,000. In the Kauo Emirate, with a 
 population of 2f millions, the returns have increased by 300 per cent in ten 
 years and by 46 per cent in the last four years, but the tax is still under Is. 6d. 
 per head of population (2s. per adult). 
 
254 TAXATION. 
 
 supervision, and facilitates the delegation of powers by- 
 Government, with confidence that they wUl not be abused, 
 and so enables the Government to rule through the chiefs. 
 
 (e) The former territorial chiefs, who invariably deteriorate 
 by the exercise of unchecked licence, have either to accept 
 responsible duties as district heads or officers of State, or 
 have to take to trade or agriculture, and lead a life dignified 
 by personal exertion. 
 
 (/) The multiplication of titular office-holders and others, 
 including the tax-gatherers, who live on the industry of the 
 peasantry, and the tendency of the rulers to grant such 
 offices to relatives or favourite slaves, will be checked, and 
 only such officials will be appointed as have substantial duties 
 to perform, and as have been selected for their ability. 
 
 Among primitive communities the introduction of the tax, 
 simtdtaneously with the assumption of control, lays the 
 foundation for future expansion for revenue purposes, whereby 
 the burdens on trade, which are unequal in their iacidence, 
 may be reduced. K imposed at once it is more likely to be 
 received without friction. It has the effect of curbing law- 
 lessness, of accelerating progress to a higher plane, and of 
 stimulating industry. The amount in the early stages should 
 be small, and should increase with the evolution of the com- 
 munity, and the benefits it receives. 
 
 A brief note as to the form and amount of the direct tax 
 in various British and foreign dependencies in Africa is 
 appended. 
 
 The most common direct taxes which it is the object of the 
 income tax to supersede, partake either of the nature of class 
 taxation, or are levies on trade in one form or another. 
 
 Caravan tolls are immemorial in Africa — existing in Abys- 
 sinia to-day to a degree which almost stifles trade.^ As peace 
 and security of property are introduced, evasion is increas- 
 ingly easy. The employment of police offers great temptation 
 for bribery direct and indirect. The examination of bales 
 of goods is a grievance, and the frequent demands for payment 
 as the caravan proceeds from centre to centre is greatly dis- 
 liked. The collection of the taxes involves very heavy work 
 on the district staff, and evasion adds to the list of punishable 
 offences. Nevertheless, from long usage these tolls were 
 not unpopular in Northern Mgeria, and had the strong 
 
 ' See footnote, p. 46. 
 
TOLLS AND LICENCES. 255 
 
 support of the natiTe rulers, even after they ceased themselves 
 to benefit by them. Canoe Ucences are a necessary adjunct 
 of this tax, for a trader who conveys his goods by water would 
 otherwise obtain an undue advantage over the merchant who 
 travels by land. 
 
 Northern Mgeria was compelled by lack of revenue for 
 essential needs to adopt these taxes, until the success of the 
 direct income tax was proved. In 1906, however, all produce 
 for export overseas, and goods imported by those who held 
 trading licences, were exempted, so that the tax fell solely 
 on the internal native trade — chiefly soda from Lake Chad 
 to the great cities — which had paid no customs duties. 
 
 As a temporary expedient these tolls were not whoUy 
 without merit, for they fell on the class best able to pay, 
 which otherwise practically escaped taxation. They acted 
 to some extent as a deterrent to the abandonment of agri- 
 culture in favour of petty trade — a tendency especially notice- 
 able when slavery was abolished, and the roads made safe. 
 The collection, moreover, enabled the infant administration 
 to gain a knowledge of the internal trade of the country, 
 which it would otherwise have taken many years to acquire. 
 Trading and shopkeepers' licences fall into the same category, 
 and hamper trade and development. These also have long 
 ago been abandoned in Mgeria. 
 
 Vehicle licences — especially on private motor-cars — are 
 justified as a contribution to the maintenance of the roads 
 they use. If used only in a city or township, the Mcence 
 fees form a useful ad(Mtion to municipal revenue. Market 
 dues, if in excess of the sums required for the supervision and 
 improvement of rural markets, are a restraint on trade and 
 objectionable, but a township is justified in deriving a mode- 
 rate revenue from them for municipal purposes. 
 
 Licences for the most part are not imposed with the object 
 of raising revenue, but in order to give effect to some special 
 restriction — e.g., those for shooting game or bearing firearms 
 — or to recoup some special expenditure. 
 
256 TAXATION. 
 
 APPENDIX TO CHAPTEE XII, 
 
 THE HUT TAX IN AFRICA. 
 
 A house-rate is a form of levy well adapted for raising municipal 
 funds in a city, where modern amenities require a special outlay. The 
 native householder sees that it is paid equally by Europeans, and can 
 appreciate the necessity for providing funds for water-supply, street- 
 lighting, good roads, and sanitation. Mr Chamberlain himself took 
 exception to the fact that the hut tax in Sierra Leone had not been 
 made applicable to the Colony and its capital city Freetown, where 
 much of its proceeds would be spent. The rate was 53. per hut. 
 The very serious rising in Sierra Leone in 1897, though it was 
 popularly known as the "Hut -tax Eebellion," was probably only 
 partially caused by that tax, and had its deeper origin in the efforts of 
 the local Government to check misrule by the inland chiefs, and in the 
 malpractices of its own police. 
 
 In Uganda a hut tax of 4s. (or alternatively of one month's labour) 
 was said to have had ill effects in rendering the natives unwilling to 
 occupy separate huts, and decreasing marriages. The lukiko (native 
 council) then suggested a tax of 2s. 8d. on those who did not occupy 
 huts. The result, said the High Commissioner, was "to lessen the 
 distinction between the married man and bachelor, to promote 
 morality, induce the bachelor element to settle down, and to 
 encourage married life." The labour equivalent of the tax seems 
 to have been very high. The German substitute would have been 
 eight days' labour instead of a month. Vide inf. 
 
 In Nyasaland the Ordinance of 1901 ^ imposed a tax of 12s. on the 
 owner or occupier of each hut in a " proclaimed district " (viz., 95 per 
 cent of the population) and of 6s. elsewhere, with a rebate of half the 
 amount if the occupier could prove that he had worked for a European 
 for wages for a month. This would seem to partake of the nature of 
 a subsidy payable from revenue to European employers of labour, 
 while the distinction between "proclaimed" and other districts seems 
 to penalise the natives of the settled districts, for presumably the un- 
 proclaimed districts were those in which the tax could not easily be 
 collected, unless the native made himself liable by seeking work from 
 Europeans. 
 
 These anomalies have been removed by the recent Ordinance,^ which 
 imposes a tax of Gs. per hut, with an additional 6s. for every wife after 
 the first, and an alternative poll-tax for any native not liable to hut 
 tax. The penalties are severe. Default for six months involves 
 liability to a fine of 2s. or a month's imprisonment, further default for 
 two months involves a fine of 4s. or three months' imprisonment, and 
 
 1 ' Gazette' of 31st December 1901. ^ No. 4 of Slst March 1921. 
 
THE HUT TAX IN APMCA. 257 
 
 forfeiture of his hut. The tax remains recoverable as a judgment 
 debt. 
 
 Taxation in Kenya takes the form of a poll-tax, and the signatories 
 of the Economic Eeport express the view that the African could not 
 conceivably be assessed to income tax.^ 
 
 In Northern Ehodesia the tax may not exceed £1, and is fixed at 
 present at 10s., with an additional 10s. for each wife after the first. 
 Half the revenue is derived from this source.^ 
 
 The South African Native Affairs Commission recorded their 
 opinion — 
 
 (1) That it is necessary to impose direct taxation upon the natives. 
 
 (2) That it can best be imposed by means of a hut tax or poll-tax. 
 
 (3) That the tax should not be less than £1 per annum, payable by 
 every male adult native, with an additional £1 for every wife after 
 the first. 
 
 (4) That farm servants in bona fide and continuous employment and 
 natives domiciled within an urban area who pay local taxes should be 
 exempt. 
 
 In addition, the Commission favoured the extension of the principle 
 of local taxation for beneficial purposes on the lines of the Glen 
 Grey Act.^ 
 
 Dr Unwin reported in 1911 on the system of taxation in force in 
 German Togoland. Every male over sixteen years of age must pay 
 6s. or twelve days' labour at his option. Treasury officials preferred 
 the former, district officers the latter. Headmen of villages were 
 called upon to declare the number of adult males and to bring them 
 up annually. The numbers were checked by the district officer. The 
 headman was given a German field-cap as a mark of office. In the 
 Cameruns the tax was, I believe, 3s. per adult male, with 2s. 
 additional for each wife after the first. 
 
 Mr Migeod writes : " In French territory the poll-tax varies from 
 5 francs in some districts to 12.50 francs in others. . . . The Belgians 
 have a graded tax, variable to meet the earning capacity of the native. 
 In the big towns near the coast it is as much as 25 francs. A man 
 who has four children by the same wife is exempt — with the dual 
 object of stimulating monogamy and child-bearing. All wives after 
 the first have to be paid for. The tax in both French and Belgian 
 Congo is collected by the European officer." * In India the tax is 
 stated to average 3s. 6d. a head.^ 
 
 ' Economic Commission's Report, 1919, p. 25. 
 
 2 ' Gazette ' of 25th February 1921 ; Ordinance 2 of 1921. In Southern 
 Bhodesia there is a poll-tax of £1. 
 
 ^ In Basutoland the poll-tax is £1, with an additional £1 for each wife up to £3. 
 In Bechuanaland a hut tax of £1, plus 3s. for a native fund for education is 
 levied.— Annual Report 1057 for 1919-20. 
 
 * 'West Africa,' 25th June 1921. 
 
 s 'Times,' 19th December 1913. 
 
 R 
 
258 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TAXATION (eontinued) and methods op kaising eevence. 
 
 Taxation of corporate bodies — Trading — Mining — Banking — Taxation of 
 individual non-natives— Taxation and representation — Import and 
 export duties— The case for export duties — Duty on salt — Adjust- 
 ment of duties to area of consumption or origin of articles — Rebates 
 to compensate for transport — Differential export duties — The 
 economic effects of the war — The Paris economic resolutions — 
 Committee on oil-producing seeds and nuts — Committee on com- 
 mercial and industrial policy — The action taken and its justification 
 — The case of cotton — Proposals of the E.R.D.C. — Alternative pro- 
 posals — Contribution for defence — Imperial preference — Retaliation 
 by foreign Powers. 
 
 In the two chief forms of European enterprise and invest- 
 ment in the tropics — trading and mining — ^we find that local 
 governments have imposed two principal forms of indirect 
 taxation — viz., customs duties for the one, and royalties for 
 the other. The operation of these two methods of taxation 
 differs considerably. In the case of the merchant the amount 
 of the import duty is added to the retail sale price, and is 
 thus passed on to the consumer. In like manner the amount 
 of any export duty is deducted from the price paid for the 
 produce, and is thus passed on to the producer. In neither 
 case is it paid by the merchant, whose profits are neither 
 increased nor diminished by such duties, provided the in- 
 dustry can bear them — viz., that the consumer will continue 
 to buy the merchants' goods, when the duty, plus the reason- 
 able margin of profit on capital invested, has been added to 
 prime cost, inclusive of transport, and provided that the 
 producer wiU continue to seU for the price offered, including 
 marketing and aU other charges. 
 
 The merchants' profit therefore depends primarily on the 
 degree of competition to which he is subjected by other 
 
TAXATION OF MERCHANTS AND MTNE-OWNEES. 259 
 
 mercliants, while the amount of the customs duty which the 
 local government can impose is limited to the amount which 
 the consumer of imports, or the producer of exports, can pay. 
 In other words, customs duties are an indirect tax on the 
 native consimier or producer, and not on the importing or 
 exporting merchant. Competition will secm-e to the native 
 the maximum price which rival traders can possibly pay for 
 produce, and customs duties act directly in diminution of 
 this price or profit to the native, so long as the market is free. 
 If a monopoly is introduced, or a trading combine or ring is 
 formed to control the market, and interfere with these natural 
 laws, then the duties wiU operate in diminution of the profits 
 of the monopoly or combine. 
 
 This is also true of the rents and premia charged by the 
 local government for the land occupied by a merchant in the 
 pursuit of his business. They are not added directly to the 
 selling — or deducted from the purchasing — price, like import 
 or export duties, but if there is tinrestricted competition 
 they decrease the price which the competitors are able to offer 
 for the produce, and increase pro rata the price asked for 
 imported goods. The produce exported by the merchant, 
 whether animal or vegetable, is annually renewed by the 
 processes of nature and the toil of man, and is in that sense 
 inexhaustible, and its value in the home markets depends on 
 the demand and supply of the world. 
 
 The case of the miner stands on a different basis. The 
 minerals he exports are not perennially renewed by N'atiu'e, 
 and when exported are permanently lost to the coimtry. 
 There is no local competition (except in the labour market), 
 for whatever quantity he may win from his particular mine 
 does not appreciably affect the value of his neighbour's output. 
 He is subject only to the fluctuations of the world's prices — 
 equally with the merchant. His local efforts are confined to 
 the endeavour to reduce the cost of winning the minerals, and 
 by so doing he does not decrease the exportable output of 
 his neighbour, but merely increases his own individual profit. 
 The rents, licences, and royalties he pays to Government are 
 in direct diminution of those profits, and cannot be passed 
 over to the native, except in the form of a reduction of wages, 
 and this is not feasible to him, since the wage-rate is fixed by 
 the competition of all industries alike, and by the profits of 
 private production. Profits in the mining industry are regu- 
 
260 TAXATION AND METHODS OP EAISING EEVENXIE. 
 
 lated, therefore, by cost of production, and the world's prices 
 for the product. Eoyalties must be proportioned to " what 
 the industry will bear," and should therefore be fixed on a 
 sliding scale — ^increasing or decreasing with the world's prices. 
 
 It thus appears that whereas the mining companies (whose 
 exports decrease the capital assets of the country) contribute 
 directly to the local revenue, trading companies (though in- 
 creasing by their operations the productive output) do not 
 contribute directly, for whatever customs duties are levied 
 on the goods they import or export are transferred to the 
 consumer or producer as the case may be, and thus become a 
 form of indirect taxation, which chiefly falls on the natives, 
 who are the principal producers and consumers. 
 
 The profits of both industries are taxed (whether before 
 or after distribution to the shareholders) in the country where 
 the company is registered, and it would seem reasonable that 
 companies should register not only in the country where the 
 profits on the use of capital are distributed, but also in the 
 country in which the profits are made, and that a certain 
 proportion of those profits should accrue to the country in 
 which they are earned. With the phenomenal increase in the 
 material prosperity of the British African tropics, and the 
 formation of innumerable companies, British and foreign, 
 many of which in normal circumstances earn large profits, the 
 question of the contribution which commercial and mining 
 companies formed by Europeans should rightly make towards 
 the administration, and development by railways, &c., of the 
 countries in which their profits accrue, becomes one of in- 
 creasing importance and urgency. It has already received 
 some attention in Uganda, Iforthem Ehodesia, the Congo 
 State, and the Straits Settlements.^ 
 
 The proper proportion of profits which a banking corpora- 
 tion should pay to local revenue can best be secured by special 
 
 ' The Straits Qovernment appears to contemplate the taxation of all companies 
 which are not fully taxed in England. — ' Gazette ' of 30th January 1920. It is 
 reported that a tax of 6 per cent is now imposed on the profits earned by all 
 commercial companies in the Belgian Congo. All persons receiving salaries (in- 
 cluding civil servants) are taxed on a graduated scale. — Consular Report. The 
 Northern Rhodesia Ordinance, No. 4 of 1921, imposes an income tax on businesses 
 which extend to any other country. "The taxable income is the sum which 
 shall bear the same proportion to the whole net profits as the assets in the 
 territory bear to the total assets," or, if preferred by the taxpayer, " an assess- 
 ment on the actual profits derived from sources in the country," with elaborate 
 provisions for rebates, &c.— ' Gazette," 7/3/21. 
 
TAXATION OP INDIVIDT7AL NON-NATIVES. 261 
 
 licences. Its profits are limited by competition, and though 
 they may be considerable, the adyantages conferred by a 
 bank, alike on commerce and on the administration, merit 
 every encouragement. 
 
 Turning now from Joint Stock Companies, and the taxa- 
 tion of profits on the use of capital, to the individual non- 
 native in Africa, we find that they consist — ^with the excep- 
 tion of missionaries and the settlers in the East African 
 Highlands — almost entirely of Government ofllcials and the 
 employees of companies. Their incomes may consist of a 
 fixed salary, with or without a share of profits or a prospec- 
 tive pension, or contingent easements, such as free housing, 
 medical attendance, full-pay leave, &c., which we will include 
 in the term "income." The incomes earned by the senior 
 employees of companies, whether engaged in trade, mining, 
 or banking, are believed to be considerable, but whether small 
 or large they are free from any form of local income tax in 
 Africa. " Why," it has been asked, " are the natives subjected 
 to an income tax from which Em-opeans are exempt ? " ^ 
 
 It is manifest that commercial firms would not pay to their 
 employees salaries in excess of the value to them of their 
 services. If, therefore, their incomes were diminished by the 
 imposition of an income tax, it may be assimied that they 
 would be augmented by the employers to the previous tax-free 
 standard. The tax would therefore (like land rents, &c.) 
 eventually become chargeable on the profits of the concern, 
 and would either be passed on to the native consumer or 
 producer, or would operate to diminish dividends. In the 
 case of artificial control of prices by monopoly or combine, 
 it would directly diminish the profits of the ring. 
 
 It may, with equal confidence, be assumed that the income 
 of a Government official does not exceed the amount for 
 which efficient men can be obtained. If the salary were 
 increased by the amount of income tax, the revenue would 
 lose precisely what it had gained — unless the augmentation 
 of salary were in some few cases rendered imnecessary by 
 
 ^ The Northern Rhodesia Ordinance also levies an income tax on all Euro- 
 peans, graduated from Is. to 2s. 6d. in the £, together with a super-tax. 
 Bachelors whose income exceeds £500, and married men with incomes over 
 £1000, are liable. Ordinance 13 of August 1921 provides a scale of relief on 
 incomes already taxed in England. Trinidad has recently extended its Income- 
 tax Act to incomes of persons who, though domiciled abroad, derive money from 
 the island. Jamaica is following this example. 
 
262 TAXATION AND METHODS OF EAISING EEVENTIE. 
 
 remission of income tax in England — which is improbable. 
 It would therefore be preferable to exempt officials, European 
 and native. The imposition of a universal tax on profits 
 made locally — with the necessary exemptions — would have 
 much to recommend it from the point of view of abolishing 
 racial discrimination. Missionaries might well be exempted 
 from the tax. 
 
 In East Africa there is a poll-tax on every non-native 
 of £1 (E. 15) per head per annum, and an Estate Duty Ordi- 
 nance was passed in 1918. Allowance is made in the case 
 of small incomes.^ The Economic Eeport observes : " The 
 Europeans consist of civil servants, tradesmen, professional 
 men, and settlers. To subject the first to direct taxation is 
 obviously economically unsound. A tax on the so-called 
 profits of the settler would yield little or no return, if assessed 
 on any basis which would not endanger positions as yet 
 not firmly established. The only section of the community 
 from whom income tax could be collected comparatively 
 cheaply and easily appears to be the European merchants 
 and professional men, who form too smaU a proportion of the 
 community to justify the imposition of a general income tax, 
 with the attendant disabihties. ... A score or two of Indian 
 firms in the towns are probably the only Asiatic sources from 
 which any appreciable amount of income tax could be col- 
 lected by ordinary methods." ^ 
 
 It has from time to time been argued that the bulk of the 
 revenue is derived from customs dues paid by merchants, who 
 should therefore have a more effective voice in the government 
 of the country (p. 116). We have seen, however (pp. 235-6), 
 that customs duties provide not more than from 12 per cent 
 to 30 per cent in the countries named, and that they are 
 paid by the producer or consumer and not by the merchant, 
 as they themselves freely admit. On the other hand, it is 
 a recognised principle that the Government shovdd be con- 
 ducted by men trained to the work, who have no personal 
 interests to serve, and whose conduct of affairs offers a target 
 before which no shield of self-interest is interposed to prevent 
 the critic from discharging his shaft. The merchant who 
 embarks his capital in, and devotes his time and thought to, 
 
 1 ' General Information re East Africa,' Overseas Trade Department, 1919, and 
 ' Handbook of Kenya Colony,' I.D. 1216 of 1920. 
 
 2 Loc. cit., p. 25. 
 
IMPORT AND EXPORT DUTIES. 263 
 
 overseas trade does so naturally and rightly for the sake of 
 profit, and does not wish to be bothered with administratiye 
 problems. But in my experience, while seeking for profit, 
 he has shown a laudable desire that it should be shared with 
 the native producer. 
 
 The educated native on his part contributes, in Nigeria at 
 any rate, a very small proportion indeed of the revenue. At 
 present he pays no income tax, and even the institution of 
 a small rate to pay a part of the cost of the water-supply 
 for his own city was resented in Lagos. The highest claim 
 to guide the State is based on service to the State, and 
 • those who claim to participate in its control must bear their 
 full share of the burdens and the work of citizens. 
 
 Customs duties in most colonies provide the bulk of the 
 revenue derived from indirect taxation. The tradition of 
 the Colonial OflBce — based, no doubt, on their accepted 
 superiority in civilised countries — has been in favour of 
 import as against export duties, while the Foreign Office, 
 when in control of African protectorates, maintained that 
 " at the Berlin Conference the Powers had deliberately pro- 
 nounced against import duties, and in favour of export 
 duties." Such duties were approved as regards the Congo 
 State to meet expenditure on the suppression of the slave 
 trade, and were enforced in the territories under the control 
 of the Foreign Office in both East and West Africa, in 
 spite of the arguments of the Liverpool merchants in 1893.^ 
 The merchants preferred import duties on the grounds that 
 " whilst on the one hand the customs houses and staff re- 
 quired to deal with imports may entail more expense than 
 those required in dealing with exports, it may be poiated out 
 that in the case of exports the duty has to be paid before the 
 produce is shipped for the home markets, compelling an out- 
 lay of capital restrictive of the bulk of trade." 
 
 British Chambers of Commerce have always opposed 
 export duties, arguing that since the amount of the duty must 
 be deducted from the price offered by the purchaser of pro- 
 duce, the native suffers, and that if the duty were removed 
 his purchasing power would be stimulated (thus increasing 
 
 ^ The Sudan Government continues to levy an export duty of 1 per cent ad 
 valorem on produce exported ; but the import duty is 8 per cent on ordinary 
 goods.— Handbook 98, p. 155. The Seychelles, Somaliiand, and Bechuana all 
 impose an export duty. 
 
264 TAXATION AND METHODS OF RAISING EEVENUE. 
 
 the demand for imported goods). " To tax exports in an un- 
 developed country," says the Manchester Chamber, " is held 
 to be wrong in principle, and calculated actually to retard 
 development." ^ They prefer, in case of necessity, increased 
 import duties, and the imposition of duties on articles which 
 enter duty free, and an increased duty on salt. 
 
 It is argued, on the other hand, that the native pays the 
 duty equally whether it is levied on exports or imports. If 
 the duties on the latter are increased to a point which would 
 compensate the revenue for the abolition of export duties, 
 the cost of imported goods become prohibitive, and as recent 
 experience has shown, the native refuses to buy. For, as- 
 I have pointed out, his wants are not at present absolutely 
 essential necessities, and if Manchester textiles rise above a 
 reasonable price he turns to his own looms, not merely de- 
 priving Manchester of her market, but absorbing the raw 
 cotton which she needs. Since the bulk of the exports must 
 be paid for by imports, the idtimate set-back to trade, it is 
 argued, is no less, even if the native be tempted at first by 
 the improved prices to sell his produce for cash, in the hope 
 that the price of imports will decrease. This was the case 
 after the war, and it was contended that the hoarding of cash 
 contributed to the stringency of current coin, and inflicted 
 considerable injury on trade. 
 
 The comparative expediency of import and export duties ia 
 an industrial country has, of course, no bearing whatever on 
 their expediency in a country which has no exportable manu- 
 factures, and where the consimier and the producer are the 
 same person, who pays the duty whether levied on imports 
 or exports. The Economic Commission in East Africa shares 
 the view that the duty should faU on the consumer, but in 
 that country the European settlers form a large section of 
 the producers. Even in a country Uke West Africa, which 
 exports raw materials only, the weight of opinion is strongly 
 
 1 Letter to Colonial Office of 6th May 1921. 
 
 The International Chamber of Commerce lately (1st July 1921) endorsed this 
 view. "Considering," says the resolution, "that every tax on export of raw 
 materials must necessarily increase the cost of production, and thereby hinder 
 economic restoration," their abolition is recommended. If necessarily retained 
 provisionally for revenue purposes "they should be adopted without any dis- 
 crimination whatever as regards countries." See also Mr J. H. Batty 's reply to 
 question 1239 by the Edible Nuts Committee.— Cd. 8247 of 1916. 
 
 Export duties if imposed should be proportioned to the home market price, on 
 the ad valorem principle, and not a fixed sum per ton. 
 
THE CASE FOE EXPORT DUTIES. 265 
 
 opposed to export duties. This view is reinforced by the 
 psychology of the African, who will continue to produce so 
 long as he gets a good price, and though he may hoard his 
 receipts for a time, will eventually buy what he requires 
 regardless of its price. The increased cost of imported goods 
 must, it is argued, increase the volume of exports with which 
 to pay for them. The import tariff should aim at placing 
 on the free list all articles of food, and, as far as possible, 
 building materials and the like, and the gradual substitution 
 of speci&c duties for an ad valorem Ust. 
 
 The advocates of export duties in Africa have, however, 
 some cogent arguments to support their case. Eaw materials 
 and foodstuffs are easily recognisable, and there is no need 
 for the duty to discriminate as to value arising from quality, 
 since the equal tax has the effect of penalising inferior qualities, 
 and thus promoting a higher standard. 
 
 Imports, on the other hand, are very varied, and textiles 
 in particular may differ by every shade of gradation and 
 price. The notable and practically universal integrity of the 
 British merchant, and the shame and loss of standing which 
 a conviction for fraudulent declaration would involve, are 
 insufficient grounds to justify a system under which officers, 
 charged by law with the duty of exercising a close super- 
 vision, are necessarily unable to give fuU effect to it. For 
 though a particular importer might be justly suspected of an 
 endeavour to evade his fuU liabilities, the customs officers 
 would not be justified in exposing his goods to a more rigorous 
 examination than those of others — the more so that the 
 examination of the majority of imports involves loss to the 
 importer. Bales of goods for the African market have often 
 to be packed at considerable cost in waterproof material, and 
 in hooped and sizeable loads for transport to the interior, 
 and if opened can with difficulty be repacked. Goods for 
 export, on the other hand, can be dealt with solely by weight 
 — the allowance for receptacles being uniform. Under a 
 system of export duties it is easy to grant exemption or 
 reduced duties on any particular product, the culture of which 
 it is desired to encourage — e.g., cotton, or newly -introduced 
 products. These critics do not, of course, suggest the entire 
 abolition of import duties, but in the peculiar circumstances 
 of African trade, they maintain that the prejudice against 
 export duties is without adequate foundation. 
 
266 TAXATION AND METHODS OF RAISING EEVENUE. 
 
 There is one article of native food which is largely im- 
 ported, and often — as I think -wrongly — ^heavily taxed, viz., 
 salt. The tax in Mgeria is £1 per ton — a rate which appears 
 to be much less than the tax imposed in India.^ In my view 
 the taxation of this article, of prime necessity to the native 
 population, is to be deprecated. 
 
 Commandant Binger, the French explorer, states that the 
 lack of salt was one of the causes which promoted the internal 
 slave trade in the region of the Upper Niger. For the salt 
 came from the north, and in the absence of portable produce 
 the vendors took slaves in payment. " When Europe [he 
 says] can import salt at a reasonable price in the Mger bend, 
 she wiU have rendered a true service to the native." * 
 
 It is obvious that when imposing import — and more especi- 
 ally export — duties, the question of the regions in which such 
 imports are chiefly consumed, or in which such exports 
 originate, is a matter of importance in regard to the inci- 
 dence of taxation. Thus the import duty on " trade spirits " 
 in West Africa fell entirely on those coastal regions in which 
 their sale was not prohibited. By their recent prohibition 
 those regions in Southern Mgeria pay about a million sterling 
 less in indirect taxes. An export duty on palm kernels, and 
 on cocao, falls on the inhabitants of the moist equatorial 
 regions, from which alone these products are exported (which 
 are, in fact, the same areas as those in which spirits are con- 
 sumed) ; while a ground-nut duty falls chiefly on the people 
 of the drier uplands. If, therefore, it is desired to impose a 
 larger share of indirect taxation on those who do not pay a 
 direct tax, or to reheve those whose produce has to bear 
 enhanced transport charges, a careful adjustment of customs 
 duties can be made to redress the balance in some small 
 degree. Excessive import duties will, however, result in 
 diminution of the stimulus to production — temporarily, at 
 any rate — since the wants of the African are rarely necessities, 
 and he can leave them ungratified. 
 
 1 Prior to 1903 the tax was 3s. id. per maund (82 lb.— viz., 91s. per ton), 
 amounting to over 200 per cent ad valorem. Locally-won salt was taxed at 1000 
 per cent. A reduction of 25 per cent was made in 1 903. Since the daily wage 
 rate in Nigeria is probably three or four times that of India, the burden on the 
 Indian taxpayer was correspondingly greater. The price of imported salt at 
 Kano (Nigeria), with 700 miles of rail freight, fell from 30s. per cwt. in 1908 to 
 lis. in 1913. 
 
 ^ For the various sources of supply of local salt see Binger, ' Du Niger au 
 Golfe de Guinee,' vol. i. p. 375. 
 
REBATES AND DIFFERENTIAL DUTIES. 267 
 
 The keen competition between merchants, and the com- 
 paratively heavy and bnlky nature of African produce relative 
 to its value, impose, of course, a heavy handicap on the 
 merchant who essays to develop regions in the interior, 
 especially if they are remote from railways and navigable 
 waters, in comparison with the trader who buys the same 
 produce in easily accessible regions. In order to encourage the 
 development of these remoter regions, it may be worth while 
 to consider a system of customs rebates on a sUding scale, 
 calcidated in proportion to the distance from the coast, and 
 from rail or river, supported by certificates of origin. If in 
 the most remote district the revenue derived no benefit by 
 way of customs duties on imported goods, or on produce for 
 export, the trader on the one hand would stiU have to meet 
 his heavy transport charges, while the administration would 
 benefit by the increase of trade and wealth, and the extension 
 of the coin currency, which would facilitate the payment of 
 the direct tax. 
 
 But whatever may be the comparative advantages and 
 disadvantages of import and export duties as a normal means 
 of raising revenue, there is, of course, no question that — 
 unless precluded by treaty — either is capable of being used 
 as a powerful agency to restrict imports from, or exports to, 
 foreign countries in favour of home or Empire markets. 
 Moreover, if a country produces an article which is in great 
 demand, and the supply of which is limited and regional, the 
 advocates of export duties point out that revenue may un- 
 doubtedly be obtained at the expense of the foreign consumer 
 by a preferential export duty. 
 
 After the war a preferential export duty was introduced 
 in the West African dependencies, admittedly in order to 
 secure for the Empire a monopoly of palm kernels. It has 
 been the subject of much controversy in both Houses' of 
 Parliament,^ and in the Press ; and, since its imposition 
 affects fundamental principles, the matter merits careful 
 consideration. 
 
 The war profoundly changed the economic conditions of 
 the world. Some of the economic results affecting the rela- 
 tions of British African tropics to the United Kingdom may 
 perhaps be briefly summarised as follows : — 
 
 (a) Great Britain now reahsed that it had been the de- 
 
 1 'Debates' of 17th December 1919 and 13th May 1920, &c. 
 
268 TAXATION AND METHODS OP RAISING KEVENTIB. 
 
 liberate policy of Germany — ^taking advantage of the " open 
 door " — ^to monopolise the supply from the British depend- 
 encies of certain raw materials which were essential to some 
 of our principal industries, and for the manufacture of muni- 
 tions in time of war. Great Britain and her Allies determined 
 in future to safeguard these supplies. 
 
 (6) The financial strain residting from the war gave rise 
 to various proposals for rehabilitating the finances of the 
 United Eongdom, opposed to the accepted principles which 
 had hitherto guided the policy or practice of England towards 
 her tropical dependencies. Those put forward by the Empire 
 Eesources Development Committee were very iofluentially 
 supported. 
 
 (c) The realisation of the importance of drawiag together 
 all parts of the Empire, and making it self-supporting, 
 strengthened the hands of those who had long advocated 
 " Imperial Preference," and it became the accepted policy 
 in regard to the Crown colonies. 
 
 As regards the first of these three heads, representatives 
 of the Allies met in Paris in June 1916, and passed a series 
 of resolutions,^ which were accepted by Mr Asquith's Govern- 
 ment, in so far as they related to the transitional period after 
 the war.^ By Eesolution B. iii., " the Allies declared them- 
 selves agreed to conserve for the aUied countries before aU 
 others their material resources during the whole period of 
 reconstruction." The Government thereupon appointed an 
 extremely strong Committee, under Lord Balfour of Burleigh 
 (which included the chairmen of a number of departmental 
 committees previously appointed by the Board of Trade), 
 " to consider the commercial and industrial policy to be 
 adopted after the war, with special reference to the conclu- 
 sions reached at the Paris Conference." 
 
 In the previous year — 1915 — ^the Colonial Secretary (Mr 
 Bonar Law) had appointed a Committee to study the trade 
 in palm kernels and other oil-producing nuts and seeds, and 
 " to make recommendations for the promotion in the United 
 Kingdom of the industries dependent thereon." ^ The Com- 
 mittee reported in May 1916. Germany, they said, had 
 before the war monopolised three - fourths of the export of 
 kernels, and on the assumption that with her mUls undamaged 
 
 1 Cd. 8271 of 1916. 2 cd. 9035 of 1918, paragraph 3 
 
 3 Cd. 8247 of 1916. 
 
EECOMMENDATIONS OP THE ECONOMIC COMMITTEE. 269 
 
 she woxild after the war be ready to offer extravagant prices 
 to regain her monopoly, it was necessary, in order to induce 
 British crushers to erect mills at heavy outlay, to offer them 
 a guarantee for a limi ted period (five years), until their mills 
 were established, so that they should be able to obtain kernels 
 at reasonable prices. The Committee recommended legisla- 
 tion in the colonies, on the lines eventually adopted. A 
 precisely similar recommendation was, as we shaU see, made 
 by the Textiles Committee (set up by the Board of Trade) in 
 regard to Indian jute.^ 
 
 Lord Balfour's Committee reported in December 1916 that 
 " effect cannot be given to these (Paris) Besolutions unless 
 export restrictions are placed during the transitory period 
 on a certain number of important articles, . . . and any 
 measures taken for the purpose should aim at assuring to the 
 British Empire and the Allies priority for their requirements, 
 and at preventing the present enemy countries from gaining 
 by the use of such materials an initial advantage in the com- 
 petition to recover markets which will follow the war." ^ 
 They refer to the proposals made in regard to palm kernels, 
 and suggest that India should be asked to devise measures 
 with a similar object in view, and add : " We do not over- 
 look the fact that objection may be taken to the restricted 
 policy which we recommend, on the groimd that the burden 
 may fall unduly upon the individual producer, whose price 
 may be lowered by the restriction of his market. In our 
 opinion it is particularly important to avoid even the appear- 
 ance of any such penaUsation, especially in cases in which 
 the interests of native subjects of the Empire are concerned. 
 We think, however, that if the policy is limited, as we have 
 recommended, to materials of which the greater part of the 
 supply can be absorbed by the United Kingdom and the 
 Allies, it wiU be possible, in consultation with the various 
 Governments concerned, to devise satisfactory safeguards to 
 meet the danger." * 
 
 Ordinances to give effect to this pohcy and restrict the 
 export of palm kernels to Empire markets were accordingly 
 introduced by order of the Secretary of State in the Legisla- 
 tures of the West African colonies. The unofficial members 
 of the Gold Coast voted unanimously against it. In Nigeria 
 
 1 Cd. 9070-73 of 1918. = Cd. 9034 of 1918, paragraph 4. 
 
 ^ Ibid., paragraphs 21 and 22. 
 
270 TAXATION ANB METHODS OF RAISING BEVENTJi:. 
 
 the matter was debated both in the Nigerian Council and 
 in the Legislative Council of the colony. There was no dis- 
 sentient opinion, and the leading native speaker cordially- 
 endorsed the proposals. 
 
 The justification of these measures lay in the fact that 
 they were designed to meet special conditions arising out of 
 the war, and were of a temporary nature. They were based 
 on the recommendations of two very representative Com- 
 mittees, with the object of giving effect to a policy which had 
 received international sanction, and to transfer to the United 
 Kingdom an industry essential to defence in a future war.^ 
 
 This, if properly explained to the people of West Africa, 
 would not be resented, since the United Kingdom was able 
 to take the whole of the output, and the unrestricted market 
 for the manufactured article, and keen competition between 
 merchants assured fair prices to the producer. If, however, 
 the position of the British mill-owners is already assured, 
 it devolves upon them voluntarily to forgo the benefit of an 
 implied assurance, as I have ventured to suggest.^ 
 
 But whatever may be the merits of the controversy which 
 has raged so fiercely in Parliament and the Press, it has one 
 aspect in which all who are interested in the Empire can only 
 rejoice. It has shown that oux professed concern for the 
 rights of the natives, and our obUgations as trustee on their 
 
 ' Id a striking passage that ardent free-trader, Adam Smith, after setting out 
 an overwhelming case against the restrictive principles embodied in the " Act of 
 Navigation," says that, "since defence is of far greater importance than opu- 
 lence," that Act "was perhaps the wisest of all the commercial regulations of 
 England." — 'Wealth of Nations,' vol. ii. p. 195. 
 
 ^ 'Times,' Slst December 1919. While some maintain that the duty has 
 enabled the crushers in England to control the kernel market, knowing that 
 importers could not ship their kernels abroad, Mr J. H. Batty (head of the 
 African and Eastern Trade Corporation), than whom there is probably no higher 
 authority, observed to me lately that this tax had " more than served its pur- 
 pose " in West Africa. Though no less opposed to it in principle than myself, 
 he held that it had been amply justified in the special circumstances as a tem- 
 porary measure. Germany, with her mills intact, with special facilities for 
 supplying the markets of Austria, Russia, and Eastern Europe generally, by rail 
 without breaking bulk, desired again to invade West Africa and capture the 
 kernel trade. She had, however, been prevented by the duty, and had therefore 
 substituted copra, principally from the Dutch East Indies, thus relieving the 
 palm-kernel market of a serious competitor, and extending the demand for 
 kernels. The merchant, he added, had not lost a penny by the tax, nor had the 
 natives, since prices had been steadily maintained by competition. The proof of 
 this could be seen in the prices ruling — both previously and to-day — as compared 
 with copra, which for all practical purposes supplies the same needs. 
 
 A similar duty under home instructions had for some time been imposed on 
 tin. Compare also the Malayan duty, imposed to prevent a foreign monopoly. — 
 'Malaya,' p. 333. 
 
THE CASE OP COTTON. 271 
 
 behalf, are neither camouflage nor "uncttious righteousness," 
 but that it is a tradition held deep in the hearts of the British 
 people, for any infringement of which, however temporary 
 and exceptional, an explanation and justification is at once 
 demanded. 
 
 The vindication of the principle that a trustee Power is 
 not justifled in arbitrarily restricting the markets of its 
 ward leads us to the consideration of the case of cotton. The 
 increasing absorption by the United States of her own cotton 
 for her own industries, and the consequently decreasing 
 quantity available for export, has compelled this country to 
 adopt a programme for the growing of cotton within the 
 Empire, on the assumption that the cotton so grown will be 
 available for the looms of Lancashire. In so far as the cotton 
 is the product of British-owned plantations (as in the Sudan, 
 Gezirah, and K'yasaland), no question can of course arise ; 
 but where (as in Nigeria and other protectorates) it is a 
 native crop, is the market to be restricted to Great Britain ? 
 That colonial revenues have been spent in improving the 
 quality, &c., gives the British market no claim to a monopoly, 
 for such revenues belong to the colony, and are rightly spent 
 in developing its resources. But if funds belonging to the 
 taxpayers of England, or if private capital has been spent ia 
 promoting the industry in a British colony, is Germany or 
 Japan to have the right to underbid the British merchant 
 and buy the crop ? 
 
 In 1916 the Board of Trade appointed a Committee to 
 report {inter alia) regarding the textile industry, and its 
 report was issued in 1918.^ Following the general Unes of 
 Lord BalEour of Burleigh's Committee, it recommended that 
 the Empire's resources in raw material should be safeguarded, 
 and utilised for the requirements of the Empire, and for 
 purposes of negotiation with other countries, and that an 
 export duty (e.g., on jute) should be imposed in India, with 
 a total rebate for the United Kingdom, i But the Cotton 
 Committee, appointed by the Government of India in Septem- 
 ber 1917, aflflrmed that the interests of the cultivator must 
 be paramount — a stipulation to which the Empire Cotton 
 Growing Committee " heartily agreed." ^ Thus any restric- 
 tion of the market in the interests of the United Kingdom is 
 
 1 Cd. 9370 of 1918. 
 
 ^ Cmd. 523 of 1920, p. 42. See also the debate in the House of Lords of 
 12th July 1920. This latter " Committee " has now been constituted under Royal 
 
272 TAXATION AND METHODS OF EAISING EEVENTTE. 
 
 ruled out, and if the growth of cotton is increased in India, 
 the surplus may go to the country which offers the best price 
 instead of to England, whose manufacturers and taxpayers 
 have spent money in its development. Or to put it in an- 
 other way, it might seem equally beneficial to promote cotton- 
 growing in China as in the Empire. 
 
 The figures given by the Board of Trade ^ show that for 
 the quinquennial period 1912-13 to 1916-17, only 7 per cent 
 of the Indian crop was received by Great Britain, while 
 55 per cent went to Japan. In the last year (with the elimina- 
 tion of Germany and other countries) the proportion was 
 9'7 per cent to the United Kingdom, and nearly 70 per cent ^ 
 to Japan. Though the bulk of the crop is stated to be at 
 present of too short a staple for the needs of Lancashire, this 
 is only a temporary condition, and our efforts to increase the 
 length of staple will presently begiu to show results. Japan, 
 however, will also require a longer staple as the standard of 
 her manufactures improves. 
 
 The Empire Cotton Growing Committee has, of course, 
 carefully considered this matter. Its view is that the grant 
 of public money is principally for the benefit of those parts 
 of the Empire in which cotton is growa,^ and where it would 
 not be grown unless it was to the advantage of the coimtry 
 growing it. They hold to the great principle that " any 
 specific control of the destination of the crop is impracticable 
 and undesirable " — ^but they think it certain that an indefinite 
 preference wiU be indirectly secured for spinners in the British 
 Empire ; and finally, it is beyond question that in case of 
 war it is of the first importance that suppUes of cotton should 
 be available in the Empire itself, so that we should not have 
 to depend solely on other countries, however friendly they 
 may be. Thus the general principle is afiOrmed that any 
 restriction forcibly imposed upon the markets of the pro- 
 Charter as a permanent " Corporation " for the promotion of cotton -growing in 
 the Empire, and must not be confused with the various " Committees " appointed 
 to report. 
 
 1 'Board of Trade Journal,' 2nd May 1918. See also Cmd. 51 of 1919, p. 322. 
 
 ^ See also Indian Progress Report for 1917-1918, published in 1919, where the 
 percentage is given as 71 per cent (p. 101). 
 
 ^ This view will not, I think, find general acceptance. Parliament agreed to 
 this additional burden on the British taxpayer, not as a subsidy to India, 
 Nigeria, or Uganda, but in the interests of the great Lancashire industry. 
 It may, however, be regarded as a form of Imperial preference, in accordance 
 with the suggestion of Lord Balfour's Committee, referred to on page 278, in 
 which case reciprocity could be asked. 
 
THE " KMPIEE EESOUECES DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE." 273 
 
 ducing country for the benefit of the Controlling Power is 
 contrary to the theory of trusteeship.i 
 
 I come now to the second of the headings, imder which 
 I summarised some of the economic effects, resulting from 
 the war, on the relations of the African dependencies to the 
 United Kingdom — viz., the proposals for rehabilitating the 
 Imperial finances by schemes such as those put forward by 
 the " Empire Eesources Development Committee." 
 
 I have, I think, conclusively shown in an article in 'The 
 Nineteenth Century' * that such of these proposals as relate 
 to the African dependencies, and aim "at promoting the 
 development for profit under State auspices, and participa- 
 tion of selected resources," cannot be adopted except at the 
 sacrifice of fundamental principles. These particular pro- 
 posals have not been pressed of late, and it will therefore 
 suffice to refer my reader to the article aUuded to, in which 
 they are examined in detail. They appear to contemplate 
 a complete or partial monopoly by the controUing Power, 
 by which the natives would be compelled to seU their produce 
 to its agents, so that the profits may be acquired not by the 
 individual merchant, or even by the local Government for 
 the benefit of the country, but in liquidation of the British 
 war debt, under a system which must necessarily involve 
 the fixing of prices for labour and produce, and the restric- 
 tion of markets. The patriotic proposers had not, I venture 
 to think, fully realised the implications of their scheme, 
 which in essential principles appears to resemble the former 
 regime of the Congo State, on the abandonment of which 
 the British Government insisted before it accorded its recog- 
 nition of the reversion of the State to Belgium.* The market 
 is at present weU supplied with capital.* 
 
 ' The 'Times' (18th December 1919) gave publicity to an unpublished letter 
 from thejBritiah to the French Government, dated 28th May 19i8, which stated 
 that, after the needs of this country had been met, ' ' the resources in raw materials 
 of the British Empire will be at the disposal of France and other Allies. Only 
 after the Allies have obtained what they require for their economic development 
 will the resources of our Empire be offered to neutral Powers, and lastly to the 
 countries with which we are now at war." This would seem to be a formal and 
 precise pledge of a very sweeping nature, unrestricted in time, or as to the 
 nature of the raw materials, or the consent of the colonies concerned, and would 
 seem to assume the right of the British Government to deal as it may think fit 
 with the produce of the tropical dependencies. 
 
 2 " The Crown Colonies and the British War-debt," August 1920. 
 
 ' Prof. Keith, ' African Society Journal,' July 1918, p. 256, citing State Paper 
 107, p. 352. 
 
 * The chairman of the Association of West African Merchants wrote to the 
 
 S 
 
274 TAXATION AND METHODS OF RAISING EEVBNUE. 
 
 But if such schemes as these must be ruled out as inad- 
 missible, are we to accept the conclusion that the peoples 
 of the tropical dependencies are to bear no share in the finan- 
 cial burden of the war, which was fought no less for their 
 liberties than for our own ? National liberty in these days 
 depends largely on national wealth, for only the wealthiest 
 nations can afford to maintain the great armies and navies 
 and aix services on which the defence of those liberties de- 
 pends. It is therefore to the self-iaterest of the subject races 
 that Great Britain should remain wealthy enough to support 
 the burden. But the war has left her with a colossal debt, 
 and a scale of taxation which cripples enterprise. 
 
 From these financial burdens the tropical dependencies 
 are to a large extent exempt. To some of them the war and 
 the period succeeding it even brought added prosperity, and 
 notwithstanding any temporary set-back, the demand for their 
 foodstuffs and raw materials is assured, and promises a pros- 
 perous future. They helped to win the war ; are they incap- 
 able of some voluntary self-sacrifice in order to help " to win 
 the peace " ? State monopoUes, fixed prices for produce and 
 labour, confiscation of lands, compulsory service — none of 
 these things should we ask of them. But is it too much to 
 ask of the native producer that he should voluntarily give a 
 preference to British requirements for a definitely limited 
 period, and acquiesce in the limitation of his market, pro- 
 vided that the whole of his output is absorbed at remunerative 
 prices, and that the particular product is one of essential 
 importance to British industry ? In the case of cotton, for 
 instance, he would not thereby be contributing to " capitalistic 
 profits," for the Empire Cotton Corporation is pledged to make 
 no profits, and the British consumers have imposed upon them- 
 selves a tax of 6d. per bale to provide funds for its activities. 
 Competition by merchants on the spot will assure fair prices. 
 
 Voluntary acquiescence, if genuine — ^that is to say, if it 
 can be obtained by a widespread knowledge of the facts — is 
 
 Press (10th November 1916) that "British merchants have been and are 
 prepared to find all the capital required for its (Nigeria's) development, and have 
 at present invested there probably two million more than before the war." 
 Much capital has been invested since that date, and in addition we have Lever 
 Bros., Jurgens & Co., and other large capitalists outside the Liverpool group. 
 Moreover, the credit of West African dependencies is good enough to enable 
 them to raise whatever loans they may need. 
 
CONTEIBtrTIONS FOE DEFENCE. 275 
 
 the better way. But the trustee Power is also entitled to 
 consider, if need be, what definite obUgations are being in- 
 curred by its ward for which an adequate return is due. I 
 do not refer to financial assistance in the early years, nor 
 am I oblivious to the indirect advantages which accrue to a 
 trustee, however freely " equal opportunity " is accorded to 
 the commerce of all nations. 
 
 But can it be said that there is any violation of funda- 
 mental principles if a colony, when it has reached a stage of 
 prosperity, should be asked to make some contribution to the 
 Navy on which it is dependent for its defence from its sur- 
 plus revenue — ^viz., from the balance remaining when ordi- 
 nary administrative expenditure has been met — ^which is a 
 measure of its prosperity, and is normally devoted to develop- 
 ment ? The principle has long been in application in our 
 Eastern colonies, where a military contribution is levied — 
 not with their consent, and not for the purpose of maintain- 
 ing troops for the preservation of law and order in the colonies 
 themselves. The Empire is based on the relations of the family, 
 and not on those of the syndicate. The African, who shares 
 with us its benefits, must learn that it is his duty and his 
 privilege to share its burdens. This ideal should be more 
 adequately explained to him. 
 
 On the other hand, it has been alleged, both in East ^ and 
 West Africa, that the local forces maintained by the African 
 dependencies are in excess of the needs of the colonies for 
 local defence and police purposes. Many of these dependencies 
 — ^Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Kenya, Uganda, and IS'yasaland 
 — had frontiers coterminous with German colonies, and the 
 events of the war have shown that so long at least as that 
 aggressive Power remained a menace to the world, the colonial 
 forces were necessarily maintained at a high strength. Whether 
 they can now be reduced is a matter for consideration. 
 
 I come to my last heading — Imperial Preference. This 
 stands on a different footing, for it has no necessary relation 
 to war legislation or post-bellum economic conditions, and is 
 in principle wholly voluntary. The case for the imposition 
 of a tariff was put by Colonel Amery — than whom no one is 
 
 ^ Mr Wallie, late Chief Secretary of Uganda, asserts that the King's African 
 Rifles are not required by Kenya or Uganda, and should be disbanded or paid for 
 by the War Office,— 'Times,' 23rd August 1921. 
 
276 TAXATION AND METHODS OF RAISING EEVBNXJE. 
 
 better qualified to state it, — writing from East Africa so long 
 ago as January 1908 : — 
 
 " What inducement is there," he asks, " for the British 
 taxpayer to undertake all this increased expenditure — or, 
 at least, increased financial responsibility ? . . . Under the 
 fiscal system at present prevailing both in England and in 
 the territories under Colonial Office control, there is no guar- 
 antee whatever that the market, when developed, wiU be a 
 market for English rather than for foreign goods, or that the 
 raw materials will go to British factories rather than to the 
 factories of our rivals. Why should not British industry 
 have that guarantee in return for the expenditure and risk 
 incurred by the British taxpayer ? Why should not the 
 producer in these new territories give that guarantee in 
 return for the estabUshment of the settled conditions which 
 make this industry possible ? " Colonel Amery even goes so 
 far as to say that " Ifo one can suggest that a preference in 
 favour of British imports into East Africa, or — what is more 
 desirable — a differential export tax on raw materials exported 
 from East Africa to foreign countries, is likely to inflict hard- 
 ship upon either native or settler, or to retard the develop- 
 ment of the country." ^ 
 
 It is worth while to examine these proposals carefully, 
 for they appear at iirst sight to enshroud the principles of 
 the pahn-kemel export duty under the comfortkig title of 
 Imperial preference. A preferential export duty may, as we 
 have seen, inflict considerable loss on the producers, by de- 
 priving them of the high prices which foreign nations are will- 
 ing to pay for their raw materials. The controlling Power 
 woiild benefit, as in the old plantation system, by a monopoly. 
 Nor does the export tax even benefit the local revenue, for 
 in effect it is rarely levied. It is intentionally made pro- 
 hibitive, so as to ensure the monopoly. 
 
 What, then, has the controlling power to offer in return, 
 so that it may properly come under the designation of a re- 
 ciprocal preference ? There are duties (for revenue purposes) 
 on tea, sugar, coffee, cocoa, and tobacco, and these could be 
 remitted, as proposed by Lord BaLEoux of Burleigh's Com- 
 mittee, " as a first measure of colonial preference," ^ but they 
 
 1 'Union and Strength,' L. S. Amery, pp. 290, 291. 
 
 2 Cd. 9035, p. 48, paragraph 237. The East African " Economic Commission," 
 while expressing readiness to give a preference to the United Kingdom, apparently 
 
mPERIAl PEEFEEENCE. 277 
 
 do not touch the bulk of the exports from tropical Africa, 
 which are imported duty-free into the United Kingdom. To 
 give a preference to these, it would be necessary to impose 
 duties on all such articles imported from foreign countries, 
 and to remit them for Empire-grown produce. 
 
 But African products do not suffer appreciably from foreign 
 competition. Already they have a duty-free market in the 
 United "Kingdom, and the object in view is not to exclude 
 foreign competition, but to attract to England produce which 
 otherwise woidd find a more remunerative market abroad. 
 Such a differential export duty, if forced on a reluctant colony 
 for the benefit of home trade, is, as Lord Emmot says, the 
 absolute negation of the voluntary principle.^ But if the 
 principle of equal opporininity be applied absolutely without 
 reservation, what advantage, asks Colonel Amery, does the 
 controlling power gain to compensate for the burden it sus- 
 tains ? I shall deal with this question in my last chapter. 
 
 But Colonel Amery does not contemplate compulsion. He 
 assumes the export tax to be self-imposed voluntarily, with 
 the object of inducing the British Exchequer to incur further 
 expenditure in the development of the country, and to guar- 
 antee to the British taxpayer the benefit of the money so 
 expended. In my view, private capital, attracted by the 
 prospects of the country, or raised by way of loans on the 
 security of the revenues — ^it need be with the assistance of an 
 Imperial guarantee — ^is preferable to grants from the Ex- 
 chequer. But the principle of voluntary assistance to the 
 Mother Coimtry by African dependencies — even though it 
 may involve sacrifice — ^is a separate issue, with which I have 
 already dealt. 
 
 Colonel Amery's alternative, which he regards with less 
 favour, is a preference on British imported goods. Since 
 the local revenue (which in some dependencies is largely 
 derived from customs) could not afford a reduction in exist- 
 ing customs duties (for the loss would have to be made good by 
 some equivalent tax), the preference would no doubt take the 
 form of additional duties on goods of foreign origin. Leaving 
 out of account the question of commercial and other treaties 
 (viz., the Berlin and Brussels Acts and the Conventions of 
 
 asks in return for a subsidy to shipping lines for special, freights for certain 
 products for a limited time. Loo. cit., p. 26. 
 ' House of Lords debate of 17th May 1920. 
 
278 TAXATION AND METHODS OF RAISING EEVENUE. 
 
 June 1898 and of September 1919), and that of retaliation 
 by foreign Powers — both very important considerations — 
 how would such action affect the purely Imperial preference 
 point of view ? 
 
 It would be a genuine preference, and it would probably 
 not be opposed by the dependencies, for the bulk of their 
 imports are already from the United Kingdom, and would 
 remain unaffected. The colonial consumer would suffer in 
 some degree, no doubt, by the loss of cheap foreign goods, 
 but there is much to be said for such a preference if the 
 Mother Country can offer some equivalent. There may be 
 some articles iu which the Empire output is insufficient to 
 supply the home market and foreign competition makes itself 
 felt. In such a case duties could be imposed, and in the words 
 of Lord Balfour's Committee, " preferential treatment should 
 be accorded in respect of any customs duties now or hereafter 
 to be imposed in the United Kingdom." ^ The Committee 
 suggests also " the expediency of considering measures of 
 Imperial preference other than the imposition of differential 
 customs duties — as, for example, Government contracts to 
 purchase for a term of years, at guaranteed minimum prices, 
 part or the whole of the output of materials of great industrial 
 importance ... or financial assistance from the home Gov- 
 ernment towards the development of Imperial resources." " 
 
 Following these pronouncements, a notice appeared in the 
 ' Board of Trade Journal ' announcing that reduced rates as 
 specified therein would be charged on certain goods " con- 
 signed from, grown, produced, or manufactured in the British 
 Empire." ^ 
 
 It is, of course, more than probable that if Great Britain 
 restricted the produce of her colonies to her own markets, 
 she would provoke foreign countries to a poUcy of retaUation. 
 It was pointed out in the palm-kernels debate that the United 
 States and Belgium (Congo) were bound by treaties to exact 
 no preferential duties against Great Britain, on the grounds 
 that they have free access to her colonial markets. France 
 has deprived herseff of the weapon of retaliation by her own 
 exclusive policy, and in the letter quoted by Lord Mayo in 
 
 1 Cd. 9035 of 1918, paragraph 254. 
 
 ^ Ibid., paragraph 239. For the application of this principle to Empire-grown 
 cotton, see p. 272. 
 
 ' ' Board of Trade Journal,' 9th September 1920. 
 
RETALIATION, 279 
 
 that debate, the French Government formally notifted to our 
 Foreign Office her intention to retain for her own sole use 
 the raw materials of her colonies.^ 
 
 Thus the fear of jeopardising our commercial relations 
 with foreign Powers, no less than the extreme reluctance we 
 should feel in forgoing the proud boast that Britain alone 
 holds her colonies open to all the world, would add to the 
 regret with which we should adopt such a policy otherwise 
 than as a temporary measure arising out of the war, afEecting 
 one group of colonies, and one or two products only. Exclusive 
 tariffs are dangerous weapons, apt to injure the hand which 
 uses them, opposed to the traditions of British trade, and 
 contrary to the agreement of the Economic Conference, which 
 pledged the Allies " to adopt measures for faciUtating their 
 mutual trade relations." 
 
 Let us hope that the nations whose destinies the war has 
 shown to be closely interdependent may learn that recipro- 
 city is a better word than restriction, and carry its operation 
 even beyond the sphere of tariffs. Nigeria, for instance, has 
 assisted France by allowing French goods to pass over her 
 railways to Zinder. Mutual reciprocity would guarantee like 
 facilities over any railway which France may build thence to 
 the Mediterranean. 
 
 ' "After the war," says a French writer, "France must as far as possible live 
 on the products of her colonial lands ... by reserving for French commerce her 
 colonial market, so that neither enemy, nor neutral, nor ally shall profit unduly 
 from the colonies of France. " 
 
280 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 LAND TENURE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 The natural evolution of conceptions of land tenure — The problem in 
 West Africa — Committees on West African lands — West African 
 land tenure : (a) Tribal and family ; (6) Individual ownership ; (c) 
 Absence of tenure — Summary re land tenure — Eights of conquest — 
 Recognition of private rights — Necessity for declaration of policy — 
 View of the Committee — Nationalisation — The economic doctrine — 
 Criticism and fears — Actual practice in Northern Nigeria — Summary 
 of criticism of Northern Nigeria land law — Encouragement of small 
 holdings — Large estates — Transfers between natives — Acquisition of 
 land by Government and aliens in conquered countries — Shifting 
 cultivation — Curtailment or increase of tribal or village lands — 
 Summary of Government and native rights in controlled lands — 
 Freehold and communal tenure. 
 
 I PEOPOSB in this and the following chapter to discuss the 
 question of land in the British African tropics, only in so 
 far as it presents itself as an administrative problem. Speak- 
 ing generally, it may, I think, be said that conceptions as 
 to the tenure of land are subject to a steady evolution, side 
 by side with the evolution of social progress, from the most 
 primitive stages to the organisation of the modern State. 
 In the earliest stage the land and its produce is shared by 
 the commimity as a whole ; later the produce is the property 
 of the family or individuals by whose toil it is won, and the 
 control of the land becomes vested iu the head of the family. 
 When the tribal stage is reached, the control passes to the 
 chief, who allots unoccupied lands at wUl, but is not justi- 
 fied in dispossessiug any family or person who is using the 
 land. Later still, especially when the pressure of popu- 
 lation has given to the land an exchange value, the 
 conception of proprietary rights ia it emerges, and sale, 
 
THE EVOLUTION OP LAND TENTJEE. 281 
 
 mortgage, and lease of the land, apart from its user, is 
 recognised.^ 
 
 Conquest vests the control of the land in the conqueror, 
 who in savage warfare also disposes of the lives and chattels 
 of the conquered, but he usually finds it necessary to con- 
 form largely to the existing law and custom. In civilised 
 countries conquest does not justify confiscation of private 
 rights in land. 
 
 These processes of natural evolution, leading up to individ- 
 ual ownership, may, I believe, be traced in every civilisation 
 known to history. Ahab, 900 years B.C., was unable to dis- 
 possess Ifaboth of the private ownership of his vineyard 
 without violation of accepted principles ; China for centuries 
 has recognised individual property in land, as did Babylon 
 5000 years ago,^ and as the nations of Europe do to-day.^ 
 
 In Africa every stage of this process of evolution may be 
 encountered. The problem with which a Government has 
 
 ' There are, says Professor Berriedale Keith ('African Society's Journal,' April 
 1912), two opposing theories as to the evolution of the ownership of land. Some, 
 following Sir H. Maine, hold that the land is first owned by the tribe, then by the 
 village community, and finally by the individual. Others maintain that the 
 individual was the original owner, and that ownership by the community or tribe, 
 so far as it is real and not a matter of territorial sovereignty, is a later conception. 
 
 I venture to think that neither theory is exclusive. When a swarming horde of 
 invaders enters an inhabited country the earlier possessors are ousted. Each unit 
 seizes the land it requires, and eventually village boundaries are recognised. If 
 the invaders had already attained to a tribal organisation, vacant lands are at the 
 disposal of the tribal head ; if not, they remain indeterminate, until that stage is 
 reached. They are at the disposal of the territorial chief, not as owner, but in his 
 capacity as sovereign of the tribe. On the other hand, where possession has been 
 acquired by the occupation of uninhabited and unclaimed lands — a condition 
 which applies to areas left derelict by pestilence, slave-raids, or famine — or by 
 gradual encroachment on grazing lands, which the tribe in possession is no longer 
 able to defend, individual settlement and ownership probably preceded that of the 
 family or tribe. These academic theories are, however, immaterial to the indis- 
 putable fact that, whatever the origins of land tenure, the inevitable tendency 
 has been towards the recognition of individual proprietary rights in land pari passu 
 with social evolution. 
 
 M. Delaf osse — a translation of whose admirable memorandum on land tenure 
 in French West Africa may be found in the ' African Society's Journal,' 1910, pp. 
 259-273 — asserts that this difierence in the original method of acquisition afiects 
 the existing tenure of land. " Depending," he says, "upon whether the conquest 
 or original occupation was the work of a single chief or of a community acting 
 without any one directing force, so will ownership of land be found to be vested 
 either in the chief or in the community." In the former case, he says, the chief 
 has the rights of proprietor, and "real owner," and can alienate at will — in the 
 latter he has no such rights, and acts only as trustee. 
 
 ^ ' Ownership, Tenure, and Taxation of Land,' Whittaker, p. 40. 
 
 ' " Nobody is at liberty to attack several property and to say at the same time 
 that he values civilisation. The history of the two cannot be disentangled." — 
 Maine, 'Village Communities,' p. 230. 
 
282 LAND TENURE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 to deal consists, on the one hand, in adjusting land ques- 
 tions between natives, which otherwise would lead to quarrels 
 and bloodshed — questions often complicated by the dis- 
 integration of tribal authority and native custom, due to 
 extraneous influences. On the other hand, the Government 
 must control generally the acquisition of land by non-natives. 
 
 As regards the second of these two tasks, it is manifest 
 that there exists a fundamental difference between those 
 countries in which there is a dense native population, and 
 Europeans and others enter for a more or less temporary 
 residence, and those in which the climate attracts European 
 settlers, and the sparsity of the native population admits 
 of the settlement of non-natives — European and Asiatic. 
 The group of West African colonies and protectorates are 
 typical of the former, and since their population and the 
 volume of their trade with the outside world is much greater 
 than that of aU the remainder i put together, I propose to 
 deal with them at some length. 
 
 In 1908 Lord Crewe, then Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies, appointed a committee to investigate the subject 
 of land tenure in Northern Nigeria, and to advise as to the 
 system which should be adopted by Government.^ In 1912 
 Mr (now Lord) Harcourt (Lord Crewe's successor) appointed 
 another committee under the same chairman, with similar 
 instructions as regards the remaining dependencies in West 
 Africa. They were to report " whether any, and if so what, 
 amendment of the laws is required, either on the lines of the 
 Northern Nigeria Lands Proclamation or otherwise." War 
 broke out before they had completed their report, which 
 was never made pubUc.^ Earlier in 1912 Mr Harcourt had 
 already sent Mr (now Sir Henry) Belfield to make inquiries 
 
 ' The population of British West Africa is estimated at 21,823,000, and its 
 trade is valued at £49,820,000. The aggregate population of the whole of the 
 remaining British dependencies in tropical Africa (excluding Mauritius, the 
 Seychelles, St Helena, and Ascension) is put at 16,149,600, and the value of their 
 trade at £26,759,000 (see Table, p. 45). 
 
 - Cd. 5102 and 5108 of 1910. The committee sat for two months and 
 examined eight witnesses, two of whom were members of the committee, two 
 were Englishmen connected with commerce, and the remainder were officials. 
 They also had at their disposal memoranda on the subject issued by the Governor 
 and his predecessor to Residents in Nigeria. 
 
 ' The second committee was appointed in June 1912 and finally dissolved in 
 1915. They examined a very great number of witnesses, including natives, and 
 a great mass of correspondence was laid before them, in addition to the volumin- 
 ous evidence taken in West Africa, and Sir H. Belfield's report. 
 
SYSTEM OP LAND TENXIRE, WEST AFRICA. 283 
 
 into the system of administration of land in the Gold Coast, 
 and his report was published in July of that year.^ 
 
 An immense mass of evidence was taken on commission in 
 Africa for the " West African Lands Committee." That from 
 Nigeria passed through my hands, and from it and Sir H. 
 Belfleld's report on the Gold Coast it is possible to arrive 
 at some broad conclusions as to the conceptions regarding 
 the ownership and transfer of lands held by the people of 
 West Africa, the more so that the system of land tenure is 
 known to be very similar in aU these dependencies. 
 
 It may be assumed that Africa was densely populated long 
 before the tribes which now hold sway settled on their respec- 
 tive lands.* Title to land accrued to the latest conquerors, 
 and where land had become derelict as a result of extermina- 
 tion, slave-raids, migration, or pestilence, the individual who 
 first reclaimed it claimed ownership of it for himself and his 
 descendants. The title to such land was vested in the head 
 of the family, and further areas reclaimed by its members 
 were added to the family lands. Intervening unoccupied 
 areas were later included. The tribal chief allotted the con- 
 quered lands to families, and the disposal of any vacant lands 
 not iQcluded in those claimed by any family was vested in 
 him. In some tribes the family remained the important 
 unit, as in the Gold Coast and Torubaland, in others it 
 became merged in the tribe. In the former case there would 
 be two classes of unoccupied land — ^family and tribal.^ Pri- 
 meval forests, unoccupied by man for centuries, the natural 
 barriers between warring tribes, became gradually included 
 
 ' Cd. 6278 of 1912. The report is dated 18th June 1912, aud 13 accompanied 
 by notes of evidence, addresses, &c. , by fifty-seven persons. His instructions are 
 not quoted, but in an address to the chiefs and others Mr Belfield stated that 
 "the principal object of my mission is to make inquiry into the system of 
 administration of land in the Gold Coast Colony " (p. 4). 
 
 ^ Many, especially of the native vfitnesses, appear to ignore this fact, and speak 
 as if the earliest founders of the existing tribes came, like the sons of Noah, into a 
 wholly uninhabited land, and pegged out claims which developed by a symmetri- 
 cal process from the original founder, through the family and the tribe, to the 
 kingship — though nothing, I imagine, is more certain than that the populations 
 of this continent have been subject to constant displacement by more powerful 
 neighbours. The Yoruba and other native legends (like the Hebrew myths) are 
 apt to attribute the foundation of the tribe to a single semi-divine ancestor, who 
 settled in a waste land and gradually populated it. These witnesses testify that 
 the idea of unoccupied and unappropriated land is contrary to all native concep- 
 tions, but fail to see that this strong assertion is incompatible with the thesis on 
 which they found the claims of existing tribes. 
 
 ^ Belfleld's Report, paragraphs 19-26 and 48. See note 1, next page. 
 
284 LAND TENUEE AND TEANSPEE. 
 
 in one or the other class, and were recognised as the inalien- 
 able property of the neighbouring community. 
 
 Starting from these hypotheses, the evidence appears to 
 show that the following general principles — ^with local varia- 
 tions — ^became consolidated. The tribal land at the disposal 
 of the chief might be allotted either to families which had 
 outgrown their family lands, or to strangers who desired to 
 settle among the tribe, provided that they paid the customary 
 tribute and dues. Family lands are at the disposal of the 
 head of the family, and every member of the family has a 
 right to a share in the land — a right which is not forfeited 
 even by prolonged absence. The holder and his descendants 
 have undisturbed possession in perpetuity, and all rights of 
 ownership, except that they cannot alienate the land so as 
 to deprive the chief of his ultimate control over it. The 
 occupier's title is held by virtue of his membership of the 
 family, and perpetuates in the name of its head. 
 
 The produce of the land is the property of the occupier, 
 and he may own trees planted by himself, either on unoccupied 
 land or on land occupied by another. He may sell or pawn 
 the crops on his land, or trees owned by him, but not the 
 land itself. He may be ousted from his holding for offences 
 against the commimity, including failure to pay customary 
 tribute ; and upon the general acknowledgment of their right 
 to allocate land, and to enforce punishment in respect of it, 
 depends the prestige of the chiefs. Hence the system of 
 ruling through the chiefs depends on the recognition by 
 Government of these powers. A chief acts as trustee for the 
 tribe in regard to land. " He is joint owner with his people, 
 and he cannot exercise any proprietary rights without the 
 co-operation of his people," said the deputation on the Gold 
 Coast Forest BiU.^ Consequent on these assumptions, it is 
 maintained that " every acre of land is the property of some 
 tribe, family, or individual," including forest and swamp.^ 
 
 1 Native deputation to Secretary of State, July 1912. Monsieur Delafosse 
 notes that among the northern tribes, as contrasted with "the tribes of the 
 forest zone," control of the land is more often exercised by an individual chief, 
 there is usually less tribal land, and absolute alienation of land to a stranger is 
 less difficult than among the forest tribes. Loc. cit. 
 
 2 Belfield, paragraph 22. See Maine, loc. cit., p. 121. "The so-called waste 
 lands (in India) are part of the domain of the various communities which the 
 villagers theoretically are only waiting opportunity to bring under cultivation. " 
 Some witnesses before the Committee made the same assertion as regards Northern 
 Nigeria, but in my opinion it is unquestionable that in that country there are 
 
THE CONCEPTION OF DTDIVrDUAL OWNERSHIP. 285 
 
 It is clear from this description that African land tenure 
 is not " communal " in the sense of tenure in common. ^ Its 
 fundamental characteristic seems rather to be an individual 
 tenure of land derived from the common stock at the dis- 
 posal of the tribe or family. ^ Such a tenure woxdd tend to 
 develop very rapidly into individual ownership, and evidence 
 that this was the case was given by several witnesses — and 
 much more is available. 
 
 Side by side with these primitive conceptions of land 
 tenure, we find a growing recognition of the conception of 
 individual ownership. This is due in part to the natural 
 evolution to which I have referred, and in part to the intro- 
 duction of European conceptions of land tenure. The spread 
 of these European ideas may be attributed in the first place 
 to ignorance of the native system. We find the Supreme 
 Courts issuing writs of execution for the seizure of land from 
 a judgment debtor, though by native customary law — of 
 which the court was bound to take cognisance — ^he had no 
 individual property in it. This was much aggravated by the 
 tendency to charge the Supreme Court with the duty of 
 deciding all land cases to the exclusion of the executive 
 officers. 
 
 large tracts of land which have become derelict and ownerless as the result of 
 the slave-raids of the past. They are known as " Jagin Allah " (God's jungle), 
 and villages of ex-slaves have been formed on such areas without protest or any 
 opposing claim. Even the evidence from Southern Nigeria did not appear to be 
 very consistent on this point, for more than one witness referred to vacant lands, 
 and one Lagos witness spoke of "No-man's land," which he said was called 
 " Tedo." When, however, the right to collect sylvan produce on vacant lands is 
 regularly exercised they cannot properly be regarded as waste lands. 
 
 '■ Mr Gower's evidence. Cmd. 5103, 1910, p. 94. Questions 866, 867. 
 
 ^ Professor Keith, in the very interesting article already quoted, doubts 
 whether there was "any conception of the community as a whole as a land- 
 owner." It is impossible, he remarks, to say from the evidence before the 
 Northern Nigerian Lands Committee ' ' that there is any clear recognition of a 
 legal entity, namely the tribe or village, as owning the land . . . the Hausa customs 
 as to the inheritance and division of property on death are quite contrary to 
 any such conception." 
 
 The power of expropriation by the head of the tribe is, he argues, a political 
 control, which does not necessarily connote tribal ownership, nor does the moral 
 control exercised by the family head denote family ownership. He appears to 
 consider that the land is individually owned by the head of the family, and is 
 divided among the members at his death, "None of the evidence adduced 
 shows that the property ascribed to the tribe or community amounts to more 
 than the fact that the village has recognised boundaries," within which the land 
 required by any member is assigned to him by the head. Compare Baden- 
 Powell : " It seems to me quite clear that a sense of individual ' property ' in 
 land may arise eoincidently with a sense of a certain right in others to have a 
 share of the produce." — 'Indian Village Communities,' p. 131. 
 
286 LAND TENURE AND TEANSFBK. 
 
 Secondly, the English conception of land tenure was carried 
 far and wide throughout the country, by the desire of every 
 European trader or miner to obtain a freehold right to the 
 land occupied by his residence. And thirdly, especially in 
 the large coast towns, by the influence of the Europeanised 
 native lawyers. To these may perhaps be added ia some dis- 
 tricts the influence of Mohamedans. In the larger cities of 
 the coast the conception of individual ownership in land, 
 with the right to sell, mortgage, and bequeath it, has thus 
 become fully recognised, while in the interior the idea has 
 become more and more prevalent.^ 
 
 On the other hand, the conception has no doubt also arisen 
 from natural processes, where the density of the population 
 in and around the native cities gave to the land an economic 
 value for residence or for its produce.^ Even among some 
 very primitive tribes the principle of private ownership seems 
 to be recognised, for there is evidence of land having been 
 sold or rent charged for its use, even where pressure of popu- 
 lation was not the cause. ^ 
 
 The conception of individual ownership is promoted by 
 the cultivation of permanent crops which take long to mature, 
 such as cocoa, rubber, &c.* It is remarkable with what 
 tenacity the native miud holds to the idea of private owner- 
 ship, or at least of the absolute right to tenure in perpetuity. 
 It was difiicult in Lagos to dispose of Crown land to natives 
 on any terminable lease, however favourable its terms. 
 
 There are considerable areas in Africa under the domina- 
 tion of nomadic tribes — such as the Masai of British East 
 
 1 Mr Dennett states that to alienate land by sale, formerly held to be a crime 
 among the Egbas, is now becoming a custom. A deputation of natives urged on 
 the Alake the view that land is not inalienable, but the private property of the 
 occupier. — 'African Society's Journal,' and 'Morning Post,' 14th March 1910. 
 
 ^ There is evidence in the Blue-book (5103) that this stage had been reached in 
 various parts of Northern Nigeria — especially in and around the cities of Sokoto, 
 Eano, and Zaria. 
 
 ' Mr Cardinal tells us that in the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast the 
 "Tindana" — the priest of the earth-god — and not the secular chief, owns and 
 disposes of the land. The person who first reclaimed a piece of land ' ' becomes 
 the owner for all time. ... It is private property, much as we know it in our 
 own country," and he derives his title from "the caretaker or agent of the earth- 
 god the Tindana." — ' The Natives of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast.' 
 
 * Speaking of the spread of the cocoa industry in Ashanti, Sir H. Belfield 
 writes : " The necessity for creating a form of land tenure in the nature of 
 individual ownership is therefore becoming apparent. . . . The people will have 
 to admit into their system of land tenure an exclusive right to land, which has 
 only been recognised up to the present time in the case of concessions to Euro- 
 peans." — Report, para. 51. 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF AFRICAN LAND TENURE. 287 
 
 Africa — ^who have established grazing rights for their cattle, 
 but otherwise claim no rights of user in the land. The desire 
 of the agricultural tribes for land is replaced among these 
 nomadic pastorals by the desire for ownership of cattle. In 
 other regions — such as Bornu in Nigeria — ^the poverty of the 
 soil, and the migratory habits of the people, lead to the 
 frequent transfer of villages from one site to another, and 
 consequently to a similar absence of any rigid system of land 
 tenure. Elsewhere we find wandering tribes of pastorals 
 traversing the lands occupied by the settled tribes, who 
 accord to them rights of grazing for their cattle — as the 
 Fulani and Shuwas in Nigeria. Some of these tribes do possess 
 a small amount of cultivated land — ^witness the Ol-moruo of 
 the Masai. These are usually cultivated by a helot race of 
 serfs, who have no rights in the usufruct. 
 
 It is not easy to focus into a paragraph a general con- 
 ception of African land tenure. The general principles would 
 seem to be that the assignment of land to the individual is 
 entrusted to tribal or famUy authorities, who, however, have 
 no claim to ownership in it themselves ; that every individual 
 has a right to a share of the use of the land, and holds it in 
 perpetuity, subject to the performance of tribal obligations, 
 but may not alienate it ; that these principles are held more 
 tenaciously by the forest tribes than by those farther north, 
 where, in some cases, it is the representative of the earth- 
 god who assigns the land, in others an individual chief, while 
 pastoral nomads are indifferent to questions of land ownership 
 and value grazing rights only. The forest tribes jealously 
 maintain that all unoccupied land belongs to some community 
 or other, while the northern tribes are less insistent on such 
 claims. All aUke recognise the right of the conqueror to dis- 
 pose of the land. The inevitable tendency to individual owner- 
 ship is meanwhile constantly asserting itself, with the evolu- 
 tion of the tribe, and is fostered by pressure of population, 
 by foreign example, and by the replacement of annual by 
 permanent crops. 
 
 We have seen that in the struggle for existence among the 
 aboriginal inhabitants of the African continent, the land — 
 upon the possession of which survival depended — feU to the 
 conqueror. The earlier Committee, deahng with Northern 
 Nigeria, based its conclusions on the assumption that the 
 whole of the protectorate was either conquered by British 
 
288 LAND TENTJKE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 arms, or had submitted to a threat of force, and that African 
 peoples — whether Moslem or pagan — ^recognised that aU land 
 is at the disposal of the conqueror. They accordingly assert 
 that " the whole of the land, whether occupied or unoccupied, 
 is subject to the control of the Government, and that no title 
 to the occupation, use, or enjoyment of any land is valid 
 without the consent of the Government." ^ A word of com- 
 ment on this general assumption, which as they say forms the 
 basis of the report, is desirable. 
 
 It has been laid down as "a principle from which no 
 civilised Government would think of departing, that in 
 countries acquired by conquest or cession, private property, 
 whether of individuals or commimities, existing at the time 
 of the cession or conquest, is respected." A large part of 
 Northern Nigeria had never been conquered by the Fxilani, 
 and was unconquered until it submitted to the British. In 
 that portion therefore — even though the people admitted our 
 right to deal with their lands and their lives as we should 
 see fit — ^we are, as a civilised nation, precluded from assuniing 
 such " dominion and control " over the land as would inter- 
 fere with the communal or private rights of the conquered 
 people." 
 
 In the other portion the British conquered the dominant 
 race, which was Moslem, and as such recognised the Mahki 
 law of Islam.^ But these conquerors, as the Committee re- 
 
 1 Cd. 5102, paragraphs 20, 32, and 72. 
 
 ^ See also judgment of Privy Council in the Oluwa land case, July 1921. 
 
 ^ A very interesting document, called the Ta'Umu' Radthi (land law) of the 
 Sokoto Empire, by Mallam Abdulahi, brother of Dan Fodio, whose Jihad led to 
 the Fulani conquest, has recently been discovered. It probably describee what, 
 in the view of the writer, the land tenure should be under Moslem rule, rather 
 than what it ultimately became, owing to the influence of existing customs. 
 Land assigned by the Imam (he says) is private property, and can be given away 
 or bequeathed, but the Imam cannot assign ownership of cultivated land cap- 
 tured in war, or ceded by treaty, even though held by unbelievers. Such lands 
 are Wakf or public lands, and only the user of them can be granted. He can 
 assign ownership of deserted lands, but lands still in cultivation by the ancient 
 inhabitants " belong to them and to no one else." 
 
 The Maliki law lays down that all conquered lands under cultivation become 
 Wakf, and cannot be sold or inherited. They are assigned to Moslems or con- 
 verted owners. Neither the ruler nor the occupier has the power to dispose of 
 the land itself. Rents are paid to public revenue. Land not under cultivation, 
 including cities, may be assigned by the ruler to whom he pleases. A part may 
 be set aside as " public lands" for the public good, if there is a clear need of 
 them, if their area is small, and if they are absolutely waste. — Guxton's ' Maliki 
 Law,' pp. 78, 79, and 254. 
 
 In the Mohamedan Protectorate of Zanzibar, lands are either Wakf or freehold. 
 Most of the latter are mortgaged to Indian traders, and the Arab owners are 
 
CLAIMS BY EIGHT OP CONQTJEST. 289 
 
 cords,^ are believed to have adopted to a large extent the 
 pre-existing system of native law, including that of land 
 tenure, "which we may assume was based on the general prin- 
 ciples I have described as being common to this part of Africa. 
 Thus the rents receivable under Koranic law from Wakf 
 (cultivated) lands were not demanded, being contrary to native 
 custom, and a tribute tax based on the usufruct was sub- 
 stituted. The occupiers — ^who professed Islam — ^were con- 
 firmed in their holdings. 
 
 There is one other principle in deahng with conquered lands 
 to which there can be no dissent. It is that, whatever may be 
 the intention of the conqueror in regard to the land, it must 
 be declared as soon as possible after the conquest is com- 
 pleted. ^ The Government of Northern Nigeria recognised 
 this obligation.* Each Emir on appointment or reinstatement, 
 received a letter which was publicly read, stating clearly that 
 whatever rights in the land had belonged to the Fulani would 
 now inuxe to the Government — ^rights which may be said to 
 follow as a matter of course on the right to depose or appoint 
 chiefs. No attempt at that time was made to define those 
 rights, for we had not the necessary information, and it 
 requires careful study to discriminate between the rights 
 claimed by native conquerors over the inhabitants, as dis- 
 tinguished from rights over land. This was followed as soon 
 as possible by an Ordinance, under which the Government 
 claimed the right to dispose of tmoccupied lands, and lands 
 which were the property of conquered or deposed rulers, 
 which were called " public lands." For these the Govern- 
 ment became trustee. The immediate control of occupied 
 lands was not interfered with, and remained in the hands of 
 the native rulers, and no rent was demanded from the owners 
 or occupiers. 
 
 The Government at the same time claimed ownership of 
 certain lands, which had been acquired in perpetuity for 
 specified public purposes (administrative sites, &c.), iaclud- 
 ing lands leased to non-natives, or obtained on payment 
 through the Niger Company. Acquisition by Government 
 had been effected by voluntary cession, any occupier being 
 
 in a dependent position. — Report for 1914, Cd. 7622, 1915. The Government 
 claims ownership of all waste lands. — Government Notice, ' Gazette,' 15th June 
 1907. 
 
 1 Cd. 5102, paragraphs 3 and 4. ^ Belfield's Report, paragraph 47. 
 
 ' Cd. 5102, paragraph 17. 
 
290 LAND TENURE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 free to take up land elsewhere (of which there was abund- 
 ance), but for the most part the sites occupied were on waste 
 lands. It was recognised that compensation in the form of 
 alternative land should be made. These were called " Crown 
 lands." The assumption of the right to dispose of waste 
 land and unoccupied lands was not in conflict with the theory 
 that all land has an owner, since, as I have shown, there were 
 derelict lands in JSTorthern Nigeria. 
 
 It would perhaps have hardly been worth while to devote 
 so much space to the rights (and the limitations to them) 
 resulting from conquest, and the course adopted in Mgeria, 
 were it not that the question may again come into view in 
 regard to the Mandated territories acquired by conquest 
 from Germany. The facts seem to have been misunderstood, 
 and acting on these two hypotheses — viz., that they were 
 dealing with conquered lands, and that the control and dis- 
 posal of such lands passes to the conqueror — the Committee 
 recorded its conclusion that " the fundamental basis on which 
 the law should rest are (1) that the whole of the land is 
 subject to Government, and (2) that that control must be 
 exercised as far as possible in accordance with native cus- 
 toms." ^ The adoption of these priaciples, they add, " seems 
 to exclude the EngUsh conception of private ownership of 
 land, or of any fixity of annual payment on account of the 
 occupation of land." The Committee would impose a " special 
 contribution on the occupiers of land, which would rather be 
 in the nature of a rent than a tax on agricultural profits," 
 and this rent should increase automatically in order to secure 
 to the Government the expanding values of land due to the 
 increase of wealth.^ " It would, in fact, be the economic 
 rent." ^ 
 
 1 Cd. 5102, paragraphs 16, 20, 32. 2 ib;j^ paragraphs 45, 46. 
 
 ' Ibid. , paragraph 45. What Sir T. Morison calls the ' ' economic doctrine " is, 
 I understand, " the claim of the State to the unearned increase in the rent of 
 laud, or a great part of that increase," due to improvements made by the State 
 or by the community, as apart from those made by the occupier. " Since land is 
 the free gift of nature . . . the economic doctrine would seem to require that all 
 lands should become the property of the State." — (Morison, ' Industrial Organiza- 
 tion of an Indian Village,' p. 19.) See also Whittaker, 'Ownership, Tenure, and 
 Taxation of Land,' p. xxi. 
 
 Sir P. Girouard (my successor, and at that time Governor of Northern 
 Nigeria) declared himself whole-heartedly in accord with the principles laid 
 down by the Committee, which he construed as a declaration of the nationalisa- 
 tion of the land (Cd. 5102, p. xxvii.) In printed instructions to his staflE he 
 subsequently explained that land is "nationalised" when the economic rent 
 
IS GOVERNMENT TRUSTEE OR OWNER ? 291 
 
 The Committee suggest that if it is impracticable to charge 
 this rent by legislative methods, it should be imposed " ad- 
 ministratively " — a course which the Attorney-General re- 
 ported as contrary to the native revenue ordinance.^ The 
 Conmiittee, however, admits that " an economic rent has not 
 yet emerged, and forms no part of the indigenous system of 
 taxation." * Its imposition would therefore be contrary to 
 native customary law, and would thus violate one of the 
 " fundamental bases." It had never been introduced by the 
 Moslem conquerors, and, as we have seen, when an attempt 
 was made to apportion the general tax in relation to the 
 land in occupation, the result was that about half the valu- 
 able rice land in Sokoto went out of cultivation. The existing 
 tax on the produce of land is in accordance with native law, 
 but to exact a rental is to create " the new and strange 
 idea of property in the land itseU " — which the Committee 
 condemns, — ^for the native not unnaturally considers that the 
 person who claims the right to receive rentals is the owner 
 of the land, and Government becomes the owner and not the 
 trustee. Colour was lent to this view by the opinion of the 
 Committee that any distinction between " Crown lands," 
 in which the Government claimed ownership by purchase, &c., 
 and the rest of the land over which it claimed control, was 
 " unnecessary and may be misleading," and " superfluous." ^ 
 The Ordinance, which was drafted in England in accord- 
 is paid to the State, and not to an individual. " Proprietary rights will be 
 created whenever an individual pays for the use of land to another individual, and 
 not to the State. " " There is therefore a necessity of separating the agriculturist 
 and his land-revenue from taxes on all other walks in life. " " Where economic 
 rent has emerged it should be added to the amount assessed as an income tax." 
 Lord Elgin defined the share of Government " in the unearned increment in the 
 value of land " as being " that portion of its value which is due to the growth 
 around it of an organised economic and political system." — Cd. 4117/1908, p. 30. 
 These extracts appear to embody the theory of ' ' Economic Rent. " 
 
 The school of political economists who hold the view that the State alone 
 should have any rights in land, appear to be ready to admit the indefeasible title 
 conferred by conquest and spoliation, while denying the rights acquired by user, 
 improvement and reclamation, or by purchase as the result of success in other 
 forms of industry. 
 
 1 Report, Cd. 5102, paragraphs 28, 29. 
 
 ^ Ibid. , paragraph 46. Sir P. Girouard observes that " to attempt to assess 
 an economic rent for lands that have not yet acquired a market value is impos- 
 sible. This course would not be practicable in the case of natives, and would be 
 opposed to their native law and custom in the Mohamedan States at any rate." 
 "The native system is based on profits made out of the land." — Ibid., p. xxix. 
 and 48. 
 
 ' Ibid. , paragraphs 23 and 27. 
 
292 LAND TENURE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 ance with the Committee's recommendations, evoked some 
 criticism. The people of Southern Nigeria and the Gold 
 Coast, as I said in the last chapter, were much perturbed at 
 the inference in the terms of reference of the second Com- 
 mittee lest it should be applied to them, and they organised 
 deputations to England to protest. It is worth while, there- 
 fore, to recapitulate briefly the grounds of this criticism and 
 apprehension. 
 
 The law enacted that no title to occupation should be 
 valid without the Governor's consent, and he was precluded 
 from granting a right of occupancy except on rental, revisable 
 septennially. This gave rise to the criticism that to turn 
 an occupier who under native law holds his land rent-free in 
 perpetuity " into a rent-paying, short-term lessee on a pre- 
 carious tenure is bluntly confiscation," and both inexpedient 
 and unjust.^ Since, however, it was obviously impossible 
 to issue certificates to millions of native occupiers, with no 
 adequate staff or survey, the Colonial Office explained that 
 native holders might continue to be dealt with by their 
 rulers, acting in theory as delegates of the Governor. In the 
 result, therefore, no certiflcates (without which rent is not 
 chargeable) were issued, and the law remained a dead letter 
 so far as native occupiers are concerned. They were im- 
 aware that it had declared their titles to be invalid, unless 
 granted under a certificate by the Governor. 
 
 The native apprehension in the coast colonies was centred 
 on the question of ownership. They could not understand 
 how the lands could be described as " native lands," of which 
 the Governor was trustee, if no occupier had a valid title 
 without his consent, or that of his delegate, for a limited 
 time, on a rental. Ownership they considered was transferred 
 to Government by such an assertion. The Crown could no 
 doubt claim ownership by right of conquest — as appears from 
 the judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 
 in the Ehodesian Lands case (see pp. 343-4) — ^in respect of ter- 
 ritory actually conquered, but since the preamble of the 
 Ordinance appeared to repudiate this claim, and recited that 
 its object was to assure to the natives their customary rights 
 in the land, and since the terms of reference suggested similar 
 legislation in the south, the people there feared lest the Govern- 
 ment should claim the same powers in respect of their lands. 
 
 1 Sir W. Geary, ' African Society Journal,' April 1913, p. 245. 
 
ACTUAL PRACTICE IN NOETHEEN NIGERIA. 293 
 
 The Ordinance has been amended in some respects, and in 
 practice at any rate no interference with native occupation 
 or title, or the right of the chiefs to dispose of the land to 
 persons under their rule, and no attempt to impose a rent, 
 has been made. An occupier if expropriated (unless for fault) 
 is compensated. On the other hand, the original claim of 
 Government to dispose of waste lands has been maintained, 
 and the alienation of land by the chiefs to non-natives has 
 been prevented. This right I imagine woidd not be disputed 
 by the advocates of native rights. The native of the Gold 
 Coast or Southern Nigeria would however assert, first, that 
 his land was not conquered territory, and secondly, that 
 there were no waste lands. The Aborigines' Protection 
 Society contends that " where lands are beneficially occupied 
 by natives they should not be dispossessed." ^ " We want," 
 says Colonel Wedgwood, " an independent people on their 
 own land, whether held individually or communally." * Up 
 to the time when I left Northern Nigeria in 1906, the ques- 
 tion of land tenure was not so pressing as other urgent matters, 
 and I had myself been inclined to favour a land-rent, but I 
 speedily changed my opinion, on grounds both of equity and 
 expediency, when on my return to Nigeria in 1912 I made a 
 closer study of the subject. 
 
 The object in view — ^namely, that the system of taxation 
 shall be such that " the Government revenues will partake 
 automatically in any increase in the general wealth " ' — is 
 equally ensured by the income tax described in the last 
 chapter, in a manner, as it appears to me,, the most effective 
 possible, without violating one of the most fundamental of 
 native prejudices. For the native pays in proportion to his 
 wealth, whether it arises from the expanding values of land 
 or otherwise. The cardinal principles of native law are not 
 infringed, for the occupiers' tenure is a holding in perpetuity, 
 subject to the payment of a portion of the usufruct, but not 
 of rent for the land itself. The vahdity of his right is not 
 dependent on the issue of a licence to occupy. On the other 
 hand, the right of the ruler to revoke it for good cause, or to 
 appropriate it if need be in exchange for land elsewhere, is 
 not questioned. 
 
 1 Sir S. Olivier, May 1920. 
 
 2 Debate on Colonial Office vote, August 1919. 
 ^ Report, loc. cit,, paragraph 45. 
 
294 LAND TENURE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 It is inevitable that the examination of the land law of 
 Northern Nigeria, which has been claimed by some as a model 
 ordinance, should be somewhat technical and detailed. I 
 make no apology, therefore, for a brief summary of the points 
 of criticism. The Committee assumed that the whole of the 
 lands of Northern Nigeria were conquered lands, and appa- 
 rently ignoring rights which conquest does not annul, enacted 
 that no title (including those of existing occupiers) was valid 
 without the consent of the Governor, whose consent was to 
 be granted in the form of a " certificate of occupation," 
 which imposed a rent, revisable septennially. This naturally 
 gave rise to fears in Southern Nigeria that the Government 
 claimed ownership of aU lands. Subsequent alteration of the 
 law and practice has maintained the right of native occupiers 
 to the lands they occupy, and the right of native rulers to 
 assign lands to natives in their jurisdiction, without any 
 certificate of occupation. Compensation for eviction by 
 Government (save for " good cause ") is given, and not 
 merely for unexhausted improvements. No land-rent is 
 demanded, as being contrary to native custom. 
 
 As land acquires an economic value, there is no doubt a 
 natural tendency towards its accumulation in the hands of 
 the wealthier classes, with the consequent creation of a land- 
 less peasantry. It has been the beneficent policy of British 
 Governments in India and other dependencies to counteract 
 this tendency to the best of their power, and to encourage 
 the class of peasant proprietors. In conquered countries, 
 where Government has claimed the control of the land, it 
 would seem that that control cannot be better justified, or 
 exerted with greater benefit to the people, than by imposing 
 such restrictions on the transfer of lands as may preserve 
 an ignorant peasantry from the consequences of its own 
 improvidence. Mr Ehodes shared this view, and was an 
 ardent believer in the efficacy of individual small holdings 
 as an aid to self-respect. I shall discuss his scheme in the 
 next chapter. 
 
 The restriction on alienation matters Uttle, I think, to 
 the African cultivator, provided he enjoys fixity of tenure 
 in perpetuity. This indeed is " ownership " in the native 
 sense of the term. I believe that there is nothing which 
 can so effectively tend to eradicate the servile habit of mind 
 in a people who have for generations been accustomed to 
 
ADVANTAGE OF PEASANT HOLDINGS. 295 
 
 regard themselves as slaves or serfs, as the sense of respon- 
 sibility of the free occupier of the land. Emancipation of 
 the body is a lesser benefit than emancipation of the spirit. 
 It is not enough to set a man free from his legal status as a 
 slave unless he learns his responsibilities as a citizen. That 
 has been our aim in Mgeria.^ 
 
 The labourer who works on land which is not his own, 
 whether as the serf, or even as the paid servant of an estate 
 owner, or as a imit in a communal estate, has little interest 
 in its improvement during, and none beyond his own life- 
 time. And so we find in Africa, " the oldest of the con- 
 tinents," no permanent irrigation works, such as those which 
 terrace every hillside in Afghanistan, India, and China.^ 
 The African plants few trees, and is careless of the produc- 
 tivity of the soil. Individual proprietorship is no doubt 
 inimical to the supply of wage labour for large estates, but 
 it makes for individual progress, thrift, and character. It 
 is the strongest inducement to good farming, and politically 
 an asset to the Government, to which the peasant owes the 
 security of his holding. The French verdict is the same. 
 " The system of individual ownership is incontestably the 
 one which is most favourable to production." ^ 
 
 A policy of encouraging small peasant proprietors is not 
 inconsistent with the recognition of the value of a limited 
 number of larger estates employing paid labour. These, if 
 held by local natives, as is still the case in the Sokoto and 
 Yola provinces of Nigeria, add to the prestige and influence 
 of the ruling classes, and promote their desire for peaceful 
 progress, since they have " a stake in the country," and 
 they bring these classes into closer touch with the peasantry. 
 Paid labour is, however, difficult to procure as long as there 
 is abundant land for the asking. (See chapter on labour.) 
 
 Plantations of limited area, owned by Europeans, are use- 
 ful as object-lessons in improved methods. On the other 
 
 1 A Senior Resident writes : " At the present time (1917) the whole Hausa 
 country is covered with holdings ranging from one to four acres, cultivated by 
 one man and his children and servants or slaves. That man may be an Emir, a 
 Hausa, or a Fulani." Very many others bear similar witness to the result of 
 British policy. "The country is covered with small holders — there are no 
 estates now." 
 
 2 In West Africa water is led on to small plots where intensive cultivation 
 is practised, but there is no extensive system. In East Africa irrigation is 
 practised to a small extent. See note 2, p. .518. 
 
 » Colonial Budget Report, 1910, No. 375, p. 91. 
 
296 LAND TENXJEE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 hand, the native land speculator, who is a trader or money- 
 lender, and acquires an estate of which he is an absentee 
 landlord, is an evil to the country. The late Mr Farquharson 
 (of the Nigerian Agricultural Department) denounced him as 
 " a land-hog, whose aim it was to make rapid profits by 
 sweating native labour, and by grievous exploitation of the 
 soU, ' ' leaving the land exhausted and useless. Mr Farquharson 
 looked forward to the time when the alien native landholder 
 should be compelled, like the small crofter in Scotland, to 
 apply a certain minimum of tillage and manure to his holding. 
 
 The first and most important step to preserve the peasant 
 proprietor is the prohibition of the sale or transfer of land, 
 without the consent of the Governor, to any person, European 
 or other, who is not subject to the local native jurisdiction. 
 The sale of permanent improvements appurtenant to the 
 land, and iavolving a transfer of the user — ^which is for prac- 
 tical purposes indisttaguishable from a transfer of the land 
 itself — ^would have the same effect in converting the free 
 peasant proprietor into a wage-earner on the estate of another. 
 Wherever possible, it should, I think, be the duty of Govern- 
 ment to withhold from the native chiefs the power of allow- 
 ing such sales to persons not subject to their jurisdiction, 
 and to enact that mortgages and sales of permanent improve- 
 ments to such persons should have no legal recognition. The 
 recovery of advances on crops would be limited to the result 
 of the harvest, and no claim to the trees or to the land would 
 be recognised. Eecovery of debt should, moreover, be re- 
 stricted, so as to leave sufficient for the bare necessities of 
 life and seed for the comtug year. I shall presently discuss 
 the question further in cases where Government cannot exert 
 these restrictions. 
 
 In brief, while peasant occupation is the best as a general 
 rule, the ownership, even in regions where white settlement 
 is not possible, of estates of limited area by Europeans for 
 the cultivation of new or improved products is most valuable, 
 but estates owned by absentee native landlords engaged in 
 trade or usury is inimical to the interests and productivity 
 of the country. 
 
 Transfers of land between natives subject to the local 
 native jurisdiction can best be controlled by the native 
 authority, which is the natural guardian of native custom, 
 under the watchful scrutiny of the Eesident. In Northern 
 
ACQUISITION OF LAND IN CONTROLLED COTJNTEIES. 297 
 
 Nigeria the regulations are that there is no restriction on sale, 
 transfer, or bequest to a blood relation. The consent of the 
 district headman is necessary for transfer to a non-related 
 native of the same district, and the additional approval of 
 the Eesident is required for transfer to a native non-resident 
 in the district. An appeal is allowed, and transfers must be 
 registered by the native court. In order to add to the 
 security of the peasant holder, all transfers should be so 
 registered ; and as native administrations become more efiBL- 
 cient, and a rough survey by native ofilcials becomes possible, 
 the head chief should be encouraged to keep a Domesday 
 Book with a record of all holdings. 
 
 The right of the State to acquire land for necessary public 
 purposes — e.g., administrative sites, railways, &c. — ^is recog- 
 nised by all Governments. In conquered countries where 
 Government controls the land — ^viz., acts as trustee for its 
 use — ^it seems reasonable that this power should include the 
 acquisition and disposal of all land over which the Govern- 
 ment considers it necessary iu the interests of the people 
 that it should exercise direct control — ^namely, over aU lands 
 occupied by persons not subject to the jurisdiction of the 
 native rulers. The Government would assume the responsi- 
 bility of deciding whether, and to what extent, an applica- 
 tion for land by an aUen, engaged in the development of 
 the country or in mission work, was reasonable and justified 
 iu the public interest. In any important decision of this 
 nature the Secretary of State exercises a controlling decision. 
 
 The land required might, for iastance, have been used for 
 generations by a family for low-grade cultivation or as grazing 
 land, and have become valuable because of its proximity to 
 a railway station built at the cost of public funds. Its appro- 
 priation by Government, with a view to securing a good 
 rental from a non-native — ^to be applied in diminution of 
 taxation or for development works — ^is imdoubtedly in the 
 general interest of the natives. In the case cited the native 
 occupier would, under the Northern Mgeria Lands Com- 
 mittee's proposals, receive no compensation, siace there were 
 no improvements ; but it seems equitable that he should be 
 compensated for disturbance, and provided with equivalent 
 land elsewhere. 
 
 Thus in regions where the Government exercises control 
 over the land, it would become the landlord of all aliens. 
 
298 LAND TENURE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 and the conception of landlord and tenant would not be 
 prematurely introduced into the native system of land tenure. 
 Moreover, where land is rapidly increasing in value, and it 
 is considered advisable to institute periodical revisions of 
 rent, these can best be fixed by Government, and should 
 accrue to the State, to whose action the increasing value 
 is generally due. 
 
 The maximum acreage for the various types of lease — 
 residential, agricultural, grazing, &o. — are laid down by 
 ordinance or regulation, and wiU be discussed in the next 
 chapter. No freehold grants are made. Leases to Europeans 
 inside a native city are to be deprecated, and the grant of 
 large blocks of land to " concessionaires," unless uninhabited, 
 is altogether opposed to the principle of trusteeship. The 
 peasantry on their part, by the advent of the railway and the 
 traders who follow it (and require sites), obtain prices hitherto 
 undreamt of for their produce, and they can buy European 
 goods at cheap rates. ^ They derive a direct advantage, 
 while the Government, by leasing sites to traders, puts the 
 land to its most remunerative use, and adds to the funds 
 which make further railway extension possible. 
 
 Before passing to the consideration of the conditions apply- 
 ing to land in countries in which the Government does not 
 claim the rights of conquest, a few remarks regarding the 
 native method of using the land will, I think, not be out of 
 place. The general characteristics of the low-lying equatorial 
 zone (though there are curious exceptions) are heavy rainfall, 
 luxuriant vegetation (including belts of forest), a soil enriched 
 by decayed vegetable matter, and a climate unsuited to 
 live-stock. North of this zone the rainfall is often very 
 meagre, the soU light and devoid of humus. Annual fires 
 sweep over the prairie grass ia the dry season, and cattle 
 and other live-stock are plentiful. 
 
 Where the density of the population had limited the land 
 available for each cultivator, the agriculturist in the dry 
 zone has learnt that it can be rendered more productive by 
 manure from his live-stock ; but even with this resource he 
 must leave a certain portion fallow, in order that the exhausted 
 soil may recover. In the equatorial zone the cultivator finds 
 that the soU, at first most productive, rapidly deteriorates, 
 
 1 When the railway reached Kano (in Nigeria) ground nuta were sold at 
 £3, 10a. a ton. They later fetched £40 to £45. 
 
SHIFTING CULTIVATION." 299 
 
 and he too has recourse to the expedient of leaving it fallow 
 for varying periods. But lying close to hand are areas of 
 virgin soil covered with forest. This he reclaims by ring- 
 barking the trees — which remain like gaunt skeletons — and 
 clearing and burning the undergrowth on the spot. Thus 
 each year the valuable evergreen forest disappears, never to 
 reappear, and is replaced by secondary deciduous forest, and 
 if the process is repeated the forest is eventually replaced 
 by grass, liable to frequent fires. Forests serve as a reservoir 
 which feeds the head- waters of streams, and with their destruc- 
 tion the torrential rains carry away the surface soil, and 
 deposit sand and debris on the plains, thus rendering them 
 unfit for cultivation, while the rivers cease to be navigable. 
 The rainfall decreases.^ 
 
 Mr Thompson, Director of Forests in Mgeria, and a very 
 high authority, estimates that by this process — ^known as 
 " shifting cultivation " — ^the acreage of land taken up for 
 cultivation is from five to nine times in excess of the require- 
 ments of the cultivator under a less wasteful system. Shift- 
 ing cultivation, he says, is not tolerated in any but the wildest 
 and most uncivilised parts of the world, and even there it is 
 restricted. In India it is not recognised as a right. The 
 checks on the increase of population under savage conditions 
 — war, pestilence, and famine — are alone responsible for pre- 
 serving such forests as remain in large areas of tropical 
 Africa. 
 
 The essential necessity of conserving the forest wealth of 
 the country compels the iatroduction of better methods, but 
 these are not learnt in a day. Where Government controls 
 the land, it may be argued that the imposition of rentals 
 would operate to restrict the wasteful use of land. But 
 restriction can be equally well secured and forests protected 
 by the agency of the native rulers, and by the operation of 
 the tax levied on the produce of the land if cultivated to an 
 average standard, without incurring the additional opposi- 
 tion which land rentals would cause. The problem as it 
 affects uncontrolled lands belongs to a later paragraph. 
 
 The question of the assignment to the village of its proper 
 proportion of uncultivated land — ^for grazing, fuel, &c. — is 
 one which in many localities requires constant supervision, 
 
 ' See Mr Thompson's report on Forest questions in the Gold Coast, Cd. 4993, 
 1908, and pp. 526-9 infra. 
 
300 LAND TENUB.B AND TRANSFER. 
 
 owing to the migratory habits of the people, and the rapid 
 increase or decrease in the population of the villages. This 
 is a matter for adjustment by the niUng chief, subject to the 
 supervision of the executive staff. The larger question of 
 the augmentation of the area held by a tribe, or by an ad- 
 vanced community, whose increasing population has caused 
 acute land hunger, while perhaps a neighbouring tribe has 
 so decreased in nimibers that its lands are in excess of its 
 needs, is one for the Government to deal with. Several such 
 cases have occurred in my own experience. K the facts are 
 established a transfer of land must be made, but in my 
 opinion, in no case — ^whether the country is conquered territory 
 or not — should a rental be demanded from the community 
 which receives the additional land. In days not distant it 
 would have seized the land, and would probably have exter- 
 minated its owners as well. The peaceful adjustment of such 
 economic claims, when proved to be well founded, is the 
 function of the suzerain Government. 
 
 The conclusions which it seems reasonable to deduce from 
 these considerations may be briefly summarised. When a 
 European Power succeeds to the domination hitherto wielded 
 by a native conquering race, the control of the land, in so 
 far as it was exercised by the latter, passes, if publicly claimed, 
 to the new suzerain, and should be exercised in accordance 
 with native law and custom. If the dominion was not vested 
 in a conquering race, the controlling Power should interfere 
 still less with customary law. Private and communal rights 
 must be respected. 
 
 In practice, therefore, the Government should not intervene 
 between the native rulers and the people under their juris- 
 diction as to the disposal of lands or the tenure upon which 
 they are held, except to advise, and to maintain justice. 
 Land rents should not be charged to natives, since Govern- 
 ment is the trustee for and not the owner of the land, and 
 rentals are opposed to native law. But the Government 
 should prohibit the transfer of lands to aliens, and reserve 
 to itself the right to grant leases to them, and to appropriate 
 the rentals to public revenue, paying full compensation. The 
 Goverimient may also develop, for the public good, lands 
 which are not in beneficial occupation, and not likely to be 
 required for such purpose. Lands which are beneficially 
 occupied may be appropriated for any public purpose, or for 
 
GOVEENMENT RIGHTS m CONQUERED LANDS. 301 
 
 lease to aliens, if justifled for the encouragement of trade or 
 mining, and in the interests of the pubUc revenue. Such 
 alienated land should be strictly limited in extent, and sub- 
 ject to provisos (which wiU be described in the next chapter) 
 to ensure its proper use and development. In such cases 
 the occupier must be fully compensated. Any such expro- 
 priation should be efEected through the native administration, 
 and imder the immediate authority of the native ruler. 
 
 The exercise by the native authority of his control of the 
 land should be supervised and guided, equally with his other 
 executive acts, by the British staff, and there should be an 
 appeal to the Resident. The guidance of the British staff 
 should be directed towards the encouragement of small hold- 
 ings, and their preservation against absorption in large estates, 
 or alienation for debt ; to the utilisation of the land to the 
 best advantage by permanent improvements ; and to the 
 curtailing of shifting cultivation. It is their duty to see 
 that the revocation of any holder's right of occupation is 
 justified by native law, and they report to the Governor 
 whether any application for land by a non-native can be 
 granted without injury to the rights of the natives. 
 
 When the pressure of population in any district has resulted 
 in enhancing the value of land, it is expedient that holdings 
 should be roughly surveyed by natives trained, paid, and 
 controlled by the native administration, and records kept 
 by it. 
 
 These principles appear to me to be in accord with the 
 system of ruHng through the native chiefs on the one hand, 
 and with those general bases of taxation which are not re- 
 pugnant to native custom on the other hand. A system of 
 land rentals, leases, and licences to native occupiers, and of 
 the expropriation of holders without compensation except for 
 their own improvements, appears to me not only incompatible 
 with the principle of ruling through the chiefs, and the system 
 of taxation recognised by the people, but also to violate the 
 cardinal tenets of native customary law. 
 
 It seems preferable that the natural evolution of land 
 tenure should not be arbitrarily interfered with, either on 
 the one hand by introducing foreign principles and theories 
 not understood by the people, or, on the other hand, by 
 stereotyping by legislation primitive systems which are in 
 a transitional state. Each advance should be duly sanctioned 
 
302 LAND TENtJKE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 by native law and custom, and prompted by the necessities 
 of changing circumstances. Such a policy of patient progress 
 is best adapted to the country. Tribal tenure at one end of 
 the scale has its defects, in that it provides no check on the 
 wasteful use of land, by allowiug large areas to Lie fallow, 
 while valuable forests are destroyed in the search for virgin 
 soil, and in that it checks individual enterprise and industryg 
 Unrestricted freehold tenure at the opposite extreme has its 
 failing, in that there is no check on the mortgage or sale of 
 his land by the peasant holder who is likely to become a 
 tenant or serf on the lands he once owned. The owner of 
 freehold land, moreover, obtains without any effort on his 
 part, any increase in the value of the land due to the ex- 
 penditure of public funds, or the industry of the community. 
 It is reasonable and just that the community as a whole — 
 viz., the State — should participate in these iucreased values 
 by periodical revision of rentals, or preferably by a graduated 
 iacome tax. 
 
303 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LAND TENURE AND TKANSFEE — {Continued). 
 
 Countries in whicli rights of conquest have not been claimed — Ignorance 
 of native law — Conditions in the Gold Coast — Definition of areas 
 under English law — The law applicable to remaining lands — Transfers 
 of land to non-natives — The executive, not the judiciary, should 
 deal with land cases — Duties of Government as trustee — Disposal of 
 rents of tribal lands —Government as landlord of aliens in im- 
 conquered countries — Need for fixity of tenure — Land held by 
 "strangers" — Modification of native law — Grants relating to the 
 produce of the land — Forest licences and leases — Communal planta- 
 tions — Leases of Crown lands to natives — Difierences in meaning of 
 terms — The problem in Eastern Africa — Acquisition of land by, and 
 status of British Indians — The Indian case — Obligations to native 
 races — The case of the British settler — Suggestions — Native reserves 
 — Divergent views as to policy — The interpenetration policy — 
 Management of reserves — The Glen Grey Act— Mr Rhodes' views — 
 Land tenure in East Africa — Conditions for settlers in Kenya — 
 Uganda — Nyasaland — Summary of conditions in East Africa — 
 Population in relation to land areas — Conclusions. 
 
 There remains to discuss the attitude of Government towards 
 the land in those territories where rights of conquest cannot 
 be claimed, or where the claim, though valid, was not set 
 up, and no declaration of policy was made. The latter seems 
 to have been the case after the conquests of Ashanti ^ and 
 Benin — ^the only two cases in West Africa (apart from Northern 
 Mgeria) in which native dynasties were overthrown ; " and 
 
 ^ " In Ashanti . . . had the lands of the country been proclaimed at the time 
 of conquest to be the property of the Crown, they would unquestionably have so 
 vested. . . . The claim to ownership was waived, and cannot now be asserted. " 
 — Belfield Report, paragraph 47. The Chief Commissioner is empowered to 
 take any lands required by Government, but only on payment of compensation 
 for improvements and disturbance. In the "Northern Territories" of the 
 Gold Coast the control of all lands by Government appears to be as absolute as 
 in Northern Nigeria. — (Cardinal, loo. cit). 
 
 ^ In Benin, consequent on the massacre of 1896, the Oba was deported and 
 Government assumed direct control. A few Crown leases were then issued, thus 
 showing that the Government of the day had adopted the view that Benin lands 
 
304 LAND TENXJEE ANB TRANSFER. 
 
 the same may be said as regards the various military expedi- 
 tions, such as that arising from the " hut-tax rebellion " in 
 Sierra Leone, the Jebu, and the Aro expeditions in Southern 
 Mgeria, and the many minor operations brought about by 
 murders and outrages, which the Government was compelled 
 to suppress by force of arms. In these, and in other cases in 
 which tribes submitted to a threat of force, no definite claim 
 to control the land was asserted. If there be any districts 
 in which a Government has by usage, sufferance, or otherwise 
 established a claim to control the land, or special privileges 
 in regard to the acquisition of land, its claim should be 
 publicly notified. 
 
 The absence of any definite and consistent policy in regard 
 to land in these dependencies seems to have arisen from 
 the failure to investigate the system of native tenure. The 
 legislatures, though desirous of giving due weight to native 
 custom, were not apparently familiar with it, and we find 
 that the various Ordinances relating to land are couched in 
 terms often quite inapplicable to native tenure, and the 
 leases and other instruments are often drawn on an EngUsh 
 model. The Chief Justices of the Supreme Courts have in 
 many judgments where particular issues of importance had 
 to be decided, shown much knowledge of the principles of 
 native land law — of which they were bound to take cognisance 
 — ^but as I have described in speaking of individual tenure, 
 the issues have become confused by the permeation of Eng- 
 lish conceptions of land tenure among the natives themselves, 
 so that it was often difficult to decide to what degree these 
 conceptions had influenced the grantors, and further difficulty 
 arose from the terms of the law which the judges had to 
 administer. 
 
 Thus during Mr Chamberlain's tenure of office, when the 
 first attempts to deal comprehensively with this question 
 of land tenure in the Crown colonies appear to have been 
 made, the Government of the Gold Coast introduced (in 
 
 (except of course those held in private ownership) had by right of conquest 
 become Crown lands. The restoration of the Oba in 1916 was made conditional 
 on the recognition of Government control over the land. In 1917 an agree- 
 ment was substituted, under which the Oba was left free to deal with the 
 land occupied by Benis, while rentals received for land leased to aliens and 
 "strangers" might, at the discretion of the Governor, be shared between the 
 protectorate and the native treasuries. Only one area, already leased as Crown 
 laud, was retained as such. 
 
CONDITIONS IN THE GOLD COAST. 306 
 
 1897) a Bill based on individiial ownership. It " aimed at 
 encouraging the native to settle permanently on cultivated 
 land by assuring to him the right of proprietorship therein, 
 if occupation is continuous. ... He may by occupation 
 secure a good title against any chief or any one else . . . 
 though forfeiture results from abandonment ; . . . a perma- 
 nent, hereditable, transferable right of proprietorship which 
 the Supreme Court will enforce." ^ The Bill was opposed on 
 the ground that it vested in the Crown powers over the land 
 which belonged to communities or individuals, and it was 
 not pressed. The alienation for ninety-nine years of tribal 
 lands, by chiefs and families, to Europeans for money pay- 
 ments, which had grown to be a scandal,'^ continued to be 
 recognised by the courts. 
 
 The object of the Gold Coast Ordinance as finally passed 
 in 1900 was to induce the vendors to bring the transaction 
 before the Court, that it might see that it was fair, and that 
 the rights of the natives to cultivation, &c., were protected. 
 It left the chiefs free to make their own bargains with the 
 purchasers, though the Court had power to modify the terms. 
 I do not propose to discuss this much-debated measure, which 
 was the subject of an exhaustive inquiry by Sir H. Belfield. 
 But it raises many important issues which are pertinent to 
 the subject under discussion. Sale of tribal lands had also 
 taken place in the Lagos hinterland, though not to the same 
 extent. 
 
 To the native mind, uninfluenced by foreign ideas, land 
 is an unsaleable thing. " We have power to dispose of the 
 land ; we cannot sell the land ; no chief can sell the land," 
 said a Lagos chief in evidence before the Supreme Court. ^ 
 If an alien requires land, whether he be a native stranger 
 who desires to cidtivate, or a European who desires to trade 
 or mine, the question to the native mind would be, whether 
 or not the stranger's presence is desirable and to the benefit 
 of the community. If it is, he is given land rent-free. He 
 
 J Cd. 5103, p. 23. 
 
 " Belfield Report, paragraph 35. It has been freely stated that the chiefs 
 had alienated an area in excess of the total area of the Colony — the inference 
 being that the whole was alienated, and many concessions overlapped. Sir H. 
 Belfield states that the total alienated was 899 sq. miles out of 24,300. There 
 were some 3000 sq. miles additional "under notice," but in the great majority 
 of cases no further action was contemplated (paragraphs 39-40). 
 
 ' Cd. 5103, p. 32. 
 
 TJ 
 
306 LAND TENUEE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 may or may not give a part of his profits or produce in return 
 for the favour conferred upon him. If he does, it has no 
 connection with the land, and is not in proportion to its area. 
 Similarly if the Government takes land for a recognised public 
 purpose, no payment would be demanded, but any person 
 dispossessed would obtain land elsewhere through the chiefs. 
 
 In all these dependencies, however, English law is largely 
 if not exclusively applied iq the big coast cities, and to a 
 varying degree beyond them. Ko doubt European conces- 
 sionaires, holding land devised to them in deeds drawn by 
 native barristers in English legal terms, understand that they 
 hold title under English law. Moslems and other native aliens 
 probably have their own ideas as to the tenure of their hold- 
 ings. And it seems clear that the grantors themselves have 
 only the vaguest conceptions as to the conditions of the 
 grants. How the courts — Abound by Ordinance to take cog- 
 nisance of native custom — can in these circumstances deter- 
 mine suits is to the layman a mystery. 
 
 The first and most urgent step woidd seem, therefore, to 
 be the determination by Ordinance of the area ia which 
 EngUsh land law applies. This might be limited in the first 
 instance to the iirban and suburban districts on the coast, 
 and fixed by the legislative councils of the respective colonies, 
 to be extended if need be by resolution of the council. Within 
 that area aU land titles would, of course, be registered. 
 
 Outside these districts it would seem to be desirable to 
 enforce registration (within a prescribed period) of aU hold- 
 ings not already registered, in which individual ownership is 
 claimed, whether by aliens or by natives. The remainder of 
 the land should be declared to be subject to native tribal 
 tenure and (except to Government for public purposes) alien- 
 able only in accordance with the principles of native law — 
 e.g., the freehold could not be granted. If at any time it were 
 desired to extend the application of English law to any trans- 
 fer of land in such areas, the consent of the Governor would 
 be required, in order to ensure that the grantor fully under- 
 stood the transaction. The conditions applicable to individual 
 ownership might be laid down by Ordinance in simple lan- 
 guage — viz., that the land can be sold or taken in execution, 
 &c. — with a correspondingly simple form of lease. A similar 
 form for tribal land alienated on leasehold might be added.^ 
 
 ' See the forms suggested by Sir H. Belfield, Report, paragraph 103. 
 
LAND TRANSFERS BY CHIEFS TO NON-NATIVES. 307 
 
 This procedure would not arrest natural evolution, or per- 
 petuate by legislation a system which is in course of develop- 
 ment, but it would ensure that native tenure could only be 
 modified to accord with changing circumstances, after due 
 consideration, and with the assent of the Government. It 
 would in no way interfere with the right of native owners 
 (subject to the conditions I am about to suggest) to dispose 
 of their lands, and to make their own bargains, and if so 
 desired, to include special terms in the lease.^ It would 
 ensure to the grantee the clean title he desires, and a clear 
 understanding of the law to which it is subject. It would, 
 I presume, considerably simplify the work of the courts. 
 
 Although in territories where no claim to the control of 
 the land has been set up. Government thus explicitly recog- 
 nises the right of the native owners to dispose of their lands 
 as they like ; no interference with native rights or customs 
 can be alleged if Government asserts its unquestioned juris- 
 diction over non-natives, and directs that they must obtain 
 its consent before acquiring land from a native, and its final 
 approval of the lease. It would seem desirable, in the interests 
 alike of the grantors and of the grantees, that this rule should 
 be enforced, and that registration should be obligatory within 
 a prescribed period. A notification to this efEect was issued 
 by the Gold Coast Goverimaent on 10th October 1895, and 
 appeared in the ' London Gazette ' and five leading London 
 papers.^ It has also been the law in Lagos since 1908, and 
 in Southern Mgeria since 1900. At the present time in 
 Mgeria an alien may be called upon by the court to prove 
 that he is in legal occupation, and may be evicted and fined 
 if he fails to do so. Not may he occupy land with the con- 
 sent of the native owner without acquiring it. 
 
 The Governor, before giving his consent, would see that 
 the lease was not in any way manifestly opposed to native 
 interests, and he could insert a clause making the possession 
 of the land dependent on its efficient development. 
 
 If a native cultivator sells or mortgages his permanent 
 
 ' The term " concession " is one of evil association. All grants should be 
 in the form of leases not exceeding ninety-nine years. 
 
 ^ It read as follows : " No document hereafter made, purporting to grant or 
 convey any rights over or interest in land, forests, or minerals, or monopoly 
 in economic products, save and except the right to occupy building land for the 
 erection of a native house, vrill be recognised in any way by the Government, 
 unless it shall bear the signature of the Qovemor, &c." 
 
308 LAND TENURE ANB TEANSFEE. 
 
 improvements — e.g., a plantation of cocoa-trees — to an alien 
 (which for practical purposes involves the transfer of the 
 land), the transaction should, as I have said, require the 
 assent of the Governor equally with a sale of the land, and 
 a definite period for the duration of the transaction shoidd 
 be fixed. If the purchaser or mortgager has the sole use of 
 the land, the right of the native ruler to demand a ground 
 rent should be recognised. 
 
 Having established this principle, the Government would 
 be able to assist the native chiefs in their dealings with 
 Europeans, by the advice of the District Officer. He would 
 see that there was no overlapping of leases, that the terms 
 proposed were understood, and that the bargain was equit- 
 able to the native owners. On the other hand, the Govern- 
 ment would be able to transfer to the executive the onus of 
 protecting the rights of the people against any improper 
 transactions by the chiefs or others in regard to land. 
 
 This task is by the Gold Coast Concessions Ordinance 
 thrown upon the judiciary. Sir H. Belfleld writes in this 
 connection : " It is undesirable that the work should be 
 entrusted to the judges, because they do not possess any 
 first-hand knowledge of the land with which they are dealing, 
 and because their decisions are not open to revision except ia 
 contested cases. I believe the work can be performed more 
 efficiently, more expeditiously, and more economically if 
 entrusted to executive officers." ^ 
 
 Disputes regarding land boundaries, not only of lands sold 
 or leased, but the ever-recurring inter-tribal quarrels regarding 
 land, can be dealt with more effectively by inquiry on the 
 spot by the District Officer than by the courts, and costly 
 litigation avoided. Boundaries once decided should be re- 
 corded by the native courts. In the southern provinces of 
 Nigeria these principles have long been in force, and recent 
 legislation has placed further restrictions on the intervention 
 of the Supreme Court in land cases. They are strongly advo- 
 cated by Sir H. Belfield, who describes the procedure at 
 great length.^ 
 
 ' Report, paragraph 86. See also paragraphs 67, 68, and 85. 
 
 ^ Report, paragraphs 84-106, &g. Application should, in the first instance, be 
 made to the District Officer, who makes all inquiries and advises the natives in 
 their interest. When the lease has received the Governor's approval, conditional 
 occupation may be allowed, pending survey. In order to avoid any conflict as to 
 title, the proposed grant should be notified in the ' Gazette.' Registration may 
 then be accepted as a guarantee of title. 
 
EESPONSIBILITT OF THE SUZERAIN POWER. 309 
 
 If recourse to the courts is necessary the case is heard in 
 the Provincial Court (in which legal practitioners are not 
 heard). Its judgments are reviewed and confirmed by the 
 Chief Justice, acting as the delegate of the head of the execu- 
 tive — ^the Governor — and not iu his judicial capacity. There 
 are also other safeguards, for the Chief Justice can order a 
 transfer to the Supreme Court, either on the application of 
 the parties or of his own motion, and there is an appeal 
 if the claim, debt, damage, or default exceeds £50 in 
 value. 
 
 The importance of excluding native lawyers in these cases 
 cannot be over-estimated, for judges of the Supreme Court 
 of long experience have stated that by the action of these 
 native lawyers ignorant chiefs are involved in costly and 
 needless litigation, and often plunged into debt.^ 
 
 It is the first duty of a Government to watch over the in- 
 terests of the governed, and if there is one section of these 
 which claims a special share of consideration and thought, 
 it is the one which, by reason of poverty and of ignorance, 
 is least able to take care of itself. It follows that a civilised 
 Power in Africa, while fully recognising the rights of the 
 native chiefs to dispose of tribal lands on behalf of their 
 people, cannot escape responsibility for seeing that those 
 powers are rightly exercised. To do otherwise is the nega- 
 tion of the functions of a Suzerain. Claims to the individual 
 ownership of land must be scrutinised in the interest of 
 the communities ; aUenation must not deprive the people 
 of sufftcient land for their needs, and their rights of cultiva- 
 tion, grazing, &c., must be safeguarded ; the consideration 
 received from aliens for the use of land must be adequate, 
 and the money received must be paid to and expended on 
 behalf of the owners — the community. Have the several 
 Governments in West Africa discharged their obligations fully 
 in this latter respect ? 
 
 By universal consent the land belongs to the people, for 
 whom the chiefs act as trustees or agents, and it is the 
 
 ^ Of this there is abundant evidence. As to the Gold Coast, see Belfield's 
 Report, paragraph 33, &c. So great have been the evils of this land litigation 
 that a high official expressed a doubt whether its economic results were not as 
 bad as the former inter-tribal wars. As to Nigeria, see Cmd. 468, 1920, 
 appendix iii. 
 
 Sir E. Speed, Chief Justice, pointed out that these land cases very rarely- 
 referred to individual rights or disputes, but were generally concerned with 
 tribal boundaries long ago settled by the district officer. 
 
310 LAND TENURE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 function of Government to see that that trust or agency is 
 carried out honestly. Sir H. Belfield informs us that the 
 custom in the Gold Coast is that the consideration money is 
 divided into three parts, of which the chief, the elders, and 
 the chieftainship fund each take one. This practice, he 
 writes, "is at variance with the traditional conditions which 
 underlie the authority vested in the headman. They are 
 supposed to exercise their authority for the common benefit 
 of the tribe as a body, but they actually spend this money 
 for purposes from which the ordinary members of the com- 
 munity can derive no advantage, therefore the tribe finds 
 itself despoiled of a substantial area of its land for a period 
 which leaves it dispossessed for two or three generations, 
 and receives no sort of compensation for the diminution of 
 its property." ^ 
 
 He recommends that a quarter of the money should be 
 retained in a fund for the general benefit of the people, but 
 it is impossible to deny that the proceeds of the sale of com- 
 munal lands belongs entirely to the community, and should 
 be spent in their behalf, and I so instructed the district staff 
 in Southern Nigeria. 
 
 I was at that time engaged in setting up in the districts 
 most affected — Yoruba, Egba, and Benin — native treasuries 
 such as I have described in chapter x. Eentals for com- 
 munal land are properly paid into such treasuries, which 
 constitute the common fund of the commimity. Since it is 
 from them that the chiefs, under the system of " native 
 administration," receive their salaries, and the expenses and 
 dignities of the chieftainship are defrayed, they have an 
 interest in the augmentation of the funds. Where native 
 treasuries are not established, a communal fund can still be 
 created, and it would be the duty of the district staff to see 
 that it was not misspent, and to hold the chiefs accountable. 
 Sir H. Belfleld's statement is a very serious indictment both 
 against the native chiefs — though the whole tenor of his 
 report shows that he did not lack sympathy with them — 
 and against the control and supervision exercised by the 
 Goverimaent on behalf of the lesser people. 
 
 I have expressed the view that in territories where the 
 control of the land is vested in the Government, it is in the 
 public interest that Government should become the landlord 
 
 ' Report, paragraph 35. 
 
GOVERNMENT AS LANDLORD OP ALIENS. 311 
 
 of all aUens, since, inter alia, it can by periodical revision of 
 rentals, or by appropriate taxation, secure for the public revenue 
 the expanding value of land, which arises directly or indirectly 
 from the expenditure of the taxpayers' money. Unless there 
 is an income tax on Europeans and other aliens, these values 
 would not even partially be shared by the taxpayer. 
 
 It is worth a moment's consideration how far this general 
 principle is possible of application in territories where Govern- 
 ment does not claim the disposal of the land — other, of 
 course, than those districts declared to be under English 
 land law. 
 
 Before constructing a railway in such territories a colonial 
 Government acquires the land "for a public purpose," in- 
 cluding a sufficient area on either side of the track, on terms 
 which are equitable to both parties. The method of doing 
 so is usually laid down by law. Or it may be that in antici- 
 pation of the benefits which will accrue to their trade, the 
 native commxmities are wiUing to cede the land in perpetuity, 
 in order to induce the Government to construct the line. In 
 such cases, and also in the case of building plots in a pro- 
 jected township, where Government has acquired the land 
 in anticipation, the object in view is attained. 
 
 But when the land is not required for a public purpose, 
 but by a non-native for commercial or other purposes, it 
 may be a matter for consideration whether Government 
 should acquire the land from the native owners, and lease it 
 to the non-native applicant, in order to carry out the prin- 
 ciple which I have advocated of Government being the land- 
 lord of all aliens.^ It might be argued that the native owner 
 would not in that case obtain so good a bargain. To obviate 
 this the terms might be fixed by a Land Court on which 
 natives would sit as assessors. The acquisition, however, of 
 land nominally for a public purpose, and its subsequent dis- 
 posal on lease to non-natives, is clearly irregular, and unjust 
 to the native owners, unless the phrase " acquisition for a 
 public purpose " has been specifically defined to include 
 acquisition for sublease to non-natives. 
 
 In these southern dependencies in West Africa the intro- 
 duction of cocoa and other permanent crops, which take 
 several years to come to maturity, has accentuated the desir- 
 
 ' This was formerly the system in Uganda, but is now abandoned, — Annual 
 Report 1918-19, No. 1054, p. 10. 
 
312 LAND TENtniE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 ability of affording to the cultivator some guarantee of his 
 right to continued occupation. I have quoted Sir H. Bel- 
 field's view that native land tenure will require some modifica- 
 tion. Moreover, the density of the population (in Southern 
 STigeria though not in the Gold Coast), and the long im- 
 munity of the people from slave-raids, together with the 
 prevalence of shifting cultivation, has resulted in there being 
 no superabimdance of land in considerable regions. 
 
 Interference with native customary law, which may be 
 relied on to adapt itself to changing circumstances, is much 
 to be deprecated ; but if intervention is found to be necessary 
 ia the interests of the people, the first step might usefully 
 be to abrogate the rule that the claim of a member of the 
 family to land does not lapse, however prolonged his absence.^ 
 This means that, an individual who left his village in boyhood 
 may return after many decades — ^perhaps as a wealthy lawyer 
 — and claim land. If the undeveloped land at the disposal 
 of the family is exhausted some peasant must be ousted, a 
 course which militates agaiust fixity of tenure, without which 
 it is hopeless to expect any permanent improvement of the 
 land. Abandonment for two years, except for the recupera- 
 tion of the soU, should, I suggest, involve forfeiture of the 
 claim to land. 
 
 The cultivator who has the greatest need of protection is 
 the " stranger " who, owiug to deficiency of land in his own 
 district, has been driven to seek it elsewhere, and has been 
 allowed to settle in another commimity where land is abundant. 
 Such " strangers " may be welcomed by a tribe whose num- 
 bers are decreasing, as adding to its strength. But so jealously 
 guarded is the ownership of land in the west equatorial belt 
 that the stranger may probably only be admitted on con- 
 dition that he shaU plant no trees (cocoa, &c.), the owner- 
 ship of which would give him a claim to dispose of the land 
 beyond the term of his own life.^ 
 
 This is so manifestly disadvantageous to the progress and 
 
 1 Evidence from Nigeria was to the effect that an educated native vpho had 
 spent the greater part of his life in Lagos could, if he desired, return to his 
 village and claim land as of right. 
 
 2 The Resident of a province in Southern Nigeria remarks that " there have been 
 several instances where the owners of the land, so soon aa they see the valuable 
 crops maturing, have made attempts to regain possession of the land, including 
 the cocoa ; and many farmers, who in the ordinary course would probably be 
 allowed to occupy land in perpetuity, hesitate to embark on cocoa-planting for 
 want of sufficient security against their landlords. " 
 
THE POSITION OF NATIVE " STEANGEES." 313 
 
 permanent good of the country, that I essayed to modify 
 native customary law by securing the adhesion of all the native 
 authorities (after fuU discussion with them) to a native court 
 rule, which aimed at securing continuous occupation to 
 " strangers " under specified conditions, while placing a check 
 on the irregular acquisition of tribal lands by undesirable 
 strangers. These immigrants are of three types — (a) those 
 who intend to identify themselves with the tribe, and by 
 intermarriage become merged into it in the second genera- 
 tion (these require no special protection) ; (b) those who 
 settle on the land, but remain aliens to the tribe ; and (c) 
 land speculators, who are generally absentee landlords, and 
 may perhaps have acquired title to land from a chief who 
 had no right under native law to grant it, but did not under- 
 stand the effect of the deed — ^probably drawn by a native 
 lawyer — conferring individual ownership. 
 
 In some cases the stranger may have sold his title to an- 
 other native, or may have assigned its use to a European 
 (thus evading the law), or may assert his independence of the 
 local native authority. Or he may have acquired the land 
 purely as a speculation on its expanding value, and prove 
 an obstacle to development. In this case it is the native 
 authority, and not the stranger, who requires protection — 
 and, indeed, in some cases the community has been disin- 
 tegrated by the acquisition of land by such " strangers." ' 
 
 The new rule recites that by native law no stranger can 
 acquire an interest in tribal land except by consent of the 
 native authority, nor can he permanently deprive the com- 
 munity of the use of the land. It then lays down that the 
 grant must be approved by the native court, and recorded 
 by it in writing, with the signature of the parties. The 
 Eesident's approval is also required, and he wiU see that the 
 
 ' Mr E. E. Dennett — a high authority — bears witness to the disintegration of 
 tribal authority caused by ' ' the creation of a class of irresponsible landowners who 
 pay no tribute." — 'African Society's Journal,' and ' Morning Post,' 14/3/1910. 
 
 Natives of the colony of Sierra Leone residing in the protectorate, where 
 the land is regarded as belonging entirely and unreservedly to the natives, pay to 
 the local chief a rent of £1 for the right to occupy, or £1, 10s. if adjacent to an 
 improved road. Land leased for permanent buildings must be transferred by 
 deed and attested by the District Commissioner. A lease of agricultural land of 
 under 50 acres must be approved by him. If over 50 acres and under 5000 the 
 Governor's approval is required, and if over 5000 that of the Secretary of State. 
 A chief cannot be compelled to alienate land, nor may he do so for his own 
 benefit.— Sierra Leone Eeport, 1908, p. 51 ; Cd. 4448 of 1909. 
 
314 LAND TENURE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 record is properly made, and that it assures to the stranger 
 the right to plant permanent crops, or erect buildings, and 
 to receive compensation if dispossessed otherwise than for 
 misconduct or breach of the conditions. Eents (if demanded) 
 must be paid to the communal fund. The grant would 
 usually be for an indefinite time (except in a native city), 
 and the occupier may assign his rights to another with the 
 consent of the grantor and court. 
 
 On the other hand, every stranger already in occupation 
 of communal land must attend, if summoned, and satisfy the 
 court as to his right of occupation, and its conditions Failure 
 to attend may, with the consent of the Besident, involve 
 forfeiture. The court, if satisfied, makes the necessary record. 
 Any member of the community may appeal to the court if 
 the chief has exceeded his powers. Conditions of occupation 
 may include any special reservations. 
 
 If a native stranger desires to acquire the full rights of 
 individual ownership, he should only be able to do so by the 
 same process as a non-native. Native court registration may 
 perhaps be usefully extended to native occupiers of land 
 under permanent plantations, who are not " strangers." In 
 territories where the land is under Government control, 
 strangers who desire to settle in a native city or elsewhere 
 must obtain permission from the native authority, and un- 
 reservedly accept its jurisdiction. They are treated as regards 
 taxation, «fec., in all respects as local natives, otherwise they 
 must reside in the native reservation of a township, or acquire 
 land under the same conditions as apply to non-natives. 
 
 As a general rule it is undesirable that leases or licences 
 should be granted to non-natives for the collection of sylvan 
 produce which the natives are capable of exploiting them- 
 selves — such as palm-fruit, wild rubber, gum copra, &c. ; 
 but where the exploitation involves the use of capital, and of 
 appliances beyond the resources of the natives (as in the 
 case of heavy timber for export), licences to non-natives are 
 fully justified. Exceptions may also be made of small areas 
 held in conjunction with experimental plantations, or to 
 encourage the introduction of machinery for producing a 
 better or a partially-manufactured product, or for saving 
 labour. Such exceptions would be justified by their economic 
 and educative value. 
 
 In a former paragraph I alluded to the important rdle 
 
FOEEST CONSERVATION. 315 
 
 which the evergreen forest of the equatorial zone plays in 
 the climate and the conservation of rainfall, apart from the 
 great value of its products, which are rapidly being destroyed 
 by shitting cultivation. No less damage is done by indis- 
 criminate felling for mining purposes. Until education in 
 forestry and agricultuxe has made much greater progress, it 
 is manifestly the duty of Government, as trustee for posterity 
 against the reckless destruction of the present generation, to 
 safeguard what remains of these forests, while not disputing 
 the claims of native ownership. 
 
 " The keystone of aU forestry conservation," says Mr 
 Thompson, " is reservation, by which a sustained and in- 
 creasing yield of produce can be assured." ^ It is therefore 
 essential that reserves should be created and kept inviolate 
 from depredation. Licences to fell timber in them may only 
 be granted with the consent of the Governor. They are 
 limited as to time and area, and as to the classes and girth 
 of trees which may be felled, and they impose conditions as 
 to replanting. The revenue goes in part to the native owners, 
 and in part to the public funds.* Natives in adjoining vil- 
 lages may take timber and other produce for their own needs, 
 but not for sale. Outside the reserves " protected trees " 
 may only be felled for sale by licences, issued for short 
 periods. 
 
 In Southern Nigeria an ordinance to give effect to these 
 principles has long been in force, but in the Lagos hinterland 
 its acceptance was formerly made contingent on the assent 
 of the native councils, and it was practically inoperative. 
 It has lately been revised and re-enacted for all Nigeria. In 
 the Gold Coast a similar measure was opposed in 1910, and 
 though passed with amendments later on, was not brought 
 into operation. As in the case of the Concessions BiU, depu- 
 tations visited England to protest against its iaterference 
 with native rights. In Nigeria steps have been taken to 
 associate the native authorities with the Government in the 
 control of the reserves, with excellent results. 
 
 ' Cd. 4993, p. 197. 
 
 ^ The Government, it will be noted, shares the proceeds arising from the sale 
 of forest produce with the native owners. This share, whether small or large, 
 passes into general revenue and is expended for the benefit of the country. Its 
 appropriation therefore differs essentially from the former "domain privfe" of 
 the Congo State, where the profits went into the private pocket of the 
 concessionaire. 
 
316 LANB TENURE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 We have seen that land held in commimal tenure is culti- 
 vated by the family or individual, but that its products as 
 a rule belong solely to the cultivators. The attempt to form 
 communal plantations of rubber under Government auspices 
 has not been a marked success in the southern provinces of 
 Mgeria. In a loosely-organised community they must be 
 tended by forced labour, for no individual has any interest 
 in them, and their general supervision, tapping, &c., falls 
 on the Forestry or Agricultural Departments. Even in a 
 more highly-organised native administration, when the labour 
 is performed by paid employees, it would seem to be more 
 advantageous to promote individual initiative and ownership 
 in the crop. Communal fuel plantations in timberless districts 
 for the benefit of large cities are, however, very desirable, and 
 they require Uttle or no care once they are established. 
 
 In the southern provinces of Mgeria, Crown lands are 
 leased to natives either for an indefinite or for a specified 
 term, and for any specific purpose. The leases are only 
 terminable by voluntary surrender, breach of covenant, or 
 i£ the land is required for a public purpose. In the latter 
 case fuU compensation is, of course, given, and in the two 
 former the value of all unexhausted improvements would 
 usually be paid. Such leases would be under English law, 
 or under the rules applying to individual ownership, according 
 as they were in or beyond the area declared subject to English 
 law, but they can only be transferred to natives, and with 
 Government consent. 
 
 Before leaving this branch of my subject, it will be useful 
 to point out that the difference of meaning attached to words 
 or phrases, familiar to us in their English sense, when applied 
 to African conceptions may be a fruitful source of misunder- 
 standing, and of apparently contradictory assertions by ex- 
 perts ; for, as M. Delafosse observes, " there are certain ideas 
 in native law which correspond to nothing analogous in our 
 own laws." The term " ownership," for instance, as applied 
 to land, is relative even in England, and is qualified by the 
 right of Parliament to expropriate the owner if his land is 
 essential for railway construction, &c. In Africa it is stiU 
 more qualified, and the owner of land possesses it subject 
 to certain weU-understood limitations and obligations towards 
 the community to which he belongs. Thus, on the one hand, 
 when it is asserted that " all rights in land are vested in the 
 
THE LAND PEOBLEM IN EAST AITOCCA. 317 
 
 chief," or that he is the ultimate " owner," the assertion is 
 accurate only if the term is used in its native sense, for his 
 " ownership " is subject to most important limitations. It 
 is equally true, on the other hand, that the peasant proprietor 
 of a farm does not " own " it in the full sense of the English 
 term, and if he sells it to a non-native he does so with the 
 well-imderstood limitations and obligations imposed by native 
 law. To assert that property in land is unknown in West 
 Africa is, in my view, as inaccurate as the assertion that 
 " individual ownership " in the English sense is recognised 
 because the land may be sold, or bequeathed, and descends 
 from father to son. African individual ownership is none the 
 less real because it is qualified by concurrent rights and 
 obligations, in the north more especially to the chief, and in 
 the south by still further restrictions and obUgations to the 
 family. 
 
 From a perusal of this chapter it will, I think, be evident 
 that the same discrimination must be exercised in referring 
 to such terms as " waste lands," " sale," &c. 
 
 Considerations of space, and the lack of personal experience 
 in the evolution of the land question in Bast Africa, combine 
 to place a limitation on the remarks which I have to make 
 on the problems that present themselves in this group of 
 dependencies. Much of what has been said regarding African 
 conceptions of land tenure, and the rights exercised by Govern- 
 ments, will apply, equally with West Africa, to those areas 
 which lie at low altitudes, but in the regions which have 
 been found possible for European settlement an entirely 
 separate problem arises, to which the proximity of India, 
 and the immigration of its people, adds complexity. 
 
 These conditions are peculiar to a comparatively small 
 portion — about 50,000 square miles, or one-fifth of the Colony 
 of Kenya, — which lies at altitudes between 4000 ft. and over 
 9000 ft., possibly also to small areas in the Shir6 highlands of 
 Nyasaland.^ The aspects of the problem which have given 
 rise to controversy are (a) that of Asiatic colonisation, and 
 (b) that of native reserves. 
 
 The first problem may be broadly stated as dealing with 
 the right of British Indian subjects to acquire land without 
 
 ^ Mr Harcourt estimated the area already alienated at 4000 eq. miles with 
 only a like amount fit for European settlement remaining — viz., a total colonisable 
 area of 8000 sq. miles.— Despatch, 3/2/11 ; ' Gazette,' 1/3/11. 
 
318 LAND TENURE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 restriction anywhere in the colony, and, in fact, " to stand 
 on a footing of unquestioned equality with other settlers of 
 whatever nationality," with no segregation, and with a 
 common franchise and electoral roll on a reasonable property 
 basis, plus an educational test without racial discrimination.* 
 The question was discussed by the recent Imperial Conference 
 (1921), and on this point alone its report was not unanimous. 
 The resolution passed " reaflBrmed that of the Imperial War 
 Conference of 1918, that each community of the British 
 Commonwealth should enjoy complete control of the com- 
 position of its population, by means of restriction on immi- 
 gration from any of the other commimities," but it added the 
 following rider : " The Conference recognises that there is an 
 incongruity between the position of India as an equal member 
 of the British Empire, and the existence of disabilities upon 
 British Indians lawfully domiciled in some other parts of the 
 Empire. The Conference accordingly is of the opinion that 
 in the interests of the sohdarity of the British Common- 
 wealth it is desirable that the rights of such Indians to 
 citizenship should be recognised." The representatives of 
 South Africa could not accept this resolution, and the matter 
 was relegated for direct negotiation between India and South 
 Africa. 
 
 The resolution — ^to which the Colonial Secretary subscribed 
 — ^refers only to Indians " lawfully domiciled in other parts 
 of the Empire," and aflBrms the right of " each community 
 of the British Commonwealth " — presumably including Kenya, 
 which enjoys an advanced form of Crown Colony Goverimient 
 — to exclude new immigrants. All the Dominions, except 
 South Africa, having already excluded Indians, were thus 
 able to subscribe to it. 
 
 Lord Sydenham and two other members of the Joint 
 Select Committee on Indian Affairs express in a letter to the 
 ' Times ' great apprehension as to the future of the colony 
 of Kenya if the proposal to grant an equal status to Indians 
 is carried iuto effect.* " It might lead," they say, " to the 
 absorption by Indians ia due course of the whole government 
 of the colony, and, in fact, this was quite definitely suggested 
 as being their ultimate aim by witnesses claiming to speak 
 on behalf of Indian opinion." An equal franchise with the 
 
 ' Lord Chelmsford's despatch of 21st October 1920, later endorsed by the 
 Government of India, and supported by the Secretary of State. 
 2 ' Times,' lat August 1921. 
 
THE INDIAN CASE. 319 
 
 white man would, in the view of the writers, convert a British 
 colony into " an Indian independency." This view, Sir 
 Valentine Chirol remarks, means that " the measure of the 
 rights enjoyed by subjects of the Crown is to be determined 
 by the colour of their skin, and the civUisation for which 
 the British Empire stands is not an ethical, but a pujely 
 racial civilisation." ^ 
 
 Professor Keith considers that " nothing can be more un- 
 fortunate than the attempt to use the protection of the 
 natives as a ground for refusing equal justice to Indians." ^ 
 But the responsibility which we have assumed towards the 
 native races is " clearly a major and imperative duty," to 
 which we have pledged ourselves, in the Tanganyika territory 
 in particular, under the Mandate. It is not an obligation to 
 be " used " with an ulterior motive, but any course of action 
 which is in alleged opposition to it merits careful consideration. 
 
 PubUc opinion in this country will without doubt agree 
 with Sir V. Chirol that no difference in status can be based 
 on colour, and will desire to satisfy the legitimate aspirations 
 of India, to afford her room for expansion, and to make no 
 avoidable reservations in her charter of equahty among the 
 united nations of the Empire. Indians, it may be said, in the 
 early days formed the backbone of the police and military 
 forces both in Bast Africa and Nyasaland, and to them Bast 
 Africa owes much of its progress, for they man the railways 
 and workshops, and Jill the subordinate clerical posts.^ " The 
 Government welcomed their entry into the country," said 
 Mr ChurchiU, on his return from his visit to East Africa as 
 Under-Secretary. It was hoped by the Colonial Office " that 
 Equatorial Africa might offer a compensating field for the 
 colonising enterprise of our fellow-subjects in India " to ease 
 the Transvaal difficulty. What, then, are the grounds on 
 which it has been alleged that we should f aU in our obligation 
 to the native races by permitting free immigration and ac- 
 cording an equal status to British Indians 1 
 
 The first question is, are we justified in opening the flood- 
 gates of Asiatic immigration which the indigenous races, had 
 they not been disarmed and controlled by us, would have 
 
 1 ' Times,' 5th August. ^ Ibid., 3rd August. 
 
 ^ In the Memo, signed by Lord Delamere on behalf of the unofficial councillors, 
 and by Mr C. K. Archer, Chairman of the Convention of Associations, this claim 
 is discounted by the statement that in the war only 376 Indians out of some 
 20,000 in East Africa were combatants, of whom none were killed or wounded, 
 while five were executed for treachery, and three others sentenced to death were 
 reprieved. 
 
320 LAND TENXIBE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 resisted by force ? Africa has a virUe and potent racial type 
 of her own, which under civilised government should multiply. 
 American writers,^ who may be presumed to regard the ques- 
 tion dispassionately, maintain that miscegenation — ^Uke an 
 inferior currency according to Gresham's law — perpetuates 
 the lower type, and as Mendel proves, the best qualities of 
 each race are gradually eUmiaated. " Universal experience," 
 says Mr M'Clure, " has shown that if two races occupy the 
 same territory and are not intermarriageable naturally, great 
 hostilities are inevitable." ^ Are we then, by admitting 
 Asiatics, sowing dragon's teeth which will inevitably lead 
 to a racial war in the future ? Though it may already be too 
 late to raise this issue as regards the Indians already law- 
 fully domiciled in East Africa, its great importance as regards 
 future immigration cannot be denied. 
 
 The second question is whether the type of immigrant — 
 apart from racial divergence — ^is such as to promote the 
 welfare of the country. The " East African Economic Com- 
 mission," appointed in March 1917, was presided over by a 
 Government official, and its signatories are men of the highest 
 standing and position in the colony, some of them members 
 of Council. They formulate a charge against the Indian 
 colonists of so grave a nature that it is essential that it should 
 be thoroughly investigated, and it not fully substantiated 
 should be withdrawn.^ I do not quote it in full, for it is calcu- 
 lated to embitter racial feehng, and is iadignantly repudiated 
 by the Indians. They accuse the Indian of moral depravity 
 debasing to the Africans, and of being an inciter to crime as 
 well as vice. They add that the Indian quarters are almost 
 invariably the foci of each successive outbreak of plague, 
 owing to disregard of sanitation. In this last charge they are 
 supported by the official handbook, which records the view 
 that " Indian immigration must be regarded as disastrous." * 
 
 ' Madison Grant, 'The Passing of a Great Race.' L. Stoddard, 'The Rising 
 Tide of Colour.' This book is full of statistics to prove that " true amalgama- 
 tion is possible only between members of the same race stock" (p. 251), and the 
 disastrous efltects of miscegenation between opposite types. He points to Cuba, 
 Mexico, and Brazil (pp. 259 and 301). 
 
 An American writer, 'Times,' 15th January 1921: "Cross-breeding from 
 distinctive races (he says) results in a progency inferior to the original race." 
 
 ' Report, p. 21, published in 1919 by the Swift Press, Nairobi. See Memo, cited 
 on p. 321, where the charge is repeated on the authority of Dr Burkitt, senior 
 unofficial medical officer. 
 
 * ' Admiralty Handbook,' p. 326. Sir R. Coryndon, Governor of Uganda, says 
 that the better-class Indians own 40 per cent of the cotton-ginning business and 
 
THE claim: of the BRITISH SETTLER. 321 
 
 As regards the better-educated immigrants, it is urged 
 that the " advanced thought," which has found expression 
 in India in seditious propaganda, and in "non-co-operation" 
 and " civil disobedience " movements, constitutes a grave 
 danger among ignorant races in Africa, and that both in 
 South and East Africa harm has already been done. These 
 are matters which demand impartial investigation ia the 
 interests of the natives for whom we are responsible. 
 
 The American writers to whom I have referred are emphatic 
 that if Asiatic immigrants are admitted to a country they 
 will "tmderlive," and so at first lower the standard of the 
 European, and eventually squeeze him out.^ The claims of 
 the British cannot be ignored. They discovered the country, 
 and the British exchequer bore the financial burden. It is 
 undeniable that the British settlers have been encouraged and 
 invited by Government.^ It is chiefly by their iaitiative, 
 technical knowledge, and capital that the colony has been 
 developed, and without their continued presence it would 
 relapse into barbarism, nor, as General Smuts says, could 
 the Indians alone control the natives. It can hardly be denied 
 that the British are the better fitted to be the governing 
 race. In these circumstances it would be preferable if Indian 
 emigration could be directed to those vacant places in the 
 Empire where these difficulties do not arise, or are less acute, 
 such as British Guiana, Honduras,^ North Borneo, and 
 Mesopotamia. 
 
 But whether this be feasible or not there remains the 
 question of the Indians already domiciled in the country.* 
 
 are of a good moral standard, but the great majority of Indians are petty traders 
 who consider moral scruples in trade to be futile. They are demoralising to 
 the Baganda. — 'United Empire,' June 1920. 
 
 ^ Stoddard (quoting Nearne) points to Natal, where the Asiatics now largely 
 outnumber and are displacing the whites. The country, he says, tends to the 
 type of Trinidad or Cuba rather than to that of Canada or Australia. Wages 
 are out to the Asiatic level, and the working-class European has to go. He 
 quotes also Mauritius and Hawaii. — Loc. cit., pp. 278-280. 
 
 ^ It must not be forgotten that it was the publicly announced policy of H.M.'s 
 Government that, without imposing any legal restrictions, "grants of land in 
 the uplands should not be made tp Indians," while grants in the lowlands should 
 be restricted to agriculturists. A proviso in the ordinance enables the governor 
 to exercise this discrimination (see p. 329), since the Land Board " agreed as a 
 general fact that the intrusion of the Indian agriculturists meant the expulsion 
 of the European element. "—Lord Elgin in Cd. 4117 of 1908, pp. 27 and 33. 
 
 ' In Guiana the density is 3'5 to the square mile, and in British Honduras 5. — 
 'Statesman's Year-book," 1921, pp. 330 and 332. 
 
 * The census of June 1921 gives the figures as 9651 Europeans and 22,822 
 Indians. — Memo, cited on p. 319. 
 
 X 
 
322 LAND TENXJUE AND TRANSFEB. 
 
 They claim absolute equality, and the delegates at the Im- 
 perial Conference (except those from South Africa) considered 
 that their rights to citizenship should be recognised. To this 
 the British settlers are bitterly opposed, and there is ample 
 evidence of the existence of acute racial antagonism.^ 
 
 In these circumstances it may be worthy of consideration 
 whether some kind of solution, however imperfect, may be 
 found by means of a territorial delimitation of the areas avail- 
 able for occupation by each of the two alien races. Outside 
 the area allotted to the British and Indians respectively no 
 new settlement would be allowed. To each would be assigned 
 an equal unofficial representation on the Government councils, 
 subject to a strict educational and property qualification, 
 identical for all, and by simUar methods of election.^ The 
 more extensive employment of Indians in the Civil Service 
 would render possible the nomination of some of them to 
 official seats on the CouncU, wMle the Municipal Councils of 
 each section would be composed entirely of its own race. 
 It would, of course, be unavoidable that estates already owned 
 by individuals of one race should in some cases be included 
 in the territory assigned to the general occupation of the 
 other, but no individual of either race would be allowed in 
 future to acquire land within the area assigned to the other 
 without its consent and that of the local Government, while 
 to each race would be given the largest latitude to manage 
 its own affairs. It would be clearly understood that the 
 areas allotted to each were final, and that no further en- 
 croachment on the lands of the natives would be allowed 
 unless a new arrangement were made with the sanction of 
 the Secretary of State. ^ 
 
 Indians could not complain of segregation involving a 
 racial discrimination, for the arrangement would be tri-lateral, 
 equally binding and restrictive on the European, the Indian, 
 and the African (see p. 149). The acquisition of trading sites 
 outside the areas allotted for colonisation must necessarily 
 
 ' Mr Wallis, late Chief Secretary, Uganda, states that this racial feeling was 
 unknown in that country, and ascribes it to the South African element in Kenya. 
 
 ' At present the British elect eleven and the Indians two members. 
 
 ^ Something of this nature appears to have been in Mr Churchill's mind, in 
 the speech referred to, when he said that there was room for all ; but since the 
 Europeans and Indians did not mix well, it would be necessary to reserve certain 
 areas for the former, while "the rights of the aboriginal natives, the moral 
 possessors of the soil," must also be considered. 
 
SUGGESTED DELIMITATION OP AJREAS. 333 
 
 be at the discretion of the local Government, without racial 
 distinction, but subject to uniform laws regarding sanitation 
 and fair dealing with the natives. 
 
 E'o one would pretend that such an arrangement would be 
 an ideal one, but the question has been allowed to drift so 
 long without a definite policy that an entirely satisfactory 
 solution is no longer possible. The assignment of definite 
 areas for immigrants, by a high authority, or by mutual 
 agreement, would at least safeguard the claims of the natives, 
 and render possible a clear policy ia regard to the limitation 
 of immigration, both in Kenya, Tanganyika, and Nyasaland 
 — a matter which in any case demands an immediate decision. 
 Though it is stated that by a recent agricultural census there 
 were only 1300 British settlers outside the township of Nairobi, 
 the labour shortage is already causing serious difficulty, and in 
 the interests aUke of the settlers themselves and of the natives, 
 some limitation of British immigration appears to be called 
 for until a solution is found. I shall discuss this aspect of 
 the question more fully in the chapter on Labour (see p. 391 
 et seg.). Indian immigration should be limited to iona fide 
 agriculturists, with only such a proportion of others as are 
 needed in the country. 
 
 Were a solution on such Unes as these found to be feasible 
 after full investigation on the spot, the special claims of each 
 race would be considered in assigning the area for its colonisa- 
 tion. In the case of the British, scientific knowledge, com- 
 mand of capital, ability to handle the larger operations of 
 agriculture, and inability to live at the lower altitudes ; in 
 the case of the Indians, the fact that vacant lands at lower 
 altitudes would ia aU probabUity require the expenditure of 
 capital in irrigation, &c., might justify some special financial 
 assistance, though the Indians would not, of course, be con- 
 fined exclusively to lands requiring large capital outlay. 
 
 The second problem peculiar to those limited regions in 
 the tropics in which European settlement is possible, is that 
 of " native reserves." On the high plateau lands the native 
 population is not dense, the most popidous tribes being the 
 Wa-Kikuyu and the Wakamba, in the provinces of Kenya 
 and Ukamba, who are agriculturists, and the Masai, and other 
 pastorals ia the lifaivasha province who are nomads. The 
 areas inhabited by the settled tribes are reserved for their 
 occupation, but do not appear to have been accurately de- 
 
324 LAND TENURE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 limited, and are not " reserves " in the usual acceptation of 
 the term. " The Masai alone," says Sir P. Gtrouard, " have 
 had their reserves assigned to them by treaty." ^ Formerly 
 this tribe roamed with its herds over a great expanse of 
 country, but it was greatly reduced in mmabers by the out- 
 break of rinderpest, which destroyed the cattle in 1890. 
 With the advent of European settlers the segregation of the 
 Masai into reseryes appeared to be a necessity, the more so 
 on account of their lawless and predatory habits and dis- 
 regard of human life. 
 
 The policy of native reserves had long been accepted in 
 South Africa, where Europeans form 27 per cent of the 
 population.^ Its adoption in East Airica, where the natives 
 outnumber the Europeans by about 280 to 1,* was based on 
 the assumption that the European settlers would rapidly 
 multiply and take up the vacant lands ; for as Sir C. Eliot, 
 the first Commissioner, wrote, " the interior of the Protec- 
 torate is a white man's country, and it is mere hypocrisy 
 not to admit that white interests must be paramount, and 
 the main object of our poUcy and legislation should be to 
 found a white colony." * Provided that the area assigned 
 to the natives was fully adequate for their needs, and for 
 future expansion, and that proper steps were taken for their 
 material and moral welfare, few will be found to dispute the 
 advisabUity or justice of the formation of native reserves in 
 the circimistances. 
 
 Sir C. EUot, however, dissents from this view. "As a 
 general principle," he writes, " I am opposed to the creation 
 in this protectorate of native reserves, meaning by that name 
 not plots of land kept here and there to meet the needs of 
 natives, but territories in which natives are segregated and 
 left to themselves ; . . . reserves by isolating natives tend to 
 perpetuate bad customs, and to retard civilisation and mis- 
 sionary work." Where, however, it is not possible for natives 
 to be restricted, " they should be allowed to immigrate to 
 lands reserved for their use " — a qualification which deprives 
 his objection of much of its point. Eeserves may, he thinks, 
 
 1 'Annual Report, 1909-10,' Cd. 5467 of 1911, p. 38. 
 
 '^ Census of 1911, 'Statesman's Year-book, 1921,' p. 212. 
 
 ' The native population of three highland provinces of Naivasha, Kenya, and 
 Ukamba is given as 1,268,000 and the Europeans as 4571 in 1917-18. — 
 'Admiralty Handbook,' Appendix "A.," p. 581. 
 
 ^ ' East African Protectorate,' pp. 105 and 310. 
 
INTEEPENETBATION V. NATIVE RESEEVES. 325 
 
 " sometimes be advisable in dealing with very strong native 
 races, or where it is desired to prevent the desteniction of a 
 vanishing race, but they tend to isolate a tribe and prevent 
 their fusion with other stocks, and so forming the hybrids 
 to which virility and improvement are due." 
 
 Sir P. Girouard when Governor expressed a similar view. 
 The creation of reserves, he writes, " amounts to the dedica- 
 tion of lands for the perpetuation of barbarism. It would 
 appear to me desirable to place aU native reserves in the 
 hands of trustees, who might conceivably be drawn from the 
 judiciary or mission bodies," since they would protect the 
 natives and favour Government proposals for their benefit.^ 
 But Government is itself the trustee, and should be com- 
 petent to take its own measures for the good of the natives. 
 
 Sir C. Eliot's alternative to the system of reserves is that 
 " native villages should remain on the estates of Europeans 
 in order to supply workmen, the villages and a sufficient 
 amoimt of land round them being the property of the natives, 
 and excluded from the area of the European's property." 
 
 The Economic Commission strongly supported this " inter- 
 penetration policy," as being more favourable to the natural 
 development of the country, which they frankly place in the 
 foreground, since " every one, including the civil servant, 
 is concentrated on producing wealth," and secondly, as more 
 conducive to the welfare and progress of the natives. The 
 policy of reserves is, they say, more suited to South Africa 
 as an industrial country than to an agricultural country like 
 East Africa. 
 
 By strictly limiting the extent of the reserves to areas 
 already in beneficial use by the natives, and allowing no 
 margin for increase of population, they propose to force the 
 surplus to settle in villages interspersed among the European 
 settlers, and to encourage them to become " labour tenants 
 on European farms." The areas in which the natives are 
 concentrated are to be distributed as widely as possible 
 throughout the reserves, with tracts between them for white 
 settlements. The labour available for European scientific 
 production will thus be largely increased. " Exploitation," 
 they consider, is not possible where no economic pressure 
 exists, and the demand for labour exceeds the supply. They 
 are opposed to small holdings. " The natives (they say) 
 
 1 'Annual Report, 1909-10,' Cd. 5467 of 1911, p. 38. 
 
326 LAND TENURE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 can only stagnate under a system of peasant proprietorship." 
 They condemn the existing reserves, which are " practically 
 identical " with the game reserves, and (they infer) are with- 
 out medical and veterinary faculties, or adequate education. 
 They consider them strongholds of savagery, ignorance, and 
 superstition. The chiefs, they say, are not tribal chiefs, but 
 the nominees of Government, without authority and engaged 
 in enriching themselves. 
 
 But these are not the conditions which ought to exist ia 
 a native reserve, and if they do exist in East Africa there 
 can be no question of their contiQuance. With adequate 
 medical supervision the population will increase, for the 
 Africans are a prolific race ; and though the ratio of natives 
 to whites may decrease, the time must eventually come when 
 the original, and numerically greater, population will learn 
 to resent the status of labour tenants to Europeans. 
 
 The results of " iaterpenetration " would, it is only too 
 probable, reproduce some of the worst features of the old 
 slave plantations — ^immorality and irresponsibility. The 
 policy is one which can hardly be said to be compatible with 
 the principles which this country has advocated, through 
 its statesmen, at Brussels and at Paris, as those which should 
 guide our action towards subject races. And looking to the 
 future, I am conviaced that it would be fraught with danger 
 and disaster. This criticism of " the iaterpenetration policy " 
 does not, of course, mean that employees who of their own 
 free-wiU prefer the conditions of permanent wage-earning 
 labourers on an alien estate should not live with their famUies 
 upon it, cultivating their own allotments in their spare time, 
 or as herdsmen ia charge of stock on a European ranch. 
 This is a different proposition to that of breaking up tribal 
 organisations and distributing the people among European 
 estates, and suppressiag reserves with the same object. 
 
 Mr Ehodes' opioions on this subject were embodied in the 
 Glen-Grey Act,'- which was a carefully- considered scheme for 
 the organisation of a model reserve. It provided for the 
 division of land — not already hypothecated — ^into locations, 
 each of which would be subdivided into allotments of about 
 four morgen (eight and a half acres), with sufficient common- 
 ages for general use. Each location is controlled by a Board 
 of three resident landholders, and a certain number of the 
 
 1 Act No. 25 of 1904, enacted 15th August 1904. 
 
THE GLBN-GEET " ACT. 327 
 
 members of these Boards are appointed to a District Council, 
 presided over by the Eesident Magistrate. The Coimcil is 
 empowered to raise and expend rates, and generally to manage 
 the location. A land rental of 15s. must be paid by each 
 holder, with an additional 3s. for each morgen over four. 
 Defaxdt involves distraint and eventual cancellation of title. 
 The allotment passes by primogeniture to male descendants. 
 It thus creates a system of freehold, hereditable holdings in 
 a reserve, controlled by native Boards and Councils, super- 
 vised by a European officer. 
 
 The motives which prompted this legislation are explained 
 in the numerous works on Mr Ehodes' life and poUcy.^ His 
 conception was, I think, a finer one than those I have dis- 
 cussed. He firmly held to the view that social progress and 
 development among the natives coidd best be promoted by 
 individual holdings in land. " I find," he said, when moving 
 the second reading of the BUI, " that there are certain loca- 
 tions for natives where, without any right or title to the land, 
 they are herded together. ... I hold that natives should 
 be apart from the white men and not mixed up with them. 
 . . . We will put them on the land, we wiU let them manage 
 their own affairs." ^ In conversation he frequently asserted 
 his beUef that individual possession of land was the key to 
 the social elevation of the natives, and created seK-respect. 
 He considered segregation necessary to preserve them from 
 liquor and European vices, and desired that they should 
 enjoy self-government in their own locations, but should not 
 interfere in colonial politics which did not interest them. 
 He believed ia taxation as a means of compelliag natives to 
 work. The four principles of the Glen-Grey Act are described 
 as, " Work, segregation in the reserves, individual property 
 in land, and local self-government." 
 
 The adequacy of the area assigned for reserves, so as to 
 allow for increase of population, is a difficult matter, especially 
 when it is complicated by the possession of large and rapidly 
 
 ^ See especially the ' Life ' by Basil Williams. 
 
 2 'Cecil Rhodes,' by Vindex, pp. 361-390. Nine years later (1903) a select 
 committee of the Cape Assembly reported the result as having been most 
 beneficial to the natives. " Individual land tenure and self-government have 
 done much." Mr Williams tells us that in thirteen years the rates reached the 
 sum of £46,750, half of which was devoted to education, in which great progress 
 was made, and £12,700 to roads. New reserves were added, the natives were 
 eager to take up plots, and in three years numbered 6576. With the prohibition 
 of all liquor, and the increase of education, the inclination to work increased. 
 
328 LAND TENTOB AND TRANSFER. 
 
 increasing flocks and herds, for which extensive grazing is 
 required. It must necessarily be controlled by the Secretary 
 of State. In Rhodesia the Commission appointed by Mr 
 Harcourt reserved " twenty-four acres for each man, woman, 
 and child for exclusive and permanent native occupation." ^ 
 The area cannot be decreased without the consent of the 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 The East African settlement does not appear to have been 
 so generous, judging from the evidence of the Colonial Secre- 
 tary (Mr HoUis) and the medical officer, Nairobi.^ 
 
 With regard to land tenure generally in East Africa a very 
 interesting paper was presented to Parliament in 1912,^ from 
 which we learn, on the authority of the different Governors, 
 what are the principles which have been accepted, and the 
 conditions regarding land in each of the African dependencies. 
 Within the ten-mile coast strip in East Africa — now the 
 Kenya Protectorate — individual tenure is recognised, but a 
 native must substantiate his claim to the land he occupies 
 before he can obtain a certificate of title from Government. 
 No restriction is placed on alienation. In Kenya Colony 
 Government claims the right to dispose of aU land, but the 
 settled tribes have not been disturbed where they are in 
 actual occupation of land. " Native chiefs," says the report, 
 " are tenants under Government of the areas occupied by 
 their people." These areas, as we have seen, are called native 
 reserves, but only the pastoral Masai have been coniined ia 
 properly delimited reserves assigned by treaty.* The land 
 in the reserves " is supposed to be held in communal tenure, 
 
 ^ Letter from the Secretary of the Chartered Company to the ' Times,' 3rd July 
 1920, and Cmd. 507 of 1920. The cattle are stated to have increased from 
 55,155 to 652,776 in eighteen years. The chairman states, moreover, that 
 there is no legal restriction against natives purchasing land outside the 
 reserves, and they do in fact do so for very large sums of money. — Report, 
 28th October 1920. 
 
 ^ Mr Hollis states that all the most fertile land in the Rift Valley and 
 Leikipia grazing grounds was taken from the Masai and sold to white settlers, 
 "solely in the interests of the settlers." — Cd. 5584, 1911. The medical officer of 
 Nairobi on the Government Commission of 1912-13 states that "the inadequacy 
 of the reserves in Fort Hall and Nyeri districts for future development is 
 patent." 
 
 ' Command Paper 68 of 1912-13. 
 
 * In 1913 the Masai tribe brought an action against the Attorney-General, 
 e.g., the Colonial Government, for breach of pledges in regard to their reserves. 
 The Judge of the High Court ruled that the acts of the defendants were acts of 
 State, not cognisable by a Municipal Court. "If a wrong has been done, it is 
 a wrong for which no Municipal Court can afiford a remedy." The matter was 
 allowed to drop, with this very inconclusive judgment. — Cd. 6939 of 1913. 
 
LAND TENURE IN EAST AEEICA. 329 
 
 and is alienable." Vacant lands were disposed of by Govern- 
 ment, and very large blocks were sold to syndicates or indi- 
 viduals. It is estimated that nearly 5 J million acres (8132 sq. 
 mUes) was disposed of in this way — much of it as freehold.^ 
 
 The conditions on which settlers may obtain land in East 
 Africa has been the subject of much controversy and many 
 changes. In 1906 Lord Elgin raised the question of specu- 
 lation in land, and laid down the principles of periodical 
 revision and a graduated land-tax.^ The present position 
 seems to be that leases for agricultural land are for 999 years, 
 the rent for the first 33 being 10 cts. an acre, for the second 
 33 at 1 per cent, for the third at 2 per cent, and for every 
 subsequent period of 33 years at 3 per cent of the unim- 
 proved value. Preliminary occupation licences and the land- 
 tax (to prevent accumulation of land by any one person) 
 have been dropped. Not less than certain specified minima 
 must be spent on improvements — classified as " permanent " 
 and " temporary." An important clause empowers the 
 Governor to veto an assignment of land when the assignee 
 is of a different race to the assignor. 
 
 In Uganda proper, by the terms of the 1900 treaty, " natives 
 own large areas as freehold, they can dispose of it as they 
 Kke among themselves, but no individual can hold more 
 than thirty square miles as private property without the 
 consent of the Governor." The return shows that under the 
 
 ^ The East African Syndicate obtained 320,000 acres (500 square miles) on 
 a nominal rental with option to purchase (under conditions) as freehold. Three 
 other blocks of 100 square miles each are referred to in the return, which states 
 that the total area held from the Crown on terminable leases was estimated (in 
 1911) at 4,550,065 acres, " with an additional 654,765 acres of freehold." East 
 Africa was under the Foreign Office at the time these large concessions were 
 granted. Correspondence relating to them was published in two Blue-books. — 
 Cmd. 2099 and 2100 of 1904. See also Cmd. 2163, and Sir Charles Eliot's 
 book, 'The East African Protectorate,' p. 309. 
 
 ^ The earlier conditions of unrestricted freehold were embodied in Ordinance 
 21 of 1902 ('Gazette,' 31st July). When the control of the protectorate passed 
 to the Colonial Office, Lord Elgin insisted on the dangers of accumulations of 
 enormous areas of land in the hands of individuals through the operation of free 
 transfer, instancing Australia. He proposed a graduated land-tax, and a 
 maximum limit for holdings, together with periodical revision of rentals, in order 
 that Government should obtain its share of the unearned increment in the value 
 of the land.— -Despatch, 19th March 1908. Cd. 4117 of 1908, p. 30. These 
 proposals met with much local opposition, but Mr Harcourt supported his 
 predecessor's policy (Despatch, 3rd February 1911). The area of grants was 
 limited according to the quality of the land, with a corresponding scale of rentals. 
 Leases were to be for ninety-nine years only, and revisable at the thirty-third 
 and sixty - sixth year (5 per cent of the unimproved value, with fixed 
 maxima). 
 
330 LAND TENURE AND TRANSFEE. 
 
 Baganda, Busoga, Bnayoro, Toro, and Ankole agreements 
 6,156,570 acres were assigned as freehold to the chiefs, 72,477 
 as freehold to missions, and 12,650 acres to other non-natives, 
 while 99,143 were imder lease. The remaining 59 mUUon 
 odd acres were apparently at the disposal of Government, 
 no chief or other person being recognised as having " either 
 a freehold or leasehold interest in them." There is no allusion 
 to the nature of the pre-existing native tenure.^ 
 
 " No chief or tribe is now considered as being the owner of 
 any land in Nyasaland," says the Governor. Prior to British 
 rule, " many chiefs had sold large tracts of country to private 
 individuals without conditions. Many of these were con- 
 firmed later, subject, inter alia, to the condition "that existing 
 villages be not disturbed. The balance of land, originally 
 owned by chiefs and tribes, was handed over to the Crown 
 by tribes before and after the protectorate was proclaimed." 
 6000 square miles are shown as alienated, all but 63 square 
 miles being freehold. The remaining land is classed as " held 
 by the Crown." * Leased land may not be assigned or sub- 
 
 ^ Sir H. Johnston's large work on Uganda deals very briefly indeed with 
 the land question. The agreement (of 1900), he says, "transferred a little less 
 than half of Uganda as the private property of the king, princes, princesses, and 
 chiefs, and a large number (some 2000) of native land-owners," viz., all that 
 they occupied, cultivated, or used for grazing, and "they were pledged to a 
 proper treatment of their native tenants." The remainder, including the forests, 
 " was handed over to the British Government to be dealt with on the same lines 
 as Crown lands in a Crown colony. . . . Any landless native of Uganda can 
 acquire cultivable land from the Administration at an almost nominal rental." 
 Agreements were made with Ankole, Toro, &c., on similar lines. — 'Uganda 
 Protectorate,' vol. i. p. 250. Mr (now Sir F.) Jackson writes that "the land 
 occupied by the natives belongs to them, and only unoccupied land belongs to 
 the Government." The onus of proof that the laud is not waste (and therefore 
 Crown land) lies on the claimant. — Handbook 98, p. 128. 
 
 ^ A full description of his original settlement is given by Sir H. Johnston in 
 his book on Nyasaland. Villages were as a rule excluded from the alienated 
 lands, and ' ' the natives were informed that the sale of the surrounding land 
 did not include the alienation of their houses and plantations. . . . The tenure 
 of the land was in reality tribal — viz., theoretically the chief had no right to 
 alienate the land, . . . one of the results therefore was to completely free . . . 
 the natives by restoring to them the inalienable occupancy of their villages and 
 plantations." Finally, treaties were concluded with all the chiefs of the pro- 
 tectorate "securing Crown control over the remainder of the land, which the 
 natives were henceforth unable to alienate without the sanction of the Com- 
 missioner. In some cases (says Sir H. Johnston) large sums were spent in 
 buying up waste lands, where complete control over its disposal was desired. A 
 percentage of the selling price or rental was paid to the native chief when 
 portions of the Crown lands are let or sold." — 'British Central Africa,' pp. 
 112, 113. The Official Handbook No. 95 states that the "British Central 
 African Company " owns 350,000 acres, the "African Lakes Company" and the 
 "Blantyre and East African Company," 150,000 each (p. 69). 
 
POPXILATION AND LAND AREAS. 331 
 
 let without the Governor's written permission, and no rent 
 or service may be exacted from any native on the land. 
 
 From this brief summary it appears that throughout these 
 three protectorates the Government has assumed to a greater 
 or less degree not merely the right to control, but the actual 
 ownership of the greater part of the land. In the available 
 records — the Blue-books of the time and the works of Sir C. 
 EUot and Sir J. Johnston, their earliest administrators and 
 historians — ^we do not find any record of iavestigations as to 
 the native systems of land tenure. EngUsh terms are used, 
 and English conceptions of land tenure seem to have guided 
 the principles of the settlements or agreements. In Uganda, 
 " kings, princes, princesses " and others are granted freehold 
 lands, and the rest of the people are referred to as their 
 " tenants." The Government is regarded as the owner of 
 the land not included in these freeholds, which apparently 
 embraced the land actually occupied at the time. The de- 
 mands made by any increase of population since that date 
 (1900) are to be satisfied by Government, whose rent-paying 
 tenants these " landless natives " were to become. 
 
 In Nyasaland the settlement appears to have assured to 
 the natives the possession at least of their actual villages 
 and plantations, though it is stated that no chief or tribe 
 now owns any land. Settlers in some cases obtained their 
 land at prices as low as |d. an acre (27s. a square mile). 
 
 The density of the population has, of course, an intimate 
 relation to the importance of the land to the natives, the 
 amoimt available for expropriation to aliens, and the labour 
 supply. A glance at the table on page 45 reveals the astonish- 
 ing paucity of the population of British tropical Africa, even 
 though it be considerably greater than that of the French 
 possessions. The density per square mile (14'4) is in striking 
 contrast to that of British India (223 iu 1911) or of Hong- 
 Kong (1530).^ These figures bear eloquent testimony to the 
 sufferings of the people of Africa iu the past, and to the 
 possibilities of the future, when, with the aid of peace and 
 prosperity on the one hand and of medical science on the 
 other, the vacant places fill up under British control. 
 
 Calculations of average density over vast areas are, how- 
 
 ' The 'Stateaman's Year-book, 1921,' gires the population of the colony 
 (exclusive of leased territory) as 501,000, area 35 sq. miles — viz., a density per 
 sq. mile of 14,314 ! 
 
332 LAND TENXJEE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 ever, apt to give a wrong impression, for the people are very 
 unequally distributed. Northern Nigeria, for instance, with 
 an average density of 36*2, includes areas where the density 
 reaches 350 to the square mUe, with corresponding depopu- 
 lated lands with perhaps not more than one or two to the 
 square mile. The Sudan, with its million odd square mUes, 
 has an average density of three only, but stretches of desert 
 have no population at aU.^ 
 
 The table is interesting. The average density of the group 
 of West African dependencies appears to be six times that 
 of the eastern. The Gold Coast, which has been most clamant 
 of its land rights, shows a density of less than twenty. In all 
 except in the few very densely populated districts, it may 
 be said that there is ample room for the legitimate needs of 
 aUen enterprise and development. 
 
 In those regions, whether in the east or west, where Euro- 
 pean settlement is not possible, the demand for land by non- 
 natives is so limited, the area available is so large, and, except 
 in limited districts, the native population is so small, that, 
 whether the Government ia theory owns the land or not, 
 it is not likely in practice that the native cultivator will find 
 any difficulty ia obtaining all the land he needs. 
 
 It would, however, seem desirable that the claim of the 
 natives of the soU to sufficient rent-free lands for their needs 
 should be explicitly recognised, and there should be no ques- 
 tion of " landless natives becoming Government tenants." 
 For the rest, since by treaty, consent, or estabUshed usage the 
 Governments in Eastern Africa have for a long period exer- 
 cised a control of the land at least equivalent to that con- 
 ferred by conquest, the extent and the limitations of that 
 control might well be embodied in the local legislation as a 
 guide to the British staff. The claim of the State should be 
 that of trustee and not that of owner, and in other respects 
 the legislation would, I hope, embody the principles which 
 I have discussed as relating to conquered countries, which it 
 will have been noted diverge in some important respects from 
 the proposals of the Lands Committee regarding Northern 
 Nigeria. 
 
 1 The Haifa Province (112,300 square miles) has only 1 person to 3 square 
 miles; Dongola (124,300 square miles) only 1, and Berber and Red Sea (125,800) 
 only IJ per square mile, while the Shilluk country is said to be the most 
 densely populated in Africa. — Handbook 98, pp. 1 and 20. 
 
333 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LAND TBNTJBE AND TEANSFEE — (Continued) 
 
 General conditions of land grants — Building leases — Agricultural leases — 
 Mining leases — Grazing leases — Eevision of rentals of all leases — 
 Premium — Sents — Auction — Improvements — Surrender ^ Inter- 
 dependence of lease conditions — Compensation — Object of lease con- 
 ditions — Views of Liverpool merchants — Acquisition of land — Mission 
 lands — Registration — Southern Rhodesia — Other British tropics — 
 India — Burmah — West Indies — Malaya — Fiji — Hong-Kong — Non- 
 British tropics —French — Portuguese — The Congo — Java — Philippines 
 — China. 
 
 MINERALS. 
 
 Ownership of minerals — Justification of Government ownership — Aliena- 
 tion of mineral rights by Suzerain — Conditions of native ownership — 
 Varying conditions of mining laws — The function of Government — 
 Prospecting licences— Mining leases — Government monopoly in coal 
 —Oil-fields. 
 
 I PROPOSE now to offer a few comments on the conditions 
 on wMch land may reasonably be granted by Governments 
 to non-natives, ia the hope that they may perhaps prove 
 useful or suggestive to administrators, though probably the 
 general reader may feel disposed to " skip " the next few 
 paragraphs. My comments refer to the tropics proper, and 
 are not, generally speaking, appUcable to homesteads and 
 farms held under conditions of English law in East Africa. 
 It has for many years past been an accepted principle 
 in British Crown dependencies that land granted to non- 
 natives must be held on terminable leases and not as free- 
 jiold — whether the grant is by the Crown or by a native, — 
 but occupation rights to a native may be for an iudeflnite 
 term. Land grants are exclusive of mineral rights. The 
 conditions of general application — such as those relating to 
 security of title, payment of rent, rights of way, survey, &c. 
 
334 LAND TENURE AND TEANSPEE. 
 
 — are usually contained in ordinances and regulations, and are 
 implied in the document of title, which contains any addi- 
 tional covenants. The Crown usually reserves the right to 
 lay telegraphs or pipes across the land if necessary, on pay- 
 ment of compensation, and waterside leases usually reserve 
 a strip of land as a public right of way along the water's edge. 
 Ifative rights are safeguarded, and payment must be made 
 for aU unexhausted improvements assessed by Government. 
 It is usual also to require that the lessee shall effect certain 
 specified improvements within a stated time. These may be 
 either in fulfilment of the purpose for which the lease is 
 granted — e.g., to erect buildings of a certain value under a 
 building lease, &c. — or they may effect permanent improve- 
 ments on the land, such as raising its level or reclaiming swamp, 
 or filling in pits, &c. Improvements of the former class are 
 the property of the lessee, but those of the latter class are in 
 the nature of a contract between the lessor and the lessee, 
 whereby the latter undertakes to do certain work which 
 otherwise must be done by the lessor. The cost is repaid by 
 an equivalent remission of premium or rental, and they 
 belong therefore to the lessor. 
 
 The term of leases of residential sites in the European 
 quarter of a township must be sufficient to encourage a lessee 
 to spend capital in permanent buildings, &c. — say for ninety- 
 nine years. If the land is only used for warehouses, or for 
 temporary houses outside a township, the term would pro- 
 bably be less. The length of the lease is usually stated in 
 the auction notice. The covenant requires that buildings of 
 a specified value shaU be erected within a specified time. To 
 prevent overcrowding, the number of persons who may reside 
 on a native plot may be restricted. 
 
 The area of European residential sites in a township is 
 usually not less than one or more than two acres, and in a 
 native location, quarter to half an acre (which may not be 
 subdivided), exclusive of separate garden allotments. Out- 
 side a township they may extend to five acres or more. Leases 
 of wharves, railway sidings, &c., are subject to special terms 
 and conditions. 
 
 Agricultural leases in Nigeria are limited to 1200 acres, 
 and a separate building lease is required for permanent 
 European residences, but labourers' huts, store-sheds, &c., are 
 allowed. Natives resident on the land do not become tenants, 
 
CONDITIONS OF LEASES. 335 
 
 and no rent may be charged to them. The term of an agri- 
 cultural lease may he from forty-five to sixty years, or longer 
 if^costly machinery is installed — oil-mills, saw-miUs, &c. The 
 lessee should bring at least one-eighth of the area under 
 cultivation each year. The same lessee should not hold two 
 coterminous leases so as to evade the Umit of size. " Dummy- 
 ing " must, of course, be guarded agaiast ia aU leases. Such 
 leases are intended for rubber, cocoa, and similar plantations 
 in regions not suited to European settlement. Allotments for 
 gardens around a township are usually granted on short-term 
 leases to natives at very low rentals. Forest licences convey 
 no rights whatever in the land. 
 
 With regard to mining leases — I am only concerned here 
 with surface rights. When the mines are underground these 
 are unimportant, and consist merely of the area required for 
 the erection of machinery, disposal of tailings, and residential 
 areas for Europeans and labourers. Where, however, the 
 workings are alluvial or open-cast, surface rights are, of 
 course, all-important. Leases and " mining rights " may in 
 Nigeria be for 800 and 76 acres respectively. Surface rights 
 can be claimed over any area certified by the Inspector of 
 Mines to be actually required for mining purposes. For 
 permanent residences, recreation grounds, trading stores, or 
 plantations, a separate lease is required. If the grant of 
 surface rights would deprive the natives of sufficient cultiv- 
 able land for their support, the mining lease might be refused. 
 
 As to grazing leases — ^in a populated country where pastoral 
 tribes own millions of cattle and flocks, grazing land for stock 
 and ostrich farming is, of course, only available where lack 
 of water or fodder-grass prevent its use by the natives. It 
 follows that a trustee in control of the land for the benefit of 
 the natives can grant no extensive grazing rights in such 
 coimtries to non-natives, except in regions at present useless 
 for the purpose. There are great areas in Nigeria where these 
 conditions apply — ^lack of water and of forage ; there are 
 stiU greater areas in the Sudan and the Kalahari and Rhodesia. 
 
 The pioneer should have security for a good return on the 
 capital he has risked, by an option after the first twenty years 
 to renew for a further period of, say, fifty years, over all land 
 which he has rendered useful. A grazing lease should not 
 exclude native settlements on the land, which, with proper 
 safeguards regarding cattle disease and the use of water, 
 
336 LAND TENURE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 would be advantageous to the lessee. The natives would not, 
 of course, be his tenants, but free occupiers. Exclusive grazing 
 rights would be confined to fenced areas on leased land, and 
 it would be the duty of the District Officer to see that, if the 
 lessee were allowed to graze stock outside his leased area, 
 no preference whatever was obtained over native herds, and 
 the non-native cattle-owner would pay a cattle tax or licence. 
 The land must, of course, be used for the purpose for which 
 it is granted — including the raising of fodder and com for 
 cattle or ostriches. 
 
 The Colonial Office has of late years insisted that leases 
 of all kinds by Government to non-natives should be subject 
 to revision of rental periodically. In East Africa, as we have 
 seen, leases are revised at the thirty-third and sixty-sixth 
 years. ^ In Northern Nigeria the ordinance, as recommended 
 by the Committee, enacted septennial revision, — ^the term was 
 later extended (for building leases only) to twenty years. 
 
 Eevision is based on the exchange value of the land irre- 
 spective of improvements by the lessee. For leases of sixty 
 years and upwards revision at one-third and two -thirds of 
 the term seems reasonable — shorter leases at half-time with 
 exemption for those of ten years or less. The period should, 
 however, vary according to situation, being shorter in a rapidly- 
 growing township, newly served by a railway, and longer in 
 back districts where the land is unlikely to appreciate rapidly 
 in value. If land held under an agricultural lease has become 
 valuable for building purposes, the lessee, if required to sur- 
 render any portion, should be entitled to full compensation 
 both for improvements and disturbance, with an equivalent 
 extension in another direction. Leases of Crown lands to 
 natives not subject to income tax should be equally liable to 
 revision, but land leased for purely mining purposes should 
 be exempt. An appeal to the courts or to arbitration against 
 the revised rent should always be aUowed. 
 
 This system has naturally been opposed by lessees as in- 
 volving State interference, and introducing an element of 
 uncertainty as to future rents which would render it difficult 
 to borrow money on mortgage. Its advocates, on the other 
 hand, maintain the right of the colonial revenue to partici- 
 pate directly in the increasing value of land (due in great 
 part to the expenditure of pubhc money), and they argue 
 
 1 Also in Uganda Annual Report, 1918-19, No. 1654. 
 
EENTS AND PEEMTDM. 337 
 
 that the revision system enables the Government to encourage 
 pioneer effort by very low initial rentals.^ The alternative, 
 as I have said (p. 293), seems to lie in an income tax by 
 which the State receives its share of the expanding profits 
 made from the land, or the graduated land-tax on Europeans, 
 proposed by Lord Elgin and Mr Harcourt.^ It caimot, how- 
 ever, be denied that revision at such short intervals as seven 
 years is harassing and deterrent to private enterprise. 
 
 Premium may be regarded as a capitalisation of a portion 
 of the rent due up to the date of the first revision, and is a 
 reimbursement to the pubUc revenues of the day of the ex- 
 penditure incurred in providing necessary access to sites and 
 other amenities.* It also forms a convenient basis for bidding 
 at auction. As a rough-and-ready hypothesis, the premium 
 should not exceed the annual rental, multipUed by half the 
 period up to the first revision. In some colonies the premium 
 charged is fixed at four to ten times the rental, apparently 
 without regard to these considerations. If the amenities 
 provided (roads, drains, water-supply, &c.) are defrayed from 
 municipal funds, the municipality and not the general revenue 
 would receive the premium. The rent fixed at revision is the 
 original annual value without premimn, plus any increased 
 value of the land apart from the lessee's improvements. 
 
 Eents depend on the exchange value of land, and in a 
 country where as yet land has little or no exchange value, 
 and there is more than enough for aU demands, it can only be 
 arbitrarily fixed in relation to the amenities of the site, and 
 the profits to be made by occupying it. Auction in such a 
 case is of little value in determining it, for except in a re- 
 stricted township there is probably no person other than the 
 
 ^ A critic of this system writes : " X, Y, and Z take up plots at a certain 
 rent and proceed to improve their holdings. After a time W wants a plot. 
 The amount of trade that the enterprise of X, Y, Z has drawn to or developed 
 in the place has enhanced the value of the land, and at an auction W is con- 
 tent to pay such enhanced rate. Now if X, Y or Z's first revision falls due, 
 Ws value can form the basis for the increase. If that does not mean 
 that X, Y, and Z are being charged on their own improvements, what does it 
 mean ? " The system is not the fancy of any local Administrator, but has 
 been laid down, for East and West Africa alike, by His Majesty's Government. 
 The officer employed in dealing with such questions must necessarily be an 
 expert, and it is for him to judge to what extent enhanced rentals are due to 
 the expenditure of the State and the community in general, and to what extent 
 they are due to the individual enterprise of the lessee. 
 
 ^ Despatch of 29/2/1911 in 'East African Gazette' of 1/3/1911. 
 
 2 See Table, "Present Value of Lease," Whitaker, p. 399. 
 
 Y 
 
338 LAND TBNUHE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 applicant who is interested in acquiriag the land. Even in a 
 new township, the boimdaries of which can be extended 
 without difficulty, there can only be competition based on 
 the comparison between two particular lots, unless fewer lots 
 are put up for auction than there are known to be applicants. 
 
 It is, however, manifest that where the profits of occupation 
 have iacreased a thousandfold by the advent of a railway 
 built out of a local revenue, that revenue (e.g., the local tax- 
 payer) is entitled to a fair share of the profits for the benefit 
 of the country (whether by means of an income or profits 
 tax or by revision of rentals) — especially if those profits are 
 made by persons with a foreign domicile, and only partially 
 expended ia the country. Comparison with rental values in 
 England, where tenants have heavy rates and taxes to pay, 
 is of course misleading. 
 
 The principle to be adopted seems, therefore, to be that 
 the rent and premium shoidd bear some relation to the esti- 
 mated profits of occupation within the first revision period, 
 in comparison with the direct taxes levied on the native 
 population. In an old colony the price at which land has 
 changed hands by private sale, and the price obtained for 
 similar lots at auction, afford data on which the upset price 
 and rental can be fixed with accuracy. As between lots in a 
 particular locality, the extent of frontage on the sea, or 
 on a navigable river, or on a railway or road, wiU of course 
 afford data for comparative valuation. Eentals for land 
 owned by the Government must be distinguished from a 
 land-tax. In agricultural leases the rent shoidd be low for 
 the first six years, imtil the trees come into bearing. In 
 Penang the rent is quadrupled after the sixth year. 
 
 Surface rentals for land leased for open-cast or alluvial 
 mineral workings should, when the minerals belong to the 
 State, be merely nominal, and they are only imposed at all 
 because, when the land is in private ownership, such rentals 
 belong to the owner, and must be distinguished from the 
 mineral lease. 
 
 Penal rents may be imposed by ordinance for failure to 
 carry out covenanted improvements or obUgations within the 
 specified time. Eeduced or even pepper-corn rents may be 
 charged it the land is required for a purpose conducive to the 
 public welfare, such as sites for schools and hospitals, or for 
 reUgious purposes or pubUc recreation. 
 
IMPROVEMENTS AND STIREENDER. 339 
 
 The system of auction is the best method of securing strict 
 impariiiality in the disposal of land. The auction may be 
 held either on the land or at any other place convenient to 
 bidders. A bid may be made by letter, and annoimced at 
 the auction. The public notice (in consecutive gazettes and 
 otherwise) should give the fuUest particulars, with ample 
 time for inspection of plans and inquiry, and bidding should 
 be on the upset price (premium), and not on the rental. In 
 default of competition, the lot goes to the original appUcant 
 on the reserve terms previously agreed. 
 
 The amount which an appUcant declares himself wiUing to 
 expend on improvements, and their permanency, is an impor- 
 tant factor in deciding the terms of a lease. They are defined 
 as " anything or any quahty permanently attached to the 
 land, directly resulting from the expenditure of capital and 
 labour," and include buildings, fixed machinery, plantations 
 of long-lived crops or trees, fenckig, wells, roads, clearing for 
 agriculture, irrigation or reclamation works, and even better- 
 ment of the soU which is not the result of ordinary cultivation. 
 Improvements of which the cost has been deducted from the 
 premium or rental belong of course to the lessor, but all other 
 improvements remain the absolute property of the lessee. 
 They only revert to Government (in the case of Crown lands) 
 if the occupier vacates his lease at his own wish, or if his title 
 has been revoked for good cause — e.g., breach of covenant, 
 &c. — or finally, in the case of the expiration of a terminable 
 lease. The object of requiring " improvements " as a condi- 
 tion of the covenant is in order to prevent speculators buying 
 up land, and leaving it imdeveloped till an opportunity of 
 selling at a profit should occur. 
 
 Surrender of a lease, though permissible, is usually subject 
 to a statutory fine to prevent applications for land which the 
 applicant has no intention of keeping. It may, of course, be 
 reduced or remitted. The land must be left in good condi- 
 tion, and no permanent fixtures attached to the soil may be 
 removed. 
 
 It is obvious that the length of a lease, the rent, premimn, 
 revision period, and value of improvements to be eifected, are 
 all interdependent, and must be considered in their mutual 
 relations when advertising the conditions upon which a piece 
 of land shall be put to auction. The applicant has to state, 
 on the form of application, the value of the improvements 
 
340 LAND TENURE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 he is prepared to effect, and the length of the lease would 
 largely depend on the amount of this capital expenditure, 
 whether in the form of permanent buildings on a building 
 site, or of extensive plantations and machinery on an agri- 
 cultural site, or of water-supply, irrigation, and importation 
 of stock on a grazing lease. ISTo definite scale can be laid 
 down, for the situation of the site has an important bearing 
 on the question. Whether the land is let on a " long-term " 
 or a " short-term " lease depends, therefore, chiefly on the 
 value of " improvements." 
 
 Compensation for imexhausted improvements, the property 
 of the lessee, must be paid in full if the land is taken by 
 Government for any purpose, but not if the lessee surrenders 
 for either of the three reasons named. It would, however, 
 be open to Government to refund to him any part of the value 
 of Ms improvements which might seem just. If the land 
 with its unexhausted improvements is re-leased, the value of 
 these should be kept distinct from the ground rent, and added 
 to the premium. The Government manifestly cannot be ex- 
 pected to pay for the whole of the unexhausted improvements, 
 whenever an occupier may choose to suirender on revision of 
 rental, however just the revision might be, and even if it 
 were below the proper rental value. An unlimited Uability 
 would thus be imposed on the Government, which, if there 
 were valuable buildings or plantations on the land, might 
 amount to a large sum, while Government could be saddled 
 at the caprice of the holder with an estate which it did not 
 require, and of which it might be unable to dispose. Com- 
 pensation is, of course, due for any damage caused by pubUc 
 works on leased land, and if more than 4 per cent of an agri- 
 cultural lease is taken, compensation should also be given 
 for the land itself. Full compensation must of course be paid 
 to natives for any crops or dwellings, and also for disturbance 
 if the land is leased to a non-native or acquired by Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Some of these principles, as might be expected, are by no 
 means concurred in by those who have embarked their capital 
 in the development of purely tropical lands in Africa. The 
 Englishman is accustomed to freehold and to long leases on 
 fixed rentals, and such conditions best suit his interests. It 
 is the object of British poUcy to promote those interests by 
 every legitimate means, while safeguarding the revenue of the 
 
VIEWS OF LIVERPOOL MERCHANTS. 341 
 
 futuie, and the interests alike of posterity and of the native 
 populations. Its task is to distribute the burden of the 
 contribution to public revenue equally between all. The 
 object of the methods proposed is ia brief to ensure that the 
 native shall hold his land rent-free ia perpetuity, paying a 
 tax assessed yearly on its usufruct, while the non-native, 
 who occupies lands whose value is rapidly increasing, has a 
 terminable lease, with rent periodically revised. 
 
 The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce commimicated their 
 views to the West African Lands Committee in a series of 
 resolutions.! They consider that if, as Sir H. Belfield states, 
 the population is sparse and not increasing, it would be a 
 mistake inimical to development to recognise the inalienable 
 right of natives to the whole of the available land ; " that 
 where the lessee can prove an expenditure of, say, £500 per 
 acre upon buildings or other permanent works, he shall be 
 entitled to purchase the freehold of the land on specified 
 terms," which the Chamber suggests should be ten years' 
 rental ; that on the expiry of a lease, failing renewal on accept- 
 able terms, the lessee be compensated for all improvements, 
 the amount being settled if necessary by arbitration ; that 
 the rent of an agricultural lease should be commutable " for 
 a period not exceeding twenty years by paying a lump simi 
 under discount at 5 per cent per annum " ; that mining leases 
 should include such superficial rights as would enable the 
 lessee to sublet sites for dwellings for employees, and those 
 who cater for them ; that agricultural leases should not be 
 limited to ninety -nine years ; that no export duties on the 
 produce of European estates (or otherwise) should be im- 
 posed ; that the transfer of individual rights in land should 
 be facilitated, and no distinction made between foreign or 
 native individual owners ; and finally, that neglect to utilise 
 a mining or agricrdtural lease for two years should render it 
 liable to forfeiture. 
 
 In a later Memorandam the merchants recognised the claim 
 of Government to the unearned increment on land, and did 
 not criticise the system of rent revision " if ioaposed in an 
 equitable manner, and upon a settled basis." They ask for 
 " trading and residential " leases of not less than ninety -nine 
 years, with revision at twenty-one years — existing leases being 
 converted if desired ; that at the last revision the lessee should 
 
 1 Published in the report of the Chamber of Commerce. 
 
342 LAND TBNTIEE AND TEANSFEE. 
 
 have an option of renewal to be exercised within five years 
 of the expiry of a lease ; that auction should be abolished, 
 and that palm-oU plantation leases should be not less than 
 ten square nules. Eemaining stipulations are practically as 
 already discussed. 
 
 Wben land (other than that in a township) at the dis- 
 posal of Government is demanded on lease for any purpose, it 
 devolves on the District StafE to make the fuUest inquiries 
 as to whether the grant will interfere with native rights of 
 cultivation, grazing, or forestry, and how such rights can 
 best be equitably adjusted — whether by the grant of equiva- 
 lent land elsewhere, and by compensation for crops and dis- 
 turbance or otherwise, or whether the grant should be cur- 
 tailed or abandoned, and in the case of surface rights for 
 mining, the minimum which is necessary. The District Officer 
 informs the apphcant of his intended recommendations as to 
 the lease conditions. These data are carefuUy considered by 
 Government before the lease is granted. To avoid delay and 
 inconvenience, it is desirable that Government should permit 
 occupation prior to survey and the completion of the lease, 
 when the terms have been satisfactorily settled. Short-term 
 leases — ^for five years or less — ^renewable from year to year, 
 without compensation for improvements, may be granted 
 when desirable — e.g., for land which will later be required for 
 a pubUc purpose, or where the lessee does not wish to commit 
 himself to a long lease. In the case of native-owned lands, 
 the District Officer ascertains whether the proposed lease is 
 by a tribal authority or by an individual, and in the latter 
 case whether he has a title to the land, and he reports whether 
 the proposed terms are in his opinion equitable to the owner. 
 
 Missions in Uganda occupy a specially privileged position, 
 and 77,500 acres were assigned to them as freehold in the 1900 
 treaty. An alien mission is, of course, " non-native," and as 
 such would be bound to obtain the Governor's sanction for 
 the acquisition of land — though if the land is at the disposal 
 of Government the grant might be made rent-free or on 
 special terms. Like any other application, it woidd be in- 
 vestigated by the District Officer, and in particular he would 
 ascertain whether the people were desirous of the establish- 
 ment of a mission among them or hostile to it. 
 
 It may sometimes happen that a party of converts, with or 
 without the consent of their chief, may erect a church and 
 
THE DECISION re EHODESIAN LANBS. 343 
 
 other buildiags, with a residence for any missionary who 
 comes to visit them, towards the cost of which they may or 
 may not have received help from mission funds. The mission 
 body disclaims any rights in the land or bnilditigs (though they 
 may have an indirect interest ia them), and the transfer is 
 not therefore cognisable as a transfer to a non-native. It is 
 advisable that the Government, in the interests of peace and 
 good order, should be cognisant of such matters, and this 
 would be impressed upon both the missions and the people. 
 
 All transactions regarding land which are in writing should 
 be registered withia a prescribed time, and if not registered 
 should be void, and not admissible in evidence. Boundary 
 settlements made by District Officers, and approved by 
 the Governor, should be endorsed by the chiefs and registered. 
 A record should also be kept in the provincial office. An 
 entry ia the register, properly authenticated, should be a 
 guarantee of title against the world, and to effect this verbal 
 transactions must be held to be iavaUd by the courts, unless 
 reduced to writing and registered. Individual owners ia 
 districts not declared to be under English land law (p. 306) 
 should recite the grounds of their claim to title. Mortgages 
 on land, and on permanent crops, should be included ia the 
 definition of " transactions ia land." 
 
 The position ia regard to land in Southern Ehodesia (though 
 outside the tropics) is particularly worth notiag, siace it has 
 been the subject of an important judgment of the Privy 
 CouncU. The Chairman of the Chartered Company explained 
 that there were four claims : ^ (1) The white settlers claimed 
 that the Chartered Company held the land only as adminis- 
 tering it for their benefit. (2) It was claimed on behalf of the 
 natives that the land was theirs. (3) The Colonial Office 
 claimed the land as belongiag to the Crown. (4) The 
 Chartered Company claimed the land as their property. The 
 Privy CouncU found that the Company, acting on behalf of the 
 Crown, conquered the country, and the Crown thus became 
 possessed of the land by right of conquest ; that it had not 
 by any formal act transferred its rights to the Company, 
 which rightly disposed of the land as its agent, but the Crown 
 
 ^ See report of 22nd meeting, August 1918, and note on page 24. The 
 judgment did not apply to Northern Rhodesia, and since no claim there could 
 he hased on right of conquest, Lord Buxton's Committee recommended a new 
 reference.— Cmd. 1471/1921. 
 
344 LAND TENTJEE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 was liable for all necessary administrative expenditure, less 
 the receipts from the land. The Privy Council did not appa- 
 rently consider that the natives had any private or communal 
 rights which the Crown, though conqueror, was bound to 
 respect — other than the assignment to them of adequate 
 reserves. 
 
 It may be of interest to add a few comments regarding the 
 systems adopted in some other British colonies and depend- 
 encies outside Africa. 
 
 In India the Government claims a portion of the unearned 
 increment when the enhanced value of the land is due to State 
 expenditure. Sir T. Morison writes : " It is useless to dis- 
 cuss nationalisation of land, since the Indian Government 
 has definitely repudiated such a conception of its rights in 
 land. . . . The British Government has everywhere con- 
 ferred or recognised a private right in land, . . . and in large 
 areas has expressly declared the rights of landlord and village 
 owners, . . . the economic doctrine has never been applied to 
 the ownership of land in India." He adds in a later passage : 
 " The general conclusion is that the Indian system of land 
 tenure is something intermediate between complete nationah- 
 sation of land and absolute private property in land. To the 
 extent of a half the State is able to appropriate that increased 
 increment which is due to the development of the country." ^ 
 
 Individual ownership is safeguarded by legislation designed 
 to prevent the transfer of land from the peasant proprietor 
 to the money-lender — a process which at one time was rapidly 
 taking place. 
 
 In Upper Burmah, after the British annexation, nothing 
 was said in the regulations about defining the nature and 
 extent of rights in land, but a " record of rights " was insti- 
 tuted, in which the facts as they came to Ught were simply 
 stated, with all changes in ownership, &c. Practically every 
 one, though not legally defined as " occupant " or " owner," 
 had the enjoyment of his land on showing his possession and 
 right thereto, provided the land was not State or Eoyal land. 
 Eoyal lands were separately and carefully defined. About 
 three years later a rough-and-ready assessmient was made.^ 
 
 ' Loc. cit, pp. 21, 22, and 39. See also Baden-Powell, 'Land Systems of 
 British India,' and ' Village Communities of India ' ; also N. B. Baillie, ' The 
 Land-tax of India.' 
 
 2 Sir E. P. Qirouard in Od. 5103 of 1910, p. 47. 
 
LAND CONDITIONS IN OTHER COLONIES. 345 
 
 In the West Indies the policy of small holdiags has been 
 pursued. A Eoyal Commission in 1897 recommended the 
 purchase (compulsory, if necessary) of areas held by large 
 proprietors, with a view to their conversion into small holdings 
 of about five acres each, and this proposal was adopted. 
 
 In Malaya practically all the land was the property of 
 the Government, and it took some time, says Sir F. Swetten- 
 ham, to convince the Malays of the desirabihty of obtaining a 
 clear title in. return for a low rental. Leases were issued 
 for 999 years or in perpetuity. When Federation of the 
 States was accomplished a uniEorm land code was adopted. 
 Prior to this the land laws had differed widely.^ 
 
 In Fiji, by the deed of cession, aU land not at the time 
 already alienated to foreigners, or actually being used, or 
 probably required for use of the natives, was vested in the 
 Crown, but in practice the Crown's rights were ignored, and 
 the proceeds of sales were credited to the natives, so that 
 the Crown is now without land. 
 
 In Hong-Kong the land vested in the Crown, and up to 
 1848 building sites, were leased without premium on seventy- 
 five year terms — other leases were for twenty-one years. 
 999 year leases, with premium, were granted till 1885, when 
 the older term was again adopted, and in 1898 these were 
 made renewable for a second seventy-five years, with revision 
 of rentals. In the Kew Territories all titles held imder Chinese 
 law were recognised, and in a total area of 40,000 acres over 
 20,000 certificates were issued, in addition to the mortgages 
 registered. As on the island, aU land vested in the Crown, 
 if not held by individual title. Compensation for resumption 
 of cultivated land is put at thirty-three times the annual 
 rent. 
 
 Space does not admit of a lengthy examination of the 
 way in which " the land question " has been handled by other 
 nations in tropical Africa and elsewhere. We have seen that 
 M. Delafosse agrees with our own authorities in regard to the 
 principles which underlie the native system of land tenure 
 in West Africa, but that the French nevertheless believe that 
 individual ownership is incontestably the most favourable to 
 production. This view is enforced throughout his volumes by 
 the great French writer on Colonial Economics, Mons. P. 
 Leroy Beaulieu. 
 
 1 'Malaya,' p. 236. See also Straits Annual Eeport, 1910, Cd. 5389. 
 
346 LAND TENURE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 As regards Portuguese possessions, a Lisbon decree some 
 years ago was designed to promote free native holdings on 
 vacant lands. No rent is charged for five years, and after 
 twenty years a freehold is granted. Two-thirds must be 
 cultivated, and the title is inalienable. Holders are exempt 
 from forced labour of any Mnd, and from service in the 
 police or military forces. Lisbon decrees are, however, not 
 always operative in the colonies.^ 
 
 The former system iu the Congo State apparently not 
 only denied any rights in land to the natives, but in the 
 domains privies, which are said to have included nine-tenths 
 of the area, they were forbidden to coUect ivory and rubber 
 except for sale to the Government. Purchasers of such 
 produce were accounted to be receivers of stolen goods. This 
 system has happily been replaced by a juster and more liberal 
 regime. 
 
 Mr Ireland tells us that all land in Java, other than the 
 comparatively small area sold outright to Europeans and 
 Chinese in the early days, is the property of the State, but 
 free play is allowed for the operation of native customs, with 
 the result that all agricultural land (with the exceptions 
 noted) is held la hereditary leasehold tenure by individuals, 
 or iu communal holdings. The assessment of the land-tax 
 foUows the methods adopted in British India. Natives may 
 sell their tenure rights to one another, but the sale to a 
 European or to a foreign Asiatic is absolutely prohibited. 
 This has been completely successful (he says) in protecting the 
 native from the loss of his vested interest in the land, but 
 it is generally felt that the Government has gone too far in 
 its desire to protect the native, and has thereby retarded the 
 development of the land.^ 
 
 In the Philippines the United States, by the treaty with 
 Spain, had become possessed of the public lands. With the 
 exception of those reserved for miMtary or Government pur- 
 poses, these were placed \mder the control of the local Govern- 
 ment, to be administered for the benefit of the people. " The 
 sale of public lands was so carefully hedged about with restric- 
 tions that the development of the country has been retarded. 
 In order to develop a class of small landowners, the sales of 
 
 1 Described by Mr J. H. Harris in 'The African Mail,' 9th August 1912. 
 ^ 'The Far Eastern Tropics.' Alleyne Ireland, p. 182. See also 'Java, or 
 How to Manage a Colony,' Money. 
 
OWNERSHIP OF MINERALS. 347 
 
 public lands were limited to 40 acres to one person, and 
 2500 acres to a Corporation." 406,730 acres were held by 
 the Friars, and leased on three-year terms, generally renewed. 
 The Government acquired these lands.^ 
 
 In China the original right to all land vests in the State, 
 and titles may be acquired by individuals, by reclaiming 
 waste land (by permit), and on payment of the tax. Waste 
 is not subject to tax, and cannot be owned by an individual. 
 When reclaimed it is assessed for tax according to quality. 
 AH titles are entered in the Tsilc (' Domesday Book ') and Tsah 
 (rent-roll). The last assessment was ta 1771. There can 
 be no title without payment of tax, and a penalty is imposed 
 for using land which is not registered. 
 
 If in this chapter I have, on the one hand, appeared to go 
 into unnecessary detail, and, on the other hand, to enunciate 
 well-understood principles as though they were something 
 new, my apology is that though the conditions of land tenure 
 and transfer do not differ very materially in different parts 
 of Africa, there has, as we have seen, been but little uni- 
 formity of principle in the treatment of the question, and 
 it may be useful alike for the young administrator, and for 
 the applicant for land, to have before them a brief summary 
 of the principles on which, as I have ventured to suggest, 
 the acquisition of land, rents, compensation, premia, &c., 
 should be based. 
 
 MINERALS. 
 
 The Parliamentary Paper already quoted purported to 
 render a return showing the ownership of minerals in the 
 Crown colonies and protectorates.^ From this it appears 
 that the ownership of all minerals is unreservedly vested in 
 the Crowa in East Africa, Uganda,* Mgeria (in the south since 
 1916), Malaya, Trinidad and Tobago (since 1902), and British 
 Honduras. The statement is not very clear as regards the 
 remaining colonies, but apparently ownership of minerals is 
 
 1 ' The Philippines,' Elliott, vol. ii. p. 68. 
 
 2 Parliamentary Paper 68 of March 1912. 
 
 ' The Governor, in a public paper, states that "the holders of land in the 
 kingdom of Uganda have the right to minerals found on their estates, subject to 
 the payment of a royalty (10 per cent). Elsewhere in the protectorate minerals 
 belong to Government." See also Sir R. Coryndon in 'United Empire,' June 
 1920, p. 300. 
 
348 LAJSTD TENXJEE AND TKANSPEE. 
 
 claimed by Government in all controlled lands (which in 
 Nyasaland and British Gtiiana are practically synonymous 
 with the whole country), and aU rights in minerals are re- 
 served ia leases of Crown lands. 
 
 The ownership of all minerals is claimed by France in her 
 African colonies, and by the United States in the Philippines.* 
 " The formal claim of the State to ... all unworked minerals 
 may be readily conceded by both international and mimicipal 
 law," writes Professor Keith. ^ The reservation of the right 
 of the natives to work any minerals which are necessary for 
 their own industries or requirements — e.g., iron, salt, &c. — ^is 
 eminently just, and should always be conceded.^ 
 
 In countries which are not highly industrialised, the bulk 
 of the minerals are worked for export, and not for local manu- 
 facture, and the royalty imposed by Government is in fact 
 an export duty, which the Government has an unquestioned 
 right to levy for revenue purposes. The claim of ownership 
 therefore means in effect that the right to grant licences for 
 the working of minerals, not required by the natives for their 
 own use, is vested ia the Government, and that the owner 
 of the surface rights in the land may not impose any additional 
 royalties in situ. 
 
 The claim of Government to imworked minerals does not 
 deprive the natives of any customary rights or profits. Their 
 discovery is generally due to the technical knowledge of aUen 
 prospectors, and the possibility of their exploitation usually 
 depends on the scientific methods, and the use of the machinery 
 imported by Europeans . In those countries , therefore, in which 
 the Government exercises the right to dispose of vacant lands 
 and of mineral rights to aliens, it secures two important 
 sources of revenue, to defray the cost of administration and 
 development, without encroaching on the customary rights 
 or requirements of the people. The revenue thus reahsed is 
 expended whoUy on the country to the benefit of its inhabit- 
 ants, and diminishes fro tanto the amount it is necessary to 
 raise by taxation for this purpose. 
 
 On the other hand, the Government is better able to take 
 measures — ^impossible to a native grantor — ^to exclude those 
 
 > 'The Philippines,' Elliott, vol. ii. p. 69. 
 ^ 'Journal of African Society,' July 1918. 
 
 ' In Nigeria tin had been worked in small quantities for ornaments or barter, 
 and the small group of villages engaged in this industry were compensated. 
 
ADVANTAGES OP STATE CONTROL OF MINEEALS. 349 
 
 concession-lmnters who desire to obtain a title merely for 
 manipulation in the money market, and to ensure that the 
 interests of the bona fide miner are, as far as possible, identical 
 with those of the country in which his profits are made. These 
 objects can best be effected, inter alia, by requiring a guarantee 
 that the grantee, or his assignee, has adequate capital for 
 his enterprise, and by insisting on an annual miaimum of 
 development work, so that mineral resources may not be locked 
 up for speculative reasons. 
 
 Government control should also result in the elimination 
 of much litigation, due to overlapping or to badly-drafted 
 concessions. The Ucensee is relieved of the initial purchase 
 price of his concession, and his working capital is thus in- 
 creased. He can therefore afford to pay a somewhat larger 
 share of his profits by way of rents and royalties — a system 
 more advantageous alike to the industry and to the country, 
 which thus retains a direct interest in mineral development. 
 The position of the grantee is more secure when he has to deal 
 with Government alone, and enterprise is thus attracted, while 
 Government is less hampered in securing adequate develop- 
 ment and the best conditions for labourers. 
 
 Minerals, as I have already remarked, are a part of the 
 capital wealth of a country, not perennially renewed like its 
 vegetable products, and their development should afford a 
 means for creating other assets of permanent utUity, such as 
 railways, harbours, irrigation works, &c., which shall continue 
 to benefit the country when the minerals are exhausted. 
 
 Viewed from this standpoint, it seems a short-sighted, even 
 if it is a justifiable policy, for the Suzerain Power to barter 
 these assets, as was done in the case of the transfer of the 
 Mger Chartered Company's territory to the Crown.^ The 
 Company, which claimed to have secured mineral rights by 
 treaty from native chiefs, was entirely justified in making 
 the best bargain it could for its shareholders, and no one will 
 
 1 Parliamentary Papers, C. 9372 of 1899, 39 of August 1900, and 304 of 
 February 1901. Within a defined area embracing the greater part of Northern 
 Nigeria, whether covered by the Company's treaties or not, the Government 
 undertook to impose such royalty on all minerals exported from a British port, 
 or passing through a British Customs House, as may be compatible with the 
 development of the industry, and to institute no specific taxation on the mining 
 industry as such, which would prevent its imposition. The Company and its 
 assigns were to receive half the royalty for ninety-nine years. As the price of 
 its land and mining rights in the remainder of its territory a sum of £150,000 
 was paid. 
 
350 LAND TENURE AND TRANSFER. 
 
 be foimd to grudge to these patriotic pioneers the fullest 
 recompense for their efforts. But one wonders how many 
 of them have benefited from the prosperity of the mining 
 industry in Mgeria. Shares have changed hands, but the 
 onus on the industry, and on the revenues of Mgeria — ^upon 
 which falls the whole cost of the Mines Department, survey, 
 collection of royalties and rents, &c. — remains. It is to be 
 regretted that a money payment, as in the case of the com- 
 mercial lands, was not made, even if it had remained a charge 
 on the revenues of the country.^ 
 
 Where native ownership of minerals worked for export is 
 recognised, the monies received for the concession, rents, &c., 
 are, like the rents of tribal lands, the property of the com- 
 mimity, and should be expended for the common benefit — 
 viz., paid into the native administration treasury or commimal 
 fuQd, and not used (as it appears that they often are) as 
 the private perquisite of the chiefs. If the land has changed 
 from tribal to individual tenure, the ownership of minerals 
 requires elucidation. They should, I think, be vested in the 
 Government on behalf of the whole community. 
 
 The terms upon which prospecting rights and mining leases 
 may be granted must obviously vary according to the miaeral 
 sought, and the form in which it occurs. The task of the 
 administrator of a colony when drafting legislation on this 
 complicated subject has been Ughtened by the recent pubUca- 
 tion of the mining laws of the different parts of the Empire 
 in a compendious form. The conditions, for instance, which 
 affect the wiiming of gold when found in quartz rock lying 
 perhaps at considerable depths below the surface, and those 
 affecting aUuvial or placer deposits, must differ essentially, 
 and the mining law must deal fuUy and separately with each 
 class. I do not propose to do more than make a few general 
 notes on this subject here. 
 
 The function of the Government is, on the one hand, to 
 facilitate in every possible way the enterprise of the pros- 
 pector and miner, and, on the other hand, to protect the 
 native occupier of the land from injury resulting from mining 
 operations, and to ensure fair treatment and reasonable 
 comfort for the native labourer. 
 
 The exploitation of the mineral resources of a country 
 
 ' The annual payment to the Niger Company amounted to some £70,000 
 in 1917, and is steadily increasing. 
 
PROSPECTING ANB MTNING. 351 
 
 can best be promoted in the first instance by a comprehen- 
 sive geological survey, such as is now being undertaken by 
 most of the Governments of the Crown colonies. When 
 minerals have been found, the first demand of the industry 
 is for a clear and understandable mining law and regulations, 
 and expert Departments of Mines and Surveys, which shall 
 deal rapidly with claims, and surveys of leases, &c. Means 
 of access by railway, to facilitate the import of machtaery 
 and supplies, and where necessary, the export of ore, is essen- 
 tial to development. All these things take some time to 
 provide, especially if the revenues of the country are smaU, 
 and delays are apt to give rise to acrid criticism, however 
 anxious the Government may be to assist. 
 
 On the other hand, it devolves upon the Government to 
 protect the interests of the natives, more especially in alluvial 
 or open-cast workings, where surface rights, including the 
 acquisition of land, and interference with water-courses and 
 the supply of water for the agricultural and domestic needs of 
 the natives, are involved. Nor can the duty of protecting 
 the country from deforestation be neglected. There is a 
 natural tendency to denude the country of timber for pit- 
 props and fuel, which, while affording only a temporary advan- 
 tage to the industry, inflicts a permanent injury on the country, 
 as may be seen in the mining districts of South Africa. 
 
 General prospecting licences are usually granted for a year 
 at a time, for a small fee, and unrestricted in area. They 
 should, in my opinion, convey no important rights, such as 
 cutting of timber, damming of streams, &c., and are more in 
 the nature of a registration fee than a payment for special 
 privileges. Exclusive prospective licences, on the other hand, 
 convey definite rights, for which a corresponding payment 
 can be demanded. No other person may prospect the area 
 simultaneously, and the prospector has the right to acquire 
 one or more mining leases in the area included in his exclu- 
 sive licence. He may cut timber, and use water under con- 
 ditions, and on compensation to natives for injury. These 
 licences should be very limited in area and in time, ia order 
 to avoid locking up the country to the exclusion of other 
 enterprise. An exclusive prospecting Ucence should not be 
 transferable without permission, and this should be clearly 
 endorsed upon it to prevent its beiag used for purposes of 
 speculation. 
 
352 LAND TENURE AND TRANSFEE. 
 
 MiniTi g leases for alluvial and open-cast workings should 
 not exceed one square mUe.^ The term might be fifty years, 
 and the rent need not be high, for the industry is taxed by 
 royalties. Premia are unnecessary. Eoyalties on metals, 
 whose price is constantly varying, can best be fixed by a 
 shding scale, framed on the value in the London market. 
 In the facilities granted for prospecting and mining there 
 should, of course, be no discrimination between natives and 
 non-natives. Minerals such as gold and tin, which by erosion 
 have been detached from their matrix and carried down by 
 streams — ^faUing by their weight to the stream-bed — are 
 naturally sought for in streams, and in the beds of former 
 streams. The winning of these minerals in such circum- 
 stances must involve interference with water-courses, and 
 necessitates the use of water for washing the soil containing 
 the ore. Special care is therefore needed to safeguard the 
 native rights in the water-supply and in the disposal of tail- 
 ings. To facilitate the exploitation of ground not rich in ore, 
 and to assist the operations of the miner with small capital, 
 " mining rights " as opposed to " mining leases " are granted 
 in Mgeria. These are tenable for a year — ^renewable from year 
 to year — and convey certain privileges as regards wood and 
 water. 
 
 There is no temptation to Colonial Governments to inter- 
 fere with private enterprise by creating monopolies in the 
 working of minerals other than coal and oil. A temporary 
 monopoly in the working of a coalfield may not only be 
 justified but highly expedient, in order to prove the extent 
 and quaUty of the seams, and to enable the Government to 
 form a reUable estimate of the cost of winning, and the value 
 of the coal at pit's mouth or delivered at the coast, with a 
 view to determining what royalty the industry can bear, 
 and what would be a fair price to fix for supphes needed by 
 Government. 
 
 It will, moreover, be more than probable that a railway 
 must be built to the coalfield, and since (for reasons I shall 
 discuss in the chapter on Transport) it is advisable that all 
 railways should be built and operated by the Colonial Govern- 
 ment, it becomes essential that the Government should have 
 the best possible independent technical advice as to the 
 
 ' Sir F. Fuller mentions that the Ashanti Gold Fields Syndicate were granted 
 mineral and other rights over 100 square miles. — Loc. cit., p. 227. 
 
COAL AND OIL FIELDS. 353 
 
 value of the field before committing itself to the cost of 
 railway construction. The scheme of development of a coal- 
 field is a highly technical matter, depending on geological 
 and other conditions, and ia order to avoid wasteful methods 
 it is necessary that Government should be iu full possession 
 of all data regarding the deposits before leasiag the whole 
 or any portion to a company, so that the conditions of devel- 
 opment may be carefully prescribed.^ 
 
 Initial investigation would cost a considerable sum of 
 money, and delay must be iacurred before the railway facilities 
 can be created. A private company would demand very liberal 
 terms to induce it to accept these risks and delays, and the 
 lease would therefore necessarily be of a highly speculative 
 nature. In these circumstances it cannot, I think, be dis- 
 puted that an enterprise so vital to the future of the country, 
 and involving railway and probably harbour construction, 
 should be initiated by the Government. When the industry 
 has been proved, the Goverimient can, if it desires, reserve a 
 portion of the field for its own railway and steamship require- 
 ments, and lease the remainder to private companies. Its 
 expert staff on the spot wiU then be able to carry out the 
 periodical inspection necessary to see that the lease conditions 
 of development are being fulfilled. 
 
 Boring for oil olfers no obstacle to private enterprise, since 
 the oil if found can be piped without railway connection. If 
 the geological investigations conducted by Government have 
 afforded indications, correspondingly favourable terms can 
 be demanded from the lessee. The Men on the supply for the 
 needs of the Imperial Navy, to which I have elsewhere re- 
 ferred, is justified by the dependence of the colony on the 
 Navy for its defence. 
 
 ^ This is the policy which has been followed in regard to the Enugu coalfield in 
 Nigeria. Germany, by a decree of 4th December 1901, reserTcd any coal found 
 on north-west of Nyasa as a Government monopoly. 
 
354 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 The origin of slavery — Effects of slavery — Growth of opinion adverse to 
 slavery — The position in East Africa — The nature of Central African 
 slave-trade — Realisation by Europe of the real facts — Effect of the 
 scramble for Africa — The Brussels Act — Suppression by force — 
 Slavery as an administrative problem — Tribal slavery, or aUen 
 masters — Predial and domestic slaves — Moslem slave-law — Evils of 
 slavery and extenuations — Internal slavery in Africa — Slavery in 
 protected Moslem States — Compensation and alternatives — Mean- 
 ing of the abolition of the " legal status " — Results of abolition of 
 legal status — Its application at Zanzibar. 
 
 Op all African problems there is none more engrossing than 
 that of slavery, and as to assist in its solution has been the 
 consistent object of my efforts since I first entered tropical 
 Africa in 1888, 1 will ask indulgence if in discussing it I digress 
 somewhat beyond the strict hmits of present-day adminis- 
 trative problems. 
 
 Though the iastitution of slavery appears to be as old as 
 the records of the human race,^ and exists to-day in China ^ 
 and m Moslem countries, it is from Africa alone that large 
 sections of the popidation have, in at aU recent times, been 
 
 ^ For an exhaustive historical review of the subject, reference may be made 
 to Dr Ingram's learned article in the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica,' 9th edition, 
 vol. xxii. pp. 129-144. It may be noted that "slave-holding and its ally polygamy " 
 have exhibited a tendency to flourish in the tropics rather than in the temperate 
 zones. In the latter, the transition to serfs or villeins — adscripti glebce — and 
 from serfdom to a free peasantry has generally been a normal process not 
 unduly prolonged. Adam Smith points out that the transition from the serf 
 to the freeman is encouraged by the sovereign, who grows fearful of the power 
 of his feudal retainers and their armies of serfs. — Book iii. chap. 2. 
 
 2 Slavery in China assumes a mild form. Sale of the freeborn is illegal 
 though common. Girls are bought, often as infants, and become household 
 drudges until marriage, when they are free. Slaves are recruited chiefly by 
 the sale of themselves or their children by a starving peasantry in time of 
 famine or inundation. See Dyer Ball, 'Things Chinese,' pp. 623-628. 
 
ORIGIN AND EFFECTS OF SLAVERY. 355 
 
 deported for use as slaves overseas. ^ The institution, though 
 fundamentally opposed to the principles of Christian ethics, 
 was not specifically condemned by St Paul, who even directed 
 the rendition of a fugitive slave,^ probably because in his day 
 it had become so iategral a part of the social system that to 
 have condemned it would have conflicted with his teaching 
 of obedience to constituted authority ; but the influence of 
 the Church has been opposed to it from the earliest times. 
 
 The incorporation in the tribe of the captives of war as 
 slaves is indeed regarded by Dr Ingram as a " universal and 
 inevitable accompaniment " of the stage of human evolution 
 when sedentary habits replaced nomadic tendencies ; and 
 siQce it taught the necessity for continuous labour, he char- 
 acterises it — as did Zebehr Pasha — as " a necessary step in 
 social progress," supersediag the earher law of massacre and 
 cannibahsm.* 
 
 But however inevitable in the earliest stages of develop- 
 ment the institution of slavery may be, its moral results are 
 undeniably disastrous. To the slave-owners the exercise of 
 despotic power, without external check, ia all the relations of 
 daily Ufe is demoralising. Self-control is weakened, sus- 
 ceptibility to flattery, harshness or even cruelty, as well as 
 immorality, are encouraged, and indolence, with a contempt 
 for industry, becomes natural. 
 
 To the slave the efiEect is hardly less demoralising. He 
 is deprived of the dignity of manhood. He is without re- 
 sponsibility and without incentive to work other than the 
 fear of punishment. His status approximates to that of his 
 master's cattle.* 
 
 ' Calculations of the number of human beings killed or enslaved are purely 
 guesswork. Pruen ('The Arab and African,' p. 224) estimates that fully 
 100,000 reached the East Coast yearly, and Livingstone and others considered 
 that at least 10 are killed or left to starve for each one who arrives. This 
 gives 1,000,000 per annum for the East Coast alone — a figure which may pre- 
 sumably be at least doubled for the rest of Africa. This has been going 
 on for centuries ! 
 
 2 Philemon 10 and 16. 
 
 ' So also Congreve, commenting on the passage of ' Aristotle ' quoted in the 
 next paragraph, ' ' the human rival is the food of his conqueror. The first step 
 out of this state of things is taken when the prisoners are not sacrificed and 
 eaten, but kept and made useful." 
 
 ■• See Ingram, loc. cit. Also Clarke, ' Lavigerie and Slavery,' p. 248. The 
 slave laws of various countries have a striking similarity to each other. The 
 Moslem law varies little from that of the Hebrews described in Deuteronomy, 
 or of Rome, or that of the Anglo-Saxons. — (See Green's ' History of the English 
 People,' Colonial Press Edition, p. 18, and Buckland, ' The Roman Law of 
 
356 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 " Certain peoples," says Aristotle, " are naturally free, 
 others are naturally slaves. For these latter slavery is both 
 just and expedient," and the same view has been held by 
 able and influential men of our own day. To the African, 
 they argue, owing to his lack of prevision and self-control, 
 such a state of dependence is not altogether distasteful, and 
 philanthropic effort can best be directed towards regulating 
 the conditions of slavery as a recognised institution.'^ But 
 they overlook two vital facts — ^first, that the history of slavery 
 in aU countries shows that the system cannot be maintained 
 without constant recruitment, involving aU the horrors of 
 slave-raids, or of kidnapping and purchase, with depopulation 
 of the country, decrease in its productivity, and stagnation 
 in its development ; ^ and secondly, that by perpetuating 
 the institution of slavery the African is denied the oppor- 
 tunity of rising to a higher plane of individual and corporate 
 responsibility and progress in social life. 
 
 The intellectual and moral progress of Europe and America 
 had, at the beginning of the last century, led their people to 
 condemn the overseas export of slaves from Africa,^ which 
 had been inaugurated by Portugal in 1442, but it was not 
 till the middle of the nineteenth century that the majority 
 of the nations abolished the system of employing slave labour.* 
 
 Slavery. ') The alave may not give evidence in court. His master is responsible 
 for his crimes. Wrongs to him are regarded as wrongs to his master, who has 
 absolute power over him. These laws were modified by the ''jus naiurale" in 
 Rome, and by the growth of a more liberal practice in other countries, as the 
 predial slave passed to the status of a serf, and the domestic slave became 
 included in the family. 
 
 1 The notorious German, Dr Karl Peters, is reported to have proposed that a 
 "fair arrangement" would be that the natives should be hired out by the State 
 to work for eleven hours a day from the age of twenty to thirty-five years. The 
 African, he contends, does not understand freedom, and "such a system would 
 form a convenient half-way house between slavery and the European system of 
 free labour — the result of centuries." Herr Zimmermann's policy difiers only in 
 degree {loc. cit., pp. 39-45). English apologists for slavery, needless to say, do not 
 advocate such methods. 
 
 ^ The writings of all African explorers are full of evidence of the ruthless 
 destruction of life and the human misery caused by slave-raids, and of the ap- 
 palling cruelties of the march to the coast. A resume of the evidence may be 
 found in Rev. R. Clarke's book, ' Cardinal Lavigerie and Slavery in Africa, ' pp. 254- 
 287. For an account of the appalling devastation in the Sudan, where the popu- 
 lation was reduced from 8 J millions to under 2 millions in a few years, see Foreign 
 Office Handbook 98, p. 26, and the authorities there quoted. 
 
 ' Denmark led the way, 1802 ; England followed, 1806 ; America in 1808 ; the 
 Dutch in 1814 ; Spain in 1820. The movement which led to these decisions had 
 been growing both in England and America for 100 years previously. 
 
 ■* England emancipated her West Indian and other slaves in 1833 ; France in 
 1848 ; Portugal in 1858 decreed emancipation without compensation in 20 years. 
 America, Brazil, and Cuba alone remained. 
 
THE OVERSEAS SLAVE-TRADE IN EAST AFRICA. 357 
 
 This was not effected in America till after the Civil War, while 
 serfdom ia Russia was abolished the year before. 
 
 There was naturally no sympathy with the movement for 
 the abolition of slavery ia Moslem countries Uke Turkey, 
 Arabia, and Zanzibar, where the institution was an integral 
 part of the social system, sanctioned ahke by reUgion and 
 by the civil law. 
 
 Though the export of slaves from Africa to America had 
 been prohibited, the traffic was so lucrative, so long as slave 
 labour continued to be employed, that it lingered on as a 
 smuggUng trade from the West Coast till late in the 'sixties. 
 Great Britaia took steps to suppress it, and for this purpose 
 formed settlements and forts at the Gold Coast, and in 1861 
 acquired Lagos. With the cessation of the traflBc she pro- 
 posed in 1868 to abandon them. From the Mediterranean 
 ports (especially Benghazi), and from those on the East Coast, 
 however, an active export was carried on to supply the re- 
 quirements of Turkey, Arabia, and Persia, and also Mada- 
 gascar.^ 
 
 In the 'seventies Zanzibar was a powerful independent 
 State, claiming an undefined sovereignty over the mainland 
 of Eastern Africa as far as the Great Lakes. The Sultan and 
 the ruling class were Arabs from Muscat in the Persian Gulf. 
 The British Consul-General was Sir John Kirk, companion of 
 Livingstone, and a man of very exceptional ability, who had 
 acquired great influence over the Sultan. As early as 1873 
 he had succeeded in inducing him to make a treaty declaring 
 the export of slaves from the mainland illegal, and in 1876 
 an edict was issued prohibiting their arrival at the coast from 
 the interior. The edicts, however, remained a dead letter. 
 
 For over half a century Great Britaia had maintained a 
 squadron iu Bast African waters for the suppression of this 
 trade. After the Sultan's edicts, H.M.S. London, especially 
 equipped with a mosquito fleet, seized many dhows, which 
 were condemned in the Consular Court. She was withdrawn 
 in 1883, and two Vice-Consuls were appointed on the coast 
 and one on Lake Nyasa. The latter, as I have said (p. 29), 
 was without jurisdiction, and when he was seized by a 
 slave-trading chief, stripped, and imprisoned, nothing was 
 
 ' There can, I fear, be little doubt that, unknown of course to Lisbon, the 
 Portuguese in Africa, at least as late as 1888, continued to transport slaves from 
 one of their possessions to another (nominally as deportees for some trivial 
 offence) in order to recruit their local levies. — See ' Rise of East African Empire,' 
 vol. i. p. 13. 
 
358 SLAVERY m BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 done. These operations had been costly both in lives and 
 money/ and the result was whoUy inadequate. Of the thou- 
 sands of slaves arriving at the coast, the Uganda railway 
 survey report estimates that only about 120 per annum were 
 rescued. The squadron, though a check on the sea-borne 
 traflEic, was of course unable to touch the trade on the main- 
 land, or even to control the transport of slaves thence to the 
 islands, which continued to be abundantly supplied with 
 slaves. 2 
 
 The withdrawal of H.M.S. London was marked by a consider- 
 able increase in the slave-trade, though British naval vessels 
 continued to capture dhows. In 1885 the Berlin Act was 
 signed, Turkey being a signatory Power. It stipulated that 
 each of the Powers " binds itself to use all the means at its 
 disposal to put an end to the slave-trade, and to punish 
 those engaged in it." But the export by Arab dhows con- 
 tinued ; and even when in 1889 a joint blockade of the coast 
 was instituted by Great Britain and Germany, ostensibly 
 to deprive the slave-traders of arms, but practically in order 
 to withhold from the Arabs — with whom the Germans were at 
 war — weapons with which to defend themselves, it was esti- 
 mated that not 5 per cent of the slaves exported were rescued. 
 These measures were moreover of little value to the slaves 
 themselves, for it was impossible to repatriate them. 
 
 The trade was carried on by the Arab, SwaheU,^ and Beluchi 
 subjects of the Zanzibar Sultan. Many of these men had 
 made very large profits by trading in ivory and slaves. With 
 these they purchased weapons and armed their " Euga-ruga " 
 — at first as elephant-hunters. Taking part in some tribal 
 quarrel, and increasing their armed bands, they and their 
 aUies soon became the dominant power, and could raid the 
 
 ' The cost was estimated by a writer in the ' Times ' at £200,000 per annum 
 (29th August 1893). Consul O'Neill, formerly an ofiBcer of the London, con- 
 sidered that not less than 5 millions had been spent in the last 50 years. — 
 ' The Mozambique and Nyassa Slave Trade,' p. 9. Mr Waller stated that between 
 1880 and 1890 our crews had suffered 282 casualties, besides invalidings. — 'Ivory 
 Apes and Peacocks,' p. 44. 
 
 ^ Africa, No. 6 of 1893, p. 1. These facts and figures are given at greater 
 length in my book, ' The Rise of our East African Empire,' vol. i. chapters vii. 
 and viii. The statements there made were either prompted or visM by Sir John 
 Kirk, the highest authority on the subject, who for 20 years was Consul-Qeneral 
 at Zanzibar, and later British plenipotentiary at the Brussels Conference. 
 
 ' Literally ' ' coast men, " some of them the offspring of Arabs and female 
 slaves, others slaves from the interior who had become domiciled at the 
 coast. 
 
ENTEENAL SLAVE-TRADE, EAST AFEICA. 359 
 
 entire district for slaves. Many tribes had also become slave- 
 raiders on behalf of the Arabs, and sold their captives to 
 them. 
 
 Many following in the path opened by Stanley and Cameron, 
 Uke Tippoo Tib on the Congo, became powerful despots, prac- 
 tically independent of Zanzibar. Their dhows sailed on all 
 the Great Lakes. By the year 1888 they had grown to be 
 the greatest militant power in the interior of the Continent. 
 Already they had almost turned the shadowy claims of Zanzi- 
 bar into an actual Moslem Empire, no longer controlled by 
 the Sultan, whose influence had been weakened by the advent 
 of the British and Germans at the coast. Throughout Central 
 Africa they poisoned the minds of the natives by saying that 
 Europeans were cannibals, &c. There is some evidence that 
 they had formed a league. The loss of the KUe Sudan by the 
 Mahdist rising had dealt a heavy blow to European prestige. 
 On iNyasa alone, one of their most important raiding centres 
 and routes, the slavers were opposed by a band of Scottish 
 traders. They now threw off the pretence of friendship, and 
 attacked the little garrison at Karongas, which held the gate.^ 
 
 But England had at last reahsed the futUity of the attempt 
 to suppress the slave traffic by chasing dhows at sea, and that 
 if the evil which the Powers at Berlin had pledged themselves 
 to check was to be suppressed, it must be dealt with at its 
 source. While Emin on the Albert Lake, and the garrison at 
 Karongas on Nyasa, were doing what they could with inade- 
 quate resources on the spot. Cardinal Lavigerie began his 
 crusade in Europe. He preached a " Holy War " against 
 Moslem domination in Africa and the slave-trade — a " Conti- 
 nental blockade," with a line of " anti-slavery stations sup- 
 ported by gunboats on the Great Lakes, and a central force 
 of 500 European crusaders." ^ Others, like Victor Hugo, advo- 
 cated European settlements ; others again thought that the 
 redemption of Africa must be by Africans, and looked to the 
 return from America of a great body of emancipated negroes 
 to liberate the country of their birth.^ 
 
 ' The story is told in my book, 'The Rise of our East African Empire,' 
 vol. i. chapters iii., iv., and v. 
 
 2 ' Lavigerie and the Slave Trade,' pp. 327, 343, &o. 
 
 ^ I prepared a scheme myself in much detail, supported by estimates framed 
 with the advice of experts. Its basis was a well-armed and equipped native 
 force located on the plateau between Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika, with 
 armed transport steamers — not gunboats — on both lakes, capable of transport- 
 
360 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 It was at this critical moment that the realisation by the 
 industrial nations of Eiixope of the vast commercial resom'ces 
 of Africa led to the competition for territorial sovereignty 
 between Great Britain, Germany, and Prance to which I have 
 already referred — a movement, no doubt, accelerated and 
 strengthened by the powerful support of those who advocated 
 the suppression of the slave-trade by force in the interior, 
 and the defence of mission and trading stations. Events 
 marched quickly. In^l889 Great Britain and Germany took 
 over the Sultan's territories on the mainland, and the latter 
 declared war against the Arabs. In 1890 Uganda made a 
 treaty with the British Chartered Company, and the Mohame- 
 dan party there was finally defeated. A British mission was 
 sent to Nyasa, and shortly afterwards a protectorate was 
 declared. The Congo State declared war on Tippoo Tib ; 
 Prance annexed Madagascar — a great receiving depot for 
 slaves from the mainland — and began her long campaign 
 against the Mohamedans of ISTorth Africa. 
 
 The days of the oversea slave-trade were numbered. The 
 power of the great resident slavers in the interior was broken, 
 but for the moment the organised Moslem despotisms on the 
 Nile and in West Africa were too powerful to be affected by 
 these measures, and they continued to raid and depopulate 
 the countries over which they ruled. 
 
 Already, in 1889, sixteen of the principal nations of the 
 world had assembled at Brussels, and agreed to take common 
 action for the suppression of the slave-trade. They declared 
 " in the name of Almighty God " their " firm intention of 
 putting an end to the crimes and devastations engendered by 
 the traffic in African slaves." The Act was signed on 2nd 
 July 1890, but was not finaUy ratified tiU April 1892.^ 
 
 Its framers could not foresee the astonishing rapidity with 
 which the effective occupation of tropical Africa was to 
 proceed ; and though the opening words declared that " the 
 most effective means for counteracting the slave-trade in the 
 
 ing a striking force with its supplies, &c., to any point where a slave-caravan 
 was heard of. I hoped eventually to control a line from the north of 
 Tanganyika to the mouth of the Zambesi — 1100 miles — of which all but 200 
 was waterway, and so occupy the line which Livingstone had said would cut 
 the slave-trade in half. Mr Rhodes agreed to finance the project, but other 
 events interfered. — See "Two Ends of a Slave-Stick," by Rev. H. Waller, in 
 ' Contemporary Review,' April 1889, 
 1 C. 6048 of 1890. 
 
THE BERLIN ACT. 361 
 
 interior are progressive organisation of the administrative, 
 judicial, religious, and mUitary services " of the Powers con- 
 cerned, they proceeded to indicate, as a means to this end, 
 the establishment of strongly-occupied stations, fortified posts 
 on navigable waterways, expeditions and flying columns for 
 repressive action, the use of cruisers on the great lakes, and 
 stations of refuge, in addition to maritime suppression. More 
 appropriate in the event were the recommendations to adopt 
 administrative methods — such as the construction of roads, 
 railways, and telegraphs, the use of steamers on navigable 
 waters, and the encouragement of commerce and missions. 
 
 But the most essential and operative clauses of the Act 
 (Arts. 8 & 14) were those binding the signatories to prevent 
 the import into Africa, except under strong guarantees, of 
 all firearms and ammunition, other than flint-lock guns and 
 trade powder, between lat. 20 N. and 22 S. Great Britain had 
 been one of the principal importers of arms to Africa, but 
 since the ratification of the Act she has been foremost in her 
 efforts to observe its obligations. Articles 62 to 70 referred to 
 countries which are the destination of slaves, and contained 
 special undertakings by the Sultans of Turkey and Zanzibar 
 and the Shah of Persia, who were signatories. 
 
 This Act was the Magna Gharta of the African slave, and 
 Sir John Kirk's share, as our plenipotentiary, in its production 
 was a fitting consummation to his life-work. With the ratifi- 
 cation of the Brussels Act a new era dawned. Africa had 
 passed, or was passing, under the control of different European 
 nations, and though occupation had not yet become fuUy 
 effective, the obligations of those who claimed territorial 
 sovereignty were now clearly acknowledged. 
 
 It was not till the Mahdi was conquered by Kitchener in 
 1898 that effective control could be exercised in the Sudan. 
 In Mgeria, where the Moslem Emirs axmually employed large 
 armies in raiding for slaves and had depopulated great regions,^ 
 the Imperial Government assumed control in 1900, and ia 
 spite of the pressure of the South African and the Ashanti 
 wars, the power of the Pulani was broken in 1902 and 1903, 
 and slave-raiding put an end to. A system founded on the 
 tyrannical and bestial misuse of force had been crushed by 
 force — the only method which could be understood by the 
 
 1 Northern Nigeria Annual Report, Colonial Office Series 409 of 1902. See 
 also Earth's 'Travels in Central Africa,' vol. iii. pp. 225, 233-236, et patsim. 
 
362 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 people. Omelettes cannot be made without breaking eggs. 
 There were those, no doubt, who said that slave-raiding could 
 only be suppressed by the construction of railways and the 
 introduction of currency — ^neither of which was possible in a 
 country openly hostile, which admitted the ingress of no 
 Europeans. Such methods would have required one or two 
 decades to accomplish. Prom a distance they advocated 
 patience. Why hurry, though villages were burning and the 
 remnant of the people was being wiped out ? 
 
 The atrocities of the slave-trade and the decision to abolish 
 it were the immediate expression of a conflict between two 
 rival ideals, supported by two great world forces — that of 
 mUitant Islam ^ on the one hand, with its disregard for Ufe 
 and its selfish appropriation by the powerful of all that was 
 desirable ; and that, on the other hand, of the nations assem- 
 bled at Brussels in 1889 — as they assembled at Paris three 
 decades later — to declare their Mandate, " in the name of 
 God Almighty," as trustees for " protectiag effectively the 
 aboriginal populations of Africa, and ensuring to that vast 
 continent the benefits of peace and civilisation." Not all 
 perhaps of those who have given their lives to the task recog- 
 nised the greatness of the issue. Material as well as moral 
 forces were at work — and it is weU that the conflict came 
 when it did. 
 
 With this brief historical and descriptive introduction, I 
 pass to the discussion of slavery from the standpoint more 
 proper to the object of this volume — viz., as an administrative 
 problem. In the first place, it wiU be useful to consider what 
 slavery is, and what are the conditions which distinguish the 
 lot of a slave from a freeman. We may, I think, assume that 
 there are three factors which affect the lot of a slave most 
 nearly : (a) whether he is of the same race as his master ; 
 (6) the nature of the law (if any) affecting his status ; and 
 (e) what facilities it gives him for advancement or redemption. 
 
 Slaves captured ia tribal war, or sold by one tribe to another 
 
 1 It fell to my personal lot to fight militant Islam in the Sudan, on STyasa, 
 in Uganda and in Nigeria, but the repatriation of the Moslem Waganda by me, 
 and my subsequent relations with the Moslem rulers in the latter country, wiU, 
 I think, show that it was against it as an aggressive force, and not as a creed, 
 that I found myself on so many occasions opposed to it in arms. My action 
 gave rise to charges of militarism in Press and Parliament, and Mr Woolf (whose 
 book is otherwise devoid of humour) describes me as possessed by a homicidal 
 mania. — ' Empire and Commerce,' p. 273. 
 
TRIBAL SLAVERY, AND MOSLEM OWNERS. 363 
 
 for crime or debt, though they may not speak the language 
 of their captors, are generally closely allied to them in race, 
 and in the same stage of social development. Apart from 
 the possibilities of fetish sacrifice, of reservation for a cannibal 
 feast, or of being killed at their master's death to accompany 
 him to another world — all of which may, I trust, be accounted 
 to be horrors of the past — the hfe of such a slave would not 
 differ greatly from that of his captor, except that he would 
 have to work harder. He would become the lowest grade in 
 the social scale, while the condition of women captives would 
 generally be identical with those of the tribe. Probably in 
 course of time the male slave would also become identilied 
 with the tribe.^ In many cases the custom of slavery may 
 have been learnt from alien slave-dealers. Slaves, on the 
 other hand, whose owners were either Arabs or Fulani, would 
 be subject to either harsh or liberal treatment, according to 
 the temperament or whim of their master, like the Gibeonites 
 in the Hebrew State, or the Helots of Greece. Last of aU 
 came those who were shipped overseas, or sent to a country 
 and a mode of life as different from their own as Egypt or 
 Morocco. 
 
 The predial slave, employed to till his owner's fields, has, 
 as we have seen, a tendency to become a serf attached to the 
 land, and eventually a free peasant, Mke the Bakopi in 
 Uganda,^ rendering a portion of his produce to his landlord. 
 But imtil he gains this higher status he may be punished 
 with severity, or sold, or his family may be taken from him 
 and sold. Nothiag he possesses during life can be called his 
 own, and at death any substance he may have been allowed 
 to acquire passes to his owner. To what extent these harsh 
 rights may be enforced depends on the law and custom to 
 which his master is subject. 
 
 The lot of the domestic slave differs with sex. The male, 
 unless he be a favourite, has a harder time than the predial 
 slave, his work is more arduous, his family Ufe more pre- 
 
 ' The conditions vary according to tribal usages. Dr Laws writes of Nyasa- 
 land : " Domestic slavery, as far as I know, exists among all the tribes, and varies 
 in severity from a nominal connection to the power of life and death exercised 
 by the master." Among the Wagauda, on the other hand, the predial slaves are 
 practically serfs, with few disabilities. — See ' Our East African Empire,' vol. i. 
 p. 171, Wilson's 'Uganda and Sudan,' vol. i. p. 186, and Monson's Report, 
 Cd. 1631 of 1903, p. 2. 
 
 ^ Felkin, loo. cit, pp. 46 and 50. 
 
364 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 carious, and he has less of the responsibility of a human being. 
 Slaves are, however, often so attached to their masters that 
 they do not desire their freedom. The question of female 
 slavery is iaextricably mixed up with that of concubinage — 
 on which I shall have something to say later. At the worst, 
 by transfer or loan, a female slave may become a prostitute 
 by order. At the best she is mother of her master's child, 
 and freed. 
 
 The Koran inculcates kindness to slaves, and the liberation 
 of a slave is an act of piety. Though the native courts are 
 empowered in a British protectorate to administer Mohamedan 
 law, it is superseded by any ordinances enacted by the Govern- 
 ment. In West Africa the Malaki law and the local custom 
 are extraordinarily liberal — probably more so than the Mo- 
 hamedan law of East Africa. The sale of a house-born slave, 
 except for gross misconduct, is regarded as an unjustifiable 
 act, and so is the separation by sale of a slave family. Slaves 
 may attain to high rank and power. lU-treatment of a slave 
 is strongly condemned, and if a slave can prove it, he would 
 be liberated by the court. Slaves may even be allowed to 
 give evidence in court. A woman who has borne a living 
 child to her master is freed. While Arab owners claimed that 
 siQce a slave has no existence as a man, his liberator stands 
 in loco parentis, and can claim the rights of a father, the 
 Malaki law recognised no rights whatever over the slave once 
 freed.i 
 
 Slavery as an institution is, as I have said, essentially 
 bad, demoraUsing to the master, and debasing to the slave, 
 whom (except in rare instances) it robs of ambition, initiative, 
 and responsibility. It is economically bad, for the freeman 
 does more work than the slave, who, moreover, is indifferent 
 
 ' Slaves were given every facility for ransoming themselves under a system 
 known as " Murgu." — Vide infra, p. 383. Household slaves were T generally 
 treated as members of the family, often with affection. Predial slaves were not 
 transferred with the land, and except for arbitrary demands, when their master 
 needed money, were practically independent. The master supplied seed and 
 implements, and claimed a percentage of the produce. Manumission was 
 decreed if a slave were ill- treated, and if a slave wished to educate himself, a 
 grant might be made from the charity fund. The Resident of Sokoto (Mr 
 Arnett) writes : "In discussing slavery matters with the Sokoto chiefs, one is 
 always conscious of their extremely enlightened and surprisingly liberal views. 
 They are as ready as any European to deplore the inhumanity and moral and 
 material ravages caused by slavery. " — See also Sir A. Hardinge's Report on 
 slavery in East Africa, Cd. 8683 of 1897, and Consul Monson, Cd. 1631 of 1903. 
 He strongly defends the liberal character of the slave-law in East Africa. 
 
EVILS AND EXTENUATIONS OF SLAVEKT. 365 
 
 to the productiyity of the soil and careless of posterity. 
 Earth noted, as we do to-day, the more thorough agricultural 
 methods of the independent tribes compared with the land 
 under slave cultivation. Domestic slavery creates a demand 
 for new slaves to replace losses, and hence encourages the 
 slave-trade. It is the most serious charge against Islam 
 in Africa that it has encouraged and given reUgious sanction 
 to slavery. 
 
 On the other hand, in an early stage of ciYihsation, provided 
 that it is not recognised iy law, so that the slave, i£ ill-treated, 
 can leave his master, the temporary continuance of domestic 
 slavery has certain advantages as a form of labour-contract 
 between a more advanced and a very primitive people, where 
 the conception of labour as a saleable commodity (but with- 
 out the sale of the labourer himself) has not yet arisen, and 
 currency with which to pay wages is unknown, or exists only 
 in a very primitive form. The master must look after his 
 slave in sickness and old age. He clothes, feeds, and protects 
 him.. If the public opinion of the community is sound and 
 enhghtened, the slave is assured of good treatment, and even 
 the dead hand of inertia may be lifted by giving him the 
 aspiration of redemption. In tribal slavery, however, where 
 the owner is in the same stage of evolution as the slave, these 
 obligations would not be recognised. 
 
 The point of view of an intelligent African regarding slavery 
 was well expressed by Zebehr Pasha in conversation : " Slavery 
 you say is bad. I agree that it is bad, but slave-labour is to 
 the interior of Africa what steam-power is to your country. 
 In your great factories where steam is used, is all well with 
 the employees ? Is there not much misery and suffering ? 
 You admit there is. Well, if the angel of God came and saw 
 the unhappiness of your factories and said : ' This must not 
 continue — abolish steam,' would you think it a wise decree ? 
 Would you not think it wiser to find means of alleviating the 
 suffering ? And so it is with slavery. You cannot say abolish 
 slavery aU at once because in some cases it has caused much 
 suffering." 
 
 " The slavery question " naturally divides itself into two 
 distinct though closely-related branches — ^the acquisition of 
 and dealing in slaves, and the status of slavery as a social 
 institution. 
 
 Prior to 1888 it was not, I think, fully realised in England 
 
366 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 that the acqmsition of slaves for overseas export formed only 
 one phase of the evil. The internal demand was also very- 
 great. Morocco, Tunis, Tripoli and Egypt, the Zanzibar ter- 
 ritories on the mainland and islands, and the Moslem States 
 of Nigeria and French West Africa — all these required enormous 
 numbers of slaves. Still less perhaps was it realised that 
 slavery is an indigenous institution in Africa. The native 
 despotisms of Mtesa in Uganda, of Benin, Ashanti, and Da- 
 homey made great demands for slaves, a large number of 
 whom were sacrificed. 
 
 Even among the primitive tribes slavery was rampant. 
 Sir J. Marshall gives a graphic account of his expedition to 
 the tribes of the Lower Mger to endeavour to put a stop to 
 the wholesale slave sacrifices there. " There is," he writes, 
 " a terrible form of slavery prevalent throughout the whole 
 of the Dark Continent which is not imder European control. 
 This is the slavery which every tribe is ready and anxious to 
 practise upon other tribes. The very people who are con- 
 stantly captured and carried off by the more powerful Arab 
 tribes, are themselves everywhere addicted to the practice of 
 doing the same thing to any neighbour they can conquer." ^ 
 The same state of things prevails in Central and Eastern 
 Africa.^ Prisoners of war were enslaved if not killed. It was 
 formerly asserted in ISTyasaland that you could not send three 
 men on a mission, or two would combine to enslave the third. 
 
 At the present day, however, sacrifice of slaves to fetish 
 deities is, I hope, rare, and is dealt with whenever detected as 
 ordinary crime. Inter-tribal war, and the capturing of slaves 
 as prisoners, is practically a thing of the past. There re- 
 mains an illicit traffic, chiefly in children, which twenty years 
 of vigilance has failed to exterminate in Mgeria, and a certain 
 amount of surreptitious kidnapping and slave- dealing, which 
 wiU no doubt continue until education, combined with severe 
 deterrent sentences, finally stamps it out. 
 
 The declaration of a protectorate over Zanzibar, and the 
 inclusion of the Mohamedan regions of Mgeria and the Sudan 
 under British administration, lead us to the consideration of 
 the question as to how the institution of slavery should be 
 dealt with in a Moslem country under the protection of a 
 
 1 ' Lavigerie and Slavery,' p. 284 and pp. 316-327. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 342. 
 
EFFECTS OF SUDDEN EMANCIPATION. 367 
 
 European Power, where the institution is not only recognised 
 by the civil law, which we have adopted as the fundamental 
 law, but also by the religion with which we have pledged our- 
 selves not to interfere. In Zanzibar, for instance, the valuable 
 clove plantations depended entirely upon slave labour. 
 
 However justly the vested rights of the slave-owner might 
 be dealt with, it is clear that sudden emancipation would dis- 
 locate the whole social fabric. Men wholly unaccustomed to 
 any sense of responsibility and self-provision would be thrown 
 on the streets to fend for themselves. Slave concubines 
 would become prostitutes. Masters, albeit with money in 
 their pockets, would be ruined ; industry would be at a stand- 
 still ; and plantations would be wrecked before the new order 
 could adjust itself. 
 
 An effort was made by England when she emancipated the 
 slaves in the West Indies to bridge over this period of social 
 upheaval by an apprentice system, which Mr Sturge,^ M. 
 Beaulieu and others, have conclusively shown to have been 
 a disastrous failure. It was practically a temporary legalisa- 
 tion of slavery. In that case the owners had acquired their 
 slaves under a system recognised by our Government, the 
 validity of their claims was admitted by Lord Grey, and 
 £20,000,000 was paid to them in compensation. But in 
 Zanzibar the case was different. In view of the Sultan's 
 edicts of 1873 and 1876, and the admitted fact that slaves 
 do not multiply,^ and rarely live more than eleven years on 
 the coast, it was imdeniable that in 1890 the large majority 
 had been illegally acquired. Owners could urge no just claim 
 for compensation in such a case — ^nor yet in Mgeria for slaves 
 captured amid aU the horrors of raiding expeditions. It 
 would be monstrous, said Lord Grey, to reward those who 
 trade in slaves. 
 
 What then shoidd be our attitude towards masters and 
 slaves respectively ? Sudden emancipation had not proved 
 a success, either in the West Indies or when adopted by the 
 Chartered Company ia the case of certain batches of slaves 
 in East Africa,* whether viewed from the standpoint of the 
 Government, which had to pay heavy compensation ; the 
 
 1 'Compensation to Slave-Ownere,' p. 13. 
 
 ^ Clarke, 'Lavigerie and Slavery,' p. 250. Ingrain, loc. cit. 
 
 s Cd. 1631 of 1903, p. 4. 
 
368 SLAVERY IN BRITISH APEICA. 
 
 owner, who could obtain no labour for his estates ; the com- 
 munity, which was disorganised ; or the slave himself, who 
 was demoralised. 
 
 Sir John Kirk, as ever, was ready with a solution. The 
 East India Company had, he pointed out, eradicated slavery ia 
 British India without injustice, dislocation, or compensation, 
 by enacting in 1843 the abolition of its legal status, and 
 slavery had died a natural death.^ Alternatively, as Portugal 
 did in 1858, emancipation without compensation coTild be 
 decreed at a date sufficiently distant to give the owners time 
 to prepare for the change. Preferably the two methods 
 should be combined by enacting, simultaneously with the 
 abolition of the legal status, that aU children born and all 
 persons brought iato the country subsequent to that date 
 are free. This was the course adopted in Northern Nigeria. 
 That the question is a social and not a reUgious one was 
 shown by the action of the Sultan of Zanzibar — a strict 
 Mohamedan — who of his own initiative decreed the aboUtion 
 of slavery io. the northern ports of his dominions, and again 
 by the acquiescence of the Mgerian Emirs. 
 
 By aboUshiag slavery as a status known to the law, per- 
 missive freedom is granted to the slave. He becomes endowed 
 with full civic rights. He can sue for iU-treatment, and 
 cannot be seized if he leaves his master and asserts his free- 
 dom. The institution of domestic slavery is not thereby 
 abolished, as would be the case under a decree of general 
 emancipation. A master is not compelled to dismiss his 
 slaves, and so long as the two work harmoniously together 
 the law does not interfere. But the slave has the power of 
 asserting his freedom at any time, and his master is action- 
 able if he resorts to force to recover him. 
 
 The proposal, of course, only apphes to Moslem countries, 
 which possess a regular code of law — ^which we have accepted 
 unless opposed to local ordinances or the dictates of humanity.^ 
 
 ^ The decree of 1843 did not (as Lord Salisbury pointed out) affect the Native 
 States in India. The universal abolition of the legal status in Northern Nigeria 
 was possible because the Moslem emirates were (as I emphasised in chapter x. , 
 p. 196 et seq.) constituted as dependent and not as independent States, though 
 enjoying a large measure of self-rule. It is not in harmony with British traditions 
 that British courts should recognise slavery, as they must do unless the institution 
 has been expressly repudiated as a status known to the law. 
 
 ^ Since the acceptance of Koranic law is thus limited in a British protectorate, 
 the abolition of the legal status is not an arbitrary interference with the lex loci 
 as argued by the apologists of slavery. 
 
EFFECT OP ABOLITION OF LEGAL STATUS. 369 
 
 In non-Moslem countries the institution of slavery has no 
 legal status, and should be absolutely and entirely abolished 
 in aU its forms, and no claim or argument based on the exist- 
 ence of slavery in such countries should be recognised, either 
 judicially or executively ; nor can Moslems outside the Umits 
 of the districts in which Moslem law is recognised have any 
 claim to be dealt with otherwise than under the lex loci. 
 
 We have seen that sudden emancipation — compulsory ahke 
 on owner and slave — although it might be strictly justifiable, 
 on the grounds that the slaves had been acquired in violation 
 of treaties, or in opposition to the teaching of the Koran 
 (which condemns slave-raiding, though admitting the right 
 to enslave infidel captives of war), would be inexpedient and 
 disastrous in its results. It would moreover create a bitter 
 feeling of injustice, especially when the slaves had been 
 iaherited or bought for cash. The aboUtion of the legal 
 status is, on the contrary, intended to be gradual and pro- 
 gressive in its operation — the initiative lying with the slave 
 and not with the law. 
 
 The owners, reaUsiag that slaves who assert their freedom 
 cannot be recaptured or replaced, are compelled to treat them 
 with kindness — a result which was at once apparent no less 
 in East Africa (as Consul Monson relates) than in West Africa. 
 Slave-dealing is simultaneously prohibited, and any attempt 
 to seU would be rare, for the slave would not consent. A 
 free labour market is encouraged. The secret acquisition of 
 raw slaves, except small children, is not worth the risk, for 
 they cannot be recovered if they desert. The continued ex- 
 istence of slavery under such conditions can only be tem- 
 porary (for all children are born free), and domestic slavery 
 ceases to be an incentive to the slave-trade. 
 
 It is to be regretted that this step was not at once taken 
 when Zanzibar was declared a British protectorate, seeing 
 that our Government had for years urged it upon the Sultan.^ 
 Eecognition of the rights of owners was even impUed in the 
 edict of August 1890 — issued under British auspices, in spite 
 of the Sultan's decrees of 1876 and 1889. Pressure was 
 brought to bear upon the Government in the important de- 
 bates of 1894 and 1895, when Mr Chamberlain, with Mr Pease 
 (now Lord Gainford) and others, fought the battle of the slave, 
 
 1 See Sir J. Kirk's deBpatoh to Lord Granville of 11th November 1884, quoted 
 by Mr Pease in the debate of June 1894. — Hansard, p. 239. 
 
 2 A 
 
370 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 and I, with Sir John Kirk as my referee, was privileged to 
 supply him with some of the facts and figures he needed. 
 
 It was not, however, till 6th April 1897 that the Sultan, 
 at the instance of the British Government, at last issued a 
 decree aboHsMng the legal status. At that time there were 
 still about 100,000 slaves in the islands. The decree was 
 subjected to severe criticism in the debate of 11th February 
 1898, on the ground that it extended to the islands only and 
 not to the mainland, that concubines were exempted from 
 participation in its provisions, and that it prescribed such 
 elaborate procedure that not more than twenty or thirty 
 slaves had been able to obtain their freedom in six months.^ 
 
 That the Government was right in its endeavour to prevent 
 a wholesale assertion of freedom, and so precipitate the evils 
 I have described, no sensible man will deny, but the method 
 adopted by the Foreign Office was open to criticism. " The 
 aboUtion of the legal status," said Mr (now Marquis) Curzon, 
 " means that every slave is at liberty to go to a court, consti- 
 tuted for the purpose, and claim his freedom." If the status 
 is no longer recognised by the law, how can a person be held 
 in a state of slavery, with the cognisance and approval of 
 Government, until a court has adjudicated on his case ? To 
 make it a necessary antecedent to the recognition of freedom, 
 that a slave should appear before a court and show adequate 
 means of subsistence, is, in fact, a recognition of the slave- 
 status by the court, which, if it refuses liberation, illegally 
 relegates the applicant to continuance in slavery.^ 
 
 ' An excellent summary of the action taken in regard to slavery in the Sultan's 
 dominions may be found in the Admiralty Handbook on Kenya, pp. 501-503 and 
 577-580. 
 
 ^ The debate afforded an excellent illustration of the peculiarly British methods 
 of ignoring opportunities of consulting meu of experience which our great 
 Departments of State adopt. When challenged as to the reason why concubines 
 were excluded from the decree, the Under-Secretary cited the recommendations 
 of a young man who had been sent out by the Anti-Slavery Society to report on 
 their behalf, instead of referring to the man whose verdict would have been 
 accepted without question, who had been twenty years Consul at Zanzibar, was 
 British plenipotentiary at Brussels, and was an experienced man of affairs. 
 
371 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 SLAVEET IN BEiTiSH AFRICA (Continued). 
 
 The legal status and native courts — The change must be gradual — 
 "House-rule" — Method of checking undue haste — Justification of 
 methods — Results in Nigeria — Women and slavery — Purchase of wife 
 or concubine — Employment of ex-slaves by Europeans — By natives 
 in Government service — Enlistment of slaves— Self-redemption and 
 ransom — Slave-dealing — Pawning — Disposal of freed slaves : (a) 
 adults ; (6) children — Inheritance in slaves — Special cases — Women- 
 husbands — " Igba " in Benin — Slave-chiefs— The task of the past and 
 of the future. 
 
 Until the Government policy has become well understood, 
 and acquiesced in by the Moslem rulers and judges, all slave 
 cases should be heard in a British court. Later the native 
 courts may be trusted to deal with them, — under the close 
 supervision of the British staff until they have proved them- 
 selves thoroughly reliable. Native courts in Moslem districts 
 administer Mohamedan law (which recognises slavery), and 
 so long as the institution is not Ulegal they must continually 
 be deaUng with civil suits in which the existence of the status 
 cannot be whoUy ignored, and in particular it is desirable 
 that they should issue certificates of freedom to ransomed 
 slaves, since these have a special value in a Moslem com- 
 munity when issued by the acknowledged exponents of the 
 Koran. How is this difficulty to be met ? 
 
 In the first place, though native courts administer native 
 law only, that law is superseded by any ordinances by Govern- 
 ment. Native courts are bound, therefore, to recognise in 
 their judicial decisions that slave-dealing is an offence, and 
 that slavery has no legal existence. They cannot assist in 
 detaining a slave or in enforcing the return of a nmaway, 
 nor can they discriminate in a judgment or sentence by 
 reason of the fact that the defendant or accused is or was a 
 
372 SLAVERY m BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 slave, or because the fault or damage was committed by or 
 upon a slave. But in civil suits they can use their powers 
 of arbitration and conciliation with a due appreciation of 
 aU the facts, including the fact that one party has of his own 
 free will accepted the relation of unpaid servant to another 
 person, in return for food, lodgiag, &c. In order, however, 
 that there may be no doubt as to the legality of the ransom 
 paper, a special authorising clause is inserted in the Mgerian 
 ordinance. 
 
 But if every slave can leave his master at will, what, it 
 may be asked, is to prevent a sudden exodus, which would 
 M the cities with vagrants, criminals, and prostitutes, and 
 pauperise the ruling classes, whom it is our desire to support 
 and strengthen ? If slaves were encouraged to assert their 
 freedom wholesale, there would only be a difference in degree 
 between this method and that of sudden and enforced emanci- 
 pation, and those owners who, prior to the British rule, had 
 under Moslem law legally acquired their slaves by inheritance 
 or purchase, would be justly entitled to compensation for the 
 loss of their property. 
 
 For the sake, therefore, ahke of justice to the owners and 
 in the interest of the slaves themselves, the Government (as 
 Zebehr urged) must do aU in its power to make the change 
 as gradual as possible, and to give time for its constructive 
 policy to mature. This was the dilemma which, as we have 
 seen, embarrassed the Government of Zanzibar. 
 
 In Southern Mgeria, though not under Moslem law, the 
 Government, faced with the same difficulty, enforced by 
 ordinance the authority of the head of the " house " over all 
 its members, who were chiefly recruited by slaves, and thus 
 under the name of " house-rule " it practically legalised 
 slavery. Government pohce actually arrested without war- 
 rant and restored fugitive slaves to their masters, nor was 
 any person, European or native, allowed to employ a " mem- 
 ber " without the consent of the head of the house.^ These 
 
 ^ The ordinance was passed at a time when the local GoTernment was almost 
 powerless to enforce its authority on the tribes, armed as they were with Snider 
 rifles. It was repealed shortly after the amalgamation. In his address to the 
 Nigerian Council in December 1920 (delivered since these pages were written), 
 my successor, Sir H. Clifford, speaks with regret of the " abolition of house-rule, 
 since nothing was contrived to take its place." House-rule was never abolished, 
 though the ordinance, which gave to its worst features the support of the 
 law and of Government police, was by order of the Secretary of State (with 
 my entire concurrence) repealed. A scheme which I had suggested, with 
 
HOUSEHOLD SLAVES. 373 
 
 " houses " were a unique institution on the West Coast, and 
 were primarily large native trading concerns. The house- 
 rule system is more likely, I thiak, to have owed its origia 
 to the powerful slave-trading chiefs, who in former days acted 
 as purveyors of slaves for the overseas trafBc, than to the 
 patriarchal authority of the father of the family or tribe, as 
 asserted by Mr Morel.^ With the cessation of the slave-trade 
 the houses for some years exercised a monopoly of the general 
 trade with the interior. It is not, however, necessary to 
 resort to either of the courses adopted in Zanzibar and in 
 Southern Mgeria, which in effect are a denial of the pledges 
 of Government. 
 
 We have seen that slaves are of two classes — household 
 and predial. The household slave, born or long resident in 
 his master's house, would rarely desire to assert his freedom 
 unless he were a loafer and bad character, or his master had 
 ill-treated or threatened to seU him, or unless he had been 
 recently acquired. He would have become too dependent 
 on his master, and unaccustomed to exercise initiative and 
 free-will. He would have nowhere to go and no resources, 
 while he sees around him the poverty of the vagrants in the 
 great cities. He is generally apathetic, tolerant of control 
 by nature, and prefers even to endure much Ul-treatment 
 rather than make a change, the consequences of which he 
 cannot foresee. Moreover, master and slave are often much 
 attached to each other, and the slave knows that in case of 
 sickness, &c., his wife and children wiU be cared for. Even 
 if recently captured ia a raid, he knows that his home is de- 
 stroyed, or if kidnapped, that his family will already have 
 been broken up. 
 
 With the abolition of the legal status and the prohibition 
 of slave-deaUng, he no longer fears to be sold away from the 
 connections he has formed, and he is fairly contented.^ Afri- 
 cans of the lower classes, moreover, love to attach themselves 
 
 the hearty support of those who knew the country best, to strengthen the 
 legitimate functions of the "houses" was not approved by Mr Harcourt. For 
 a fuller description of the ordinance, see Cmd. 468/1920, § 23. 
 
 1 ' Nigeria,' Morel, pp. 62, 63. 
 
 ^ In the days of unchecked slavery, slaves did desert In considerable numbers, 
 especially from the Arab plantations on the mainland of East Africa, and 
 founded stockaded villages such as Fuladoyo, in spite of the reprisals taken 
 by the Arabs on tribes which harboured them. — ' Rise of East African Empire,' 
 vol. i. p. 231. In Nigeria, the capture of fugitive slaves was a lucrative trade 
 for villages on the main routes. 
 
374 SLAVERY m BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 to a " big man." Ex-slaves will do so — not necessarily to 
 their late master. The master, aware that his slave can 
 leave him at wUl, and cannot be reclaimed by force, or re- 
 placed by purchase, is compelled to treat him with kindness. 
 All these are reasons which operate to make the household 
 slave chary of asserting his independence; many of them 
 apply to the predial slave also.^ Those, however, who have 
 been brought into contact with the system of free labour learn 
 to value freedom to earn wages, with which to buy what 
 they Uke, for slavery and free lalsour cannot long exist side 
 by side. 
 
 If the slave asserts his freedom, it is generally in the form 
 of an appeal for other employment. The executive officer 
 inquires into his case, and if there is good cause, such as ill- 
 treatment, he gives him a liberation paper, and finds him 
 some Government employment on wages, and would encour- 
 age any individuals who show initiative and a real love of 
 freedom to engage themselves as free labourers. In such a 
 case native opinion is fairly satisfied. If, however, there is 
 a wholesale movement of domestic slaves to leave their 
 masters, he would refuse employment, or asylum in a Govern- 
 ment township, to those who had no good cause. In the last 
 resort, if a fugitive slave is claimed by his owner, and the 
 officer is aware that his decision is being awaited by large 
 numbers of others, and may be the signal for a wholesale 
 rising or exodus, it would even be expedient to avoid the 
 issue by conniving at the escape of the fugitive, or to place 
 the town under special rules for the public safety. These 
 were serious contingencies at one time in Nigeria, but have 
 long ceased to exist. 
 
 It is, however, the predial slaves who are generally the first 
 to assert their freedom, by declining to work or to bring the 
 produce of their fields to their master. They desire to be free 
 of all restraints, taxes, and obligations either to a master or 
 to the State. Here agata inquiry will establish whether or 
 not the assertion is justified. If not, the slaves can be told 
 
 ^ In Sokoto, in former times, owners of refractory or idle slaves were 
 accustomed to transfer them temporarily or by sale to the Zabermawa settlers, 
 who were notoriously hard and merciless, making the slaves work in chains 
 in the fields, with a bare subsistence and no family life, and brutal punishments. 
 These Zabermawa now own very few slaves, and their large farms went out 
 of cultivation at the British occupation of Nigeria, and have since been taken 
 up by others. — Report of 1918. 
 
AVOIDANCB OF SUDDEN CHANGE. 375 
 
 that so long as they live in a house, and work on land which 
 does not belong to them, the native court can and will enforce 
 an adequate return in labour ; at the same time an offer of 
 payment for definite work would be made, and this would 
 probably soon develop into ordinary paid laboiir and a con- 
 tract enforceable in court. 
 
 But very possibly the reply of the slaves may be that they 
 desire to take up new land, and build themselves huts. If it 
 is imperative at the moment to exert a temporary check, the 
 Government may decline to grant the land, except to those 
 who have made out a good case. They are, however, at Ub- 
 erty to assert their freedom and offer themselves as labourers 
 for wages, and the masters would be urged to accept aU who 
 so offered. " A large mmaber of slaves at Sokoto have acquired 
 a practical freedom, because their masters have encouraged 
 them to earn their own living and become independent. 
 The slave has his own house and family and occupation, and 
 is entirely free except for occasional calls for such work as 
 repairing the master's house ; occasional presents of 6d. or 
 Is. may be given, more as a mark of goodwill than a quit- 
 tance of real obligation." ^ The case of women is complicated 
 by questions of marriage, concubinage, dowries, and divorce, 
 and merits a separate paragraph. 
 
 Such measures may seem to constitute an arbitrary inter- 
 ference with natural laws of progress, and even to place the 
 executive in a spirit of antagonism towards the full operation 
 of the law. But they are conceived in a spirit of equity to 
 the owner, and for the real benefit of the slave. They are 
 suited only to a brief period of transition, which can be 
 hastened by judicious explanations to master and slave aUke. 
 They wiU not arrest or defeat the operation of the law, but 
 only make it more gradual. A sympathetic executive intends 
 that every slave in the country shall have fuU knowledge in 
 due course that he can assert his freedom if he desires, and 
 wiU be supported in his action by Government. The object 
 in view is to restrain an ignorant class from rushing into 
 precipitate action, and to allow time for employers and 
 labourers to grow accustomed to freed paid labour, and for 
 Government to assist in facUitating that result. 
 
 An adequate currency for the payment of wages is essential 
 
 ' Extract from report of June 1918, by Mr Arnett, Resident of Sokoto 
 (Nigeria). 
 
376 SLATEET IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 to the creation of a free paid-laboiir market, for if an employer 
 is compelled to pay in kind, by instalments as they become 
 available, and at arbitrary valuations, the employee is un- 
 able to save wages with which to purchase what he may 
 desire, and, in fact, the conditions approximate to the slavery 
 system. If a slave is in debt to his master, the fact raises 
 no bar to his assertion of freedom. The creditor has the same 
 remedy in the courts as in the case of a freeman. 
 
 Civihsed countries in the twentieth century have their 
 labour difi&culties — though in a different form, — of which a 
 writer pertinently remarks : "If we are to legislate to any 
 purpose, we must not be content with denouncing them as 
 anachronisms, or as contrary to Christian principles. They 
 may be both, but they exist. It is not a question of what we 
 would hke to do, but of what we can do to abate an evil 
 without causiag more mischief than we can cure." It is 
 surely very striking that words written of the situation in 
 England to-day should be so hteraUy applicable to the diffi- 
 culties I have been discussing. 
 
 In spite of the difficulty created by the widespread belief 
 that the advent of British rule meant that the whole slave 
 population would be free to leave their work and do what 
 they chose, the methods adopted have succeeded in Mgeria, 
 where, owing to the tact and sympathetic counsel of the 
 district staff, it has hardly ever been necessary to exert these 
 restraints. The transitional stage has been negotiated with- 
 out any social upheaval, without payment of compensation, 
 and without any resulting bitterness on the part of owners. 
 The records show 21,980 Uberated by the native courts in 
 the Sokoto Province alone, and a total of over 55,000 so 
 liberated ia the northern provinces to the end of 1917, a 
 period of some fourteen years. The slaves on their part, 
 influenced by custom and by public opinion, are willing and 
 anxious to pay the ransom money. Many villages of ex- 
 slaves have been formed. To-day, generally speaking, it may 
 be said that in the Moslem States in Mgeria there are no 
 slaves who are not well aware that they can assert their 
 freedom if they choose ; that the masters recognise these 
 facts, and are ready to acquiesce in the methods of liberation 
 approved by native law and custom, and accepted without 
 any coercion whatever by the slave, and that the native 
 courts administer the law freely, impartially, and liberally. 
 
WOMEN AND SLAVERY. 377 
 
 " Slavery in its strict sense is already dead," says Mr Gowers 
 (now Lieut.-Govemor of Northern Provinces of Nigeria) ; 
 " the so-called slaves who still remain are rather servants 
 than slaves." 
 
 These are methods adapted to a Moslem protectorate, and 
 their success depends on their sympathetic application. They 
 are, of course, unnecessary in a Crown colony, since slavery 
 is illegal, though I am told there are slaves in the Gold Coast. 
 Nor should they be necessary in any non-Moslem protectorate 
 or district, for in these, as I have said, slavery should be 
 absolutely abolished.^ 
 
 The rights claimed over the person of a woman by reason 
 of her status as a slave are compUcated by the rights claimed 
 over her as a wife or concubine, based it may be on payment 
 of the " dowry." The sale of a girl, often of immature age, 
 for the purpose of forcible concubinage with a man whom she 
 may fear and loathe is one of the worst aspects of slavery, 
 while the purchase of slave concubines by the powerful and 
 wealthy classes to gratify their own desires, deprives the class 
 from which these girls are drawn of their proper complement 
 as wives. I am, however, concerned in this chapter to view 
 the question rather from the point of view of " slavery " 
 than from that of morality. 
 
 Concubinage is a recognised relationship under Moslem law, 
 and applies only to female slaves who have sexual relations 
 with their masters, since a man caimot marry his own female 
 slave, ^ and concubinage with a free woman is Olegal, and 
 constitutes the sin of " Zinat " (adultery). A slave concubine 
 who has borne a living child to her master is, however, prac- 
 tically freed during his life, and invariably liberated at his 
 death. 
 
 Dowry is, properly speaking, given to a wife only. If a 
 concubine has received presents from her master, they should 
 be regarded as having been liquidated by his sexual relations 
 with her, and if she asserts her freedom (as she has a perfect 
 right to do when the legal status is abolished), he can neither 
 claim their return, nor any rights over her on the grounds 
 that she is in his debt, nor can he retain her children as being 
 his slaves. 
 
 1 The Slavery Ordinance 1916 decreed the emancipation of all persons "here- 
 tofore or hereafter bom in or brought into " Southern Nigeria. 
 ^ 'Malaki Law,' Ruxton, chapter iii., section 3, sub-section 9. 
 
378 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 If a slave woman is married to a man — whether slave or 
 free — and wishes to leave him and marry another man (who 
 is willing to ransom her), the matter must be decided solely 
 by the marriage laws. She can obtain a divorce on repay- 
 ment of the dowry — ^for Moslem law holds that it is futile to 
 attempt to detain a woman who has made up her mind to 
 go — and she can assert her freedom without ransom ; but it 
 is more usual for the intending husband to ransom her, and 
 obtain a certificate of freedom from the native court. The 
 ransom money is indeed often an equitable return from a 
 household slave for the maintenance she has received in her 
 master's house. 
 
 It must be made clear to persons who ransom a woman, 
 and if necessary to native courts also, that siace ransom 
 money is not dowry, if a ransomed wife or concubine leaves 
 her ransomer he cannot claim the ransom money from her, 
 or from her new husband, or the return of presents given to 
 her parents or others. He can only claim the dowry money 
 given to her. Nor is a court justified in refusing to allow the 
 new husband to retain the woman unless he repays the ransom 
 money. On the other hand, the payment of ransom gives the 
 ransomer no rights in the woman, and if he treats her as a 
 slave, he is liable for slave- dealing. She was freed when 
 ransomed, whether as a wife or concubine.^ Native opinion 
 in Mgeria strongly upheld this view. It was pointed out by 
 a native judge that, although the ransomer apparently suffered 
 hardship if the woman left him, it was generally his own 
 fault, because, though he had nominally ransomed the woman, 
 he had treated her as a slave, and so caused her to leave him ; 
 that if he could claim the ransom money back it became, in 
 fact, purchase money and not ransom ; and, finally, that if 
 no man could marry such a woman without repaying her 
 ransom as well as dowry, no one would be willing to do so, 
 and she would remaia unmarried and probably become a 
 prostitute. 
 
 I have said that concubinage with a free woman is un- 
 lawful, and the effect therefore of the abolition of domestic 
 slavery is to abolish the system of concubinage among Mos- 
 
 ' So jealous are the Mohamedan judges of the enforcement of the spirit of 
 the law, that I am informed that at Sototo they hesitated to recognise 
 ransom by an intending husband lest the girl should consider herself his 
 slave. 
 
CONOnBINAGE AND RANSOM. 379 
 
 lems,^ a result whicli is only deferred by the enactment that 
 all children born after a certain date are free. There is no 
 doubt that this result is one which is exceeding obnoxious 
 to the slave-owning classes.^ Already in Nigeria it has given 
 rise to an evasion of the law. A rich man promises to give 
 a native court liberation certificate to a slave-girl whom he 
 desires as a concubine, but instead of declaring her free before 
 the native judge, he states that he ransoms her and " places 
 her in his house " — a phrase which is imderstood to mean that 
 while she remains there (as his concubine) she is stiU a slave 
 — and hence the Koranic law is not violated — ^but the moment 
 she leaves him she is free. The result is a curious anomaly. 
 He cannot restrain her, for she has been freed. She can 
 leave her ransomer at will and marry whom she hkes. She 
 is even more free than the wife, for she need get no divorce, 
 and has no dowry to repay. Cases have occurred of girls 
 inducing rich men to ransom them as concubines, ia order 
 that they may immediately leave them and marry some one 
 else. 
 
 The immediate effect of these conditions in a Moslem dis- 
 trict is to restrict large harems, for the master has to pay 
 ransom money for each concubine, and his possession of her 
 is precarious. The master is also compelled to treat his con- 
 cubine well, for fear of losing both her and the money he 
 paid for her ransom. 
 
 It is customary for the suitor to pay not only the dowry — 
 which must be applied to the use of the bride — ^but also to 
 give presents to her parents. It is obviously difficult to dis- 
 tinguish between the sale of a girl by her parents, and their 
 acceptance of large presents for their consent to her marriage 
 or concubinage. But since a child is not the slave of its 
 
 ^ The Moslem judge of Bida (Nigeria) ruled that "all concubinage proceeds 
 from sale, and any one who procures a concubine, and pays a monetary consider- 
 ation in respect of her, in fact buys her, whether she was previously free or a 
 
 ^ I have even been informed that the majority of owners would now view 
 with indifference the abolition of slavery, were it not for ' ' the concubine 
 question." It is easy to be contemptuous of prejudices we do not share, and to 
 say that the four wives allowed to a Mohamedan by his creed should suffice, but 
 to the Arab or the Fulani the matter wears another aspect. It is often, I 
 believe, the fact that wives of their own race are sterile, and they desire concu- 
 bines of the more virile African races to rear their children, nor is it unnatural 
 that they should hesitate to adopt by marriage into their own social class, slave- 
 women of a lower social grade. These prejudices, however, will have to give 
 way. 
 
380 SLAVERY IN BRITISH APRICA. 
 
 parents, it follows that if they hand over a daughter to be 
 the concubine of a Moslem — -e.g., his slave — both the parents 
 and the man who acquires her are guilty of enslaving if she 
 is free-born (as aU under twenty are now in Mgeria), or of 
 the transfer of a slave if she is slave-bom. 
 
 If a master accepts a sum of money as a " present " for 
 allowing his slave-girl to marry, and does not liberate the 
 woman before a native court, he would be Uable to prosecu- 
 tion for the sale or transfer of a slave. 
 
 Among non-Moslem communities — ^whether professing Chris- 
 tians or pagans — ^it is perhaps even more difficult to distin- 
 guish between the payment of dowry and the purchase of a 
 female slave. If the principle that the dowry is given to a 
 bride and to no one else, and that no one except the real 
 parents may receive any present (and then only of limited 
 amount) is observed, a step would have been taken towards 
 putting down this detestable traffic ; but so engrained and 
 so universal is the conception of wife purchase, that I fear 
 it will be long before the progress of education wiU effect 
 the emancipation of women. Were the repayment of the 
 dowry by the man with whom a wife had eloped to be done 
 away with, the only check to promiscuous intercourse would 
 be removed among tribes whose standard of morality is very 
 low. 
 
 Slavery, as I have said, should be totally abohshed in 
 every non-Moslem country, but if for some sufficient reason 
 this is not possible, it should at least be abohshed in the 
 case of women. In Moslem countries the aboUtion of the 
 legal status, as I have shown, practically destroys concu- 
 binage. For the rest, if a woman slave desires to remain 
 with her master, and marries a fellow-slave, she may well 
 be allowed freedom of choice as to her husband. 
 
 The employment — of course for wages — by Europeans, or 
 on pubhc works, of slaves Uberated by Government, is a 
 matter in which great care should be exercised, for any seem- 
 ing inconsistency is jealously noted, and it is said that Govern- 
 ment, while depriving the owners of their rights in their 
 slaves, connives at their acquisition by its employees or other 
 Europeans. It should therefore be a rule that a freed slave 
 child should be paid a smaU wage, even though its mainte- 
 nance may be more than sufficient recompense for the small 
 services it is called on to perform. 
 
EMPLOYMENT OP SLAVES BY EUROPEANS. 381 
 
 To avoid the suspicion of any ulterior motive by Govern- 
 ment in its slavery policy, it should also be the rule that no 
 slave liberated by a British court or by executive order should 
 be given to a native in Government employ, either as wife or 
 servant, except with express sanction. 
 
 In East Africa in former times, probably the majority of 
 the " porters " who composed a Government or private 
 caravan into the interior, were slaves who paid the greater 
 part of their earnings to their masters on their return. This, 
 it was alleged, was a direct encouragement of the slave-trade, 
 since it enabled the owners to make large profits, with which 
 they could buy more slaves. Access to the interior could at 
 that time only be gained by emplojlng human transport, 
 and as long as Zanzibar was independent, few porters could 
 be obtained who were not slaves. I arranged with the owners 
 a scheme of self-redemption, but it was unfortunately not 
 pushed with energy after I had left.^ 
 
 Circumstances have changed, and since slave-dealing is 
 now a criminal offence, the acquisition of new slaves is im- 
 possible under a vigilant administration, and the employment 
 of slave-labour can no longer increase the number of slaves. 
 The rule should, however, be made that no slave may be 
 employed, either on Government work or by any non-native, 
 unless under a contract for ransom — viz., that the slave on 
 payment of a specified sum from his earnings shall receive 
 a liberation certificate from the native court. In that case 
 a deduction could be made from his wages, but the slave 
 would himself pay over the ransom money to the native 
 court. Of course if the legal status had been aboUshed, such 
 an arrangement would be entirely at his own option, since he 
 would, if he desired, be able to assert his freedom without any 
 payment. If in the beginnings of British rule in a Moslem 
 State there was no free labour for urgent Government work, 
 and none could be imported, it might be necessary to accept 
 
 ■ 'Rise of East African Empire,' vol. i. p. 231. An interesting case recently 
 arose at Sokoto which is illustrative of the native point of view in such cases. 
 The native administration maintains a number of "Dogarai" (unarmed police), 
 many of whom were formerly slaves of the Sultan and chiefs. An owner de- 
 manded some slight service from one of these, who had been his slave. The 
 Sultan and Council condemned his claim, on the ground that the man had 
 previously been employed by the chief in duties similar to those he now per- 
 formed, and not for private gain. They considered it, they said, an honour that 
 their slaves had been selected for these public duties. They were therefore all 
 officially freed. 
 
382 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 men who still were slaves, but their wages would be paid 
 to themselves, and no claim of their owners would be recog- 
 nised. 
 
 It would be desirable that no person in Government employ 
 should be allowed to keep a slave, but in Moslem States it 
 would be invidious to place high-class Mohamedan " political 
 agents," &c., under disabilities from which others of their 
 own standing were exempt ; and since every slave can assert 
 his freedom at will or claim the right of self-redemption, the 
 rule is unnecessary. 
 
 In the case of soldiers and constables, however, the pro- 
 hibition has for many years been enforced in Mgeria, for 
 these men are apt to attach to themselves wives, or small 
 boys or girls, and it is impossible to prove whether they have 
 been acquired by purchase or other illicit means, or have 
 voluntarily attached themselves to them, with the prospect 
 of good food and Mttle work. If an ex-slave, the wife or 
 servant must be iu possession of a native court liberation 
 certificate, and the commanding officer insists on some small 
 money wage being paid as a public acknowledgment that the 
 servant is free, or lest the relation of master and slave should 
 grow up between them. Those authorised are entered on the 
 company register, their numbers are strictly limited, and 
 every care is taken to see that they are not disposed of, espe- 
 cially when the soldier or constable goes on furlough or after 
 his discharge. If he desires to ransom a woman in order to 
 marry her, he may receive an advance for the purpose under 
 the riales applying to ransoms. No person, whether a Govern- 
 ment employee or not, should be allowed to keep any slave 
 in a colony or in a township. All persons in the permanent 
 service of Government must, of course, be free. 
 
 In furtherance of the policy of discouraging too rapid an 
 exodus of slaves from their masters, it was formerly the rule 
 in Nigeria that fugitive slaves should not be enlisted as soldiers 
 or police, and a recruit before being enlisted had to agree to 
 ransom himself, if he were later proved to be a slave. If, 
 however, a slave succeeded in enlisting, imder no circum- 
 stances would he be ordered to take off his uniform on the 
 grounds that he was claimed as a slave. These rules are now 
 relaxed, but any recruit who acknowledges himself to be a 
 slave is encouraged to obtain a native court certificate by 
 self-redemption. 
 
SELF-EEDEMPTION. 383 
 
 With the abolition of the legal status a slave can assert 
 his freedom without payment, but so strong are the traditions 
 of slavery that native opinion does not readily admit that 
 Uberation by a British Government removes the stigma of 
 slavery. A slave so Uberated is a " white man's freedman," 
 but remains de jure of the slave caste in pubUc opioion, and, 
 indeed, in his own ; for the slave habituated to slavery has 
 learnt to regard himself as the property of another, and if 
 he has embraced Islam he feels that he is not really freed by 
 the " unbeHever's " act. If he be a household slave he may 
 also feel a flhal duty towards his master, and his conscience 
 is not satisfied until he has liquidated the debt. Eansom is 
 indeed only justifiable in the case of slaves born or bred in 
 slavery. 
 
 If, however, a slave receives a certificate of freedom from 
 the judge of the native court — the exponent of the Koranic 
 law — ^he is de jure free, and it is a crime to re-enslave him. 
 These native court certificates are therefore greatly valued, 
 and I have known cases of men freed by the administration 
 who have voluntarily paid their redemption money to obtain 
 them. In one ease an ex-sergeant-major asked that the 
 ransom should not be made unduly low, as his old master 
 had treated him well. 
 
 Self -redemption and ransom, though entirely voluntary on 
 the part of the slave, are worthy of encouragement by Govern- 
 ment. It is creditable to the slave, and adds to his self- 
 respect, and in many cases it is equitable to the master, who 
 may have acquired his slave by what were at the time per- 
 fectly legal means. Bedemption may be effected either by 
 the system of Xitabah — viz., ransom by instalments — or by 
 that of Kita'dh — viz., immediate payment.^ The native 
 
 ' The Koran, surah xxiv. , paragraph 33, enjoins on every master the duty of 
 agreeing to his slave's request to ransom himself, and of giving him every facility 
 for acquiring the means to do so. The first system is known as " Murgu " in 
 Nigeria, and under its provisions a slave would be allowed to retain his land with 
 complete freedom while earning his ransom money, or he might work in his own 
 time (one or two days a week being given to him) for wages, or he might pay a 
 fee as earnest of his intentions, and be free for a year to earn the money, or he 
 might be allowed to pay for his board and lodging, and liquidate the ransom by 
 instalments in his own time. Whichever method he selects, he should be able to 
 redeem himself within the year. The second method — viz., the payment of a 
 lump sum down, known as Kita'ah (panaa in Hausaland) — would be resorted to 
 by men who wished to redeem a woman for marriage, or by ex-slaves freed by 
 Government who desired to get the native court certificate. — See Euxton's 
 ' Maliki Law,' chapter li. 
 
384 SLAVERY IN BRITISH AFRICA. 
 
 courts, acting on the liberal instructions of the Koran, may 
 usually be trusted to fix the amount of the ransom money 
 with fairness and Uberality,^ but care must be taken to see 
 that Uberation is unequivocal and not a " ransom for con- 
 cubinage," and that persons born after the date of the edict 
 are not regarded as slaves for ransom. Certificates are also 
 given when a slave is set free by a native court because of 
 ill-treatment, or when voluntarily freed by his owner. 
 
 The slave-trade and open dealing in slaves in British Africa 
 is now happily a thing of the past. Illicit dealing takes the 
 form of kidnapping, or purchase by trading caravans, espe- 
 cially of children, who are often sold by their parents in 
 time of famine, and being taught the language of their pur- 
 chasers are passed off as part of his famUy, and told how to 
 reply to any questions. Strict vigilance and heavy punish- 
 ments upon offenders (including villages which are aware of 
 the circumstances and fail to report them) are the only 
 remedy.^ Adults driven by starvation may also attach them- 
 selves to a trading party, or undesirable persons may be sold 
 by a tribe. In former times it is said that porters, left sick 
 in a village by a passing caravan, were also generally sold as 
 slaves. The purchase of children for adoption or religious 
 education is slave- dealing, even if the chUd is immediately 
 liberated, and encourages the traffic by creating a demand. 
 
 The holding of persons in pawn for debt — which, unless 
 voluntary, is forbidden by Moslem law — often results in the 
 pawn becoming a lifelong slave, without a slave's privileges. 
 If the contract is voluntary and hmited in time, there is 
 Uttle to object to, but if unlimited in time the pawn's labour 
 should be set against the debt, and the pawn should be free 
 to abandon the contract and defend his case in court if he 
 prefers. The onus of proof of the debt must, of course, be 
 on the creditor. The seizure of a pawn by or for a creditor, 
 including the pawning of children for debt, is by the Mgerian 
 code classed as slave-dealing. The pawn is released, and the 
 
 1 Recently it was found at Sokoto that many of the Government mail-carriers 
 had been the slaves of chiefs. The Resident was inclined to call on them to 
 ransom themselves, but the chiefs said that the services they had been accustomed 
 to render to their masters were so light that they did not deserve ransom. 
 
 ^ In Nigeria, Hausa traders and Nupe fishermen carry on this traffic among 
 primitive pagan tribes. The worst offenders are said to be the nomad Fulani 
 herdsmen, who fill the children with terror of Europeans so that they fly or 
 conceal themselves on the approach of an officer. 
 
DISPOSAL OF FREED SLAVES. 385 
 
 period of his detention is counted ia liquidation of the debt. 
 The plea of adoption of a child-pawn cannot be considered as 
 valid as between creditor and debtor, and indeed adoption 
 without ulterior motive is rare.^ 
 
 The disposal of slaves when freed after recent capture 
 often presents dififtculties. Those freed at sea on the East 
 Coast were at first sent to Bombay or to Mauritius, later they 
 were generally handed over with a small capitation grant to 
 missions (£5 by the British, 25s. by the Germans). It is rarely 
 possible — though most desirable — ^to restore a freed slave to 
 his home. A few years ago he would almost certainly have 
 been re-enslaved (unless protected) en route. Children are 
 unable to say where their home is, and there is always the 
 danger that children who have been sold by their parents, or 
 adults sold by their tribe, would again be sold if returned. 
 
 Men after beiag given a liberation paper and registered 
 can usually be left to follow their own incliaations, and work 
 can be foimd for them if they desire it. Women can be 
 employed in or about a hospital, or as servants to a European 
 lady, or they may be allowed to engage in trade or other 
 useful occupation in the native quarter of a township. Fail- 
 ing any other method, a freed slave woman may be entrusted 
 to the care of a reliable village headman tOl she marries, if 
 there is no freed slave vUlage or home to which she can be 
 sent. In any case it is practically certain she wiU find a 
 husband in a very short time, and he should pay her the 
 usual dowry money due to a freed woman. It is necessary 
 to exercise great care that he does not sell or transfer her as 
 a slave. 
 
 Unmarried females are always children. In Nigeria there 
 is a K'ative Children's Ordinance designed for the protection 
 of juvenile ex-slaves. A child is entrusted to the custody of 
 such guardian as may be named in the mandate, who is 
 bound to care for and educate it properly, and may not 
 transfer it. The mandate is for a limited period, which may 
 be extended, and the children are periodically inspected by 
 a Government official. 
 
 The " guardian " may be a Government establishment, 
 
 ' Only in the present year (1920) has the system of debt-slavery been finally 
 eradicated in the unfederated Malay States under British protection. There the 
 debt was treated as hereditary. Children were taken in pledge for parents, 
 and no reduction in the debt was made for the labour of the debtor. — Cmd. 
 470, 1920. 
 
 2b 
 
386 SLAVERY IN BEITISH APEICA. 
 
 such as a freed slave home or village, or a department to 
 which a boy is apprenticed, or it may be a mission, or a 
 private person. The cldld may not leave its guardian — ^who 
 is vested with parental authority — till, if a girl, she reaches 
 the age of eighteen. Boys over twelve should be appren- 
 ticed, or may take service on wages. On attainiag the age 
 of fifteen they would be given freedom papers, and allowed 
 to go where they please, xmless bound as apprentices. A full 
 periodical report is, of course, demanded from any institution 
 or mission which obtains a grant from Government for re- 
 ceiviug freed slaves. 
 
 The disadvantage of transferring freed slaves to missions 
 is that liberation should not be open to the charge by bigoted 
 Moslems that Government frees slaves only in order to con- 
 vert them forcibly to Christianity.^ I prefer myself a freed 
 slave home for children, and " liberty village " for adults, 
 both under Government auspices, for such freed slaves as 
 caimot readily be absorbed into the village population.^ 
 
 Adoption by individuals is, as I have said, open to a similar 
 accusation — ^viz., that Government robs owners of their slaves 
 in order to bestow them on its nomiaees. The willingness of 
 the ordinary native to take a girl chUd gives colour to the 
 assertion that he hopes to make a profit out of her. If adop- 
 tion must be resorted to, the selection of guardians should 
 be exercised impartially as between responsible Mahomedans 
 and Christians. 
 
 A slave desirous of remaining in his master's house passes 
 at his owner's death to his heir, but if he is taken out of the 
 family, or by a distant relative (except with his own consent), 
 
 ^ We can hardly be Burpriaed that the forcible detention of a " freed " woman, 
 and her recapture by force if she ' ' escapes " from a mission, should be conf using^ 
 to the mind of the late owner. 
 
 ^ At the instance of Mr W. E. Forster a home was established in Cairo in 
 1884, and Lord Cromer in 1900 reported that it was still necessary and desirable. 
 It had the advantage (impossible in Nigeria) of the continuous superintendence 
 for twenty-four years of an Arabic-speaking lady — Mrs Crewe. Probably over 
 1000 women passed through the home. — (' Anti-Slarery Reporter,' May 1900.) 
 
 A freed slave home was established in Northern Nigeria at Government Head- 
 quarters, but it was found almost impossible to control the women, the majority 
 of whom preferred to leave the home and lead an immoral life. It was devoted, 
 therefore, almost exclusively to children, of whom more were rescued — generally 
 in an emaciated and starving condition — than could be accommodated. The 
 home was under a trained nurse, and was visited daily by a doctor. It received 
 a grant from Government and from the Rebecca Hussey and Giles trusts. After 
 I left Northern Nigeria it was broken up, and the children transferred to the 
 Sudan United Mission with a capitation grant. A second home, and also a 
 " liberty village," were established in Bornu to meet the large influx of slaves 
 from the German Cameruns. 
 
WOMEN-HUSBANDS. 387 
 
 a charge of " transferring " could be preferred. The family 
 of a slave should not be broken up for purpose of division 
 among heirs, nor is joint ownership permissible, for some single 
 individiial must be held accountable for good treatment. If 
 an owner dies intestate, the slaves are freed. 
 
 The custom of elderly women procuring young girls, whom 
 they call " wives," and with whom they go through a mar- 
 riage ceremony, appears to be prevalent among tribes mth 
 widely different origins and customs. The purchase money 
 is misnamed " dowry," and the woman-husband becomes 
 absolute owner of the girls. The same thing is sometimes 
 done for an identical purpose by very old and decrepit men. 
 In some few cases it may be that the purchaser wishes to 
 assure herself of a " wife " who will tend her in her old age, 
 but the more usual reason is in order to claim fees for adul- 
 tery, and to gain possession of the children of such inter- 
 course, who by native custom are the property of the " hus- 
 band " who has paid the dowry. In such cases, no doubt, 
 the woman, who is in fact the keeper of a brothel, would be 
 prosecuted on a criminal charge, and awarded no compensa- 
 tion for the loss of her " wives " and their dowries.^ Or it 
 may be that the girls are " married " by women traders, who 
 pay a higher dowry than the young men can afford, in order 
 to provide themselves with labour to transport their goods, 
 since the men of the tribe refuse such work.^ 
 
 " It was the custom in Benin (writes the Eesident) when 
 a father and daughter, husband and wife, or brother and 
 sister quarrelled, if the man chose to say ' Igba ' to the 
 woman, she became at once ' devoted ' to the Oba (king), 
 and had to become one of his wives. Since April 1918 aU 
 these devotees have been released by the Oba, and the use 
 of the word ' Igba ' has been prohibited." 
 
 In Mgeria, as in other Moslem countries, favourite slaves 
 often became very wealthy, even owning slaves of their own, 
 and held appointments as chiefs of villages or districts. In 
 Bornu, where these slave-rulers had in many cases been dis- 
 tinguished for generations, and were often held in higher 
 account than freemen, the system has died hard. It arose 
 from the fact that during an era of constant revolt by the 
 provincial chiefs, the Shehu (Sultan) could only trust his own 
 slaves — and provincial chiefs were in like case. 
 
 ^ One such woman was found to have nineteen wives. 
 2 ' ' Dan Gizo " in ' West Africa ' of 15th May 1920. 
 
388 SLAVERY m BBITISH APEICA. 
 
 Since all the property amassed by a slave-chief reverted 
 to his overlord at his death, the system was lucrative to a 
 despot. It was thoroughly bad in its results, for the slave- 
 ruler, having no rights himself, could not be expected to 
 regard those of others, and he oppressed the peasantry. 
 
 It has been the good fortune of this generation to witness 
 not only the practical extinction of the overseas slave-trade, 
 but also of slave -raiding and open slave -trading; there 
 remains only the Ulicit dealing in slaves.^ 
 
 The first step is to deal with slave-raiding as murder, and 
 with the enslaving of a free man as a felony, and thus to 
 cut off the supply of new slaves. The second is to regard 
 any " transaction in slaves " as a serious offence, and to give 
 the slave the right to assert his freedom if he desires to do 
 so, and thus to destroy the value of property in slaves. The 
 third, and perhaps the most difficult task, is to eradicate the 
 servile habit of mind, bred by long traditions of slavery, to 
 inculcate the right to be free, and to educate the native to 
 a sense of personal responsibility, initiative, and aspiration, 
 in order that he may learn the dignity of free labour and 
 appreciate his duty as a citizen and to posterity. 
 
 This is being done everjnvhere in British Africa, partly 
 by example, for the people see that the British officer makes 
 no caste difference between slave and free, and promotes for 
 merit alone ; partly by the teaching of missions and the 
 spread of education ; partly by the creation of small land- 
 holders with a title in perpetuity to their holdings, and, above 
 aU, by the creation of a free-labour market, with which I shall 
 deal in the next chapter. 
 
 The only country in Africa in which slave-raids and the 
 slave-trade are still openly practised is Abyssinia, and the 
 nations of Europe must presently consider how they can re- 
 concile this state of things with their solemn declarations to 
 put an end to it in Africa. The very intelligent and progres- 
 
 ' There is much still to be done before this curse of Africa is eradicated. In 
 Nigeria as late as 1918 we hear of slave-dealing in Onitsha, of kidnapping of 
 children in Bassa, of coast-traders buying slaves from the Aros at Owerri, of 
 slave-dealing between the pagan Mamas and Bauohi, and of the Shuwa Arabs 
 buying slaves from the Cameruns. These offences are dealt with under the 
 Criminal Code. 
 
 In the Sudan the Abyssiuians and lower Nile tribes still actively engage in 
 the slave-trade, which, says the official Handbook (No. 98, pp. 27 and 44), 
 would revive to-morrow it the British hold on the Sudan and French control 
 in Wadai were relaxed. 
 
SLAVE-RAIDERS IN ABYSSINIA. 389 
 
 sive Eegent, Eas Tafari — ^whose personal friendship I value — 
 recognises and deplores this blot on his country's reputation, 
 and would gladly do his best to suppress it were he afforded 
 the means of doing so.^ 
 
 ^ In 1919 a British official mission traversed Abyssinia under Majors Athill, 
 R.F.A., and Darley, and an account of the journey was given by Major Athill in a 
 paper read before the Geographical Society ('Journal,' November 1920). Major 
 Darley, whom his colleague described as one of the best type of British pioneers, 
 writes that in the commercial centre of Jimma children were sold publicly in 
 the market and " slave-trading seemed to be the chief business of the district." 
 Gangs of slaves with the men chained together were encountered on the march, 
 and " the whole country was desolate. For nineteen days between Jimma and 
 Maji, through what was formerly the richest part of Abyssinia, we marched 
 through a district in which the date of each raid could be estimated by the 
 height of the bush in what was formerly cultivated fields. A population of at 
 least a million had ceased to exist. . . . Between Maji and the north end of 
 Lake Rudolph the precipitous hillsides are all most beautifully terraced from 
 top to bottom for cultivation. The terraces, built of large boulders running 
 like walls for miles, must have occupied a large population for several 
 generations. There was not a soul. We crossed into our so-called British 
 territory. For sixteen days' march we never saw a soul or a sign of one. This 
 country had formerly been occupied by a rich stock-owning people. Eventually 
 we ran into a few unfortunate natives hiding from a gang of 100 Abyssinian 
 riflemen engaged in collecting slaves and ivory. This was in British territory." 
 
 Major Darley, who has a long experience of Abyssinia and the neighbouring 
 British territories, thus describes the process : " An Abyssinian chief appointed 
 to rule a province arrives penniless (having spent all he had in obtaining his 
 appointment). He then divides up the people between his chiefs, and they must 
 grow food for their owner and his soldiers, do his housework, and provide him 
 with cash. If they fail to produce the dollars, the usual method is for the 
 owner to tie up the serf and starve him till he surrenders one of his children." 
 When the chief is removed, " it is the invariable custom for him to seize all those 
 natives on whom he can lay hands and carry them off en masse for sale, to keep 
 him in cash until he gets another province. In 1911 I saw a chief moving from 
 his district. The natives he carried off were so numerous they took four days to 
 pass my camp — certainly 10,000. I counted 7000 and then got tired. The 
 arrival at the capital of the chief of Baccu with the whole population of that 
 district is only another instance." 
 
 These facts have been fully reported to the British Foreign Office, which has 
 moreover the full report on slavery made by Consul Walker. Britain has a 
 special responsibility in Abyssinia, with which she has coterminous frontiers for 
 miles and a predominant influence. This state of things has grown up only in 
 the last ten or fifteen years, since the strong rule of Menelik (who made a law 
 against slave-dealing) ceased. The problem is how to strengthen the hands of 
 the Regent so as to enable him to curb the excesses of his provincial chiefs, 
 with adequate safeguards against the misuse of his power. To this end I 
 ventured to submit some suggestions to the Foreign Office in August 1920, but 
 without result. 
 
 By common action between Great Britain, France, and Italy — all signatories of 
 the Act by which, in the name of Almighty God, they pledged themselves to put 
 an end to slave-raiding in Africa — these atrocities could be ended without 
 difficulty. Nor is the problem insoluble by Great Britain, with the willing 
 assistance of Ras Tafari. Space precludes any further digression either on the 
 conditions of slavery in the country, or on the suggested methods for the 
 suppression of the slave-trade. 
 
390 
 
 CHAPTEK XIX. 
 
 LABOTJE. IN TEOPIOAL APEICA. 
 
 Free labour and slavery — Policy of H.M.'s Government — Decisions re' 
 East Africa — Criticisms and charges— Local opinion — Difficulty of 
 applying the Government policy — Inadequacy of the solution pro- 
 posed — Contrast East and West Africa — Inevitable conclusions re 
 East Africa — West African products and conditions — The cocoa 
 industry— The African as a worker — The African as a wage-earner — 
 Quality of the work — The wage-rate — Method of payment of wages — 
 Conditions of free labour — Labour regulations — Unpaid labour. 
 
 We have seen that where a native conqueriiig race holds 
 an aboriginal people in control, a system of slavery and forced 
 labour becomes practically inevitable by reason of mutual 
 mistrust and the absence of such social organisation as renders 
 possible a written contract, and payment for services in a 
 recognised medium of exchange. 
 
 That system, though demoralising both to master and slave, 
 and opposed to progress both moral and material, was by no 
 means wholly one-sided when humanely enforced xa. accord- 
 ance with the teaching of the Koran. It laid heavy obliga- 
 tions on the master, who is now quick to recognise that the 
 free labourer can claim his day's wage and no more ; and if 
 he breaks his contract and does not do his work, the courts, 
 which would have given the master no assistance in such a 
 dispute with his slave, wiU help him, and that he is no longer 
 responsible for the faults of his employee, or compelled to 
 support him and his family ia sickness and old age.^ 
 
 Our task is to discuss how free labour can best be pro- 
 
 ' Consul Monson writes of the institution of slavery in East Africa as "so 
 repugnant in principle to English ideas, so little injurious in practice to its 
 supposed victims." The owners "had been forced to treat their slaves liberally 
 in order to retain them." — Cmd. 1631 of 1903, 
 
THE TRADITIONAI, BRITISH POLICY. 391 
 
 vided in a country in which industry has hitherto been largely 
 conducted by slave labour, and where most of the necessities 
 and many of the incentives to work for wages which exist in 
 civilised countries are lacking. In England the peasant must 
 buy his daily food. Men and women may not go about quite 
 nude. They are not physically inured to extremes of heat 
 and cold, and need fires and fuel. We have, in fact, aU ac- 
 quired the habit of using many things which by long custom 
 have become necessities of life. On the other hand, though 
 I have warmly advocated the principle of small iadividual 
 holdings, it is not a reasonable thesis (as some writers seem 
 to infer) that every predial slave should become a peasant 
 proprietor, for no country in the world can do without casual 
 paid labour. 
 
 In a despatch to the Governor of East Africa, Lord Milner 
 laid down the " traditional policy " of the British Govern- 
 ment on the subject of native labour, " in order that there 
 may be no room for doubt in the matter." ^ Such a pro- 
 nouncement is particularly opportime at a moment when the 
 claims and demands which arise out of the dual responsibilities 
 of the Controlling Powers in the tropics — viz., as trustees to 
 civilisation for the adequate development of their resources, 
 and as trustees for the welfare of the native races — may seem 
 in some cases to be mutually antagonistic, and have given 
 rise to controversy. It is especially important in East Africa 
 and Tanganyika, where our declared reason for ousting 
 Germany was because of her misrule.^ The " traditional 
 policy," he says, " is absolutely opposed to compulsory labour 
 for private employment. ... It is a point of fundamental 
 importance . . . that there is no question of force or com- 
 pulsion, but only of encouragement and advice through the 
 native chiefs and headmen." 
 
 The particular policy of His Majesty's Government to-day 
 in regard to the difficulties which have arisen in East Africa 
 " aims at the advancement and wellbeing of the native races 
 
 1 Cmd. 873 of 1920. 
 
 ^ The Official Handbook quotes the German writer Hassert : " Colonisation oon- 
 eiets in the utilisation of the soil, its products, and its men, for the economic profit 
 of the colonising nation " ; and Fischer : " Colonising Africa is making the negro 
 work." — No. 113, p. 40. The Governor's report states that the Germans had 
 reduced the natives to abject submission as permanent serfs, and they were 
 rarely fully paid for their work. Unless they were able to prove their complaints 
 they were flogged for making them. — Cmd. 1428 of 1921, p. 35. 
 
392 LABOUE IN TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 in the protectorate, no less than the meeting of the settlers' 
 requirements." It may be summarised as follows : — 
 
 (a) " Natives may be required to perform certain paid labour 
 for Government . . . (viz.) works of a public nature, subject 
 to the express proviso that no native shall be required to 
 perform such work for more than sixty days in any one year, 
 and that any native who is fully employed in any other 
 occupation, or has been so employed during the preceding 
 twelve months for a period of three months shall be exempted 
 from such labour." Works of a public nature are defined in 
 the ordinance as work on Goverimient transport, or on roads 
 and railways, " and other work of a public nature, whether 
 of a like Mnd to the foregoing or not." The three months 
 includes, of course, any work on his own account.^ 
 
 (&) That natives in their own interests should seek out- 
 side employment when not engaged in work in their own 
 reserves, and it is desirable that the yoimg able-bodied men 
 should become wage-earners, and should not remain idle in 
 the reserves for a large part of the year. 
 
 (c) That " the Protectorate Government woidd be failing 
 in its duty if it did not use all lawful and reasonable means 
 to encourage the supply of labour for the settlers " engaged 
 in the production of raw material much needed by the Empire. 
 
 (d) That for this purpose the principle of working through 
 the native chiefs is right, but they must be closely watched 
 by Government officials. On the one hand, any attempt to 
 abuse their authority must be promptly checked, and on the 
 other hand, " any unwillingness to act on instructions must 
 be taken note of and recorded." 
 
 (e) That native labour shaU not be procured by Govern- 
 ment for a particular employer, and " the native is free to 
 choose where and for whom he wiU work." 
 
 (/) That women and children may be employed, but " must 
 return to their houses at night, and that only when the hus- 
 band is employed, and living in the plantation should his 
 family be permitted to remain there at night." It is inferred 
 that their labour will be light — chiefly coffee-picking, and for 
 half a day only. 
 
 ^ This was made clear by Lord Milner in reply to a question in the House 
 of Lords on 27th October 1920, and affirmed by the Under-Secretary in the 
 Commons. Mr Harris states that the settlers resent this interpretation of the 
 ordinance. — ('Manchester Guardian,' 3rd August 1921.) 
 
DECISIONS re labour in Kenya. 393 
 
 (g) Finally, there is no objection to recruiting from an 
 adjoining British administration (whether under Mandate or 
 not), provided there is a surplus of labour over and above 
 that required in the territory itself. Eecruits may bring 
 their wives with them. 
 
 It is permissible to examine these most important pro- 
 noimcements by the light of personal experience and the 
 criticism of the public Press. The " traditional policy " 
 applies to the whole of tropical Africa and to other Crown 
 colonies and Protectorates, but not to the Dominions, which 
 frame their own policy. The detailed decisions apply imprimis 
 to the conditions of East Africa. 
 
 The conditions resemble, with one exception, those of 
 South Africa, and Lord Milner was able to say that he spoke 
 from personal experience. They resemble South Africa in 
 that Europeans are settlers depending on native labour, and 
 not true colonists like Canadians and Australians,^ while the 
 natives are to a greater or less extent relegated to reserves. 
 They differ in that the population of South Africa is less no- 
 madic and pastoral, and has been in contact with Europeans 
 for a longer time. The fact that the settlers came on the direct 
 invitation of Government — first in 1905 and again after the 
 war — obviously saddles the Government with a very special 
 responsibility for making good the inducements which it 
 held out. 
 
 The immediate cause of the Government pronouncement 
 was the issue of a " Memo, of policy," and a circular by the 
 local Government, on the subject of native labour, which called 
 forth a very trenchant manifesto by the Bishops of Mombasa 
 and Uganda. They asserted that though there was " techni- 
 cally no compulsion, practically compulsion could hardly take 
 a stronger form." The Memo, was also severely criticised 
 in a Memorial by the Aborigines' Protection Society, by the 
 Conference of Mission Societies, and by the Press.^ The 
 
 ' As Mr Grogan picturesquely phrases it, "the European is not merely the 
 iudividual producer as he is in Canada or Australia — he is the yeast that leavens 
 the inert dough of Africa's peoples." — 'Times,' 9th February 1920. 
 
 2 See 'The New Statesman,' 21st February, 27th March, 10th April, &c. 
 Sir S. Olivier, one of the signatories of the A.P.S. Memorial, asserts in the 
 'Contemporary Review' (August 1920), that "the permanent principles of our 
 policy in dealing with native peoples are being whittled away," and the rights of 
 the natives are to an increasing extent being recognised as subsidiary to the 
 interests of white men. In a note on an article on "Labour in Nyasaland" ('East 
 and West,' January 1921), the editor writes of East African conditions : "While 
 
394 LABOTTE m TROPICAL APEICA. 
 
 subject gave rise to a debate in tbe House of Lords on 
 14tli July 1920, in which Lords Islington, Bryce, Emmott, 
 and the Primate passed severe strictures on the policy. 
 
 It is of special importance to note that the Sub-Committee 
 of the Labour Party, appointed to report on the administra- 
 tion of the dependencies, repeats and even exaggerates the 
 charges brought against the East African Administration ia 
 this connection, for that Party assumes that sooner or later 
 it will become the executive power in the British State, 
 charged with the control of African policy. The author of 
 the Memo, prepared by this Sub-Committee, while advocating 
 in the main the principles for which I have contended in these 
 chapters, accuses the Governments of Kenya and Nyasaland 
 of " aiming at the evolution of a race of servile labourers in 
 European employ divorced from their lands. The conditions 
 (he says) ia these countries iu some respects reproduce, and 
 even exaggerate, the evils of slavery " — bad food, disease, 
 bad sanitation, severe pimishments including flogging, lack 
 of supervision by Government, desertion punished as a 
 criminal offence resulting in lack of labour for the production 
 of food, sedition, and grave danger of insurrection. Such is 
 the picture which the Labour Party is invited to believe 
 forms a true presentment of British rule in East Africa.^ 
 
 The bishops recognise that the white settlers " all depend 
 for their very existence as farmers on native labour," and 
 they go so far as to recommend that compulsion should be 
 definitely legalised, and directed piimarily to State work 
 under certain safeguards.^ ISo doubt strong pressure has been 
 brought to bear on the local Government by the settlers, 
 whose views are recorded in the report of the Commission 
 of 1917-19, to which I have referred, and at greater length 
 in that of the earlier Commission appointed in 1912 to examine 
 this question.^ They were, ia brief, that the native reserves 
 should be restricted to the present needs oiily of the natives, 
 that individual tenure should be substituted for commimal, 
 
 nominally the law compels no one to engage in any but public service, it has the 
 intention and the effect of imposing wage-earning on all, partly because the 
 wages for Government departments are fixed so low as to be no attraction (about 
 3d. a day), and partly because in practice only wage-earners for private employers 
 are exempted from the legal obligation to work for wages." 
 
 ^ See also 'Empire and Commerce' by L. Woolf, which is "a report for a 
 Committee of the Labour Research Department," and is published by it. Part 
 III., chapter 2, &c. 
 
 Cmd . 873 of 1920, p. 8. s Report of August 1913. 
 
PEAOTICAI, APPLICATION OF THE POLICY. 395 
 
 that " squatting " on European estates should be encouraged, 
 and that labour camps under official supervision should be 
 formed.^ 
 
 These recommendations have not, however, as we have 
 seen, been accepted by Government, and we have Lord Milner's 
 assurance that the policy he defined is being carried out by 
 the local officials. It will, however, be exceedingly difficult, 
 if not impossible, to ascertain in the case of each individual 
 native whether he has worked on his own land for three 
 months, and the attempt to do so must open the door to all 
 kinds of abuses by native subordinates. Among the agri- 
 cultural tribes, I should doubt whether there are any indi- 
 viduals who do not devote at least that time to their crops. 
 The pastoral tribes tend their cattle — ^which is presumably 
 " occupation," and falls entirely on the males. Agricultural 
 labour would be as irksome to them as penal servitude. 
 
 Then again there is the vital question — at what time of 
 the year is the compulsory labour to be called for ? If at the 
 season when the native crops demand attention, the hardship 
 may be great, and result in a reduction of the native food 
 supply. If, as stated, it is to be demanded by Government 
 from the more distant tribes, leaving the remainder for pri- 
 vate labour, is the time taken in coming from and returning 
 to these remote districts to be counted in the sixty days to 
 be paid for ? If so, there will be Uttle margin for work. We 
 are told, moreover, that the great variations ia climate, and 
 the different diet of tribes, causes much sickness and mor- 
 tality when labour is transferred from its natural environ- 
 ment.^ Age-limits for labourers are difficult to determine ; 
 medical examination for fitness is impracticable in areas so 
 great, with a small medical staff overwhelmed with work, 
 and the supervision of the District Officer is, we are told, 
 negligible for the same reason. 
 
 ^ See 'Handbook' 1216, p. 466. The policy of closing the reserves to 
 European penetration, which they say " has lately taken shape in the publicly- 
 made official statement of the Chief Native Commissioner, that ' he did not see 
 why a native should turn out to work for a European if he wanted to develop hi 
 own lands,' should (they consider) be reversed in the interests of the development 
 of the country."— Report of 1919, p. 19. 
 
 ^ The Wakamba and Wa-Kikuyu tribes are practically the only sources for 
 labour actually on the Highlands, for the climate is too cold even for the 
 Wa-Kavirondo from the sub-tropical Lake region (who, however, are largely 
 employed), and these tribes suffer equally if transported to the tropical coast 
 regions, where a mortality of 145 per mille was recorded. — 'Handbook,' 
 pp. 324-467. 
 
396 LABOTJE m TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 It is manifest, therefore, that there are serious difficulties 
 in applying the policy laid down ; but setting these aside, 
 does that policy provide any permanent solution of the prob- 
 lem ? The present labour supply, we are told, amounts to 
 about 100,000,^ which would seem to be a fairly large propor- 
 tion of the adult males, allowing for an adequate contingent 
 to cultivate their own crops. But this niunber is said to be 
 wholly insufficient, even for the present small number of 
 settlers and for Government requirements. But if the public 
 works which the country so greatly needs were taken in 
 hand, the Government demand alone would absorb the whole 
 or the greater part of the available supply. If, at the same 
 time, the number of settlers were multiplied (as is expected) 
 tenfold, what solution does the present policy offer for the 
 difficulties of the not-distant future ? 
 
 An essential feature of that policy, as stated by Lord 
 Milner, is " the advancement of the wellbeing of the natives." 
 As they are educated in improved agricultural methods, and 
 as they learn to grow exportable produce and find that they 
 can realise good prices, and as their live-stock increases under 
 peaceful conditions, the available supply of wage-earners is 
 likely to decrease. Since it is opposed to the traditional 
 policy of the Empire that the native population should be con- 
 verted into labour-tenants of Europeans, it is imperative that 
 the real facts should be faced without delay, if still further 
 difficulties — or indeed disaster — ^is to be avoided in the future. 
 
 I shall presently explain how labour difficulties have been 
 dealt with in West Africa ; but such methods are only very 
 partially applicable in East Africa, where there is no vast 
 reservoir to draw upon, and differences in climate make it 
 more difficult to transfer labour from one part of the country 
 to another. Bates of pay are low in East Africa (from 8s. to 
 £1 for the best men per mensem), ^ but higher rates will not 
 permanently increase the supply. Something may perhaps 
 be done in the way of better housing, better and more liberal 
 food, and more sympathetic treatment by both recruiters and 
 employers, and improved medical attendance.' But the truth 
 
 1 Gmd. 7622 of 1915, and 'Times,' 11th August 1921. 
 
 ^ Handbook 1216, pp. 465 and 469. The shortage of labour began to be felt 
 in 1907, and became acute in 1912. 
 
 ^ Ibid., p. 466. In the Sudan there is a " Labour Bureau " which appears to 
 have been a success. — (Handbook 98, p. 95.) Pilgrims from Nigeria passing 
 through or settled in the Sudan supply a considerable part of the labour demand. 
 
NATIVES AS BIVAL PKODtTOEES. 397 
 
 of the matter is that the policy proposed is incompatible with 
 the conditions as they exist. 
 
 In West Africa, where European settlement is out of the 
 question, it is recognised that the native must be the pro- 
 ducer of all agricultural exports. The Departments of Agri- 
 culture, Forestry, &c., endeavour to improve the quantity 
 and quality of his output. Wage labour is chiefly required 
 for public works — ^roads, railways, and harbours, &c. — and 
 for mining operations. It is to some extent possible to allow 
 the labour gangs to look after their fields at the crucial season 
 without abandoning such works. 
 
 In the Highlands, and to a lesser extent in the sub-tropical 
 zone of the Lakes — and even in the Lowlands of East Africa 
 — the European desires to be the producer of agricultural 
 exports. There is no large labour reserve, and the European 
 requires his labourers for his crops at the very time when the 
 native desires to tend his own fields. The requirements of 
 the settlers, to put it bluntly, are incompatible with the 
 intersts and advancement of the agricultural tribes, nor could 
 they be otherwise than impatient of native development as 
 a rival iu the growiag of coffee, flax, and sisal.^ 
 
 In justice alike to the old settlers and to the new-comers 
 (who, it is said, have been tempted to enter the country by 
 the specious prospects held out by emigration pamphlets and 
 the Uke), and in justice to the natives, British immigrants 
 should be fully warned of the deficiency of native labour, 
 and discouraged from coming to the country unless they are 
 prepared to dispense with it.^ This was not done in the case 
 
 ' The Official Handbook on Tanganyika observes that ' ' all the tribes are 
 capable of maintaining themselves without working for wages, and object to 
 doing so. Hence the establishment of great estates demanding large supplies 
 of labour must, if continued, lead to perpetual discord and trouble." — 
 No. 113, p. 40. 
 
 ^ Mr Qrogan, a Member of Council and of the Economic Commission, 
 suggested some years ago (' Times,' 5th April 1903) that grants of land should be 
 offered to attract such settlers. The Germans, as we have seen (p. 391,' note), 
 had no scruples as to compelling the natives to work, and they had a particularly 
 good labour supply in Unyamwezi, but they were soon faced with the same 
 difficulty as Kenya. The recently-issued report by the Governor of Tanganyika 
 (Cmd. 1428 of 1921) states that the German system resulted in "an over- 
 crowded and discontented native community on the one hand, and large and 
 valuable properties handicapped for lack of sufficient labour on the other" 
 (p. 70). They were forced to the decision to alienate no more land to settlers, 
 in view of the labour difficulties (p. 36). 
 
 Mr Duff, Resident of the British Cameruns province — a good German scholar 
 reported, after a long study of the German archives, that in 1912 the Govern- 
 ment had decided to change its policy radically in view of the success of British 
 
398 LABOTJK IN TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 of the soldier settlers who were invited to the country after 
 the war, and the Mombasa correspondent of the ' Times ' 
 describes the result. " Kenya," he says, " has not yet dis- 
 closed the modus operandi by which a small farmer can make 
 a home and a Uviug . . . the outlook is dismal in the extreme 
 . . . the soldier settlement is dying." ^ It would in any case 
 be a dangerous experiment, for men ignorant of the climate 
 may imagine that they can do physical work, which the alti- 
 tude forbids. 
 
 Siace, then, the labour supply of the country is insufficient 
 for the needs of the white settlers ; since it is doubtful whether 
 the small proprietor can dispense with native labour, and 
 quite certain that the existing large estate owners cannot 
 do so ; and since it is the declared poMcy of His Majesty's 
 Government " to meet the requirements of the settlers," for 
 whose advent they are responsible, there is only one conceiv- 
 able solution remaining — viz., imported contract labour, 
 which, after all, differs only in degree from the recruitment 
 of labourers from remote tribes to serve imder conditions of 
 climate, food, and language whoUy alien to them. 
 
 The cost would no doubt be greater than that of the exist- 
 ing local labour, and the settler wUl be anxious to reduce the 
 number of labourers asked for by employing labour-saving 
 devices and improved methods of transport, by closer super- 
 vision and increased efficiency of the employees, by concen- 
 trating on crops which require scientific culture, and yield 
 the highest returns. The native wiU then be left to grow the 
 cheaper and more easily -cultivated products, and to buQd 
 up a trade which will add to the prosperity and revenues of 
 the coimtry. I shall presently discuss the subject of imported 
 contract labour more fully. 
 
 The critics who write for the Labour Party contrast the 
 " amazingly successful " economic progress in West Africa 
 with that of East Africa, and ascribe it primarily to a differ- 
 ence in policy. Whole-hearted advocate as I am of the 
 principle of " free native labour on native-owned land," no 
 impartial man can regard the comparison otherwise than as 
 
 methods. It abandoned ita hopes of any considerable German colonisation, and 
 determined to encourage native-owned plantations of cocoa, rubber, and oil- 
 palms, as against German estates and hired labour, with an elaborate scheme 
 of inspectors, and the distribution of vast numbers of plants from Govern- 
 ment nurseries. 
 
 ' 'Times,' 11th November 1920. 
 
WEST AFRICAN CONDITIONS NOT ANALOGOUS. 399 
 
 grossly misleading, and I digress for a moment to make this 
 clear. 
 
 Figures are quoted which hold up to derision the output 
 of East Africa (except Uganda) compared with West Africa. 
 In the latter, it is said, the exports vary from 10s. to £5 per 
 head of the population, and that ia East Africa they are less 
 than 2s. (See, however, table, p. 45.) But what comparison 
 can be made between the exports of a densely populated 
 agricultural country and one whose much sparser population 
 consists largely of nomad pastorals ? ^ Between a country 
 where the uncultivated oil-pabn alone produces exports to 
 the value of about six million sterling, and one in which every 
 agricultural export — coffee, sisal, flax, cotton, &c. — ^has been 
 iutroduced in quite recent years by the enterprise of the 
 European settlers ? * The natural wealth of the west has 
 enabled those countries to build railways, and so increase 
 their output by geometrical progression. 
 
 The cocoa industry on the Gold Coast is the favourite 
 instance of what free labour, employed for its own sole profit, 
 can do, and it is a truly wonderful record. In 1891 the out- 
 put was 80 lb., value £4 ; iu 1919 it had reached 176,151 tons, 
 value £8,278,500 ; and now that little colony, with a popula- 
 tion of only 2,000,000, produces more than half the cocoa 
 consumed iu the world.^ But while giving hearty praise to 
 the initiative of the Gold Coast native, and to the methods 
 which produced such results, it is misleading to cite them as 
 evidence of astonishing industry, due to a policy however 
 excellent, when they are due primarily to an exceptionally 
 favourable soU, climate, and rainfall. 
 
 The Governor of the Gold Coast (Sir H. Clifford) remarked 
 that " cocoa is notoriously one of the least exacting forms of 
 permanent cultivation known to mankind." The natives 
 would probably not have undertaken it otherwise, " or any 
 
 ^ Consul Monson {loo. oit.) says that three of the chief tribes of East Africa — 
 the Masai, the Somalis, and the Gallas — are utterly unsuited for labour both 
 by character and tradition. This is perhaps too sweeping a statement, for the 
 Gallas are the serfs of the Abyssinians, and in that country have shown them- 
 selves industrious labourers, while the French railway from Jibuti to Addis- 
 Ababa was built chiefly by Somali labour. 
 
 ' The Economic Commission asserts that the native of East Africa, without 
 European supervision, has no surplus products for external exchange, whereas 
 7000 whites have created over £6,000,000 of overseas trade in thirteen years 
 (Eeport, p. 3). 
 
 5 Annual Report, Omd. 1103.9 of 1921, pp. 35-36, and 'Colonial Office List,' 
 
 p. 212. 
 
400 LABOUR m TROPICAL APBICA. 
 
 task of the sort that made a more severe demand on their 
 physical energies." It is admitted that even that small 
 amount of exertion has not been given to it, and a danger 
 of fungoid and other disease on the " indolent and slovenly- 
 farms " is the result. The quality, too, is very inferior for 
 lack of proper care and trouble in its preparation. The rush 
 for large profits in cocoa has replaced the more laborious 
 palm-oil industry, and the haste to get rich without toil has 
 resulted in a serous shortage of food, and the destruction of 
 irreplaceable forest lands in the search for virgin soil. The 
 cocoa-farmers, we read, have become indolent, and the work 
 is left to the women. Boys despise labour, and have a horror 
 of manual work. Maize and other native food has now to be 
 imported.^ Another result has been to enhance the cost of 
 labour to such a degree that there is great difficulty in carrying 
 out public works and private undertakings.^ These condi- 
 tions are increasingly evident in the Lagos hinterland also. 
 
 We must not, however, forget that cocoa is the first perma- 
 nent crop introduced into West Africa for native cultivation. 
 It is to the native a novel experiment, and if he has failed as 
 yet to realise that greater energy and improved methods are 
 necessary, and that failure with a permanent crop means 
 more than a seasonal disaster, we must not be in haste to 
 blame him. 
 
 It has long been the fashion to speak of the African as 
 
 ' Dr Unwin, late Forest Settlement Officer in Nigeria, a very competent 
 observer, writes of the Gold Coast plantations: "Disease is already rampant, 
 and thousands of the plantations remain unweeded and uncleared, a prey to 
 further disease of all kinds. This is chiefly due to lack of labour and of appreci- 
 ation of the necessity of keeping a plantation clean. . . . However, it is an 
 easy crop to grow, and up to now it has been possible for the people to leave 
 the trees alone till they bear, and then pull off the cocoa-pods at leisure. . . , 
 We have now thousands and millions of acres of magnificent forests devastated 
 each year in order to plant cocoa. ... In about a decade the climate will be 
 too dry for the growth of the cocoa-tree, and disease will, at the same time, 
 have practically prohibited its growth . . . already there is a food shortage." 
 He goes on to argue that as trustees for the African in economic affairs, we 
 have no right to allow him " to go on blindly to face the rigours of ruthless 
 natural laws," and the impending disaster to a crop which appeared to him a 
 gold-mine. Sir D. Prain, Director of Kew, says: "The dangers which now 
 threaten cocoa in the Gold Coast bid fair in the near future to extinguish what 
 is now a profitable industry." Great emphasis is laid on the necessity for 
 grading, and a graduated price for quality.— Handbook 93, p. 33. See Mr 
 Farquharson's statement, p. 507 inf. 
 
 ^ The Governor (General Guggisberg), speaking at Liverpool in September 
 1920, stated that labourers earned lOs. to 158. a day for carrying cocoa on their 
 heads. " Naturally they would do that in preference to mining or agricultural 
 work at Is. to 2s." 
 
THE INDUSTEY OF THE AFRICAN. 401 
 
 naturally lazy, leaving work to his women, and contented to 
 lie in the sun and eat and drink. It would seem, however 
 (as I observed in the chapter describing the characteristics 
 of the people), that there are few races which are more natu- 
 rally industrious. The fertility of the soil, his few wants, the 
 physical capacity of his women for manual work, are all 
 prompting causes for idleness, yet except when relegated to 
 reserves, or when his status as a slave deprived him of all 
 incentive, he is usually iadustrious. Even as a slave his 
 natural aptitude for work often makes him a wiUing and 
 good worker. As a wage-earner he has not the plodding 
 application of the Chinaman, and " he makes no pretence of 
 taking pride in planting cotton or tobacco for some one else," 
 says Mr WUson ; but this writer emphatically denies that the 
 native in Nyasaland is idle and leaves most of the work to his 
 women, and he " cannot think why Europeans persist in 
 assuming that a native lives in degradiug idleness unless 
 working for a European."^ 
 
 The free pagan tribes in West Africa often cultivate more 
 than it seems possible to consume. There is no question of 
 merely " scratching the surface," and the deep trenches in 
 the Yoruba yam-fields show how thoroughly his work is done. 
 Though ia most districts the pressure of population, which 
 compels hard and continuous work to provide the necessities 
 of life, is absent, you may see him in the very early morning, 
 and even in the heat of the tropical day, hoeing his fields — 
 sometimes so engrossed that he will hardly pause to look at 
 a passiug European with his long traiu of carriers — ^and though 
 his needs and desires are so small he willingly engages for 
 
 It is the tradition of Africa that the men tend the cattle 
 and fight, while the women work in the fields ; but through- 
 out the greater part of the contiaent the men share the field- 
 work with the women, and in many districts do by far the 
 larger part of it. The cattle-owning tribes had to be ready 
 at any moment to fight for their herds, and thus it was the 
 task of the men to tend them. The use of oxen in agriculture 
 would thus free the women, and leave cultivation more largely 
 in the hands of the men. The labour expended in collecting 
 and preparing for export some £4,000,000 worth of palm pro- 
 duce in the Southern Provinces of Nigeria, and of £1,500,000 
 
 1 "The Labour Problem in Nyasaland." — 'East and West,' January 1921. 
 
 20 
 
402 LABOXIR IK TROPICAL APEICA. 
 
 worth of ground-nuts from the Northern Provinces, must be 
 prodigious.^ 
 
 We are told that the African, though a hard worker in his 
 own fields, " does not like or understand the European capi- 
 talist system of wage-earning." In point of fact, this seems 
 to be quite untrue. It would iadeed be natural to expect 
 in a country like Nigeria, where in the north there are large 
 areas of fertile vacant lands which the peasant can now 
 occupy secure from eviction or arbitrary exactions, and where 
 in the south sylvan products which command high prices are 
 provided without cultivation by the bounty of nature, that 
 the very security for life and property, and the individual 
 freedom enjoyed under British rule, would result in the peas- 
 antry taking up land for themselves, or engaging in trade, 
 and would militate against the supply of free casual labour 
 for wages. This, however, has only been the case to a limited 
 extent. 
 
 The Government has been able to count on a fairly adequate 
 supply of labour, and some 20,000 seek employment on the 
 mines, in addition to other unoflQcial requirements. During 
 the time I was in Nigeria there was never any shortage of 
 free voluntary labour for the arduous work of quarrying^ coal 
 underground, even in night shifts, and in a temperature 
 which makes the work most exhausting, in spite of the fact 
 that the colUery was opened in a district of primitive and 
 turbulent pagans, where no previous demand for labour had 
 existed. 
 
 It would seem that in proportion to the population the 
 supply of wage-earners in East Africa, Uganda, and Nyasa- 
 land is very considerable. The conception of free wage- 
 labour is not indeed entirely new, for wages have long been 
 paid to carriers of goods. Time payment is recognised in 
 West Africa, and Krumen engage for twelve months as ships' 
 labourers and stevedores at the various ports. Native land- 
 owners can engage labour at low rates in Nigeria. At Tola 
 hired labour is reported as common, and slave-owners say 
 that they would not mind if aU their male slaves now asserted 
 
 1 'Les Colonies et Marine' estimates that the export of only 20,000 tons of 
 palm-oil from French West Africa employs 600,000 carriers for transport alone 
 —viz., 12,000,000 days' work— or 40,000 men a year.— ' West Africa,' 30th 
 October 1920. 
 
THE AFRICAN AS A WAGE-EAENEK. 403 
 
 their freedom. At Sokoto chiefs declared that they had found 
 by experience that hired labour was cheaper than feeding and 
 clothing slaves who had little work to do for a great part of 
 the year. In one somewhat backward district even the 
 system of piece-work was found to exist, the ground being 
 marked out into plots of ten cowries (Id.) worth of work. 
 In Zanzibar, long before the legal status was aboUshed, many 
 Arabs declared that they preferred free labour, and later 
 Consul Cave succeeded in introducing signed labour con- 
 tracts.^ 
 
 The native is tempted to earn wages by his desire to pur- 
 chase the attractive goods offered for his choice, and, though 
 it is true that he can equally obtain money by seUing produce 
 grown or collected by himself, he is glad when his fields do 
 not require aU his energies to earn extra money to satisfy 
 his new wants. There is also a large class who are not dis- 
 posed to settle down to agriculture — ^perhaps because the 
 pressure of population in their own particular district has 
 left no fertile land available, and they do not care to go else- 
 where ; more often, probably, because once having been in- 
 duced to leave his home, the labourer has become impatient 
 of tribal life, and " often prefers being a wage-earner to a 
 capitalist, and following a free Ufe to the discipline and re- 
 straint of his elders " — as Sir E. P. Girouard says, speaking 
 of East Africa,^ and Mr Wilson as regards Nyasaland.^ The 
 African has also a love of being associated with the ruling 
 class, whether European or Native. The conditions of paid 
 labour are, moreover, not unattractive, — ^good and prompt 
 payment, which admits of the purchase of little luxuries in 
 the way of food ; the absence of any need for taking thought ; 
 and freedom from anxiety as to rainfall, locusts, and the 
 other cares which beset the small farmer. If he refuses work, 
 
 ' The Arab, however, has been unable to accommodate himself to the changed 
 conditions of labour since the abolition of the legal status of slavery in 1897. 
 Most of the clove estates are now mortgaged to Indians, and the population is 
 not increasing. — (Monson's Report, Cd. 1631 of 1903.) The negro appears to 
 deteriorate as a worker in the West Indies. A correspondent of the ' Spectator ' 
 (31st August 1901), writing of Trinidad, quotes an ex-Governor as saying that 
 the negro population looks on agricultural labour as degrading, and Dr Cumins 
 in his report on Indian emigration says that since emancipation the negroes 
 do less and less work. The Royal Commission of ^1897 reports that they are 
 disinclined to continuous labour. 
 
 2 Report 1909-1910. Cd. 5467 of 1911, p. 47. 
 
 3 ' East and West,' loe. cit. 
 
404 LABOUK m TEOPIOAL AFRICA. 
 
 it is generally because he knows that his would-be employer 
 is unfamiliar with his language and customs, or because he 
 can make more money ia another way, or because he dare 
 not leave his crops. 
 
 As to the quality of the work done by the wage-earner. 
 Captain Orr says, I think very truly : " The whole question 
 of iudustry and idleness depends almost on incentive. When 
 the African native is given an incentive to work, he will work 
 in a way that is sometimes almost astounding. . . . Give 
 him an interest in his task, encourage his initiative by making 
 him think for himself, thrust responsibility upon him, demand 
 results, and not the mere mechanical performance of labour, 
 and he will be foimd surprisingly industrious." ^ 
 
 His output of work depends very largely on the popularity 
 and tact of the European overseer and on the class of work to 
 be done. No white man could carry so heavy a load or for so 
 long a distance as he does without over-fatigue, and at heavy 
 earth-work with his own implements he can show good results. 
 At skilled trades he is an apt pupil — a subject I shall deal 
 with at greater length in the chapter on education. In West 
 Africa natives trained as apprentices man the workshops and 
 the printing oflBces, and make eflSicient turners, fitters, smiths, 
 and ship-carpenters, and even engineers of launches. In 
 East Africa the Waganda, the Somals, and others are said to 
 have mechanical aptitude. 
 
 It is an economic disadvantage to any country if the wage- 
 rate for unskilled labour is imduly high, for it arrests de- 
 velopment. It is particularly unfortunate when free labour 
 is struggling to assert itseU against slave labour, for it is 
 deterrent to employers. If, however, labour is really " free," 
 the wage-rate must be determined by natural laws, and not 
 by any arbitrary standard. Employers have, of course, a 
 perfect right to settle among themselves what is the highest 
 wage the industry can afford to offer — as the naine managers 
 did in Nigeria — and the lower the rate the better, so long as 
 it win attract voluntary labour. 
 
 Since, however, the wants of the African peasant are few 
 and are not necessities, and since he can generally obtain 
 sufficient cash to purchase them and pay his small tax (where 
 a tax is levied) by the sale of a Uttle produce, there is, as I 
 have said, but little incentive to earn wages, and it may 
 
 1 < The Making of Nigeria,' by Captain Orr, p. 216. 
 
THE WAGE BATE AND METHOD OF PAYMENT. 405 
 
 often happen that as soon as the small sum he requires has 
 been obtained he will cease to work.^ The higher the wages 
 in such a case the less the work, as the Indian industrial 
 report; says is the case with the Indian coolie.* Whether the 
 wage is unduly high or not depends, of course, solely on its 
 purchasing power. A daUy wage of 9d. may be considered 
 to be high in those districts where it would probably be more 
 than four times the cost of a labourer's daily food, but in 
 other districts it might be barely sufficient.' When the rate 
 has become standardised it is difficult to reduce it, except by 
 the introduction of alien labour. 
 
 The first and most important of all conditions to attract 
 free labour is that the wage should be paid in fuU, without 
 deductions, into the hand of each man, and not through a 
 headman, contractor, or chief, who may find some means of 
 appropriating a part of it. It should be paid in cash — ^which 
 incidentally stimulates currency — and not in a note divisible 
 among several men, and above aU, not in the form of an 
 order on a store. The latter form of payment is apt to lead 
 to abuses, and discourages free labour. Inexperienced young 
 agents, eager to show profits, may be tempted to palm off 
 unsaleable stock. The recipient who requires cash either to 
 purchase articles offered for cash, or to pay his tax, sells the 
 goods he has received for what they will fetch in the market, 
 very possibly not more than half the wages due to him, and 
 the result is that you may often purchase imported goods in 
 the native market much below their price in the adjoining 
 European store. 
 
 Wages should be paid at short intervals — at least weekly, — 
 and I think that an employer will find that it is to his eventual 
 
 ' The principle determining factor in the wage-rate must (subject to modifying 
 causes) obviously be whether a man can make more money by wage-earning or by 
 growing and selling produce, or by trading himself. 
 
 ^ Cmd. 51/1919, p. 151. 
 
 ' The usual pre-war wage for unskilled labour paid by Government and 
 Europeans in Nigeria was 9d. per diem in the interior, but native employers 
 could generally obtain workmen at a lower rate. In East Africa, the rate is stated 
 to be as low as 3d. per day for an eleven or twelve-hour day, and in Uganda 
 and Nyaaaland it appears to have been about the same — in Northern Rhodesia, 
 lid.— 'Gazette,' 14/8/20. In the Sudan it is 9d. or lOd., but reached 9s. 4d. 
 in some places in 1919. — Handbook 98, p. 95. In the Union of South Africa 
 the rate was about Is. lOd. per day, but inclusive of food, housing, and other 
 contingencies, it was some 63 per cent higher (Cd. 873 of 1920, p. 24 ; 'East and 
 West,' loe. cU. ; 'Times,' 12th July 1912, &c.). It is curious to note that in 
 all countries the daily wage of unskilled labour is approximately the same as the 
 local value of a fowl. 
 
406 LABOtTK m TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 advantage to pay such small flues as may be authorised by 
 regulations into a fund, to be employed in any way he thinks 
 fit for the good of the labourers rather than credit them to 
 himself. It has a marked effect in establishing confidence. 
 
 The next most important consideration to the labourer is the 
 establishment of a native market close to his camp, where he 
 can readily buy his food, salt, tobacco, and anything else 
 he requires. Precautions would be taken that the prices 
 asked are reasonable, and no intoxicating liquor would be 
 allowed. In stores][close by he should be able to purchase for 
 cash imported goods at low prices. Something may be done 
 towards improving his standard of comfort by exhibiting for 
 sale useful articles, such as enamel- ware utensils, blankets, &c. 
 
 It is the custom in Nigeria to pay a labourer " subsistence 
 money " — generally half wages — ^for the period necessary for 
 him to return to his home or place of engagement, together 
 with any steamer or railway fare, and also " detention money " 
 if he is kept unemployed. It is essential, if an employer 
 wishes to retain a hold on his labourers, that they should be 
 released punctually at the date on which their contract ex- 
 pires, or when they desire to go to look after their crops. 
 The village sees that its members who had gone to work for 
 wages have not been forcibly detained, as they had feared, 
 and the cloth, &c., which they have purchased with their 
 earnings is a great attraction to others to come forward for 
 work. 
 
 It is all-important that the man who actually handles the 
 labourers should possess those instincts of fair-play and 
 tolerance which we Uke to think are eminently British, and 
 that he should have the knack of getting on well with his 
 men. For the man they Uke, Africans wiU do double the 
 work they will for another. Jones may be quite as just and 
 kind as Brown, but Brown " has a way with him " of exciting 
 a laugh and of good-natured chaff which is irresistible to an 
 African. A free labourer can, of course, choose for whom 
 he win work, and Brown wiU have the pick of those who 
 offer. Decent hutments must be provided rent-free, and 
 groups of men from different tribes should be housed apart. 
 They should be encouraged to bring their women to cook for 
 them. The gift of a blanket — ^iustead of treating it as an 
 advance — may be found to be an economy in the long-run. 
 
 Elaborate regulations under a " master and servant," or 
 
LABOITE EEGTJLATIONS. 407 
 
 similar ordinance in all our Crown colonies and protectorates, 
 now amply safeguard the welfare of the native labonrer, and 
 provide for many of the poiats I have mentioned. They also 
 prescribe places, methods, and conditions of recruiting, maxi- 
 mum periods for which men may be engaged, conditions of 
 repatriation, maximum distances for which a carrier may be 
 called on to carry a standard load, conditions as to medical 
 attendance and sanitation, iaspection of labour camps, and 
 especially the punishments (from which flogging is wholly 
 excluded) which may legally be inflicted by an employer. 
 They provide the machinery for entering into labour con- 
 tracts, as security against desertions, but good employers are 
 found to prefer casual labour. These ordinances must neces- 
 sarily vary according to the circumstances of each protec- 
 torate, and though some years ago some of them left much to 
 be desired, they may now, I think, be said to be generally fair 
 and just both to the employer and the employee. 
 
 It is, I think, important in such regulations to keep in 
 view the following points, inter alia : — 
 
 (a) That breaches of contract by a labourer should be 
 prosecuted as civil actions by the employer, and no contract 
 should be enforceable against a labourer under the sanctions 
 of the criminal law. 
 
 (&) It should be the recognised duty of the District Officer 
 when inspecting labour camps to satisfy himself on behalf 
 of illiterate natives that the conditions of contracts are being 
 observed, and to take appropriate action in case of any 
 breach by employers. 
 
 (c) A clear distinction should be drawn between labour 
 recruited on the spot and that engaged by an agent at a dis- 
 tance. In the latter case, though engaged within the pro- 
 tectorate, the conditions may for all practical purposes assimi- 
 late to those of labour imported from overseas, since the 
 labourer cannot desert if detained overtime or ill-treated, and 
 cannot speak the local language. 
 
 (d) The authenticated certificate of the person who actually 
 pays the labourers, that he has paid the full wage in cash to 
 each man, as set down against his name, should be substi- 
 tuted for the receipt, made in the form of a mark against his 
 name, by an illiterate labourer who is ignorant whether he is 
 acknowledging the payment of £5 or 5d. 
 
 (e) Finally, it is above all desirable that regulations which 
 
408 LABOTJE IN TROPICAL AFEICA. 
 
 must inevitably become inoperative, because impracticable} 
 and -will remain a dead letter, should be avoided. They 
 are unfair to the native, to the honest employer, and especially 
 to the District Officer who is charged with the duty of enforc- 
 ing them. 
 
 A Memorial of the Aborigines' Protection Society to the 
 Secretary of State describes the safeguards which the Society 
 considers as essential to schemes of Government " corvde." 
 The application of this term — corvee (travail oUigS et gratuit) 
 — ^to the conditions of compulsory free labour is misleading 
 and mischievous. All labour employed in British East Africa 
 or elsewhere, whether by Government or by private persons, 
 is fully paid, and this is made clear in Lord Milner's despatch. 
 The concessionaire system, formerly sanctioned in the Belgian 
 and French Congo, depended for its existence on forced labour. 
 It failed, we are told, under the French, because of their 
 disUke to the use of such methods. 
 
 The exponents of the Labour Party's policy approve, I 
 understand, the use of compulsory unpaid labour " for purely 
 tribal purposes in tribal areas." Tribal forced labour is, how- 
 ever, even less justifiable than a Government corvee for 
 public works would be. To urge the sanction of native law 
 and custom is absurd, for that customary law would sanction 
 slavery, and many other things contrary to humanity. If 
 labour is employed at all under such conditions, it should 
 only be by special rule, promulgated, with the approval of 
 the Governor, by the native authority, for purposes of road 
 repair and sanitation. But I would prefer to see the total 
 prohibition of all forms of unpaid labour, with the exception 
 to which I shall refer in a moment. It is ra my view by no 
 means the least advantage in the system of " native treasuries," 
 described in chapter x., that it enables the native administra- 
 tion to pay for the labour it needs for repairing city walls and 
 gates, for new road construction, for sanitation and buildings, 
 and that it deprives the salaried chiefs of any excuse for 
 employing impaid labour to build their houses. A native 
 administration has, moreover, at its disposal for public pur- 
 poses the use of its own prison labour. The peasant who pays 
 his tax has a right to be relieved from all such arbitrary 
 obligations. 
 
 The one and only form of unpaid labour demanded by the 
 Government in Nigeria is the " cleaning of the roads." Each 
 
ROAD-MAKING. 409 
 
 village is called upon to clear the road which passes by it 
 of weeds and grass, to patch ruts, and clean the side-drains. 
 It is to its own interest to do so. This does not include the 
 repair of metalled roads or the construction of new roads — 
 tasks which devolve upon the public works department, or 
 the native administration funds, with paid labour. If villages 
 are so far apart as to make the task onerous a subsidy is 
 given. It is occasionally reported that a community is 
 anxious to make a road in order to facilitate its own trade, 
 and will supply aU labour if Government will lay out the 
 trace. It is not always safe to accept such representations at 
 their face value, for it may be that they emanate only from 
 chiefs and wealthy traders, and that the peasantry are forced 
 to make the road (very possibly on the pretence that it is the 
 order of Government) greatly against their will — even the 
 native courts assisting by fining recalcitrants. It is probable 
 that the serious disturbance which took place in Egbaland 
 (South Nigeria) in 1917 was largely due to this cause. 
 
410 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 LABOUE m TEOPicAL AFEiCA {Continued). 
 
 Compulsion by Government when justified — How enforced : (a) pressiire 
 on chiefs ; (6) by legislative authority — Taxation for labour — Recruit- 
 ment from contiguous territory — Alien immigration and labour — 
 Contracts for repatriation — Compulsion for self-advancement — Wage- 
 earning and peasant ownership — Necessity of European ownership in 
 certain cases — Co-partnership and profit-sharing — Exceptional justi- 
 fication of pressure on chiefs — Native contractors — ^Substitutes for 
 labour — Conclusions. 
 
 If the safety of the State is imperilled, it is miiversally 
 admitted that the government of a free and civilised people 
 is justified in resorting to compulsion by means of obligatory 
 military service for the young and able-bodied males, and 
 to taxation limited only by the needs of the State on the 
 rest of its citizens. This is, of course, the extreme case. 
 The Secretary of State for the Colonies, speaking for the 
 British Government, in a State paper has, as we have seen, 
 laid down the principle, " in order that there may be no 
 room for doubt in the matter," that the Government of an 
 African dependency is justified in resorting to compulsion 
 for paid labour required for works of a public nature, subject 
 to express provisos. This dictum was not contested in the 
 debate in the House of Lords,^ and has been supported by 
 various high authorities.^ 
 
 1 14th July 1920. Lord Bryce admitting the necessity, pointed out that 
 since such works are conducted in public any abuse would be known and 
 rectified. The Primate concurred. 
 
 ^ The Aborigines' Protection Society quotes Lord Cromer : " We reluctantly 
 admit the necessity of compulsory labour in certain cases, and we do not 
 stigmatise as slavery such labour, when under all possible safeguards against 
 the occurrence of abuses, it is employed for indispensable and recognised purposes 
 of public utility. On the other hand, we regard the system when employed 
 for private profit as wholly unjustifiable, and as synonymous with slavery." 
 
COMPULSION : WHEN JUSTIFIED. 411 
 
 In what circumstances and by what methods, then, is it 
 justifiable for a Government to resort to compulsion in the 
 employment of paid labour ? The reasons given for com- 
 pulsion in East Africa do not appear to be limited to Govern- 
 ment necessity, but include also the training of natives to 
 work, so that they shall not " live ia idleness and vice." 
 The payment of tax by labour in lieu of cash, as ta Uganda, 
 is a different matter, and, as I have said (p. 251), it is prefer- 
 able that the labour should be paid ia fuU and the amount 
 of the tax subsequently refunded, so as to make the distinc- 
 tion perfectly clear. 
 
 The educative results of compulsory labour depend on the 
 conditions under which it is employed, and are not a primary 
 reason for resorting to compulsion for public works, for it is, 
 of course, possible to compel natives to work for their own or 
 their community's benefit instead of for the white man's 
 wages. In short, compulsion is only justified where labour 
 cannot otherwise be procured for public works of an essential 
 and urgent nature. It is preferable that it should be avoided 
 if possible for ordinary and continuing works, since it mili- 
 tates against the evolution of voluntary contract by rendering 
 Government employment unpopular. 
 
 Primitive tribes are suspicious, and fear employment by 
 the white man. In such a case the wages paid, and the 
 good treatment received, should have the effect of removing 
 these fears and suspicions, so that compulsion may no longer 
 be necessary, and free voluntary labour take its place. 
 
 Among more advanced communities, familiar with the con- 
 ception of wage-labour and contract, the " educative " argu- 
 ment recedes farther into the background. In Mgeria private 
 employers — e.g., mine managers and others — ^knowing that 
 their labour supply depends whoUy on the inducements they 
 can offer, have succeeded in attracting a fair labour supply, 
 and there is no reason why a Government should not do the 
 same, though the supply may not at first be obtainable so 
 quickly, in such large numbers, or at so low a rate of pay, 
 as when compulsion is resorted to. 
 
 When in cases of exceptional emergency it is necessary 
 
 "Forced labour," writes Sir S. Olivier, "under the authority of tribal chiefs, 
 is a permissible institution for the execution of public services, as in the 
 old brig-bote and burg-bote of our own ancestors " (' Contemporary Keview,' 
 January 1919). But the precedents of early Anglo-Saxon times are hardly 
 applicable to the rule of a modern State in Africa. 
 
412 LABOUR IN TEOPICAl AFRICA. 
 
 to resort to compulsion, how should it be enforced? In 
 primitive communities an executive order — though an un- 
 desirable method — may suffice ; but under an organised 
 native administration, even though the demand be only in 
 a grave and temporary emergency, such a method is still 
 more undesirable. The Criminal Code of Nigeria, as Mr 
 Gowers, the Lieut.-Governor, points out, makes it a felony, 
 punishable by five years' imprisonment, for any one to 
 threaten with injury to himself, his reputation, or property, 
 any person, or those in whom he is interested, or to induce 
 him or them to believe that he will become an object of 
 displeasure to the Government, or to a Government official, 
 if he does so with the intent to compel the person to do any 
 act which he is lawfully entitled to abstain from doing. But 
 is not a native chief who is told to provide labour for Govern- 
 ment ordered to commit this felony ? 
 
 The employment of chiefs and headmen for this purpose 
 can only weaken the native authority, for it exposes them to 
 the very probable contingency of a refusal on the part of 
 Bome individual, and unless he is coerced by illegal means, 
 their authority is defied. In any case, a chief would be called 
 on to do precisely that kind of arbitrary act which the District 
 Officer has been constantly telling him the Government will 
 no longer tolerate. Consider, moreover, the actual working 
 of the order. The headman is directed to produce a specified 
 nimiber of men. Those able to afford it offer bribes to be 
 let off, others refuse or disappear. In one case a village head, 
 being a butcher, ordered aU the butchers to go, so as to enjoy 
 a monopoly himself. The most law-abiding are penalised. 
 At best the incidence is purely arbitrary, and almost certainly 
 attended by abuses difficult to detect or suppress. If the 
 chief fails, he is accounted to have insufficient influence and 
 authority for his position.^ 
 
 ' The evidence of Mr Hollia, C.M.Q. (Colonial Secretary), before the East 
 African Commission of 1912-13, is quoted : "Whenever an agent wants labour he 
 goes to the chiefs and bribes them, with the result that a number of men are 
 brought to the District Commissioners and registered,— one could not call this 
 voluntary labour. " Lord Milner, though emphatic that no form of compulsion 
 for private employment is admissible, and that only "judicious advice" may 
 be tendered, adds that " any unwillingness on the part of chiefs to act on 
 the instructions conveyed through responsible Government officers would 
 naturally be taken note of and recorded." " Instructions " are a very different 
 thing from "judicious advice," which, whether given by the District Officer 
 or by missionaries, does not so far appear to have produced the desired effect. 
 
 Mr Churchill has lately ruled that officials shall take no part at all in recruit- 
 ing labour for private employment. — Cmd. 1509, 1921. 
 
COMPULSION BT SPECIAL LEGISLATION. 413 
 
 In East Africa sixty days' compulsory labour is enforced 
 by ordinance, and since this will not be demanded if a native 
 works on his own fields or in other occupations, the object is 
 manifestly purely educative. It is improbable, as I have 
 pointed out, that it will result in procuring any appreciable 
 supply of labour for Government — apart from the great diffi- 
 culty of enforcing the law without injustice — and therefore 
 the problem of an adequate contingent of labour for railway 
 construction, &c., is left practically untouched. 
 
 The recommendation of the bishops that compulsory labour 
 should be legalised, " preferably for Government purposes," 
 was, it is understood, made with the object of regularising 
 the action of the District Officer and the native headmen, 
 and providing them with the authority to enforce their de- 
 mands. It is without question essential that, for whatever 
 purpose compulsion may be resorted to, it should have the 
 sanction of a law clearly defining the extent and conditions 
 of the service required. 
 
 It is, however, in my opinion, preferable that special legis- 
 lation should be enacted in each case where the necessity 
 may arise, or, at least, that the Governor should be em- 
 powered to declare by Order in Council or proclamation 
 that the necessity has arisen, and to specify the propor- 
 tion of the adult able-bodied male population of a named 
 district who are called upon through their chiefs to come 
 forward, and for what period they will be required, and 
 for what length of time the special emergency wiU con- 
 tinue. 
 
 If direct taxation is in force the District Officer will have 
 an approximate census of every village, and can arrange the 
 numbers to be called up for each relief gang. The formaUties 
 of this procedure will vest it in the eyes of both educated 
 and uneducated natives with the character of emergency 
 legislation. The close supervision of the British staff will 
 minimise abuses, and the responsibility rests, where it ought 
 to rest, on the Head of the administration. 
 
 In countries where the population is not inadequate for 
 the supply of reasonable demands — ^in which category Uganda 
 and Nyasaland may perhaps be included ' — ^the unwillingness 
 
 ' In the latest Uganda report we read : " Voluntary enlistment of labour is the 
 recognised policy, and is expected to furnish the quota required, always presuming 
 that terms and conditions of employment are reasonably inviting. The current 
 wages for unskilled labour arerages between 2d. and 4d. per diem." This wage, 
 contrasted ?dth the money to be made by growing cotton (for which the 
 
414 LABOUB, m TEOPIOAl AFRICA. 
 
 of the people to come forward may be diminished by the more 
 equitable iacidence of the demand which would thus be en- 
 sured, and by greater iaducements in the welfare and treat- 
 ment of the labourers, more especially by beiag allowed to 
 return to their YiUages at seed-time and harvest. 
 
 We have seen that the Glen-Grey Act imposed a tax upon 
 natives who could not prove that they had worked beyond 
 the borders of the district for three months. This was an 
 Act of the Cape Legislature for which the Imperial Govern- 
 ment was not responsible. The clause was never operative, 
 and the South African Commission of 1903-5 recorded its 
 view that " any measure of compulsion is to be deprecated, 
 not only as unjust, but as economically unsound." A similar 
 undesirable system has recently been abandoned in Nyasa- 
 land. If the payment of the ordinary tax must be made in 
 currency, natives will work for wages in order to earn the 
 small sum required, and as a result will often become regular 
 wage-earners. 
 
 The Aborigines' Protection Society lays stress on the un- 
 desirability of recruitiag labour from a Mandated territory 
 for service beyond it. Lord Milner has no objection to such 
 a course, provided there is a surplus of labour available. 
 If both are under the same controlling Power, the desirability 
 or otherwise would seem rather to depend on distance — a 
 matter equally important if the labour is recruited within the 
 protectorate — a poiat on which I have already laid emphasis. 
 
 If labourers are conveyed long distances by steamer or 
 rail, it may be that neither the climate nor the food are suit- 
 able, and the conditions approximate to those of indentured 
 rather than of free local labour.^ If the employer fails to 
 repatriate the men at the agreed time, they have no remedy. 
 For this reason it seems desirable that when men are engaged 
 for service at a destination over 100 miles from the place 
 
 Governor says 48. a lb. was paid in Manchester), seems hardly sufficiently 
 inviting.— Cmd. 508 (37), 1920. 
 
 The Governor (Sir R. Coryndon) says that "the available supply of labour is 
 much more than adequate if it would come forward." — ' United Empire, ' June 
 1920, p. 298. 
 
 ^ The export of labourers from Nyasaland to the South African mines some 
 years ago, where they died in large numbers, seems to have been a lamentable 
 failure. It is now discouraged by the Government, even though entirely 
 voluntary. Consul Monson declared that nothing short of force would induce 
 natives of East Africa to go. — Cmd. 1631 of 1903, p. 8. A similar export from 
 Senegal to the French Congo was stopped by the French Government. 
 
THE LABOim OF ALIEN COLONISTS. 415 
 
 of engagement, they shonld be registered before a magistrate, 
 a copy of the contract being deposited with the District 
 Officer at the place of engagement, and a duplicate sent to 
 the officer of the district in which they are to serve. The 
 duty then devolves upon the former of seeing that the 
 labourers understand the terms of the contract, and where 
 they are going ; and on the latter of seeing that the contract 
 is fulfilled and the labourers are properly treated, and re- 
 patriated on its expiry. If engaged for over a month, it is 
 desirable that they should take their wives with them. In 
 most, if not in aU, colonies recruiting agents must be licensed. 
 
 I have in the last chapter shown that since the British 
 settler is unable to perform the manual work on his estate 
 in East Africa, there is no really permanent solution to the 
 labour difficulty which wiU meet the demands of the future, 
 other than the importation of contract labour under Govern- 
 ment supervision and control, supplemented by labour-saving 
 devices. 
 
 Alien labour may either be of the class which intends to 
 remain in the country permanently as colonists — ^being either 
 free immigrants or labourers who have completed their period 
 of indenture — or it may consist of labourers who are pro- 
 hibited from settlement, or who do not desire to remain. 
 To the colonist class belong the Indian immigrants who have 
 settled in British Guiana, the West Indies,^ and Fiji, and also 
 to a large extent the Chinese in Malaya. To the non-colonist 
 class belong the Tamils in Malaya, the Indian labour in 
 Ceylon (where half a million indentured coolies serve their 
 time and return to India of their own wish), and the Chinese 
 imported into South Africa, and the Kanakas in Australia, 
 for whom repatriation was a condition of service. 
 
 It is, of course, desirable that the profits arisiag from the 
 development of the resources of a country should as far as 
 possible accrue to its own people. But it is manifest that 
 when the population is too scanty, or too apathetic to develop 
 those resources, or to supply sufficient imskilled labour for 
 their development under alien supervision, there is no in- 
 
 ^ In Trinidad half the population consists of naturalised immigrants, and that 
 of the West Indies generally consists of the descendants of imported African 
 slaves. Sumatra, Borneo, Mauritius, Java and Madagascar, offer parallel cases. 
 It has been maintained that white men in North Queensland can be inured to 
 labour in the sugar plantations under tropical conditions, but no one has so far 
 had the temerity to maintain this view as regards Africa, except in the Highlands. 
 
416 LABOtTB m TEOPICAL APEICA.. 
 
 justice if the people of countries where land is insuflftcient 
 for the needs of a congested population are called iu to help 
 to develop it. If, indeed, the adequate development of the 
 resources of the tropics be regarded as a trust, fertile lands 
 capable of producing raw materials and food greatly needed 
 by mankind cannot be allowed to lie unproductive. It may 
 therefore be contended that if British capital, energy, and 
 expert knowledge are available to occupy waste lands ia 
 Africa, but lack suflBcient manual labour, there is sufficient 
 justification for importing aUen labour. 
 
 The importation of labourers, however, a considerable por- 
 tion of whom intend to remaiu as colonists, presupposes a 
 policy of Asiatic colonisation, and I have already (iu chapter 
 XV.) discussed the many serious difficulties inherent ia such 
 a policy in our African dependencies. It would, moreover, 
 only afford a very temporary relief to the labour difficulty, 
 which would become as acute as ever as soon as the land 
 assigned for Asiatic colonisation was filled up, and fresh 
 immigrants could no longer be encouraged.^ 
 
 If therefore Indian immigration, whatever its merits or 
 demerits from other points of view, offers no solution to the 
 labour problem, there remains only the possibility of importing 
 labourers — ^Uke the Chinese iu South Africa — ^who are under 
 an obligation to leave the country on the expiry of their con- 
 tract. This form of labour contract has been condemned by 
 a large section of British opinion, as the debates iu Mi 
 Lyttelton's time testify. The allegation that it was equiva- 
 lent to slavery must, I think, be regarded as insincere or ill- 
 informed, looking to the safeguards employed, the high rate 
 of wages, and the fact that it was a voluntary and a strictly 
 limited contract. But the fact that such labourers were un- 
 accompanied by their wives — with the inevitable result of 
 trouble — was a serious objection, and this should not be 
 allowed. 
 
 If, then, there is no alternative to the employment of 
 labour imported under limited contracts and repatriated on 
 their expiration, if the future necessities of Government 
 development and private enterprise are to be satisfied in 
 Kenya without retarding the education of the native of the 
 soil as a producer on his own lands, or limiting the areas 
 available for his future expansion, by the introduction of an 
 
 J This, Sir H. May informs me, is the present experience in Fiji. 
 
EEPATRIATED CONTRACT LABOTfR. 417 
 
 alien peasantry, let us glance for a moment at the conditions 
 under which such labour is employed in Malaya and elsewhere. 
 
 The labourers are generally " assisted," for they lack money 
 for the sea-voyage and maintenance, and would land as 
 destitutes wholly at the mercy of the employer. It is there- 
 fore in their own interests that Government insists that they 
 should either embark under contract, or form a contract as 
 soon as they arrive. 
 
 There is no need to describe here in elaborate detaU the 
 rules made in British tropical dependencies for the protection 
 and care of alien labour. They may be studied in the ordi- 
 nances of Hong-Kong, the Straits Settlements, British Borneo, 
 and British Guiana by any one interested. It suffices to say 
 that both in. the country from which the labourers come (if 
 British) and that to which they go, a " protector " who knows 
 their language and understands them is appointed to look 
 after their welfare, and scrutioise the contracts in the interest 
 of the immigrant. Stringent rules are enforced as regards 
 the duration of contract, recovery of advances, facility for 
 repatriation, working hours, and method of payment. The 
 labourer is medically examined, and care is taken that he 
 has medical aid and hospital treatment, and food at reason- 
 able prices. Housing, water-supply, and sanitation are regu- 
 lated. He may not be separated from his family (if he has 
 one), or employed in prescribed unhealthy districts, and must 
 be repatriated at his employer's expense if imflt to remain. 
 He is assured of a right of complaint and of redress. 
 
 Contract labour under such conditions has been a boon 
 to the Indians and Chinese who have been employed in Ceylon, 
 Fiji, Malaya, and other British colonies. Its use should be 
 limited to countries in which the population is at present 
 insufiBcient for the essential needs of the country. Where 
 there exists an adequate native population, it is a confession 
 of failure that we should have to resort to imported contract 
 labour, whether it be Chinese labour in the Transvaal, or 
 Indians in Natal. The education of local labour should pro- 
 gressively reduce the demand. 
 
 The question of the measure of compulsion which is ad- 
 missible or advisable in order to induce the African to work, 
 solely for his own moral and material benejit and advance- 
 ment, is one which belongs rather to the subject of education 
 than to that of labour. An informative article tu the ' Colonial 
 
 2d 
 
418 LABOUR IN TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 Journal ' ^ cites Belgian and French criticism of British 
 methods of free labour. The Dutch in Java, we are told, 
 compel the natives to work, " with the result of extraordinary- 
 prosperity, and the natives have flourished." The popula- 
 tion has increased from four to twenty millions in 120 years, 
 and is stated to be more industrious, trustworthy, and intel- 
 ligent than the same races under British rule. The Germans 
 in Samoa compelled the natives to plant and maintain a 
 certain number of cocoanut pabns per man : the population 
 has quadrupled, the area of cultivation has increased, and 
 the natives, it is said, so appreciate the system that 
 defaulters are reported. 
 
 The results in British neighbouring dependencies are quoted 
 in contrast. In Malaya and in Sarawak the Chinese are dis- 
 placing the Malays and Dyaks. Indians are dispossessing the 
 aboriginals in Fiji, and Sir Everard im Thum writes that 
 " either the Fijians themselves must in some way be per- 
 suaded to do a fair share of work, or more and more coloured 
 labour must be brought in from outside." 
 
 The question at issue is whether a trustee Power has ful- 
 filled all its obligations towards an indolent and apathetic 
 ward by assuring to it complete security of life and property 
 and the opportunity of a literary education, and then allow- 
 ing it to commit racial suicide. We have upset the old order, 
 and in many regions have weakened tribal authority. Our 
 rule is not popular, for new generations forget the old hard- 
 ships which their fathers suffered, and from which they have 
 been relieved. They care less for our impartial justice than 
 we Uke to think they do. It is at least arguable that 
 they are not yet fitted for the full measure of individual 
 liberty which it has taken us centuries to evolve for 
 ourselves. 
 
 Such are the arguments of those who uphold compulsion, 
 not as an unavoidable and disagreeable necessity, in order to 
 carry on the work of administration and development, but as 
 being in itself a justifiable means to an end — " the advance- 
 ment of the natives themselves." ^ In those rare instances 
 
 ' "Problems of Empire," April 1914— citing the ' Bulletin de la Sooi(5t<! Beige 
 d'Etudes Ooloniales,' December 1913, and Lebon, ' Lois psychologiques d'^volution 
 des peuples.' 
 
 2 This view was supported by the East African bishops. The commission 
 appointed " for the protection of the natives of the Congo " (which consisted 
 largely of Roman Catholic priests) reported in 1912 that "it is necessary to 
 
"WAGE-EAENING V. PEASANT PROPRIETOESHIP. 419 
 
 where the African is apathetic or indolent, snch means may 
 be of educative value, provided that the native is made to 
 work on his own behalf and not for an alien master ; but I 
 think that there are other methods more essential, which I 
 shaU discuss in the chapter on education. 
 
 When discussing land questions, I maintained that the 
 cultivation of exportable products by natives on their own 
 holdings is unquestionably preferable to a system of European- 
 owned plantations worked by paid labour, provided that the 
 enterprise does not require large capital or technical skill and 
 management, and that the crop is an indigenous or naturalised 
 one. The native holder occupies a higher status, and working 
 in his own sole interests and at his own time, will produce 
 more than if working for another, as we have seen in the 
 palm produce, cocoa, and ground-nut industries.^ 
 
 On the other hand, it must be admitted that, though the 
 cost of European supervision is heavy, it is compensated by 
 improvement in the quality of the output, and by more con- 
 tinuous returns due to better care of the soil ; but European 
 ownership on a large scale has in all cases resulted in the 
 demand for aUen or compulsory labour, by which alone large 
 foreign-owned estates can be kept going. I am not, however, 
 disposed to regard the system of wage-earning with the 
 aversion of those who consider that " ca,pitalism " and " land- 
 lordism " are anathema. The agricultural wage-earner is free 
 from the anxieties inseparable from an industry dependent on 
 climatic variations, the fluctuations of markets, the outbreak 
 of plant disease or insect pests, and the lack of necessary 
 fimds at a critical moment. 
 
 In the case of the mining industry the technical skiU and 
 appliances of foreign experts, and their continued super- 
 vision, is of course essential to the development of a mine- 
 field. But even in this case free native labour can be encour- 
 aged by the system of " calabashing " or " tributing " in the 
 tin-mining industry, by which a labourer is paid for the clean 
 ore he extracts by washing, and can seek the field where he 
 will obtain the highest remuneration for his labour. Mining 
 industries, moreover, often yield high returns, so that they 
 
 impose labour on the blacks in order to secure the modification of their men- 
 tality, and to bring them to realise their duty as civilised people do. " — ' Diocesan 
 Magazine, West Equatorial Africa,' July 1912, p. 13. 
 
 ' Beaulieu lends the weight of his high authority to this view, and is emphatic 
 that Africa should be developed by free African labour.— -Vol. ii. p. 1 16. 
 
420 LABOTJE IN TROPICAL APEICA. 
 
 are able to release a considerable portion of the labourers to 
 attend to their crops at the critical seasons. 
 
 M"or is foreign skUl less essential for the introduction of 
 new vegetable products, or the improvement and adaptation 
 of existing ones — e.g., flax, or the curing of tobacco for ex- 
 port, — ^untU the natives have learnt to cultivate and prepare 
 them for the foreign market. Such industries, mineral and 
 agricultural, are the means of adding to the wealth and 
 prosperity of the country, and though they create — for a 
 time at least — a large demand for wage-labour, the natives 
 so employed are being educated in new and better methods 
 of applying their labour, which they can later — as in the cocoa 
 industry — undertake on their own account. The attempt to 
 establish plantations on a basis of communal labour is, as I 
 have said, an experiment of doubtful value. This subject is 
 one which touches so many native interests that I have 
 already had occasion to refer to it in the chapter on land, and 
 shall again recur to it in speaking of economic development. 
 
 Experiments aimed at identifying the interest of the native 
 labourer with that of the European employer, and of the 
 native producer with that of the ahen merchant, are as yet 
 unfortunately rare. The system of cotton-growing adopted 
 in the Sudan is an excellent example, for here the Govern- 
 ment, private capital, and the labourer aU share in the 
 profits.^ (See p. 525.) The African and Eastern Corporation 
 on the Gold Coast has, I believe, made an attempt at genuine 
 profit-sharing with its employees, but the problem offers 
 special difficulties in its application to Africa. 
 
 I have in a previous paragraph strongly deprecated the 
 application of pressure on native chiefs as a recognised ad- 
 ministrative method of obtaining labour, whether for Govern- 
 ment or for private enterprise. Where the urgency of the 
 public service leaves no possible alternative to compidsion, 
 I suggested that a legalised ad hoc conscription, properly 
 supervised by the district staff, through the chiefs, is prefer- 
 able to informal and illegal " pressure." 
 
 In the earliest inauguration of an administration, however, 
 before the machinery is fully organised, the experiment may 
 be justified, if the reluctance of the natives to work is due to 
 
 ' The Germans instituted a system in the Lindi district (East Africa) by which 
 the planter prepared the ground by machinery, supervised the manuring, sowed 
 the crop, and bought it at a fixed price from the natives. — Handbook 113, p. 69. 
 
PEESSXIRE ON CHIEFS : WHEN JUSTIFIED. 421 
 
 fear of the white man, and terror of the treatment to be 
 expected from him, assumiag that tribal authority is strong 
 enough to enforce obedience, and that in consequence this 
 method is the least likely to give rise to disturbance and 
 trouble. 
 
 In such circimistances in Mgeria, in order to construct 
 the Baro-Kano main trimk railway, and again when the 
 Eastern Bailway was undertaken in a district but little under 
 administrative control, orders were sent to each chief to supply 
 a given quota of men. The advantage that a railway would 
 be to their trade was in the latter case pointed out to them, 
 and this was not without its effect, and added a personal 
 interest in the results of their labour. The district oflBicers in 
 the first case themselves supervised the labour from their 
 districts ; ia the second case, where the work was more con- 
 centrated, a senior district ofl&cer was told off, whose sole 
 duty it was to look after the interests of the labourers, to 
 settle their differences, and to see that they were housed and 
 fed, and were regularly and fuUy paid. They were in charge 
 of an engineer who had gained a weU-deserved reputation 
 for handling natives with success. The result was that on 
 discharge at the time appointed, they returned to their homes 
 with cloth and goods bought from their wages, and presently 
 came flocking back to engage of their own freewill. 
 
 The coal-mtoe at Udi was another example. Here, as I 
 have already described, a particularly truculent tribe, during 
 the time I was in Mgeria, supplied an entirely voluntary 
 and adequate contingent for work underground of an un- 
 usually strenuous Mnd, in a suffocating temperature, from 
 the first initiation of the work in 1914. 145,400 tons were 
 placed on the railway in 1918. It was even possible to reduce 
 the wage-rate considerably, and to introduce piecework. Both 
 on the railway and in the coal-miae it was found that the 
 labourer readily grasped the idea of piecework, and appre- 
 ciated the option of leaving as soon as he had completed his 
 task, or of earning double money by doing double work.^ 
 
 1 The educative value may be gauged from the following extract : ' ' Recently 
 the re-lining and heightening of the main drift, including the blasting out of 2 ft. 
 of stone from the floor, and re-timbering, was successfully done chiefly in night 
 shifts, under the sole supervision of a native foreman engaged in 1915. A 
 section of the mine has also been placed under a native." — Report 468/1920, 
 p. 53. Some of the mining companies are replacing their European foremen 
 by Africans. 
 
422 LABOXm IN TROPICAL AFRICA. 
 
 The primitive native does not discriminate between em- 
 ployment by one white man or another, unless and until he 
 has found cause to do so. Since Government employment 
 had become popular, he was equally ready to engage for work 
 with any white man. The mining companies now employ 
 about 19,000, many of whom travel considerable distances 
 to seek work. It was the same in Nyasaland when I was 
 there in 1888. The Scottish planters treated their labour 
 well, and got as much and more than they needed at 2s. 6d. 
 to 5s. per mensem. The employment of agents and touts 
 recruiting labour on their own accoxmt among primitive tribes 
 is to be deprecated. 
 
 It is obviously desirable to employ native contractors to 
 carry out a specific task, as in more advanced countries, 
 in order to minimise the need of personal supervision of un- 
 skQled work by officials. A contractor, however, pays his 
 own labourers, and experience has shown that native chiefs 
 who have undertaken contracts for Government have not 
 only in some cases failed to pay their labourers, or paid 
 them a whoUy inadequate sum, but were apt to keep them 
 for many days unpaid before the material for their work 
 was suppUed. The rule in Mgeria therefore is that when- 
 ever work for Goverimient, or for a native administration, 
 is given to a native contractor, he must engage to pay his 
 labourers at an agreed rate for every day they are detained 
 (whether at work or not), and do so weekly in the presence 
 of a European if the contract is for Government, or of a 
 responsible officer of the native administration when works 
 are executed for or through the agency of a native adminis- 
 tration, unless the British officer is fully satisfied as to the 
 integrity of the contractor, or knows that his labourers are 
 so independent that they would not remain unless they 
 received their full and regular pay. Care is taken that each 
 labourer is paid a fuU day's wage, and that no peculation 
 or misappropriation of the money takes place, whether it 
 is paid by Government or from a native treasury, and the 
 principle of piecework is encouraged. 
 
 Lord MUner instanced Government transport as one of 
 the tasks for which compulsory labour was authorised — ^viz., 
 for porters to carry the effects of officials, so as to enable 
 them to travel on duty, — which is a vital necessity. It is, 
 however, economically unsound, especially in a country where 
 
CONCLUSIONS re compulsory labour. 423 
 
 laboTix is scarce, to employ men merely as beasts of burden, 
 nor is it done in any other country in the world. I have 
 already quoted the French calculation that to transport only 
 20,000 tons of pabn-oil to the coast involves the withdrawal 
 of 40,000 men for a year of 300 days from productive labour. 
 It therefore becomes the first duty of a Government to pro- 
 vide a better means of transport, and it seems indefensible 
 that forced labour should be used for such a purpose, except 
 where any other form of transport is impossible. I shall 
 refer at greater length to this subject in the chapter on 
 transport, and when discussing economic development I shall 
 have occasion to discuss the desirability of economising 
 human labour by the use of domestic animals in agriculture, 
 and of machinery for the preparation of produce for the 
 market. 
 
 The subject of the education of labour wiU be more appro- 
 priately dealt with in the chapters on education ; but I may 
 note here that the opportunity afforded for teaching a trade 
 to long-sentence prisoners should not be overlooked, and it is 
 desirable that special pains should be taken in the education 
 of aU forms of prison labour.^ 
 
 The facts which have thus been briefly reviewed will, I 
 think, lead us to the following conclusions. While the com- 
 pulsory enlistment of fuUy-paid labour by Government for 
 the essential needs of the country is justified, it shotdd, 
 when resorted to on any large scale, be legaUsed by special 
 emergency legislation, and every effort should be made to 
 render it as attractive as possible, with a view to encouragtag 
 timid and suspicious savages to return voluntarily. Where 
 an adequate population exists, any form of compulsion should 
 be only a very temporary phase. 
 
 Where, however, the population is inadequate to supply 
 the necessary contingent of labourers for the construction 
 of railways and other essential works without constantly 
 resorting to compulsion, not merely of a surplus of un- 
 employed, but interfering with the ordinary industry of the 
 
 1 In Nigeria the Director of Prisons, in his last report (1919), contrasts the 
 present-day results with his earlier experience. " Reports (he says) for idleness 
 against prisoners employed on industrial labour are almost non-existent, and 
 during this period only two men who have been taught a trade in the prison 
 have been known to return." In Hong-Kong great care was taken to train all 
 long-sentence prisoners to a trade, and on discharge they were eagerly sought 
 after at high wages. 
 
424 LABOTJE. ESr TKOPICAL APEICA. 
 
 native population, the only solution appears to be imported 
 contract labour, which, in certain circumstances, may also 
 be tolerated for private enterprise. 
 
 If imported labour is resorted to, it should be employed 
 under the strictest Government control and supervision. 
 When possible, indentured labourers should be encouraged 
 to become colonists, the period of indenture forming a kind 
 of apprenticeship to enable them to realise the conditions 
 of the country, and to accumulate a little capital to assist 
 them in making a beginning on their own account. Where 
 this is not possible or advisable, and the imported labour must 
 be repatriated, it can only be justified for private enterprise 
 where immense areas of vacant lands suitable for European 
 settlement and development exist, — where it has been con- 
 clusively proved that the local labour supply, in spite of all 
 inducements by good treatment, is insufficient, and that the 
 temporary transfer of voluntary African labour from more 
 distant parts of the country is not feasible, by reason of sick- 
 ness and mortaUty due to change of climate and food. Ex- 
 cept where conditions such as these exist, the development 
 of the resources of the country should be carried on by the 
 native himself, working as a voluntary wage-earner, or prefer- 
 ably on his own land as a free producer. 
 
425 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 Objects and ideals of education — Effect of European influence and educa- 
 tion — The example of India — The system in British colonies — In 
 West Africa — Mission responsibility — The need of co-operation — 
 Principles adopted in Nigeria — Formation of character — Residential 
 schools — The British staff — School monitors — Field sports — Grant 
 dependent on tone of school — Moral instruction — Religious instruc- 
 tion — Contrast of Africa with India and China — The machinery of 
 education — Unassisted schools — Assisted schools — Grant code must 
 ^ be attractive — Suggestions for a grant code. 
 
 If a life happy and progressive so far as the individual is 
 concerned, useful, sympathetic, and stimulating in its rela- 
 tions with the community, may be said to constitute a worthy/ 
 ideal, the object which education in Africa must have inl 
 view must be to fit the ordinary individual to fill a useful 
 part in his environment, with happiness to himself, and to 
 ensure that the exceptional individual shall use his abilities 
 for the advancement of the community and not to its detri-y 
 ment, or to the subversion of constituted authority. ^ 
 
 Its results should be manifest in the adaptation of the 
 people to the existing conditions of life, and iu enabling 
 them to effect some betterment and progress in those con- 
 ditions. It should train a generation able to achieve ideals 
 of its own, without a slavish imitation of Europeans, capable 
 and wiUing to assume its own definite sphere of public and 
 civic work, and to shape its own future. The education 
 afforded to that section of the population who intend to 
 lead the lives which their forefathers led should enlarge their 
 outlook, increase their efficiency and standard of comfort, 
 and bring them into closer sympathy with the Government, 
 instead of making them unsuited to and Hi-contented with 
 
426 EDUCATION. 
 
 their mode of life. It should produce a new generation of 
 native chiefs of higher integrity, a truer sense of justice, and 
 appreciation of responsibility for the welfare of the com- 
 munity. As regards that smaller section who desire to take 
 part in public or municipal duties, or to enter the service of 
 Government or of commercial firms, education should make 
 them efficient, loyal, reliable and contented — a race of self- 
 respecting native gentlemen. Finally, the policy should 
 popularise education, should extend it to the ignorant masses 
 instead of confining it to the few, and should increase the 
 output of youths well qualified to meet the demand, whether 
 clerical, professional, or industrial.^ 
 
 The diffusion of education throughout the country, and 
 especially the education of the sons of native rulers, is par- 
 ticularly desirable in order to avoid the present danger of a 
 separate educated class (in West Africa chiefly confined to the 
 coast cities) in rivalry with the accepted rulers of the people. 
 
 The impact of European civilisation on tropical races has 
 indeed a tendency to undermine that respect for authority 
 which is the basis of social order. The authority of the head, 
 whether of the tribe, the village, or the family, is decreased, 
 and parental discipline is weakened — tendencies which, as 
 Lord MacdonneU observed, are probably inseparable from 
 that emancipation of thought which results from our educa- 
 tional system and needs the control of scholastic discipline.^ 
 These tendencies are no doubt largely due to the fact that 
 each generation is advancing intellectually beyond its pre- 
 decessor, so that " the younger men view with increasing 
 impatience the habits, traditions, and ideas of their elders." ^ 
 From this standpoint we may even regard this restlessness 
 as a measure of progress.* 
 
 These tendencies became very marked in India towards 
 the close of the nineteenth century. The failure of the 
 system of Indian education is graphically described by Sir 
 V. Chirol,^ and appears now to be very generally admitted. 
 
 ^ The opposite ideal is that ascrihed to Germany, as shown by her own 
 publicists. " Her object was mainly to teach a sufficient number of natives 
 trades and handicrafts in which they could be of use to European employers." 
 Handbook 113, p. 38. 
 
 2 Selected Records of Indian Government, 265, p. 11. 
 
 3 Sir A. Croft, ibid., p. 142. 
 
 J ' The British Empire,' Sir C. Lucas, p. 220. 
 ' Unrest in India, ' chapters xvii. to xxi. 
 
THE EXAMPLE OF INDIA. 427 
 
 " A purely literary type of education was the only one gene- 
 rally provided by Government," says the Industrial Eeport 
 of 1919, and the intellectual classes eagerly grasped at the 
 prospect of Government, professional, and clerical employ- 
 ment, with the result that a disproportionate number of 
 persons with a purely literary education were created, and 
 industrial development was arrested.^ 
 
 Prosperity would seem to be a contributory cause — as in 
 Egypt and Ireland, — ^for, as the special correspondent of the 
 ' Times,' writing in 1913,^ observes : " The people of India 
 have never been so weU off, never so wisely cared for, never 
 so secure as they are to-day." Yet the undermining of all 
 authority is rapidly /prooeeding. Parents complain of the 
 intractability of thein boys.j The local press preaches sedition, 
 and racial strife is strrredMip by misrepresentation and false 
 reports. If " the influence of education for good depends on 
 the qualities of character it is able to evoke," it must be 
 judged to have failed. Its aim, it is alleged, has been to 
 train the intellect, and to gauge the product of the schools 
 by the ability to pass tests in prescribed fields of knowledge, 
 to the neglect of moral discipline and standards of duty. 
 Positive knowledge as tested by competitive examinations 
 has constituted the key to success. 
 
 As long ago as December 1887 the Government of India 
 drew the attention of the local Governments to " the growth 
 of tendencies unfavourable to discipline in the rising genera- 
 tion," and various suggestions were made to counteract this 
 tendency. They included the establishment of hostels and 
 boarding-houses, the appointment of British headmasters and 
 of school monitors, the recognition of field sports as a part 
 of the school training, the adoption of disciplinary punish- 
 ments which should fall more directly on the offender than 
 fines, and of prizes for good conduct, together with moral 
 instruction based on the fundamental principles of natural 
 religion, and having a direct bearing on personal conduct. 
 The suggestions were favourably received, and the replies of 
 the local Governors and of educational experts were pub- 
 lished in the Blue-book from which I have quoted, under 
 the title, ' Discipline and Moral Training in the Schools and 
 Colleges of India ' (255 pages). It is a volume so fuU of ripe 
 
 1 Cmd. 51 of 1919, pp. 65 and 93. 
 
 2 ' Times,' 19th-22nd December 1913. 
 
428 EDUCATION. 
 
 experience and suggestion that the Colonial Office would do 
 well to place it in the hands of the Director of Education in 
 every colony. 
 
 On 18th June of the following year a resolution was passed 
 which recognised the necessity for abandoning the purely 
 literary scope of education, and it was followed in 1889 by 
 a still wider recognition of the defects of the system. The 
 results were, however, small, though they led the way to 
 Lord Curzon's Educational Conference, and the very import- 
 ant resolution of March 1904. 
 
 The system which had proved so disastrous in India had 
 its counterpart in the Crown colonies and dependencies, and 
 its results were similar.^ The lessons of India were ignored. 
 I have already quoted the opinion of a French writer that a 
 literary education on European hnes has mischievous results, 
 and only produces hostility and ingratitude. The results 
 achieved by Holland, and to a lesser degree by Germany, 
 in their Eastern colonies are contrasted to our disadvantage. 
 In South Africa General Smuts has recently described the 
 existing system as " wholly unsuited to native needs, and 
 positively pernicious, leading the native to a dead wall, over 
 which he is unable to rise, and becomes a ready prey to the 
 agitator." ^ 
 
 The results in West Africa were described by the Secretary 
 of State (Mr Harcourt) in 1916 as " very imsatisfactory," a 
 verdict endorsed by Dr Blyden and by many other leading 
 Africans, including the (native) Acting Director of Education 
 in Nigeria (Mr Carr).^ The output of the schools is described 
 as unreliable, lacking in integrity, self-control, and discipline, 
 and without respect for authority of any kind. The vanity 
 of the young men produced by the schools had (said the ' 
 senior native councOlor in Lagos) become intolerable, and 
 
 ' Mr (now Sir Jamea) Currie, formerly Director of Education in the Sudan 
 and Principal of Gordon College, strongly condemns the Crown colony system 
 of education. " Wellnigh all critics (he writes in 1905) of systems of education 
 among backward races, if agreed on nothing else, seem to be sceptical of the 
 results hitherto attained. . . . Their indictment seems to be that the educated 
 product in the tropics has proved himself out of touch with his proper social 
 environment, and as a member of society, fruitless on the economic side." 
 
 ^ Speech on second reading Native Affairs Bill, 26th May 1920. 
 
 * " There is hardly a sign of the growth of mental power or of self-control. 
 They are, generally speaking, not intelligent and not reliable." Sir W. MacQregor, 
 when Governor of Lagos, referred to the class of " Mission-educated young men 
 who live in the villages interfering with the native councils, and acting as 
 correspondents for the mendacious native press." 
 
RBStn.TS EST WEST AFRICA. 429 
 
 something, he urged, must be done to rescue the rising gen- 
 eration from these evils. It is only to be expected that the 
 result of the present system should be to create a prejudice 
 against education, since, as a Sierra Leone chief remarked, " it 
 teaches youths to despise their elders," while others ascribed 
 the increased cost of food to the unwillingness of youths from 
 school to work on the land.' Provincial reports speak of the 
 contempt for manual work shown by boys from schools. 
 
 Education has brought to such men only discontent, sus- 
 picion of others, and bitterness, which masquerades as racial 
 patriotism, and the vindication of rights unjustly withheld. 
 As citizens they are unfitted to hold posts of trust and respon- 
 sibDity where integrity and loyalty are essential, or to become 
 leaders of their own community in the path of progress. 
 They have lost touch, as I said in chapter iv., with their own 
 people. Fortunately there are many and brilliant exceptions. 
 
 Since education has in the past been largely in the hands 
 of the Missions, to whom moral training would naturally be 
 of the first importance, how are these results to be explained ? 
 Was there no means by which the disruptive forces of educa- 
 tion could be minimised in a country like Africa, where the 
 problem is comparatively simple ? The lack of discipline 
 among Mission converts has indeed occasionally led to political 
 disturbances, both in Mgeria and in Ashanti.^ 
 
 The fault has, I think, lain primarily on the Governments, 
 for the grant on which the aided schools depend has been 
 based on a purely intellectual test. Great as are the results 
 achieved by the Missions ia Africa — and they are great indeed 
 in Uganda,^ Nyasaland, and West Africa — they too must 
 
 1 That a serious prejudice against education may be created by the usurpation 
 of the prerogatives of the native rulers by " intelligentsia" who call themselves 
 the " natural leaders of the people " was recently shown by the speech of the 
 Gold Coast chief Ofori, and by the press comments and the speeches of leading 
 natives of Nigeria, in regard to the claims of the members of the " Kational 
 Conference," who presented a petition to the King in 1920. The Governor of 
 the Gold Coast laid emphasis on this aspect of the matter. See p. 86. 
 
 2 Prior to 1905, when the cost of the Bonny school first appeared in the 
 estimates, education in Southern Nigeria was left entirely in the hands of the 
 Missions. Government non-denominational schools were first established in 
 Ashanti in 1911, because the Christian converts had refused service to the 
 chiefs.— 'A Vanished Dynasty,' Sir F. Fuller, p. 223. 
 
 ' In Uganda education is still entirely in the hands of the Missions, and 
 there are no Government schools. The number of pupils is 79,000. A grant 
 of £2100 is made from revenue. [Annual Report, Cmd. 508, 1920.] The 
 Governor says that good discipline is maintained in many of the schools. — 
 'United Empire,' June 1920, p. 299. 
 
430 EDUCATION. 
 
 bear their share of the blame in having set too slight a value 
 on discipline, and concentrated too much on the acquisition 
 of such knowledge as would enable their pupils to do credit- 
 ably ia the Government examinations, and the training of a 
 specialised class for evangelical work.^ 
 
 If these iU-results are to be avoided in the future, it is 
 essential not merely that the local Missions should act in 
 co-operation with the secular authority, but that the ex- 
 perienced and able men who control the policy of the great 
 societies should take counsel with colonial administrators in 
 England. It is also no less vital that the local Governments 
 should exercise some control over all unaided schools. 
 
 I cannot too strongly emphasise this need for co-operation 
 between all those who are interested ia the education of the 
 native races. No adequate results will be achieved if Govern- 
 ment and Missions work in separate compartments, nor can 
 the Government discharge its obUgations — as it has attempted 
 to do in some cases ia the past — by the mere payment of a 
 grant from revenue, based on examination results. Co- 
 operation can only become effective by the creation of Boards 
 of Education, and local committees, upon which not only 
 managers of schools (both assisted and unassisted) should be 
 fully represented, but also influential members of the com- 
 munity (European and native), and iatelligent chiefs. There 
 are very many subjects upon which the most experienced 
 and the most sincere may hold different views, which can 
 only be adjusted to some measure of uniformity by discussion 
 and compromise, and concentration of effort on clearly defined 
 lines. This co-operation must not be limited to those actually 
 engaged ia educational work, but must extend to the adminis- 
 trative staff and the native chiefs, on whose help and good- 
 will the education officer must largely depend for his prestige 
 and standing in the native estimation, for the removal of 
 prejudices, and for the popularity of his work.^ 
 
 ^ Mr Khodes expressed the view that Mission education only produced " Kaffir 
 parsons and editors." There are of course notable exceptions to the general 
 charge of indiscipline (largely due to the insufficiency of the Mission staff). 
 Two stand out in my personal experience — that of Dr Laws on Lake Nyaaa, 
 and that of Archdeacon (now Bishop) Melville-Jonea at Oyo in Nigeria. Kid- 
 glove discipline is no more suited to the African than to the English boy. 
 
 '•' In Nigeria a Central Board under each Lieut. -Governor considers all 
 proposals and suggestions, and makes its recommendations to the Government, 
 while each provincial (Government) school has an Advisory Committee, on 
 which natives are largely represented. 
 
SOME PEINCrPLES OP AFRICAN EDUCATION. 431 
 
 In the endeavour to give effect to the ideals which I have 
 described as the primary objects of education, and to profit 
 by the experience of the past, an ordinance and regulations 
 were drawn up in 1915 in Nigeria, but did not obtain Colonial 
 Office approval for a year. They were enacted ia 1916, and 
 they sought to embody the following principles : — 
 
 (a) That the primary object of all schools should be the 
 formation of character and habits of discipline, rather than 
 the mere acquisition of a certain amount of book-learmng 
 or technical sbiU, and that the grant-in-aid should be in part 
 based on success in this direction. 
 
 (6) That the teaching should be adapted to the needs of 
 the pnpUs, whether they are intending to quahfy for clerical 
 or other like service, or desire to become mechanics or artisans, 
 or, on the other hand, have no wish to leave their village and 
 the pursuits their fathers had followed. 
 
 (c) That the proportion of teachers to pupils should be 
 adequate, that they should be properly quaUfied and their 
 status improved. Adequate grants must be given to assisted 
 schools (from which Government and commercial clerks are 
 largely drawn) to enable them to pay adequate salaries to 
 their staff. 
 
 (d) That educational agencies, whether controlled by Gov- 
 ernment or by Missions, should co-operate with a common 
 object, and as far as possible by similar methods of discipline 
 and iastruction. 
 
 (e) That continuation and evening classes for advanced 
 and for specialised study, and iastitutions and classes for 
 the training of teachers, should receive special encouragement. 
 
 (/) That the value of religion, irrespective of creed or sect, 
 and the sanction and incentive it affords, should be recog- 
 nised and utilised as an agent for this purpose, together with 
 secular moral instruction. 
 
 (g) That Government should exercise some measure of con- 
 trol over all schools, even though not assisted by grants, 
 and endeavour to bring them into line with the general 
 policy. 
 
 To which I may add : — 
 
 {h) That the schools should, as far as possible, be con- 
 ducted in accordance with native customs in matters of dress 
 and etiquette, ia order that the pupils may not become 
 denationaUsed or consider themselves a class apart. 
 
432 EDUCATION. 
 
 I have placed the formation of character in the foreground 
 of African education, for if this be recognised as a primary 
 function of education in communities whose standards have 
 been moulded by centuries of Christian ethics, whose youth 
 even in its most squalid surroundings is subjected, however 
 unconsciously, to the influence of those standards, whether 
 in the board school or the picture palace, how much more 
 necessary is it in Africa, where, as a rule, such influences are 
 absent 1 Among the primitive tribes ethical standards must 
 be created — among few are they a vital and potent force. 
 If, for instance, in his village home the African boy perceives 
 that self-indulgence and lack of self-control excite no re- 
 probation ; that thrift, ambition, and initiative are concep- 
 tions as foreign to his associates as an alien tongue, for which 
 his language has no appropriate terms ; if justice, fair-play, 
 truthfulness, and mutual obligation have no influence in guid- 
 ing the actions of those around him, — then these conceptions 
 must be created and built up. I do not for a moment mean 
 to infer that there is a complete lack of such qualities among 
 Africans who have not been brought into contact with the 
 higher standards, for I profoundly believe that these con- 
 ceptions are all innate in humanity, and are exhibited in a 
 greater or less degree, even in the primitive savage, but they 
 are generally imdeveloped, and are not enforced by the public 
 opinion of the community, and lack the sanction of local 
 custom. 
 
 If, then, it is admitted that it is inevitable that education 
 should produce a ferment of new and progressive ideas, sub- 
 versive of the old order, the function of a sound system must 
 be to guide these tendencies so that they may conduce to the 
 betterment of the body politic and not to its disintegration. 
 If, further, it be granted that this result can only be obtained 
 by placing the formation of character and habits of discipline 
 above the training of the intellect as the primary object 
 education for Africans, it remains to discuss how this can 
 best be effected. ^ 
 
 The agencies which are indicated as most effective for this 
 purpose are : (1) residential schools ; (2) a more adequate 
 British staff ; (3) the delegation of responsibility for discipline 
 to school monitors ; (4) encouragement of field sports ; (5) 
 the classification of the order of merit of schools, and the 
 grant to aided schools to be partly dependent on tone and 
 
 ae V 
 of ^ 
 
EESIDBNTIAL SCHOOLS. 433 
 
 discipline ; (6) religious and moral instruction to be recog- 
 nised. I will make a few comments on each of these heads. 
 
 Character is formed " by the pubUc opinion of the school- 
 boy world in which a boy moves " — ^by example and in- 
 fluence rather than by precept. The first object, then, must 
 be to see that the pupils are brought continuously under the 
 right influences. This can best be effected by the boarding- 
 school, in which a boy Uves wholly in the atmosphere of the 
 school, and is removed from the subversive influences of his 
 normal environment.' It is here that he learns to be less 
 self-centred, and to take pride in the corporate body of which 
 he is a member — the school, the " house," or the sports 
 " team," — and to understand the meaning of " playing the 
 game," of loyalty, and of co-operation ta a common ambition 
 and a united effort. It becomes therefore essential to give 
 the fullest and most careful consideration to the principles 
 which shoTild guide us iu the constitution and the conduct 
 of such schools.^ 
 
 The boarding-school must not be too near to a native 
 town. It should approximate to the model of an EngUsh 
 public school in its iaternal organisation — ^in regard to school- 
 houses, dormitories, class and living rooms, playgrounds, and 
 the rules respecting school boundaries, roll-calls, " exeats," 
 meals, and hygiene. 
 
 The vital and essential importance of a British head- 
 master for each primary school, and at least two British 
 masters per 100 pupUs in a secondary school — exclusive of 
 
 ' The importance of boarding-schools, or of hostels and boarding-houses 
 attached to schools, is strongly emphasised in the Indian Blue-book (see 
 p. 5, &o.) It was again insisted on at the Educational Conference of 1904 — 
 (Chirol, loc. cit., p. 231). It was laid down as one of the essential principles 
 at the foundation of the Hong-Kong University, that all students must reside 
 in the University quarters or in approved hostels. — "Appeal " of June 1910. 
 
 The same principle was recognised by the Gordon College at Khartum, 
 where there are 231 boarders. It was, as I have said, emphasised in the policy 
 of Nigeria, and I am glad to note that the Governor of the Gold Coast has 
 recently (January 1921) spoken in the same sense. Moral training, he observed, 
 is impossible in day-schools, and his Government therefore proposes to increase 
 the number of boarding-schools, and to encourage Mission hostels. The native 
 press has begun to adopt the same point of view — (Nigerian ' Pioneer,' December 
 1920). The disastrous results of the opposite policy are graphically described 
 in chapter xviii. of Sir V. Chirol's book. 
 
 ^ Mr Maugham, in his 'Republic of Liberia,' speaks of a system of native 
 education which has existed from time immemorial. Both girls and boys, he 
 says, are taken away from their families for a period of about three years, to 
 undergo a course of instruction in tribal usages and duties under strict discipline 
 — showing that the boarding-school is in no way opposed to native ideas. 
 
 2 E 
 
434 EDUCATION. 
 
 those absent on leave — cannot in my judgment be too strongly 
 emphasised. It is they who, by the stimulus of living ex- 
 ample, will set the standard of the school. It is their in- 
 fluence which wiU form the character and ideals of the boys, 
 and introduce the English public school code of honour. 
 " Considering," says Sir V. Ohirol, " how immeasurably more 
 difBcult is the task of training the youth of an entirely alien 
 race according to Western standards, and how vital that 
 task is for the future of British rule, the conditions should 
 be such as to attract not average men, but the very best 
 men that we can produce." ^ The status and salaries of the 
 British educational staff should be equal to those of the 
 administrative branch. Upon the influence exerted by these 
 men will depend the co-operation and loyalty, or the estrange- 
 ment, of the rising generation of educated Africans, upon 
 whom wiU devolve iu an iacreasiug degree the conduct of 
 municipal affairs, and a responsible share in the work of 
 Government, ^o consideration of cost should be allowed 
 to weigh against an issue fraught with such momentous 
 possibilities.^ It is, of course, a part of the system that 
 the teaching staff — ^British and native — should also be resi- 
 dent in the school or hostels, and in constant touch with 
 the boys. 
 
 The character and influence of the native teaching staff 
 is a matter second only in importance to that of the British 
 masters. Much weight is attached by the Government of 
 India to the system of " monitors," and Mr Jacob's letter 
 is quoted with approval : " It is the delegation of this dis- 
 ciplinary power to the prefects that emphatically marks the 
 trust reposed in them, and brings them to look upon the 
 reputation and prosperity of the school as partly committed 
 to their keeping. If you withhold this power, and require 
 the prefects not to preserve discipline, but merely to report 
 breaches of it to the masters, you reduce the prefects to 
 the position of mere tale-bearers. Self-government becomes 
 
 ' Loc. cit., p. 227. See also p. 215, where he describes the result of a 
 deficiency of British staff: "From the point of view of mere instruction the 
 results have been highly unsatisfactory. From the point of view of moral 
 training and discipline, and the formation of character, they have been 
 disastrous." 
 
 ' "The character of the head of the school, with respect to the healthy 
 influence he is likely to exercise over the boys, and his power of moulding 
 their character, is the most essential qualification for the post." — Sir A. 
 Macdonnell, Indian Report, p. 14. 
 
MORAL INSTEUCTION. 435 
 
 government by espionage, and with a decided tendency to 
 develop nothing but ignoble traits of character in those who 
 are allowed to play no higher part in it than that of menials." ^ 
 Every Englishman who has been at a public school will, I 
 think, heartily endorse these views. 
 
 For the purposes of field sports, so wisely recommended 
 by the Indian resolution, it is, of course, essential that play- 
 grounds and gymnasia should be provided. In Mgeria we 
 have found that polo was a specially good game for the sons 
 of chiefs and others who could afford it, while for other boys 
 cricket, football, and " athletics " bring the staff and pupils 
 into close touch, and have the best effect in traiuing character. 
 
 Finally, iu order to show the importance attached to the 
 training of character, I suggest that up to 30 per cent of the 
 marks awarded to qualffy a school for the Government gran1| 
 should be allotted for tone, discipline, manners, and char- 
 acter, so far as they can be judged by outside indications — j 
 dress, demeanour, &c.^ -^ .^ 
 
 Government schools, though not applicants for the grant, 
 should be inspected by the same staff, and their comparative 
 merit and place among the schools of the colony (Government 
 or other) should be determined by the same tests. 
 
 Though character can best be moulded by example and 
 personal contact, something can also be done in the class- 
 room by what for lack of a better name is called " moral 
 instruction." This consists in placing before children iu an 
 attractive way, by illustration_and anecdotal biography, the 
 social and other 4i6!centiv©r^ gentlemamy^coMuCTpaSd the 
 success which rewards honesty, self-control, and industry. 
 Truthfulness, courage, fair-play, respect for authority, good 
 manners, &c., are treated from the secular point of view of 
 their value in social intercourse, and their results in attaining 
 success in life, leaving the higher sanctions to be dealt with 
 in the class of reUgious instruction. In the higher standards 
 moral instruction might include " civics " — the duties and 
 privileges of citizenship, the true meaning of patriotism, &c. 
 These principles would also be enforced by the stories and 
 dialogues selected for " school readers " and text-books. Very 
 
 ^ Indian Report, p. 5. 
 
 ^ This principle is not new. Lord Macdonnell quotes a circular issued by 
 the Council of Education in the United Kingdom, in which a reduction in the 
 grant is ordered if discipline and a high moral tone are not maintained. 
 Parliamentary Paper C 1964 of 1878. 
 
436 EDUCATION. 
 
 much miist depend on the ability of the teacher to point the 
 moral in an interesting and vivid way, and to avoid being 
 too didactic.^ 
 
 Just as the evangelist looks on education as a means for 
 the spread of the gospel, so the educationalist regards religion 
 as a powerful auxiliary in the formation of character. Ex- 
 perience in India, China, and Africa seems to demonstrate 
 that purely secular education (including moral instruction), 
 divorced from religious sanctions, produces among races not 
 habituated to the ethics of a monotheistic religion a class 
 which lacks reverence and respect, whether for parents, social 
 superiors, employers, or Government. To inculcate this dis- 
 cipline, and to overcome the natural proclivities of the ^rican 
 ISQJJ requires every iniluence which can be brought to- bear, 
 and there is no doubt that no influence can be stronger with 
 youth — ^perhaps especially in Africa — than that of religion. 
 
 It is however necessary, in order that religious instruction 
 may rank in the estimation of the pupils as of at least equal 
 importance with the rest of the school syllabus, that it should 
 be regarded ,afS an " examination subject," to which they 
 must pay the same attention as to their other lessons. In 
 Moslem schools the instruction would be imparted by a 
 selected Mohamedan teacher, and in all other schools the 
 Christian religion would be taught. The late Sir V. Buxton 
 declared himself in agreement with the suggestion that a 
 common non-denominational syllabus should be drawn up — 
 at least for elementary schools — ^for teaching reUgion and 
 moral training, so as to admit of Government inspection and 
 examination.^ Others maintain that non-sectarian teaching 
 must necessarily be devoid of all vitality. 
 
 ^ See the exhaustive and most interesting report on this subject by Sir A. 
 Croft in the Indian Blue-book cited, pp. 140-157. He fears lest the inclusion 
 of " morals " in the school time-table may be inadvisable. 
 
 The "Moral Education League" has published a number of text-books and 
 essays on this subject, and the "Duty and Discipline Movement," founded by 
 Lord Meath, has issued a great number of useful papers. Mr Harward, late 
 Inspector of Schools, Nigeria, has compiled a series of readers, suited to each 
 school standard, and a volume in three parts suitable for senior, junior, and 
 preparatory pupils (Nelson & Co.). See also a small book, 'Formation of 
 Character,' by J. B. Watson. 
 
 ^ The late Chief Rabbi vpould, I am sure, forgive me for quoting a conversa- 
 tion in which he hazarded the conjecture that if the Primate, the Cardinal, and 
 himself could meet to determine upon a system of religious education vphich 
 could be universally taught in the schools of England, each being empowered to 
 erase anything to which he took essential objection with the words " I bar," and 
 without discussion, he was confident that they would find no obstacle to success. 
 
THE ITiTFLXJENCE OF RELIGION. 437 
 
 In the Government schools of the Sudan " every boy is 
 taught his own reUgion." In Nigeria the same rule is applied, 
 and a time is set apart each day for reUgious teaching ; but 
 any pupil may — ^if his parents so desire, as in the case of a 
 Mohamedan attending a Christian school or vice versa — ^be 
 excused attendance and set some other task. Assisted schools 
 are, of course, entirely free to teach their own beliefs, whether 
 Protestant or Roman Catholic, in whatever form seems right 
 to them. The reUgious class ia a Government school would 
 probably be taken by a missionary in the district. 
 
 In India the teaching of religion is surrounded with special 
 diflSculties, and it has not been foimd feasible to introduce 
 it in Government schools ; but " the Governor-General in 
 Council would be sincerely glad if the number of aided schools 
 and colleges in which religious instruction is prominently 
 recognised were largely increased." ^ Even the teaching of 
 the doctrines of natural religion, from which the moral duties 
 flow as necessary deductions, is impracticable to Hindus, for 
 " these conceptions are essentially violated in theory as in 
 practice in every one of the idolatrous religions of India." ^ 
 
 This was a problem for which a solution had to be sought 
 when we founded the University of Hong-Kong, for the 
 Chinese, though singularly tolerant, could not be expected 
 to acquiesce in the compulsory teaching of Christianity, or 
 the Christian supporters of the university in the teaching of 
 ancestral worship.^ 
 
 Fortunately in Africa we are not faced with the temble 
 dilemma, " To what theory of life, to what ultimate basis of 
 conduct, can we appeal in addressing members of a society 
 whose religions, and therefore whose ethical principles, have 
 been fatally imdermined by Western education ? " * Islam 
 carries with it its own religious sanctions, while the Animism 
 and Fetish of the pagan represents no system of ethics, and 
 no principles of conduct. Christianity by replacing the terror 
 of the supernatural supplies incentives, constructive as well 
 as emotional, which may prove a basis for social organisation, 
 creating and not destroying " the instincts of order, obedience, 
 and reverence — the cement of the fabric of society." 
 
 1 Indian Blue-book, p. 15. ^ Ibid., p. 150. 
 
 ' The problem was dealt with in a paper read by me at the Imperial Education 
 Conference of 1911 on " Character-training in Non-Christian Universities." — Cmd. 
 5666 of 1911. 
 
 * Indian Blue-book, p. 146. 
 
438 EDUCATION. 
 
 Turning from these general considerations, let us briefly 
 review the existing machinery of education in our tropical 
 dependencies. 
 
 Schools for the education of youth in the Crown colonies 
 and protectorates are either conducted directly by Govern- 
 ment, or by some other agency which may be " assisted " 
 by Government financially, or may be " vmassisted." Adults 
 and youths are also educated by means of an apprenticeship 
 system, and by " continuation classes." The educational 
 agencies — other than Government — which exist in Africa 
 are chiefly Mission societies, but there are also private 
 venture schools conducted for profit by individuals or 
 bodies. 
 
 This last class includes in a Moslem country the schools 
 in which boys are taught to memorise passages of the Koran, 
 and to read and write in the Arabic character, of which there 
 are estimated to be some 25,000 in Mgeria, with perhaps a 
 quarter of a million pupils. Apart from these semi-reUgious 
 iastitutions, unassisted schools may either be conducted by 
 Missions which do not desire to accept the conditions attached 
 to Government assistance, or have failed to satisfy those 
 conditions, or they may be private venture schools conducted 
 by natives. 
 
 Speaking on behalf of the EngUsh Education Bill, Mr 
 Fisher, Minister of Education, said that he feared that many 
 private venture schools were frauds on the pubUc. The new 
 BiU would enable the Board of Education to caU for par- 
 ticulars as to the quality of the education afforded. The 
 London Coimty Council went farther (January 1918), and 
 urged upon the Board of Education the necessity of the regis- 
 tration and inspection of all such schools. 
 
 If such criticism is justified in England, where the force 
 of pubUc opinion is strong, and where parents are themselves 
 educated, or at least Uterate, it applies with much greater 
 force in Africa. Among many primitive tribes the possession 
 of a school is looked upon as conferring prestige and dignity 
 upon a village. Half-educated youths, and others who are 
 quite incompetent to teach, set up so-called " schools " for 
 profit, and are treated with deference by the ignorant parents, 
 who are whoUy indifferent to the nature of the teaching given. 
 Such estabUshments are a danger to the coimtry. The local 
 chiefs find it difficult to control them, and they are reported 
 
THE GEANT-CODE." 439 
 
 to be lacking in discipline and in loyalty to any constituted 
 authority whatever. ^ 
 
 In order to quaHfy for a Government grant, a school must 
 conform to the conditions prescribed by the " grant-code " 
 or other regulations. Since ia tropical Africa practically all 
 assisted schools are conducted by Missions, with whom educa- 
 tion is considered secondary and ancillary to evangehsation, 
 the popularity of the code will depend very largely upon the 
 encouragement to, or the seeming restrictions it may impose 
 upon, religious teaching. In Mgeria, prior to the ordinance 
 of 1916, many excellent Mission schools preferred to forgo 
 the grant. This can only be regarded as a misfortune, for it 
 is in assisted schools only that Government can prescribe, 
 and enforce by trained inspectors, considered schemes for the 
 improvement of education, and can promote imiformity of 
 method. 
 
 It is therefore of great importance that the conditions of 
 the code or regulations should be made attractive to the 
 Missions. This may be done : (a) by inviting the co-operation 
 
 ^ The Nigerian Education Ordinance of 1916 anticipated to some extent the 
 provisions of the English Education Act, 1918, by obliging the manager of every 
 unaided school to submit an annual return showing the subjects taught, and 
 the qualifications of the staff, &c., but the Colonial Office would not agree to 
 any further control or inspection. Not till 1919 was an ordinance enacted 
 empowering the Director of Education, or the Resident of a Province, to inspect 
 a school which in their opinion ought to be closed, and enabling the Governor, on 
 the report of a commission of inquiry, to close such a school for certain specified 
 offences or defaults. 
 
 The hesitation of the Colonial Office contrasts unfavourably with the action of 
 the High Commissioner in South Africa, for in Northern Rhodesia no school may 
 be opened without Government consent, and all are subject to inspection. Any 
 school may be closed by the Administrator if he is satisfied after due inquiry that 
 the general conduct of the teacher or pupils, or the manner in which the school 
 is carried on, is detrimental to good order and government, or if the natives on 
 reasonable grounds desire it. Every teacher must be properly qualified, and 
 married, and may be removed if he interferes with the tribal control of a chief, 
 or with officials. — Ordinance No. 3 in 'Gazette' No. 5 of 1918. 
 
 The efibrts of Government in Nigeria to bring these schools under control were 
 the subject of an outcry by the native press of Lagos — with the honourable 
 exception of the paper owned by Hon. K. Ajasa, — and they appealed to the 
 Secretary of State against this form of " moral slavery " ! 
 
 The absence of Government control over educational institutions is one of the 
 four defects to which Sir V. Chirol attributes the failure of education in India. 
 — Loc, cit, , p. 248. The Sudan Government goes so far as to make a small grant 
 to " Kuttabs " which agree to inspection, but they are for the most part under 
 teachers trained at Gordon College. 
 
 The policy of the Colonial Office appears to have changed, for it has recently 
 been announced that all unaided schools in the Straits and Federated Malay 
 States shall be registered with their teachers, and subjected to Regulations. — 
 ' Times,' 6th October 1921. 
 
440 EDUCATION. 
 
 of the managers of their schools in the general scheme of 
 education, and giving them an opportimity of expressing their 
 views as members of educational boards, &c. ; (&) by recognis- 
 ing religious teaching as part of the school course, or at least 
 by removing what may be considered by them to be gratuitous 
 diflBculties in the way of teaching religion ; (c) by making 
 the financial assistance sufficiently substantial, and unham- 
 pered by conditions which are considered obnoxious, or which 
 tend to destroy the individuality of the school and its devel- 
 opment upon its own Unes. 
 
 The poUcy laid down by the Government of India resolu- 
 tion (199) of 1888 appears to me to formulate the principle 
 which should guide Crown colony administration — viz., that 
 the Government should encourage private enterprise in educa- 
 tion as in all other matters ; that it should pioneer the way, 
 and maintain schools in which the system of instruction and 
 discipline shall afford a standard for the emulation of aided 
 or private institutions, and that it should assist their efforts 
 by reasonable subventions.^ 
 
 When I left Mgeria an experiment was in progress on the 
 following lines : Grants are no longer awarded on the basis 
 of an annual and necessarily hurried examination in certain 
 set subjects, but on frequent inspections and examinations 
 extending throughout the school year. Thirty per cent of the 
 marks which determine the amount of the grant are awarded 
 for the tone of the school, discipline, organisation, and moral 
 instruction ; 20 per cent for the adequacy and efficiency of 
 the teaching staff by whom those results are achieved ; 40 
 per cent on the result of periodical examinations and general 
 progress, and 10 per cent for buildings, equipment, and 
 sanitation. 
 
 Since it is far easier to train the characters of pupils who 
 are boarders than of day scholars (while the former are very 
 much more expensive to the school), the grant for a boarder 
 in an assisted school is double that for a day scholar. The 
 boarding-schools must be well found, with good dormitories 
 and a recreation-room and grounds. The different grades of 
 masters and teachers are defined in regard to their qualifica- 
 tions, and the minimum requirements of staff in proportion 
 to pupils are laid down. There are special grants for training 
 institutes for teachers. 
 
 ' Indian Blue-book, p. 3. 
 
SUGGESTED REGULATIONS. 441 
 
 There are no obligatory subjects, but no school is eligible 
 for a grant unless its pupils show satisfactory results in 
 English and in arithmetic. The list of school subjects is 
 strictly limited, for a curriculum which is overloaded and too 
 advanced means the neglect of English and other essential 
 subjects. A clear distinction is drawn between those that 
 remain as part of the school syllabus, and " special subjects " 
 which are taught (to selected boys ia the secondary schools 
 in substitution for a subject in which they have qualified, 
 or in a more advanced standard) largely by means of " con- 
 tinuation " and vacation classes. Eighty-one new schools 
 came on the grant list the year after this code was intro- 
 duced (an increase of 94 per cent), showing that it had the 
 cordial approbation of the Missions. 
 
 The system necessarily leaves large powers in the hands of 
 the inspector, for instead of the fixed criterion afforded by an 
 annual set examiaation, the progress of the school is gauged 
 by repeated visits and informal examinations. The inspec- 
 tor's reports are, however, subject to careful scrutiny and 
 verification by the Director of Education, and the managers 
 are represented on the Board of Education, so that any com- 
 plaint may be fuUy iavestigated. But it is obvious that in 
 such a system the very best and most experienced men must 
 be selected as inspectors. 
 
442 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 EDUCATION (Continued). 
 
 The three types of education required — Literary training — The demand — 
 Provincial Government schools — Village schools — Central industrial 
 schools — Clerical apprentices — Technical training — The African as a 
 worker — Technical institutes — Technical courses — Details of educa- 
 tional methods — Subjects of tuition — Adequacy of teaching staff — 
 Moslem education in Arabic — The language difficulty — Higher educa- 
 tion — Continuation and special classes — The education of girls — The 
 cost of education — Compulsory education — The essential conclusions. 
 
 Assuming, then, that the Government takes the lead in the 
 task of education, let us consider the nature of the problem 
 which it has to solve, so far as class-room iastruction is con- 
 cerned. There may be said to be three objects which educa- 
 tional agencies have in -view — viz., («) the literary training 
 required for posts in which a good knowledge of English and 
 accounting is necessary ; (b) the technical training of mechanics 
 and artisans employed with power-driven plant and other 
 technical work ; and (c) the teaching of crafts and agriculture 
 and the very elementary schooling suitable to viUage hie. 
 
 We sometimes hear the opinion that it would be better 
 if the African confined himself to agriculture and artisan 
 work, and left hterary education alone.^ We read that in 
 India the output of the schools and universities is in excess 
 of the demand, and creates an unemployable class which 
 becomes a prey to the agitator. In tropical Africa, on the 
 contrary, there is an illimitable demand, not only for sub- 
 ordinates but for doctors and for the Civil Staff, if men with 
 
 ^ Dr Moton, Head of Tuskegee College, tells us that Booker Washington 
 himself was often accused of being opposed to higher negro education, but his 
 real view was that education for the negro must be thorough, and suited to his 
 reasonably immediate needs. He desired to raise the masses by an industrial and 
 economic education widely diffused. — 'Finding a Way Out,' p. 215. 
 
THE DEMAND FOR CLEEICAL SXIBORDINATBS. 443 
 
 the proper qualifications both of education and of character 
 were available. 
 
 The progress made in the development of Africa would have 
 been impossible were it not for the enormous number of 
 Africans who fill posts in which a knowledge of English, of 
 reading, writing, and arithmetic, and, to a lesser degree, of 
 book-keeping and accountancy, is required. Those who are 
 employed in the technical departments, such as surveyors, 
 telegraphists, printers, and skilled men in the workshops, 
 require the same initial training.^ With the extension of 
 railways and the expansion of Government departments and 
 of private enterprise, the demand for such men has become 
 very large indeed. 
 
 The result in West Africa is that boys who have only half 
 completed their education are tempted to leave school, and 
 are able to obtain posts which demand much higher quahflca- 
 tions than they possess, so that two or three may be neces- 
 sary to do the work, with iU success, which one efficient man 
 should perform. Thus the standard of efficiency is lowered, 
 and wages, as compared with the cost of living and the value 
 of the work done, increase beyond the scale paid in England 
 and elsewhere for similar work. The wages paid to clerks 
 react on the technical departments,^ and it becomes increas- 
 ingly difficult to secure an adequate number of apprentices 
 with elementary schooling, or of teachers for the schools. 
 The latter deficiency tends further to restrict the supply at 
 its source. So difficult has the situation become in Mgeria 
 that the Acting Director of Education — himself a native 
 African of great distinction — surged the necessity of importing 
 clerical subordinates in large numbers from the East. 
 
 It is clear that in dependencies so situated the Government 
 cannot rely on the output of the Mission schools only — much 
 as the British African tropics are indebted to them in the 
 past, — and the creation of an adequate mmaber of Govern- 
 ment primary and secondary schools is a matter which must 
 not be left (as it has too often been) until the deficiency has 
 already caused grave injury to the country. Schools are 
 
 ^ See page 87 as to the numbers required in Nigeria as clerks, accountants, 
 dispensers, dressers, sanitary and other inspectors, station-masters, railway guards, 
 &c., &c. Probably at least another 1000 are required by banting, commercial, 
 and mining firms. 
 
 ^ The cost of African skilled labour, measured by results, is estimated by the 
 Director of Works, Nigeria, to be double the cost in England. 
 
444 EDUCATION. 
 
 required at every provincial and at many divisional head- 
 quarters. Whenever it is possible, the boys should be boarders, 
 for the reasons already given, and the school should not be 
 nearer than one or two nules from a native city. An age 
 Umit should be fixed for each class or standard. 
 
 The medium of instruction, except in the lower standards, 
 should be Enghsh, and as many scholarships as possible should 
 be provided. In the northern provinces of Nigeria the cost 
 of buildings and native staff is borne by the native administra- 
 tions (42 per cent in 1913), that of the British staff and in- 
 spectorate by general revenue. Each school would, of course, 
 have its " normal class " for the training of teachers, and its 
 continuation classes. Uniformity in the " standards " of the 
 various schools is of importance, so that the degree of pro- 
 ficiency of any boy, who is certified as having passed a cer- 
 tain standard, may be known to his prospective employer.^ 
 
 When such schools are situated among primitive communi- 
 ties their chief function is to train the more promising boys 
 from the village schools as teachers for those schools, as 
 clerks for the local native courts, and as interpreters. For 
 these the higher standards are not required. 
 
 The village schools must depend on these primary and 
 secondary Government schools for their supply of teachers ; 
 and siace the teaching in the village schools is chiefly industrial, 
 each of the " Uterary " schools should have a class in which 
 native crafts and industries (especially agriculture) are taught, 
 so that boys who desire to become teachers in village schools 
 may be properly quaUfied. 
 
 Village schools should, in my opinion, be adapted to the 
 requirements of the peasantry, who do not seek either a 
 literary education to quahfy them as clerks, &c., or a technical 
 training for power-driven workshops. Their object is to 
 improve the village craftsmen and agriculturists, to raise 
 the standard of hfe, comfort, and intelligence in the village 
 community, and to teach habits of discipline, industry, and 
 truthfulness. At these schools trades should be taught 
 
 ^ There are six such primary schools in the Sudan, where English is taught, 
 but no industrial training is given. Each year about thirty boys are selected 
 from the elementary vernacular schools and sent to them, and about 15 per cent 
 go on to the Upper School at Gordon College. The entrance age is about eleven, 
 and the course is for four years. The schools are intended for the sons of 
 Government employees and better-class natives, who, after a further training at 
 Gordon College, will be qualified to fill junior posts under Government. 
 
VILLAGE SCHOOLS. 445 
 
 (carpentry, blacksmithing, agriculture, &c.), together with 
 some rudimentary schooling in elementary hygiene, colloquial 
 English, and such moral and religious instruction, whether 
 Christian or Mohamedan, as may help to free the peasant 
 from the cruel domination of superstitious and inhuman 
 practices. To this may usefully be added simple explanations 
 of British aims — the advantages of railways, roads, currency, 
 and free labour, the reasons for taxation, &c. In the higher 
 classes some smaU knowledge of " the 3 E's " may be included, 
 which shaU render him less liable to be the victim of mis- 
 representation and fraud. 
 
 These schools would not be intended to quahfy a boy for 
 Government employment, or to develop into literary schools. 
 They would be afiSliated to the nearest Government primary 
 or secondary school. In non-Moslem districts Mohamedan 
 teachers would not be employed, and in practice no doubt these 
 schools would be largely in the hands of the Missions.^ They 
 woidd be conducted by a carefully-selected native teacher, 
 and would not be boarding-schools. The medium of instruc- 
 tion would be the vernacular — ^in the higher classes English or 
 a local lingua franca — such as Arabic, Swaheli, or Hausa. 
 The boys would at first spend about half their time in 
 elementary education, and later practically the whole time 
 in learning some craft. The instruction imparted would be 
 very simple, and given from the most practical standpoint,^ 
 special attention being devoted to the introduction of better 
 appliances, in order to improve the quality and increase the 
 quantity of the output.* 
 
 ' The late Sir Victor Buxton emphasised ' ' the growing consensus that 
 industrial training should be given a more prominent place in the Mission 
 schools." — ('African Journal,' April 1918.) It is in these rural schools that 
 these objects can best be carried out. 
 
 ^ The elementary vernacular village schools (kuttabs) in the Sudan number 
 about 74 with 7000 pupils. They are under native teachers. Reading, writing, 
 drill, simple arithmetic, and elementary religion are taught, but no industrial 
 crafts. 
 
 In the village schools of Sierra Leone boys are taught to write their own lan- 
 guage in the Roman character, and instruction is given in elementary arithmetic 
 and the rudiments of English, but the chief subject of instruction is agriculture. 
 " We find by actual experience that a Mendi boy can be taught to read and 
 write his own language, and to work out simple calculations in less than a year." 
 The Governor complains of the rivalry between denominational schools, of which 
 there may be " three, four, or seven in a single small village, with results fatal 
 to teaching, to discipline, and to the proper payment of teachers." — (Speech 
 to Legislative Council, December 1920.) 
 
 s The native loom is only capable of weaving a strip of cloth a few inches 
 wide, and can only be worked out of doors in the dry season (owing to its 
 
446 EDUCATION. 
 
 The instruction given at each school should be especially 
 adapted to the occupations most suited to, or traditional in, 
 the village. In some weaving, in others smelting, dyeing, 
 or tanning may be time-honoured crafts. Similarly in regard 
 to agriculture, the care of those crops which are chiefly 
 cultivated in the district would receive special attention — 
 cotton in one, cocoa in another, and so on. 
 
 The Indian Industrial Eeport — published since these in- 
 structions were issued in Nigeria — recommends practically 
 identical methods in regard to the " cottage industries " of 
 India, which, it is suggested, may be assisted by peripatetic 
 instructors, teaching improved processes, and introducing 
 new patterns and designs and labour-saving devices. The 
 report emphasises the difference in training needed for these 
 cottage industries, and the class-room study and apprentice- 
 ship necessary to produce skilled mechanics.^ 
 
 The teaching of the village school may be carried to a higher 
 stage in the agricultural classes (vide inf.) on the one hand, 
 or in a Central Industrial School on the other. In the latter 
 native arts and crafts would be taught by skilled native 
 craftsmen, under the supervision of a British foreman. The 
 object would be to preserve aU that is best in native design 
 and art, while introducing better methods, appliances, and 
 tools. Carpentry and wood-carving, metal-work and engrav- 
 ing on brass and copper, blacksmith's work, smelting and 
 casting, leather-work and tanning, weaving and embroidery 
 on cloth and leather, and other native industries, would be 
 taught. To these might be added such new crafts as are 
 suitable for cottage industry, such as brickmaking and the 
 construction of country carts and wheels. There would be 
 no class-room instruction — though pupils would be encouraged 
 to attend the evening classes at the provincial school, — and 
 
 length), but with the aid of an imported loom a native weaver was able 
 without expert guidance to make a piece of cloth of full breadth. — 
 (Ibid.) 
 
 As to the value of native crafts in Nigeria, Captain (now Major-Qeneral) 
 Mance, R.E., asserts that "European manufacturers cannot put on the market 
 cotton stuffs approaching the quality and the wearing power of the Kano cloth 
 at the same prices as it is charged for by the natives." He even anticipates 
 that these durable hand-woven cloths of excellent design will compete with 
 imported textiles throughout West Africa, ' ' and might even make an inroad 
 on the English summer market," since they are already being used by Europeans 
 "for strong tropical suits, riding breeches, and ladies' dresses." This may be 
 exaggerated praise, but indicates the excellence of native cloth. 
 
 1 Cmd. 51, 1919, pp. 97-99 and 162-167. 
 
CLERICAL APPBJENTICES OK " CADETS." 447 
 
 no attempt to train boys for wage - earning employ- 
 ment.i 
 
 It is very desirable that provincial schools — and essential 
 that all village schools — should possess a good school garden, 
 in which boys can acquire a knowledge of the various plants 
 under cultivation, and of the use of garden tools and agricul- 
 tural implements. 
 
 Before passing to technical education, I have a very tenta- 
 tive suggestion to offer, to which I have already referred in 
 chapter iv. Parents deplore the tendency of young men to 
 embark prematurely on an independent career, which in such 
 circumstances can offer little prospect of success, and exposes 
 them to temptation, and to the cost of maintaining a separate 
 establishment beyond their means. In order to check this 
 tendency and to maintain parental discipline, it may perhaps 
 be feasible to institute a scheme of clerical apprentices some- 
 what on the following lines. Youths between the ages of 
 seventeen and twenty, recommended not merely for intel- 
 lectual ability but for sterling character, would be selected 
 from among the seniors at the best schools for employment 
 on progressive salaries during four or five years. They would 
 reside during this apprenticeship with their parents, and be 
 attached to the Secretariat or Treasury, but in order to 
 acquire proficiency and fluency in English and thorough 
 quaUflcations for their duties, they would continue to attend 
 school for certain hours. They might be caUed " student 
 clerks " or " cadets," and if they pass the required tests at 
 the end of their term, they would have received a much 
 better and more prolonged education than the ordinary clerk. 
 They would be bound to enter the Government service, if 
 wanted, for a period of, say, five years, and would be eligible 
 for accelerated promotion. Eventually the cadets might 
 become a corps d'ilite, and aspire to high posts. 
 
 We have dealt with two of the great classes for whom 
 educational facilities are required — viz., the literary (clerical) 
 
 ^ Such a school has been established at Kano (Nigeria) with excellent results. 
 Its cosb (exclusive of the British superintendent) is provided by the native 
 administrations, and pupils are sent to it from all the Moslem provinces, which 
 make proportionate subscriptions from their native treasuries. A separate 
 school is required for Christians and pagans. Pending the completion of the 
 Technical Institute, it has recently engaged in the making of " furniture, office 
 fittings, drills and tools, boots, and book- binding," but this is a departure from 
 its original and proper purpose. 
 
448 EDUCATION. 
 
 class, and the rural (industrial) class. The third group con- 
 sists of the artisans and mechanics employed in Government 
 and commercial workshops — ^by the railway, marine, public 
 works, and printing departments, — ^most of whom are engaged 
 in handling power-driven machinery. For these a primary 
 education is a necessary preliminary, but the " manual 
 training," which has found favour both in Government and in 
 Mission schools, is of little or no use. The workshop staif 
 reports that not only is a training in box and chair-making 
 useless for a boy who desires to become a trained mechanic, 
 but that he must unlearn much of what he has learnt, and 
 begin aU over again. Much valuable time is also lost in giving 
 such teaching to boys whose intention it is to become clerks, 
 and have no need of it. 
 
 The Indian Industrial Eeport endorses this view, and 
 emphasises the necessity of discriminating between the 
 industrial training needed for cottage industries and the 
 class-room study, and the apprenticeship necessary to produce 
 skilled mechanics.^ 
 
 As soon as the youth has passed the required standard he 
 should become an apprentice in the department which he 
 desires to adopt. It is of the utmost importance that every 
 technical department should train a large number of appren- 
 tices. Their training must be conducted by a special in- 
 structor, and not left (as used to be the case) to the chance 
 assistance of men engaged in work themselves. In other 
 words, each technical department should have a technical 
 class attached to it for the training of apprentices. The 
 instructor would also hold classes for special instruction in 
 theory and drawing, &c., for those who show special aptitude 
 — ^not in night schools, when they are too tired to learn, but 
 during working hours, — and they could improve their general 
 education by attending contiauation classes at the provincial 
 school. The aim should be to put the apprentices on the 
 
 ^ The Indian report to which I have referred is a mine of research and 
 practical suggestion on this subject. The Commissioners find in India the same 
 necessity as I have found in Africa for taking measures to improve the social 
 status of the artisan, and to counteract the tendency to prefer a clerical educa- 
 tion. They corroborate the view that the necessary theoretical instruction of 
 apprentices cannot be given in night-schools when the youths are too tired to 
 assimilate knowledge ; they endorse the necessity for special instructors for 
 apprentices in the workshops ; they dwell on the need for training a class of 
 native foremen ; and they recommend the provision of hostels, &c., as I have 
 done for Africa.— Pp. 100-108. 
 
THE AFEIOAN AS A SKILLED MECHANIC. 449 
 
 same level as the clerical branch, in pay, housing, oppor- 
 tunities for recreation, and general status, so as to attract 
 to it an equally good class. During his five years' indenture 
 an apprentice is, of course, paid a progressive wage.^ 
 
 The aptitude of the African as a skilled worker is abun- 
 dantly in evidence in the railway, printing, and other work- 
 shops. In West Africa, as an " engineer correspondent " tes- 
 tifies, he has replaced Europeans in many departments of 
 skilled work, and he does not require an undue amount of 
 European supervision. Even in such highly technical work 
 as acetylene welding and cutting, in pattern-making from 
 dimensioned drawings, and in the use of the lathe and of 
 modem machine tools, he bears witness to his eflficienoy.^ 
 
 If the African does not yet aspire to the position of foreman, 
 it is because he has hitherto lacked sufficient general educa- 
 tion, and has not entered the shops at a sufficiently early 
 age. When boys of sixteen or seventeen, having passed the 
 fifth or sixth standard so that they can make accurate calcula- 
 tions and correctly interpret plans and drawings, can acquire 
 in the shops from a special instructor some knowledge of the 
 theoretical side of the work and the reasons for the various 
 processes, there is no reason why they should not become 
 efficient managers and shop-foremen. The weak point of 
 the qualified African engineer who holds a technical degree 
 is that his ability to memorise enables him to fill his head 
 with formulae of which he does not appreciate the full meaning. 
 He must also acquire the ability to control men, and a greater 
 sense of responsibility in his work. 
 
 In the Sudan the Gordon College provides an extra depart- 
 mental institute for technical training. A similar institution 
 is in course of erection in the northern provinces of Nigeria, 
 a considerable part of the funds having been provided by a 
 bequest of the late Sir Alfred Jones. Such an institute sup- 
 plements, but cannot supersede, the value of the training 
 acquired by apprentices in workshops, but it has a special 
 value in Nigeria, since it provides an opportunity of training 
 
 1 The rates of pay in Nigeria for Ist-grade apprentices (viz., those who have 
 passed standard V.) commence at £12 and rise to £36, and for heavy machinery 
 from £18 to £42. An apprentice is on probation for three months, and is 
 pledged to remain in Government employ for five years if wanted. It was 
 proposed to fix the number under training at 760 — an annual output of 150. 
 
 ^ 'West Africa,' 4th September 1920. We have seen (p. 421) that in Nigeria 
 Africans are now employed as foremen in the mines. 
 
 2p 
 
450 EDUCATION. 
 
 Mohamedan youths who do not readily mix with the artisans 
 from the coast. 
 
 It has also an additional value in providing a means of 
 showing that the skilled workman occupies no inferior status 
 to that of the clerk, and of promoting healthy rivalry in 
 sports between the two classes. By these various means the 
 tropical African dependencies should be able to produce 
 competent native foremen of works instead of being depen- 
 dent on British artisans, who are very costly, and of whom 
 the supply is strictly limited. 
 
 Apart from the departments to which I have referred as 
 using power-driven machinery — ^railway, marine, public works, 
 and printing — ^there are others which afford technical training 
 — e.g., agriculture, survey, forestry, veterinary, telegraphs, 
 and medical — to youths who desire to specialise in any of 
 these subjects with a view to entering the service of Govern- 
 ment, or a private employer, or a native administration. 
 
 Such training in its earlier stages can be given in special 
 classes while the boy is still at school, and later by apprentice- 
 ship to the department concerned. Trained agriculturists 
 are wanted as instructors, and overseers in the department, 
 and for the charge of model plots and botanical gardens, &c. 
 Education in forestry, like agriculture, is both theoretical 
 and practical. For instruction in these subjects model planta- 
 tions, and for veterinary work a small stock farm, are essential. 
 It is very desirable that pupils — whether trained for the 
 Government service or for service under a native ad- 
 ministration — shoidd be selected from various parts of the 
 country. 
 
 Surveyors are required to replace Europeans in making 
 simple surveys of leases of land, &c., and in the medical de- 
 partment there is great need of trained sanitary inspectors, 
 dispensers, dressers, and female nurses. 
 
 My object in this chapter is rather to discuss the general 
 scope and object of education m Africa than to deal with the 
 subject from the detailed and educationalist standpoint. I 
 have preferred therefore to speak of " provincial " and 
 " village " schools rather than of " secondary," " primary," 
 " elementary," " infant," or " trade " schools, for I am con- 
 cerned here only with the general purpose which they are 
 intended to serve. The provincial school, when first insti- 
 tuted, would not aspire beyond the primary standards ; later 
 
SUBJECTS OF TTHTION. 451 
 
 it would become a secondary school. The village school 
 combines the last three. 
 
 ISTor is it possible within the scope of a siagle chapter in a 
 volume such as this, to discuss in detail the subjects which 
 should find a place in the school curriculum, the degree of 
 scholastic attainment which should constitute each " stand- 
 ard " and class, or those which should be demanded in a 
 " quaMed " teacher, the age-limits of pupils, or the methods 
 of inspection, &c. The way in which each of these problems 
 has been handled in the various Crown colonies and pro- 
 tectorates may be studied in the admirable series of " special 
 reports on educational subjects " issued by the Board of 
 Education, which are probably too little known in our African 
 dependencies. They are now somewhat out of date, since 
 they bring their review only up to the end of 1902.^ I will 
 content myself here with one or two comments only. 
 
 It is, I suggest, a mistake to include in the syllabus of 
 an ordinary primary or secondary school such subjects as 
 Oreek and Latin. Their place as classics should be taken by 
 BngUsh. French and German would be taught as " special 
 subjects " if there were sufficient students to form a class. 
 Exception would no doubt be made by any special secondary 
 school for youths who intend to take up the professions of 
 law, medicine, &c., and to attend an EngUsh university. 
 
 The first essential — apart from character training — ^is to 
 have a good knowledge of English, and " the 3 R's," whether 
 a boy intends to adopt a " literary " (clerical) or a technical 
 career, or whether as the son of a ruling chief he desires to 
 be able to take his place some day on a Government Council, 
 and represent there the needs and aspirations of his people. 
 For the latter a course in practical " economics " and com- 
 merce would be of greater value than a knowledge of the 
 languages named. 
 
 The usual subjects of a school curriculum should, I venture 
 to think, be treated somewhat differently for African than for 
 English boys. It is, for instance, more useful that a student 
 of geography should acquire a general knowledge of the 
 British Empire, and of Africa in particular, with some ele- 
 mentary knowledge of physical geography, than that he should 
 
 1 See Volumes V., XII., XIIF., and XIV., [Cmd. 417, 2377, 2378, and 2379. 
 The Sudan is not included, and I have therefore given some notes of the system 
 adopted there. 
 
452 EDUCATION. 
 
 be familiar with the names of the English counties. The 
 history of Africa is more appropriate than a knowledge of 
 Hengist and Horsa, and a cursory acquaintance with the 
 evolution of democracy under Cromwell may do more harm 
 than good, by inducing " the boy patriot to deplore the woes, 
 and discuss the regeneration of his country, instead of attend- 
 ing to his lessons," and encouraging him to believe that he 
 can accomplish in a decade what England has taken some 
 centuries to achieve. History, said Sir H. Hadow, in his 
 presidential address to the Teachers' Guild in January 1921, 
 " ought to be taught from the point of view of showing what 
 England has been in the past, what England has done for 
 liberty and civilisation, for invention, for industry, and for 
 the spiritual, moral, and material welfare of mankind." 
 
 A " general knowledge " class may be more useful in de- 
 veloping the faculties of original thought, and in affording 
 an opportunity of explaining the economic causes of present- 
 day " unrest," than time spent on conic sections or the later 
 books of Euclid. 
 
 I have already referred to the vital necessity of an adequate 
 and properly qualified staff, and to the importance of resident 
 British masters, and a highly-trained British inspectorate. 
 The latter should be composed of men with a knowledge of 
 the science of teaching, and suited temperamentally for 
 work which needs much tact and patience. They should 
 visit each school once a quarter, and remain a few days — or 
 more, if required — in order to assist the staff by their advice, 
 and in order to form a thorough opinion of the value of the 
 teaching and the tone of the school. A senior inspector should, 
 in addition, visit each school once in the year. 
 
 The native staff, no less than the British, must be selected 
 from the best men available, for it is on their example no 
 less than on their teaching that success depends. The cry 
 is everywhere the difiBculty of procuring teachers — even at 
 Gordon College, with its reservoir in Egypt.^ To secure the 
 
 ^ The great difSculty in the "emirates" of Northern Nigeria was to provide 
 teachers professing the Moslem faith, and no others would have been tolerated 
 or exercised any influence. Progress was necessarily slow till youths could be 
 first taught themselves, and then trained to teach, but in a little over a dozen 
 years (by the end of 1919) the enthusiastic efforts of the British staff had 
 succeeded in establishing twenty-one schools. Ten years after the institution of 
 British rule only twenty teachers had been trained. The original class consisted 
 of pupils varying from six to sixty years of age, and was primarily industrial. 
 By indefatigable patience and tact on the part of the administrative and education 
 
THE NATIVE STAFF. 453 
 
 right type of teachers in countries where the acquisition of 
 wealth by trading offers great attractions, adequate salaries 
 must be offered, and revenue cannot be laid out to better 
 purpose, whether in Government schools or by increased 
 grants to assisted schools. It is impossible, as the Governor 
 of Sierra Leone observed, to expect men who are underpaid 
 and overworked to continue in the same routine all their 
 lives, and the quaUfcy of their teaching must suffer. The 
 nimiber of pupils under a single teacher should never exceed 
 forty. The village schools, as I have said, must look to the 
 provincial schools for their supply of teachers, and it is 
 essential that every school should have its " normal class," 
 in addition to a central training institute for teachers, with 
 liberal free scholarships. The staff should be changed as 
 little as possible, in order that the masters may acquire the 
 confidence and an intimate personal knowledge of the pupils, 
 and that British officers may become fluent in the local 
 dialects. 
 
 The treatment of the problem of education must necessarily 
 differ widely in Moslem and non-Moslem coxmtries. In the 
 former there already exists a Uterate class, held in respect 
 by the illiterate peasantry. The goal of their ambition is 
 to read the Koran, and to study the laws and traditions of 
 Islam. No Mohamedan considers that he can claim to be 
 properly educated imless he is able to do this. His outlook 
 is towards the literature of the East — ^not of the West. In 
 coimtries where Arabic is not the spoken vernacular (as it is 
 in the Sudan), secular education, and the reading of their 
 own language in the Eoman character, does not offer to this 
 class the same attractions as it does to non-Moslem natives. 
 Arabic, says Blyden, is learnt for religion and for entrance 
 to heaven, English for the things of this world. 
 
 There is, however, no reason why the two aims should 
 conflict. In Nigeria the Government schools in the Moslem 
 provinces have an Arabic class, in which, like " the classical 
 
 officers, the schools have now become so popular that it is difficult to meet the 
 demand, though the cost is largely borne by the native administrations, who 
 thus regard them as "their own schools." The keenness of the pupils is 
 evidenced by the average attendance, in Zaria 87 "75 out of 88, and others but 
 4ittle less. 
 
 The Ngala Agricultural Institute in Sierra Leone aspires to provide teachers 
 for all the village schools. The pupils are fed, housed, and taught free of cost 
 for a two-years' course. — (Governor's Speech, 19th July 1919.) 
 
454 EDUCATION. 
 
 side " in our public schools at home, the study of an ancient 
 language and literature can be fostered, without hindrance 
 to the more utilitarian subjects required for the production 
 of a class who can take their share of the appoiutments — 
 clerical or technical — ^which Government has to ofEer in the 
 departments of the public service. Moslems should recog- 
 nise the disadvantages of allowing these posts to be held by 
 aliens of a different creed, while a certain number of the 
 Arabic scholars will be required to fill posts under the native 
 administrations and as judges of the native courts. In the 
 Sudan the Kadis (native judges) are trained at Gordon College. 
 This system has so far had excellent results in Nigeria, 
 and the fact that the Government has viewed Arabic educa- 
 tion not merely with tolerance but with active encourage- 
 ment, has gone far to enlist the cordial co-operation of the 
 Moslem rulers in the scheme of Government schools, of which 
 — ^fearing they would undermine their rehgion — ^they were at 
 /'first very suspicious.^ 
 
 The diversity of languages in Africa surrounds the problem 
 of education with special difficulties. Where a widely-spoken 
 language easily acquired by Europeans exists — such as Hausa 
 in the west and Swaheli in the east — ^it would appear desirable 
 to promote its use as a lingua franca, for natives easily acquire 
 an African tongue. Elsewhere EngUsh must form the medium 
 of instruction, and of intercommunication between tribes, as 
 it has already to some extent done in West Africa, and to a 
 more remarkable extent among the Chinese, where it has 
 become the " business " (pidgin) language. No greater benefit 
 can be conferred on the African, whether as a means of en- 
 I abling him to make known his desires, or for purposes of 
 < trade, or as affording an access to a great literature, than the 
 teaching of English as a imiversal mediimi. 
 
 Missions, on the other hand, being concerned with evan- 
 gelisation only, have no desire to promote intercommunica- 
 tion for trade and other purposes, and are generally content 
 
 ' In Sokoto the Sultan, who is recognised as the Head of Islam in the western 
 Sudan, visits the British school weekly, and the Wazeri spends several hours 
 there on most days, and the same in varying degrees obtains in most othef 
 emirates. 
 
 Contrary to expectation, it has now been found that in some of the schools — 
 notably in Sokoto and Bornu, the religious headquarters in East and West — 
 English is becoming more popular than Arabic, but the latter will always serve a 
 useful purpose for the sons of Emirs, and for the training of native judges. 
 
HIGHER EDUCATION. 455 
 
 to study a local dialect, and translate the Scriptures and 
 text-books into it. I concur with Lord Kimberiey's dictum, 
 that though instruction in English must of necessity at first 
 be given through the medium of the vernacular. Government 
 J encouragement should not be exerted to stimulate or preserve 
 )these native tongues. 
 
 Lord Kitchener's great institution ia the Sudan, the 
 Gordon College, stands as a model — short of a university ' — 
 for a central institution for education both literary and 
 technical, and most other African dependencies have one or 
 more special schools for higher education — notably Furrah 
 Bay College, Sierra Leone, afiBUated to Durham University. 
 
 Such schools are attended by sons of educated and well- 
 to-do parents, who can afford heavy fees, or by promising 
 youths who have won scholarships. Their aim is to enable 
 boys who go to England for degrees in law, medicine, or 
 theology to complete most of their education locally, and so 
 to curtail their period of absence, and also to qualify youths 
 to flU high posts ia the Civil Service. 
 
 It is essential that such schools should be residential if 
 boys are to imbibe the traditions that give to English public 
 schoolboys that discipline and training which have fitted 
 them for the work of the Empire. The schools must have 
 junior classes, and not merely receive from other schools 
 boys who have already formed habits which should have 
 been moulded under the influence of the school ; and they 
 should, of course, have normal classes for the training of 
 teachers. 
 
 If the institutions for higher education are at present 
 but few ia British tropical Africa, we must not forget that 
 the problem hitherto has been to keep abreast of the demands 
 of Government and commerce, and to supply the requirements 
 of the teaching staff. The educated African demands a 
 university for West Africa, and nothiag could be more desir- 
 able than that African youths, who wish to qualify for the 
 
 ^ The Omdurman training college for teachers in the elementary Bchools was 
 in 1916 absorbed in the Gordon College, Khartum, -which in addition has an 
 upper school divided into four sections, to train pupils for the several vocations 
 of engineers, kadis (magistrates), teachers, and general service under Govern- 
 ment or business houses, in the proportion of 1, 1, 5, 4^. It affords the only 
 facility for higher education in the Sudan. In addition, it has a primary and a 
 technical school. There are 231 boarders, and great attention is paid to field 
 sports. 
 
456 EDUCATION. 
 
 professions, should be able to take their degrees locally. But 
 its advocates, and the native Press which points to the 
 present expense required for " a four or seven years' stay in 
 England " for professional quaUflcation, do not offer any 
 suggestion as to how the endowment fund — ^without which, 
 of course, the founding of a university is impossible — can be 
 raised. This absence of initiative and self-help among those 
 who are foremost in demanding advanced institutions mili- 
 tates against the fruition of their desires. They cannot fail 
 to realise that the financial support which the local Govern- 
 ment can legitimately give, from revenues raised by general 
 taxation, to a project which benefits a comparatively small 
 section, must necessarily be limited by the imperative demands 
 for popular education. It is, moreover, more than doubtful 
 whether there are at present a sufficient number of candidates 
 to make a imiversity a practical possibility.^ 
 
 That these difficulties may be met, and that the idea may 
 materialise in the not distant future, must be the wish of all 
 who deplore the consequences of sending African boys to 
 England to complete their studies — not seldom with the result 
 that they become denationalised, and lose touch with their 
 own people. 
 
 Secondary, and even primary, schools must always be 
 supplemented by " continuation " and special classes. The 
 object of these is to provide opportunity for boys to learn 
 some special subject not included in the syllabus, or to carry 
 their studies beyond the school standards in subjects taught 
 in the schools ; and finally, to enable young men, who are no 
 longer pupils at any school, to receive instruction which they 
 could not otherwise obtain. These special classes thus relieve 
 the syllabus of a number of subjects for which there is no 
 time in school hours, or for which the nmnber of applicants 
 for tuition is smaU. They can be encouraged by special 
 grants, and any quaUfled person, official or unofficial, can be 
 
 1 It was generally agreed that before the idea of founding a university in 
 Hong-Kong could be considered to be a practical proposal, an endowment of 
 at least $1,000,000 must be raised in addition to the cost of buildings (about 
 $300,000) already promised. The money was subscribed chiefly by the Chinese 
 themselves. Before founding the Khartum College as a memorial to Gordon 
 (not so ambitious a proposal as a university), Lord Kitchener asked for a fund 
 of £200,000. The African progressives, who lightly say that "the time has 
 come to found a West African university on lines of African nationality," do 
 not indicate a single donation from the wealthy members of their community 
 towards its realisation. 
 
FEMALE EDTTCATION. 457 
 
 employed as a fee'd lecturer. They include, of course, tech- 
 nical demonstrations, for which purpose Government labora- 
 tories, workshops, and apparatus can be used. The award 
 of diplomas to students who pass a test examination will add 
 to their popularity. __-— 
 
 A movement has lately been set on foot by an African lady 
 to collect funds for the establishment in the Gold Coast 
 colony of a training institute for girls — ^who, she considers, 
 are fully fifty years behind their brothers in educational 
 development. The intention is to teach all branches of 
 domestic science and child-welfare, and to train girls in 
 dressmaking, millinery, market-gardening, poultry-farming, 
 and typewriting. To these midwifery and nursing might be 
 added, with a view to decreasing the present heavy infant 
 mortality in Africa. 
 
 In a Christian monogamous community there are many 
 girls who require to earn their own living, but throughout 
 the greater part of Africa a girl is married at a very early 
 age, and " domestic science " and child- welfare must be 
 learnt in her school-days. The movement is one to which 
 all well-wishers of Africa wUl desire success in the limited 
 number of places where its need is felt. 
 
 I am not qualified to discuss female education from any 
 detailed or particular point of view. What I have written 
 regarding the principles of education in Africa applies equally 
 to girls as to boys — viz., that the primary object should be to 
 fit the individual to fill a useful part in her environment, with 
 happiness to herself. The immense value to the educated 
 youth of Africa, of having wives who can share their thoughts 
 and sympathise in and understand their work, is only less 
 important than the influence which the mother should exert 
 in forming the character of her children. Improvement lq 
 the standard of private hfe is fully as important as in that 
 of public life. ^ 
 
 The Governments of our Crown colonies and dependencies 
 have, I think, been too ready to leave the burden of education 
 to be borne by the Missions. In most of the African depend- 
 encies the proportion of revenue devoted to this aU-important 
 object might well be doubled or even trebled. Eegarding our 
 task from either of the two standpoints which I have em- 
 phasised in this volimie — viz., our duty to the natives, and our 
 responsibility to civUisation — ^the obligation is insistent. It 
 
458 EDUCATION. 
 
 is from the natives that the bulk of the revenue is ultimately- 
 derived, and it is oux duty to train them so that they may 
 take that share in municipal and governmental work for 
 which they prove themselves to be quaMed ; that they may 
 fill the posts, both clerical and technical, for which good 
 salaries are offered ; that they may learn to adopt scientific 
 methods in business and agriculture, so as to make the best 
 of their opportunities, their labour, and the resources of their 
 coimtry, and hold their own in the world's competition. 
 
 The merchant, the miner, and the trader need the help of 
 educated natives, whether as clerks and accountants or as 
 artisans, to assist in the development of the country — a 
 development in which Africans are themselves taking an 
 increasingly prominent part. It is useless to build railways 
 if you have no clerks, accountants, telegraphists, or signal- 
 men, and no artisans for the workshops — and the same may 
 be said of every other department. The employment of 
 natives of the country by Government and commercial firms 
 not only benefits the country by keeping the money in it, 
 but saves the passage-money of aliens, and promotes con- 
 tinuity, which is sacrificed by employing Europeans, who 
 have constantly to go on leave. Alike, therefore, from mo- 
 tives of moral obligation or material progress, there can be 
 no way in which the revenue can be better applied than in 
 promoting education.^ 
 
 Though little material reduction in the cost of education 
 can be expected from school fees, it is, I think, important 
 that they should be imposed, however nominal in amount.^ 
 
 ' The cost of education in Nigeria (including grants to aided schools) was 
 only about 1.5 per cent of ordinary revenue in 1913. This would have been 
 largely increased but for the financial stringency due to the war. It is, however, 
 exclusive of the large sums spent by the native administrations, and of the 
 cost of training apprentices. The cost in Sierra Leone in 1919 is stated to have 
 been 3.5 per cent of "available revenue." Education was started in this colony 
 as far back as 1737.— (Governor's Speech.) In the Gold Coast the cost was 
 2 per cent in 1917 and 2.9 in 1918. In East Africa the amount spent on Tiative 
 education appears to be altogether negligible. It is stated by Mr Woolf to have 
 been £1835 out of £666,000 in 1909-10— viz., -3 per cent.— ioc. cit., p. 344. 
 In Uganda lump-sum grants are made to Missions (without qualification tests) 
 aggregating in 1918-19 £2100 out of a revenue of £351,835— viz., '6 per cent.— 
 (Report, Cmd. 508 (37) of 1920.) See note, p. 429. Similar grants are made in 
 Nyasaland of £1000— viz., '5 per cent of revenue in 1918-19.— Cmd. 508 (24) of 
 1920. There is evidence of a greatly-increased interest in education in all the 
 "West African colonies. 
 
 ^ In the Sudan the village schools are supported by an educational rate, 
 usually on crops, land, or date-palms, imposed by the Governor of the Province 
 
CONCLTJSIONS. 459 
 
 The African is not singular in regarding as of little value what 
 costs him nothing. The primitive savage is indeed apt to 
 think that he should rather be paid for allowing his children 
 to attend school, since he loses their household labour. 
 
 The time has not yet come for compulsory education in 
 Africa, if for no other reasons than the paucity of qualified 
 teachers, and the enormous cost. When, however, a boy 
 receives his education free of cost, it would seem desirable 
 that he should be compelled to remain and complete the school 
 course. In most of the African dependencies there is an 
 eager demand, both on the part of the parents and children 
 — a demand which may be expected to continue unless the 
 results of education are such as to create a prejudice against 
 it. But although tmiversal education is as yet a distant ideal, 
 it should, I think, be a primary object of British policy to 
 disseminate education throughout the country, with a view 
 to breaking down the distinction between the educated and 
 Europeanised class in the capital cities, and the bulk of the 
 population in the interior. Each provincial capital to begin 
 with should become a centre from which educational progress 
 may radiate. 
 
 So important in my view are the main considerations in 
 regard to education, which it has been the purpose of this 
 and the preceding chapter to present to my readers, that I 
 will venture briefly to recapitulate them, lest they should be 
 obscured by the minor matters of detail referred to. I have 
 emphasised the fact that not only as trustees for their ad- 
 vancement are we pledged to afford to the races of the tropics 
 the best education we can give to fit them for an increasiug 
 share in governmental and municipal duties, but that the 
 irresistible material progress of the country demands an ever- 
 increasing supply of Africans with both a literary and a tech- 
 nical education — a demand which we ourselves have created, 
 and one which may be the greatest and most potent factor 
 for good if rightly used ; for evU, and ultimate disaster, if 
 the basis of our structure be founded on wrong principles. 
 Moreover, great as are the claims of the minority, from whose 
 ranks the demands of Government and commerce are suppUed, 
 they must not obscure those of the great majority who are 
 
 and approved by the Governor-General. Non-ratepayers are charged 23. per 
 month. The fees at Government primary schools are £4, 28. per annum ; at 
 Gordon College £7, 10s., and for boarders £20 per annum. 
 
460 EDTJCATION. 
 
 content to live the life their fathers have lived in their vil- 
 lages. 
 
 The coloured races of the world are awakening to self- 
 consciousness under Western influences. In Africa tribal rule 
 is disintegrating. On the form which the new aspirations 
 take will depend the future relations of these peoples with the 
 white races of the world. Are the foundations being truly- 
 laid ? Is the education provided by our schools such as to 
 guide those aspirations into the channels best adapted for the 
 evolution of individual character and racial progress ? This 
 is the great problem upon which incalculable results may — 
 nay, must — depend. 
 
 My aim has been to urge that these results may best be 
 achieved by placing the formation of character before the 
 training of the intellect, and to make some few suggestions 
 as to how this may be done — ^by boarding-schools ; by an 
 adequate British staff ; by so framing the grant code and 
 regulations as to enlist the co-operation of the Mission Societies, 
 and extend the control of Government over all educational 
 agencies ; and finally, by the encouragement of moral and 
 religious instruction. And by this I do not mean any particular 
 system of philosophy or of creeds. " I speak of the controlling 
 force and guiding principle which ministers through creeds 
 , and systems of philosophy to spiritual needs — the force which 
 inspires a man to a sense of duty, to unswerving integrity 
 a,nd loyalty, whether in the public or the private relations of 
 li^e. It is additional to and greater than the secular and 
 utilitarian education of the class-room. It is founded gene- 
 rally on religious sanctions, and finds its highest expression in 
 tie noblest of creeds. It is an essential part of the environ- 
 ment and atmosphere of any institution fit to train and edu- 
 cate a nation." ^ 
 / 
 
 ' Speech at the opening of the Hong-Kong University, 11th March 1912. 
 
461 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 TEANSPOET. 
 
 Cheap transport a necessity — Necessity for railways^Selection of routes — 
 Pioneer lines — Methods of construction : (a) contractors ; (6) " the 
 departmental system " ; (e) by the Local Government ; (d) by private 
 enterprise — Application of railway revenues — Location of central 
 workshops — Standardisation — Narrow - gauge development lines — 
 Tramways — Mechanical transport — Animal transport — Boads and 
 carts. 
 
 In Africa, even more than in most other countries — owing 
 to the great distance of its interior regions from the seaboard, 
 and to the comparatively low value of raw materials in pro- 
 portion to their bulk and weight, — cheap transport is a vital 
 necessity for the development of trade and commerce. 
 
 For uncounted centuries the African has been his own 
 beast of burden, and a simple calculation shows that the 
 cost of land transport by such means, with a wage-rate of 
 9d. a day, is about 3s. per ton vaile.^ This is somewhat re- 
 duced by the use of pack-animals in those districts where 
 they can be employed — as in the far interior in the west, — 
 but they cannot traverse belts infested by the tsetse fly, or 
 survive in the coast regions, and were unknown in Uganda 
 and Nyasaland. 
 
 It foUows that produce worth £30 a ton at the port of 
 shipment wiU have cost its fuU value to transport over a dis- 
 tance of less than 200 miles, leaving nothing for original cost 
 of production and profit to the producer. The distance there- 
 fore over which produce can be conveyed by human transport 
 
 1 A man carrying 65 lbs. for a distance of 12 miles per diem for six days 
 in the week would at 9d. a day cost 2s. 6d. per ton mile. To this must be 
 added subsistence money on the return journey, and a margin for sickness and 
 supervision, so that 2s. 6d. a ton mile is less than the actual cost for long dis- 
 tances. The rate per ton mile for long distances may be put at four times 
 the daily wage of the labourer. For bulky loads the cost is much more. 
 
462 TRANSPORT. 
 
 in competition with that of regions, in Africa or elsewhere, 
 situated nearer to the coast, or to a navigable waterway or 
 railway, is extremely limited. 
 
 Moreover, the native producer can in such circumstances 
 only obtaiQ a very small profit (if he can sell at aU), and 
 has therefore no money wherewith either to buy imports or 
 to pay a tax, and can only pay it ia kind, which the Govern- 
 ment, for Kke reasons, is unable to realise. With meagre 
 imports (and therefore no customs dues) and with no direct 
 tax, the revenue must be so small that it can devote no 
 funds to development works. The vicious circle is com- 
 pleted by the excessive cost of the machinery of administra- 
 tion — ^not in money alone but in human life, — ^for the cost 
 of conveying food supplies and building material is so great 
 that officials are neither housed nor fed as the chmate demands 
 to maintain health. These facts are now recognised as the 
 axioms of African administration. If they had been accepted 
 earlier, very many lives might have been saved, and also 
 much of the taxpayer's money, — spent in grants-in-aid which 
 were no remedy. 
 
 It is, however, now recognised that the construction of 
 arterial railways and the development of waterways, though 
 involving subsidies or loans upon which the country may not 
 for some time be able to pay interest, is the truest economy, 
 and the postponement of such works involves unjustifiable 
 waste.^ For the development of the African continent is 
 impossible without railways, and has awaited their advent. 
 Moreover, they have in aU cases proved to be abundantly 
 remunerative.^ A railway reduces administrative expenses 
 
 ' It is interesting to recall the fact that while Lord Selborne was telling 
 an audience at Reading in December 1898 that the delay in starting the 
 Uganda railway was responsible for the Fashoda crisis, Monsieur Leroy 
 Beaulieu pointed out in the Debats that France's delay in constructing the 
 trans-Saharan line had cost them the Fashoda rebuff. Had this line been built, 
 he argued, France could have seized Sokoto and Kano by sending 60,000 men 
 from Algeria, and could have held Northern Nigeria as a hostage. 
 
 Just as the precipitate haste of the Powers to acquire territorial sovereignty in 
 Africa compelled us eitectively to occupy districts which might otherwise have 
 been developed by a more gradual process, so the activity of our rivals in railway 
 construction, with the object of forestalling us and capturing the trade of our 
 hinterlands, has compelled us to push forward in the same direction, unless we 
 were prepared to lose the markets we had secured. 
 
 2 There is no need to urge these facts in the present day, as there was in 1892, 
 when I advocated the building of the Uganda railway. Of that line, which so 
 many stigmatised at the time as a waste of public money, Mr Lloyd George, 
 
BENEFITS OP RAILWAYS Df AFRICA. 463 
 
 in the transport of stores, and in the time of officials ia reach- 
 ing their work ; it saves the lives and health of officers ; it 
 reduces the number and cost of the troops required for policing 
 the country by increasing their mobility ; it renders direct 
 taxation possible by affording a market for produce, and 
 increasing the wealth of the people ; it opens up new markets 
 for British trade ; it has killed the slave-trade ; it liberates 
 labour engaged in transport for productive work ; and by 
 proper methods of construction it forms the most valuable 
 of educational agencies for a free labour supply. It has been 
 calculated that one railway train of average capacity and 
 engine-power will do the work of 13,000 carriers at one- 
 twentieth the cost. 
 
 Arterial Unes of communication are, moreover, a neces- 
 sary precursor of roads, for, as we shall presently see, neither 
 mechanical nor animal-draught transport — ^for which they 
 are constructed — can be of any great service for the develop- 
 ment of interior regions, except as feeders to a railway or 
 navigable waterway. 
 
 A railway should, of course, when possible, have some definite 
 objective, as the Uganda railway had in the Victoria Lake, 
 to the shores of which (extending for 800 or 1000 miles) the 
 produce of the surrounding countries can be brought, and 
 hence transported by water to the railway port. Or the 
 objective may be a mineralised area like the tin-fields, or the 
 coal deposits of Mgeria or Gwelo, or the copper mines of 
 Katanga. Or the railway may connect some great centre 
 like Khartum or Kano with the sea, or link two navigable 
 sections of a river with each other, as the Matadi line on the 
 
 speaking in the House of Commons on 25th June 1912, said : " In 1902-3 Uganda 
 exported nothing. In 1907-8 it exported 17,000 cwt. of cotton. In 1910-11, 
 83,000 cwt., and this year it is expected that 105,000 cwt. will be exported. 
 In 1902 there were three or four trains in each direction. Now there are fifty or 
 sixty in the course of the week, and the traffic is bursting all bounds." Nearly 
 half the revenue of East Africa is derived from the earnings of the railway. — 
 Economic Report, loo. cit., p. 7. 
 
 Nigeria offers an even more striking instance. The railway to Kano was only 
 completed some ten years ago. Its revenue (with the short lines to Udi and to 
 the tin mines) was £1,622,212 in 1920, about 17 per cent on capital cost, including 
 harbour works. It has ousted the trans-Saharan trade. In 1897, 2345 camels 
 left Tripoli alone for Sokoto, carrying £115,000 of goods. — Depeche Coloniale, 
 27th July 1908. 
 
 Lord Morley in his Indian budget speech (21st July 1906) stated that he 
 railways had doubled their revenue iu five years. 
 
464 TEANSPOET. 
 
 Congo, the Keyes-Bamako on the Upper Mger, or the Sudan 
 railway on the Nile.^ 
 
 But failing such definite objectives as these, which formed 
 the first inducements to railway construction in Africa, any 
 railway built reasonably cheaply through a populous country 
 is bound to be remunerative, and, as East Africa has proved, 
 it may be equally successful, in rare instances, in inducing 
 settlers to develop a sparsely-populated region with a good 
 climate. The main object is to tap trade-routes and connect 
 populous cities. But before the trace is pegged out it is of 
 essential importance (a) that the general railway policy and 
 arterial system should be well thought out, so that each link 
 may fit into the system, and (&) that a thorough survey 
 should be made so that the best possible route may be 
 selected.^ 
 
 Sir Guildford Molesworth has observed that capital cost is 
 too frequently increased by adherence to " the traditional ex- 
 cellence of railway construction." In constructing a pioneer 
 line in Africa, the one and only object should be to get the 
 track through somehow, and begin to earn receipts. Con- 
 struction must begin from every point to which it is possible 
 to transport material cheaply, or where earthworks can be 
 undertaken in anticipation. Any work of magnitude, such 
 as the crossing of a great river, must be postponed, and a 
 substitute, such as a train-ferry, must be used, or bulk broken.^ 
 
 ' The Cape to Cairo railway can only be justified in so far aa each section has 
 a definite objective, which offers reasonable prospects of being remunerative. 
 Railways in Africa must lead by the shortest route to the seaport, and not 
 along its length. The estimates both as to distance, time, and cost of construc- 
 tion given in the 'Times' of 11th February 1899 were so fallacious as to lead 
 the sceptical to conjecture that the real object was to tap cheap labour supplies 
 for South African mines. 
 
 ' I do not here discuss the probable railway development of the future in 
 West Africa, but it will not be amiss to bear the following facts in mind. 
 Nigeria is by far the largest and most densely-populated of our "West African 
 dependencies. The present terminus of the line is at Kano, a great collecting 
 centre for the hides, skins, and produce of the nomad cattle tribes to north and 
 east. Kano is 712 miles from the port of Lagos, and thence 4000 by sea to 
 England. Bornu, bordering Lake Chad, is another possible centre of cotton 
 development, and of hides. If linked up with the Kano line, its distance from 
 the sea would not be less than 1000 miles. From these places to the Mediter- 
 ranean in a direct line is about 1200 miles (to Tripoli). France talks of a 
 railway to Agadir and thence to Timbuktu and Chad (connecting eventually 
 with a Camerun line). Italy talks of reviving the Tripoli-Chad trade. In 
 time of war, if not in peace, the desert route by railway would supersede that 
 to the Guinea coast. 
 
 * The Ganges bridge was not constructed for thirty years after the railway 
 crossed the river. The Brahmaputra bridge has not yet been built. The 
 
METHODS OP CONSTEUCTION. 465 
 
 Terminal reclamations and accommodation, if they interfere 
 with progress, must wait. All above-rail works which are not 
 absolutely essential — and even baUastiag unless the material 
 is on the spot — should be deferred. The telegraph and the 
 block system must do the work of railway signals. Triangles 
 can replace turn-tables ; platforms, waiting-rooms, and other 
 buildiags eventually necessary to a railway can be postponed. 
 It must suffice if the traia can travel by day only and at 
 twelve miles an hour ; aU the improvements can come later, 
 when the railway is already begtaning to earn and to reduce 
 administrative charges. In permanent-way material (weight 
 of rail and number of steel sleepers), however, and in the 
 quality and adequate supply of roUing-stock, economy must 
 not predomiuate. These were the principles on which Sir 
 Percy Girouard built the Nile railway, and Sir J. Eaglesome 
 the Baro-Kano line in Mgeria, and the results amply justified 
 them. 
 
 EaUways in Africa have either been built by contract or 
 by " the departmental system," or (in the case of those in 
 the Sudan and in Nigeria) by the local Government.^ The 
 first method is hardly practicable ia the tropics, for the un- 
 known factors are so many, and the contractor must so 
 largely depend on the assistance of the local Government 
 for procuring labour, &c., that the margin for contiagencies 
 and profit which he must allow to cover his risks is pro- 
 hibitive. 
 
 The presence of a considerable body of Europeans inde- 
 pendent of government control, though handling large bodies 
 of natives, probably in districts as yet little accustomed to 
 Europeans, is likely to create difficulties, both as regards 
 Government officials and the native population. Moreover, 
 the new information which is continually being acquired, and 
 the development of policy in a new country, result in changes 
 of design, and in additional works, which may vitiate the 
 terms of the contract, and so render inoperative the penalty 
 clauses as to time and cost, which are the chief attraction in 
 the contract system. 
 
 The terms offered — ^whether to railway contractors or to a 
 
 Uganda railway instead of traversing Busoga stopped short at the lake, and 
 made its connection by 160 miles of waterway. Though the Niger bridge was 
 perhaps constructed prematurely, and before adequate investigation had been 
 made, the river was crossed for some time by a train-ferry. 
 ^ For the official description of these systems see Cd. 2325 of 1904. 
 
 2 G 
 
466 TRANSPORT. 
 
 company — have in some cases included the alienation of rights 
 in land and minerals, and a share in profits, which have pro 
 rata mortgaged the future of the country, or have interfered 
 with native rights.^ A right of expropriation by Government 
 on reasonable terms should in all cases be carefully preserved. 
 
 Where local contracts are made, whether for railways or 
 other large works, it is generally advisable to make a single 
 contract for the whole, unless the work is easily and clearly 
 divisible into separate units, for it is otherwise difiBcult to 
 fix responsibility. It is also advisable to stipulate against 
 the subletting of portions by the contractor. He should 
 also be prohibited from subletting the whole, except with 
 the consent of Government, for it is obvious that in that 
 case his profits are a superfluous charge on the work, and the 
 sub-contractor's profits must be cut so fine as to invite bad 
 work or failure. 
 
 Too great care cannot be taken in drawing up the contract, 
 not only to avoid subsequent controversy and litigation, but 
 also so as to make it as elastic as possible, to admit of altera- 
 tion and enlargement if desired later. Where the work is 
 such as readily to admit of a contract with competitive 
 tenders of resident contractors, the system has many ad- 
 vantages. 
 
 Under the " departmental system " consulting engineers 
 are appointed by the Crown agents. They carry out the 
 preliminary survey, and appoint a resident engineer, who 
 controls the work on their behalf. He and his staff are nomi- 
 nally under the local Government, but he corresponds direct 
 with the consulting engineers, whom he naturally regards 
 as his real employers. The consulting engineers are bound 
 by no contract, either as to cost or time. They usually submit 
 a preliminary estimate, safeguarded by many reservations as 
 
 ^ The contractors for the abortive Suakim-Berber railway in 1885 employed 
 English navvies on exorbitant rates of pay, in the fierce heat of the desert. 
 Those who, like myself, were there can vividly recall the sequel of drunkenness, 
 insubordination, and mutiny which followed. The constructors of the Bechuana. 
 railway were, I believe, given every alternate mile of laud (including mineral 
 rights), a Government subsidy of £20,000, and a lien of 12^ per cent on net 
 profits. — 'Times,' 11th February 1899. 
 
 The French decree of 1901, which conceded the construction of the Dahomey 
 railway to Monsieur Borelli, allowed an annual subsidy of £80 per kilometre for 
 8 years, and special tariffs, with tracts of land aggregating 1150 square miles, 
 including mineral rights. These terms evoked a protest from French, British, 
 and German merchants, on the grounds that it made the colony the property of 
 a commercial syndicate. 
 
THE DEPAETMENTAl SYSTEM." 467 
 
 to contingencies which they cannot foresee or control. There 
 is no incentive to keep the estimate low,^ and every reason 
 to avoid the odium of exceeding it, but in my experience it 
 has always been exceeded. Their profits are subject to no 
 risk. Materials are ordered through the Crown agents, who 
 receive a percentage on the cost of all supplies. The local 
 Government has to pay the bill with the very minimum of 
 control over expenditure which it is possible to conceive. 
 
 The high standing and unimpeachable integrity of the 
 consulting engineers and of the Crown agents are its only 
 protection. Against errors and needless expenditure by 
 the resident engineer, or enhancement of the labour-rate to 
 the permanent detriment of the colony, it has none, for it 
 is practically impossible for the local Government to change 
 the resident engineer, even though satisfied as to his incom- 
 petency or unsuitability. Such a system must needs be ex- 
 pensive, and must needs cause friction. In my own experi- 
 ence its results have not been happy, while the strictures 
 passed by Colonel Waghom — an Indian expert who inspected 
 the Lagos railway — ^formed a condemnation of the system. 
 The rate of progress was stated by Mr Churchill to be twenty- 
 five mUes a year for the Sierra Leone railway, and thirty- 
 one for the Lagos hne, which, however, was said to have 
 " many defects owing to hasty construction ! " ^ 
 
 ^ In Nigeria an estimate for a light line, 3 ft. 6 in. gauge, was reduced by 
 consulting engineers from £7000 to £3000 per mile, when a policy of independent 
 construction was advocated. The cheaper estimate of course involved the 
 elimination of most of the above-rail works, and presupposed cheap contracts 
 for sea and river freight, but these possibilities did not come to light until the 
 estimates were challenged by the alternative method of construction. 
 
 '■' Sir P. Swettenham gives a graphic description of the " established system " 
 for the construction of railways in Crown colonies. ' ' The system is that the 
 consulting engineers to the Crown agents (and no dependency is allowed to 
 choose its own consulting engineers) undertake the whole job." They survey 
 the line, appoint as many engineers as they like, on salaries fixed by themselves, 
 decide the weight of the rails, the type of the bridges and rolling-stock, and 
 purchase the whole of the materials, and the colony pays the bill. " Neither 
 the colony's chief engineer, nor its governor, nor its executive or legislative 
 council have any real responsibility for the work, even though it takes twice as 
 long to construct as the time originally estimated, and costs twice as much. . . . 
 The work is executed thousands of miles away from the people who are responsible 
 for it, who very probably have no personal knowledge of . . . climate and rain- 
 fall, labour conditions, local prices, and local materials. " The engineer in charge 
 has probably to buy his experience at the cost of the colony. "No one is 
 responsible. The Secretary of State only insists on the system . . . the Crown 
 agents have clearly nothing to do with it, the whole business only gives them 
 trouble. The consulting engineers cannot be held responsible " if local conditions 
 and prices are not what they expected. " Worst of all, the consulting engineers 
 
468 TEANSPOBT. 
 
 The home Government under this system assumes through 
 the Crown agents a direct control, and is responsible for the 
 proper and economical expenditure of the funds, whether as 
 trustee to the British taxpayer for an Imperial subsidy 
 or to the local taxpayer for colonial funds. Every line so 
 constructed should therefore be inspected by an independent 
 authority — preferably from India — and his report made 
 public. The present tendency, I am told, is to employ con- 
 sulting-engineer-contractors, who deal direct with the mami- 
 facturers, and are responsible for both design and execution. 
 
 There remains the system of construction by the local 
 Government. To ensure success the engineer-in- charge must 
 be a man of high reputation. He and his staff — temporarily 
 increased for the purpose — are the direct employees of the 
 local Government, and stand or fall by the residts of their 
 work. The Government selects its consulting engineers, to 
 whom it refers for advice regarding any large bridge, &c. 
 For the port terminus it can employ separate consultants, as 
 experts in harbour works, wharves, and terminal facilities. 
 If there is a competent man ia the colony, consulting engineers 
 are no more required for ordinary railway construction than 
 for buildings or roads, but for such special constructions as 
 harbour works, moles, &c., in which a mistake cannot be 
 subsequently rectified, consulting engineers are essential. 
 Their employment ensures continuity of responsibility when 
 the colonial staff has disappeared. The whole resources of 
 Government are invoked for the work. Administrative officers 
 engage and look after the interests of the labourers. Govern- 
 ment steamers assist in transporting material. Troops (and 
 also convicts) may help in the construction. When once the 
 system has been started the first object should be to maintain 
 a regular construction staff. 
 
 The Northern Mgeria railway, bmlt by Sir P. Girouard 
 and Sir J. Eaglesome imder this system (which I had strongly 
 recommended), was considered to be the cheapest, most 
 
 disappear as such, and are replaced by construction engineers, who pass the work 
 of their own man, or of the contractors they employ." He thus concludes : 
 " Therefore whatever the kind of work put in, the Government has to accept it ; 
 whatever the bill, the Government has to pay it ; however the time of construction 
 is exceeded, the public must bear it patiently ; because this is the established 
 system under which railways are made in Crown colonies. It might almost be 
 added that unless a man believe in the system faithfully he cannot be saved." 
 —'Malaya,' pp. 281-283. 
 
STATE OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT. 469 
 
 rapid, and in every way the most satisfactory line hitherto 
 constructed in tropical Africa.^ If the local Government 
 cannot imdertake the work, it should at least have control 
 over all local expenditure on labour, &c., and the railway 
 staff should be responsible to it. 
 
 The earliest Indian railways were constructed by private 
 enterprise, under a Government guarantee of about 5 per 
 cent and a share of profits in excess of 5 per cent. Experience 
 has shown this method to be unsatisfactory, and the private 
 companies are now nearly all expropriated. The general 
 opinion, said Lord Morley, is that for India a system of con- 
 struction by Government and working by private enterprise 
 is the best, and this system was adopted in respect of 52 per 
 cent of the mileage of Indian railways.^ The great aggregate 
 profits made by Indian railways, in spite of the fact that 
 many were constructed for f amiae relief, or for strategic pur- 
 poses, and not expected to be remunerative, affords a strong 
 argument in favour of State ownership in such countries.* 
 
 I strongly share Mr Chamberlain's opinion that railways in 
 our African dependencies must be owned and maiatained by 
 the Government. It alone should be responsible for the 
 acquisition of the land, the provision of labour for construc- 
 tion, the training of skilled labour in the workshops, and the 
 control of subordinates — too apt to take advantage of an 
 ignorant people — ^when the line is in running order. The 
 administration, moreover, is itself too dependent on the rail- 
 way to admit of its being in other hands. The local revenue, 
 and not the foreign investor, should benefit from the profits 
 
 ^ The railway built later to the coal-mines in Nigeria under the same system 
 has been an equal success. The first experiment (preceding the Baro-Kano 
 railway) consisted of a light 2 ft. 6 in. line, 22 miles long. Sanction was obtained 
 in the spring. The rails were rolled in England in June, and the first train 
 reached its destination by Christmas. The cost was £1480 per mile, which 
 had been declared to be impossible. The railways in the Malay States, con- 
 structed in the same way, were equally successful. — 'Malaya,' p. 281. 
 
 ^ The system of management by companies domiciled in England was 
 unanimously condemned by the Committee of Inquiry appointed by the Indian 
 Government in October 1920. — Cmd. 1512 of 1921. Half the members recom- 
 mend management by the State, the other half prefer management by companies 
 domiciled in India. 
 
 5 The Committee, whose expert authority must carry great weight, do not 
 question the principle of State ownership, but they point out that the estimate 
 of profits is vitiated by the failure to write off depreciation of wasting assets, such 
 as bridges, rails, and rolling-stock, so that their original cost should have been 
 refunded from revenue by the time their useful life has expired. This absence 
 of "commercial accounting methods, in a commercial undertaking" extends, I 
 think, in some of the African dependencies to marine vessels and plant. 
 
470 TRANSPORT. 
 
 realised, or it may be desirable in the interests of the country 
 to forgo or to decrease the profits from a railway. An ex- 
 ception may occasionally be made in the case of a short 
 branch to develop a particidar mine or industry if the right 
 of expropriation on payment of capital cost and interest be 
 reserved. 
 
 It should, in my view, be a recognised principle that rail- 
 ways must not be regarded as directly revenue-earning.^ 
 After paying their running expenses and depreciation, interest 
 on capital cost, and a small contribution to a sinking fund for 
 the extinction of the debt, all profits should be devoted to 
 the improvement of the line (including workshops and rolling- 
 stock), and to reduction in freight rates. As an indirect 
 agency in increasing trade, they are the greatest of revenue- 
 earners. 
 
 There is perhaps a tendency in Africa to place the central 
 workshops at or near the coast terminus. Modem experience 
 is averse to this. The North-Western Eailway of India has 
 its shops at Lahore, not at Karachi. The Bengal-Nagpur and 
 East Indian Eailway workshops are at Jabalpore, not at 
 Calcutta, and the same holds for aU English railways. Work- 
 shops near the coast are in a more vulnerable position ia 
 case of war, and if seriously damaged might paralyse the whole 
 Une. But in Africa there is an additional reason for this 
 principle, since the coast climate is enervating and usually 
 malarial, and the seaport offers greater temptations to the 
 European and African staff alike. The workshops afford im- 
 rivalled schools for the training of native apprentices, and it 
 is a short-sighted policy to expose them to avoidable iafluences 
 for evil, even were it shown that there was some material 
 advantage in such a location. 
 
 The cost, both of construction and maintenance of railways 
 in the tropics, could be very appreciably decreased by a 
 system of standardising the requirements in equipment and 
 roUing-stock, including bridging and wharflng material, con- 
 structional iron- work for buildings, signalling and electrical 
 installations, pumping plant, &c. The system of indents, 
 
 ' Most of the African dependencies adopt this vicious principle, and so retard 
 development. East Africa derived 48 to 49 per cent of its revenue from railway 
 profits (Economic Report, p. 7), a system lately abandoned, and the Sudan about 
 35 per cent. — (Handbook 98, p. 158). The Indian Committee insists that railways 
 should have "a separate budget, and be responsible for earning and expending 
 their own revenue." See note, p. 99. 
 
NAEEOW-GATJGE LINES. 471 
 
 according to the particular views and designs of each engineer, 
 involves unnecessary drawing-office work, inspection, and cost 
 in manufacture, as well as delay in execution. Standard types 
 should be fixed by a committee of men with actual African 
 experience, assisted by one or more experts, who would bring 
 new inventions to their notice. " There was," says the Indian 
 Industries Eeport, " a totally unnecessary diversity in orders 
 for the same class of articles, instead of standard types, only 
 to be deviated from where there are express reasons for doing 
 so." 1 British engineering trade in Chiaa has suffered greatly 
 in the competition with the United States from the same 
 •defect. 
 
 Opinions differ as to the advisability of constructing narrow- 
 gauge railways (2 ft. or 2 ft. 6 in. gauge) as feeder lines. 
 If it is intended eventually to replace such a line by one on 
 the standard gauge, the initial saving is chiefly limited to 
 permanent way material and rolling-stock, for the cost of 
 survey and alignment is no less, and bridges and culverts 
 must be built wide enough and strong enough to carry the 
 eventual standard-gauge line. Freights in proportion to train 
 mileage are reduced, and the maintenance staff is not appre- 
 ciably less. Above all, the complication of gauges prevents 
 interchanges of roUing-stock, and involves breaking of bulk. 
 It necessitates separate workshops, while there is a tempta- 
 tion to use heavier engines than the rails will bear. If, on 
 the other hand, there is no expectation of a development of 
 traffic sufficient for a standard-gauge line later on, the cost 
 would, of course, be somewhat reduced, but would rarely 
 be justified. 
 
 I am inclined to the conclusion that a line of less than 
 the standard gauge should only be built when for financial 
 reasons it is impossible to build a standard-gauge line ; when 
 there is a reasonable expectation that it wiU eventually be 
 replaced by a standard-gauge, and the narrow-gauge rails 
 can be taken up and used elsewhere ; when the length is 
 sufficient to compensate in some degree for the duplication 
 of ^gauges, and to make the saving in construction cost appre- 
 ciable — say, 100 miles ; and when there is every reason to 
 believe that, while production will be increased, the traffic 
 wiU not exceed the capacity of the narrow-gauge line for a 
 considerable period — say, fifteen years — as in the case of areas 
 
 1 Cmd. 51 of 1919, p. 126. 
 
472 TEANSPOET. 
 
 newly taken up by settlers, where bulk freights cannot be 
 expected until experimental plantations have been tested 
 and come into bearing. Or again, in the case of an unproved 
 mineral field, or where the best route to be followed by a 
 permanent line is in the circumstances difi&cult to determine. 
 There is, I think, an almost imanimous opinion against shorter 
 and more temporary feeder lines on a narrow gauge. If in any 
 circumstances they are constructed they should be worked 
 on the principle of a tramway — without stations or station 
 staffs, &c. — rather than on that of a railway. 
 
 These remarks do not, of course, apply to any form of light 
 line on which the haulage is not done by locomotives. Light 
 Decauville 2 ft. lines, and mono-rails (where the haul is not 
 against the gradient), may be laid for any temporary purpose 
 with great advantage, and taken up again when the purpose 
 is achieved, the trucks being propelled by hand, or by animal 
 traction. 1 The " loco-tractor " or " road-raU " system, in 
 which the waggons and the guiding wheels of the locomotive 
 run on narrow-gauge rails, but the driving-wheels of the loco- 
 motive, bearing most of its weight, run on a pair of narrow 
 macadam tracks laid beside the rails, may prove to be the 
 best and most economical form which such a method of trans- 
 port can assume, since it claims to be independent of bridges, 
 culverts, and gradients. The Under-Secretary stated to the 
 House that extensive trials were being conducted in Uganda, 
 the result of which has not yet been made public. 
 
 Generally speaking, it may be said that the initial cost of 
 railways is high, while their running and maintenance ex- 
 penses are low compared with road transport, so that if 
 there is a prospect of sufficient volume of traffic developing 
 within a reasonable time over which the initial costs can be 
 distributed, a railway is the most economical form of trans- 
 port. Its running expenses are reduced proportionally to a 
 greater degree than in the case of road traffic by the develop- 
 ment of passenger traffic. The freight rates can at first be 
 fixed high, and yet offer considerable reductions on the form 
 of transport which it supersedes. A railway develops the 
 trade of a district more rapidly than any other method, and 
 
 ' Such short temporary lines, laid alongside a road for animal traction, may- 
 prove to be the cheapest method of conveying cotton or other produce from a 
 producing centre to a central market or the railway, where there are no severe 
 gradients, and no bridging is required. 
 
MECHANICAL ROAD TRANSPOET. 473 
 
 thus indirectly increases the revenue derived from customs 
 duties, &c. On the other hand, while the whole cost of con- 
 struction and maintenance of roads falls on the Government, 
 it derives no revenue from private traffic except such licences 
 on vehicles as it may impose, and these act in restraint of 
 development, and are unlikely to produce any substantial sum. 
 
 The use of mechanical road transport has made great pro- 
 gress in Africa of late years, but it has serious limitations. 
 Calculations of cost are apt to lose sight of the heavy expendi- 
 ture incurred in construction and maintenance of the metalled 
 roads necessary for any continuous and heavy traffic of this 
 nature. Light vans may indeed run for a few months of the 
 dry season on immetalled roads, but continuous traffic, even of 
 light vehicles, soon chums the surface into deep dust or sand. 
 
 If a fuU load can be secured both ways the cost of run- 
 ning may be as low as Is. per ton nule when the return 
 journey can be accompUshed in a single day ; but for greater 
 distances, when liquid fuel must be stored in advance depots, 
 and garages and repair shops provided, the cost rapidly equals 
 that of human or animal transport, and the gain is only in 
 the saving of time. Moreover, in order to keep the costs 
 anywhere in the neighbourhood of Is. per ton mile, native 
 drivers must be employed, and since they are not competent 
 to execute any but the lightest running repairs, the vehicles 
 must rettim each night to headquarters, and can therefore 
 cover no more than an outward journey of about twenty-five 
 miles. 
 
 To avoid the heavy cost of metalling and maintaining 
 roads, " roller-track " vehicles, which, being without wheels, 
 create instead of destroying the roadway, offer attractions. 
 The system has been made famihar by pictures of " tanks " 
 during the war. The revolving sleepers present so large a 
 surface and so distribute the weight that the pressure on the 
 groimd is reduced to a minimum, and loose sand or swamps 
 present no difficulties. There are several types. One of 
 them, the " Ped-raU," is fitted with an ingenious " ankle- 
 joint," which enables it to turn in a narrow radius, and by 
 minimising the road resistance, the draw-bar pull is so re- 
 duced that a couple of men can push or puU a ton load on the 
 level without difficidty. It is claimed that tractors of 100 
 B.H.P. drawing trailers with a load of twenty tons can be 
 worked very economically, while smaller vehicles of one or 
 
474 TEANSPOET. 
 
 two tons can be drawn over any kind of ground by draught 
 animals. To discuss the subject of mechanical road transport 
 in any adequate way would demand more space than I can 
 afford. It is dealt with more fuUy in my report on Nigeria.^ 
 
 It is the immemorial custom of Africa for man (with a 
 load on his head), equally with the wild game, to follow in 
 single file a narrow path, twisting now to the right and now 
 to the left, as some obstacle, long siace passed away, may 
 have dictated. The invaders from the north introduced the 
 camel, the horse, the ox, and the ass, to share as pack animals 
 in the burden of transport, and where they are in use the 
 immemorial path has become widened, but no effort is ever 
 made to remove obstacles or snags. 
 
 The utility of these animals is limited to the dry zone in 
 the west, but they should be available throughout the greater 
 part of East Africa. Mechanical road transport must take 
 their place in those regions in which they do not thrive, or 
 where the tsetse-fly exists. Human carriers may have to be 
 used occasionally on military expeditions, or in close, pre- 
 cipitous, roadless districts ; but, as I said in the chapter on 
 labour. Government should set the example of abandoning 
 this archaic and wastefid form of transport. ^ 
 
 Oxen are specially valuable, since most of the tribes under- 
 stand their management. They are, of course, much more 
 useful as draught than as pack animals.^ The draught ox 
 
 ' Cd. 468 of 1920, appendix vii.'sThe "Tubo" also appears to be a useful 
 type. Though the i?ed-rail train, and the small vehicles for animal traction, 
 appear useful for their respective purposes, they do not meet the need of a 
 mechanically-propelled vehicle capable of carrying a load of 2 to 4 tons. 
 
 The question of the best and most economical substitutes for petrol for 
 internal combustion engines for road transport has lately received much atten- 
 tion. The Colonial Economic Development Committee speaks favourably of 
 " Natalite " — which consists of denatured alcohol mixed with a proportion of 
 ether, — and also of "producer gas." The latter appears to have great possi- 
 bilities, and experiments are being made with it in both East and West Africa. 
 It is claimed that petrol-driven engines can be converted for its use, and that 
 the saving is equivalent to the use of petrol at 3d. a gallon. It is, however, at 
 present in the early experimental stage, and is not spoken of so hopefully by 
 others. See note, p. 513, re "power-alcohol." 
 
 ^ Unknown to the employer, hardship may be caused by the impressment of 
 men who are unused to the work but unable to bribe a village chief. Prompt 
 payment should be made when their task is done, and villagers employed as 
 carriers should not be taken against their will more than a day's march. On 
 the other hand, care is necessary to see that they do not rob villages en route in 
 the name of the white man — an offence at one time common. The French 
 found that main routes were often deserted for this reason. 
 
 ' A native chief in Nigeria aptly described the plough and the cart as " the 
 white man's slaves." 
 
EOADS IN AEEICA. 475 
 
 is the most valuable animal in ordinary cotmtry, the camel 
 ia loose sand, and the mule in steep country intersected by 
 ravines. But the use of the wheel has remained unknown ia 
 Africa, even among the Hamitic negroids in the northern 
 tropical belt, and is only now being slowly iutroduced. Where 
 the use of animals is possible the first lesson for the African 
 is to learn to employ the country-cart of India and China 
 (which can be repaired ia any village, and requires no metalled 
 roads), and to abandon a method of transport suited only to 
 the precipitous gradients of the Himalayas. 
 
 The African does not excel in the care of animals. He wUl 
 Idll them by overwork, and sore-back them by atrocious 
 pack-saddles. He fails to realise such elementary facts as 
 that an animal ia hard work needs a grain ration, or that 
 oxen (which will not graze at night) must be given adequate 
 time to feed by day. 
 
 There are those who have condemned roadmakiag in Africa 
 because roads do not assist the human carrier. But roads are 
 intended to abolish human transport, to faciMtate the use of 
 country carts where draught animals are possible, and of 
 mechanical transport where they are not, and so to act as 
 feeders to a railway. 
 
 Where traffic is heavy and a road is likely to develop into 
 a metaUed track and even iato a tramway or narrow-gauge 
 hne, it is worth the time and cost of a good surveyor to lay 
 it out, so that imnecessary gradients may be avoided, and it 
 may be serviceable aU the year round. A detour of twenty 
 times the vertical height may be taken as generally permissible 
 to ease an ascent, with ruling gradients of 1 in 20 for distances 
 over 100 yards, and 1 in 10 for short ramps. A common error 
 is to make the road too broad, and so to deprive it of shade. 
 A 24-ft. track — 12 ft. of metal if required — ^is ample. Best- 
 houses and native camps must be provided at suitable dis- 
 tances where water is obtaiaable. 
 
 It is a matter of the first importaace to interest the native 
 administrations ia road-construction, and to train native 
 road-makers who should be capable of directiag the work 
 under occasional supervision, leaving the bridgiag to be done 
 by the public works department. BaUast, where necessary, 
 can be collected and broken by villagers, and placed in readi- 
 ness along the roadside, being paid for by the cubic yard. 
 
 As with the pioneer railway, so with the road — " le mieux 
 
476 TRANSPORT. 
 
 est rennemi du bien." It is better to run a rough road from 
 point to point along the surveyed alignment, with stumps 
 and snags cleared, and improve it later by bridging and 
 draining, than to complete a few hundred yards of first-class 
 metalled road for the same cost and time, which effects no 
 definite purpose, and arouses no emulation in the native 
 administration. 
 
 Eoads, as I have said, being ancillary to railways, should 
 be constructed as feeders, and not parallel to them, so as to 
 compete for freights. With regard to carts, it is usefxd to 
 remember that the greater the diameter of the wheel the more 
 easily will it surmount loose sand, and that a narrow tyre 
 offers less resistance than a broad one — a lesson I learnt by 
 practical experience when crossing the Kalahari desert. 
 
477 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 TBADE. 
 
 Nature of trade in Africa — The fixing of price — Monopoly and combina- 
 tion — The middleman — The native trader — The native merchant — 
 British v. native merchants — The Indian trader — Government and 
 trade — Government and private enterprise — Concessions — Concessions 
 for oil- mills — The principles involved — Produce inspection — Cash 
 trade v. barter — Currency — A trade department — An Economic 
 Board — French Chambers of Commerce — Trade commissioners and 
 home agencies — The Crown agents — Criticisms of the system. 
 
 The object of trade may, I presuine, be defined as the ex- 
 change of the commodities of one country for those of another, 
 with mutual benefit to each, while the function of a Govern- 
 ment is to facilitate the operation, so far as may be in its 
 power, and to see that the benefit is reciprocal. Trade in the 
 African tropics assumes at present its most simple form — 
 the exchange of raw produce for manufactured goods. In 
 most countries of the world the producer, in order to obtain 
 a livelihood, is compelled to go on producing as long as there 
 is the barest margra of profit. In Africa, however, as a 
 general rule, owing in part to the sparsity of its population, 
 in part to the fact that the native has few needs, and in part 
 to favourable conditions of climate and soU, the producer is 
 not under any compulsion to produce for sale or exchange, 
 while he can at the same time produce more cheaply than 
 in most other countries. 
 
 Since the wants of the African are few, it would seem at 
 first sight natural that any considerable rise in the price of 
 imported goods would result in a decrease of production. 
 Enhancement of the price of the goods he desires may indeed 
 result in a temporary inclination to hoard his money, which 
 in itself is not altogether undesirable, since it adds to his 
 
478 TRADE. 
 
 capital reserves, but the African is more influenced by the 
 price obtainable for his produce than by the price he has to 
 pay for his purchases. 
 
 If the price obtainable for his produce is a liberal one, 
 even though relatively less than the increased price of im- 
 ports, he will continue to produce, and the increased price 
 of imported goods does not affect the quaUty of the produce 
 offered for sale ; while a decreased price for produce, though 
 reducing its quantity, will operate to improve its quality, 
 for the demand being less, the better quaUty is more likely 
 to find a purchaser.^ 
 
 It has been argued that the profits derived by the native 
 producer, when competition is unfettered, are in some cases 
 unduly large, and would be more properly distributed among 
 the agencies which have made such profits possible, as for 
 instance, when the price paid for ground-nuts at Kano rose 
 from £2 or £3 a ton to £50. Provided, however, that increased 
 prices do not have the effect of checking production — a result 
 which may happen among primitive tribes when the vendor 
 of produce only requires a limited sum, and ceases to sell as 
 soon as he has acquired it, — ^the rule operates in Africa, as 
 in other countries, that the greater the price the merchant 
 can afford to pay, and the larger the profit made by the 
 native vendors, the greater is the prosperity of the country, 
 and the greater its wealth. The wealthier the native producer 
 becomes, the more he spends on the purchase of imported 
 goods, which in turn adds to the profit and wealth of the 
 merchant. The wealth of its native population tends to the 
 rapid development of the country. Even the increased wealth 
 of the foreign merchant, whose capital is embarked in the 
 country, tends to the same result. Nor must we overlook the 
 fact, that even the peasant producer does not wholly escape 
 from the increased cost of living, which is a concomitant of 
 development, or that he shares his profits with the middle- 
 man. The absurdly low prices paid for produce a few years 
 ago may conceivably have been relatively almost as bene- 
 ficial to the peasant producer under the conditions then 
 prevaUiag as the higher prices of a later period under changed 
 conditions. 
 
 Since, as Adam Smith says, it is the object of the merchant 
 
 ' This opinion is endorsed by Mr J. H. Batty, who speaks with unrivalled 
 experience. 
 
MONOPOLIES AND "COMBINES." 479 
 
 in every age, and of every nationality, to buy in the cheapest 
 market and to sell in the dearest, the object of a trade com- 
 bine or trust is to oust competition, and so to cheapen com- 
 modities — ^viz., to reduce prices to the producer. Unless, 
 however, monopoly is supported by State aid, it is difficult 
 to establish, for the monopolist must be continually buying 
 out the independent trader, or underselling him, which means 
 increasing the purchase price, even up to the point when no 
 profit remains. 
 
 I have already in chapter xui. discussed one aspect of the 
 question of monopoly, and there is no need to restate the 
 arguments here. Experience has shown that whether the 
 monopoly is national, as estabMshed by the old navigation 
 laws, or State-aided like those of the chartered companies, 
 or created by private firms, they have alike proved inimical 
 to the expansion of trade. The tendency in modern no less 
 than in ancient times has nevertheless been towards co- 
 operative societies, " combines," and " trusts," by means of 
 which the powerful group has sought to exclude the smaller 
 merchant, and to enhance profits at the expense of either the 
 producer or the consumer. The State, as the guardian of 
 the public, has usually sought to oppose these monopolies, 
 and to encourage competition by anti-trust laws, &c., though 
 Lord Balfour's Committee records the opinion that " every 
 encouragement should be given by Government to the forma- 
 tion of combinations of manufacturers, and others concerned, 
 to secure supplies of materials." ^ 
 
 " I will give the native producer a fair price," says the 
 monopolist, " suflBicient to encourage production (which ex- 
 cessive profits retard). The extra profits I make shall be 
 carried to reserves, which wiU enable me to take risks, and 
 incur losses in opening up new markets. Moreover, by 
 eUminattng competition, I shall avoid putting up the price 
 of labour, and thus retarding development, and hampering 
 the Government." By such arguments, no doubt, the Mger 
 Chartered Company would have defended its action in amal- 
 gamating the competing European trading interests on the 
 
 1 Cd. 9035 of 1918, paragraph 175, p. 37. Compare Herr Demburg, German 
 Colonial Minister : " The production of raw materials is more and more being 
 included in the operations of great foreign industrial enterprises, syndicates, and 
 trusts, which tend to eliminate the middleman and to concentrate in their own 
 hands every process of particular industries from the field or mine to the finished 
 product."—' Times,' 14th January 1907 
 
480 TRADE. 
 
 Niger, and establishing a virtual trade monopoly which en- 
 abled it to secure Nigeria for the Empire. * Similar arguments 
 would no doubt be used by modern combinations in West 
 African trade. The temptation to reduce the purchase price 
 when it depends solely on the wiU of the purchaser is great ; 
 but in practice, as I have said, it is doubtful whether a 
 monopoly can be maintained, unless State-aided, or unless 
 it controls shipping, especially when the profits to be made 
 are large. The form of monopoly which is of all the most 
 intolerable and injurious, is one in which the State partici- 
 pates, as imder the former Congo regime, or the proposals 
 of the Empire Eesources Development Committee, which I 
 have already discussed. 
 
 If, on the other hand, as a result of unrestricted competi- 
 tion, the native producer seems for a time to make unreason- 
 ably large profits, his standard of living will rise, and the 
 imports which he requires will increase. So far as the home 
 consumer is concerned, the price of African produce is regu- 
 lated not by the price paid in Africa, but by the world's 
 supplies and prices, which the output of any particular 
 region in Africa is rarely large enough to modify appreciably. 
 
 The native producer, we have seen, gains by a competitive 
 market, but the profit does not all go to him, for much bt it 
 is absorbed by the middleman. In the case of Nigerian 
 ground-nuts it was aflSrmed that he received three-fifths of 
 the price, and the producer only two-fifths.^ In so far as he 
 is a mere unproductive exploiter of the labour of the peasant, 
 the middleman is without justification, and can only be an 
 ephemeral incubus untU the producer learns, with the assist- 
 ance of Government, to do without him. When, however, 
 as he generally does, the middleman performs a useful func- 
 tion as a small trader, opening new fields for trade, he is 
 
 ^ Amalgamation of interests in the circumstances of the Royal Niger Company 
 was also necessary for purposes of mutual defence, and to overcome foreign State- 
 aided competition. 
 
 ^ The Kano Resident reported that a large number of middlemen arrive at 
 that centre of the ground-nut trade at the season when the crop is ready for the 
 market. They picket the roads, and induce or compel the producer to accept the 
 price they offer, and return south when the season is over. The Government 
 had to take action in the interests of the producer, and the Emir forbade the 
 sale of produce outside the authorised market. 
 
 The same phenomenon presents itself in India. "The export trade from 
 country districts (says the Industrial Report, p. 9) generally suffers from the 
 existence of an undue number of middlemen, who .incept a large share of the 
 profits." 
 
THE AFRICAN AS A TEADEK. 481 
 
 entitled to his galas. As commumcations improve he is 
 driven farther afield to open up new markets. The merchant 
 is glad to employ him to distribute his goods, and to bring 
 exportable produce in return. Here again a " cut-throat 
 competition " may prove a deterrent to legitimate trade. 
 In West Africa, especially among the German merchants, 
 the desire to secure the services of middlemen took the form 
 of affording unjustifiable credits to them, with the object of 
 creating monopolies.^ 
 
 If the export trade suffers from a superabundance of middle- 
 men who intercept profits, the remedies would seem to be 
 that British merchants should get in. closer touch with, and 
 as far as possible buy direct from, the producer, and that the 
 producer should be encouraged to adopt a better system of 
 marketing by co-operative seUing. 
 
 The African, as I have known him, is a keen and expert 
 trader. I speak more particularly of Mgeria, and of the 
 Hausa and Yoruba races — each nimabering several millions 
 — and of the coast population, educated or illiterate. The 
 native traders bring produce to the export merchant and 
 distribute his goods either by head-carriage or by caravans 
 of donkeys and pack-oxen in the north, and by canoes on the 
 waterways in the south, — ^imported textiles and hardware 
 for hides, palm-produce, seed-cotton, and other exportable 
 goods. Or they exchange the products of one region for 
 those of another — salt, kola-nuts, natron, live-stock, and skins 
 — ^for the cloths and leather goods of Kano and other cities. ^ 
 Throughout the length and breadth of the land, weekly or 
 bi-weekly markets, often held by night, are attended by 
 thousands of vendors, who obtain much of their supplies 
 from the itinerant trader. 
 
 The r61e of the latter is entirely useful, and tE in the past 
 he has sometimes been convicted of extortion, personation, 
 and spreading false reports, of combining slave-dealing with 
 
 ' A prominent West African merchant remarked to me that the abuse of the 
 system of giving credit to native middlemen was the curse of South Nigeria. 
 He had been present in court when a case was heard in which a native with a 
 borrowed canoe and labour, who on his own showing had never possessed £5, was 
 found to be owing four different firms a sum of about £700 for goods supplied 
 without any guarantee whatever. I was told that the outstanding credit at a 
 single port was fully £200,000.— See Cmd. 468/1920, p. 41. As regards the Gold 
 Coast, see Handbook 93, p. 34. 
 
 " The trade of Eano for many centuries consisted of manufactured articles — 
 cottons, shoes, leather, &c. — chiefly ii\ exchange for salt, slaves, and kolas. 
 
 2h 
 
482 TBADE. 
 
 his legitimate trade, and of spreading venereal disease, these 
 are matters susceptible of improvement with the progress 
 of the times, and already to a large extent obsolete. 
 
 The native traders on the coast, on the other hand, are 
 engaged to a greater or less degree as principals in the import 
 and export trade. The most wealthy employ middlemen, 
 who penetrate through the network of creeks and rivers in 
 canoes, exchanging their goods for palm-oil, palm-kernels, 
 and other produce. 
 
 As an exporter the native merchant trades at an advantage 
 over his European rival, for he has had no excess profits duty 
 and no income tax to pay. During the war he was loud in 
 his protests if the European shipping companies did not 
 accord him ample cargo space. He does not, as a rule, care 
 for the risk of opening up new markets, and is content to 
 compete in those opened by his rivals. Many native mer- 
 chants have in these conditions amassed, I am told, con- 
 siderable fortunes. 
 
 As the native trader learns the advantage of association, 
 and as individuals acquire the command of increased capital, 
 they win become more serious competitors with the British 
 trader, who, however, in spite of his home taxes, has always 
 been able to hold his own by better business methods and 
 a larger command of capital. It was, I beUeve, only during 
 the abnormal conditions created by the war that the native 
 export merchant became a serious rival and made large 
 profits, with a resulting tendency to combination among the 
 foreign merchants, so that they might command their own 
 shipping. It would probably be advantageous that every 
 trading company should be compelled to register in the 
 country in which it operates. 
 
 I claim no knowledge of the conditions of trade in the 
 eastern group of our African dependencies, but I conceive 
 that these remarks also apply, generally speaking, to the 
 Indian trader and merchant. As a petty trader the Indian 
 shares the praise and the dispraise of the Hausa and Yoruba. 
 He opens up new markets, but his methods are not above 
 criticism.^ As a merchant his standard of living, his assiduity, 
 and his frugality enable him to a greater degree than the 
 native trader in the west to reduce his establishment charges 
 to a minimum, and undersell the European. By remitting 
 
 ' See note, p. 321. 
 
HOW GOVERNMENT CAN ASSIST TKADE. 483 
 
 money out of the country, he minimises the benefit of trade 
 to the district of origin. 
 
 IsTot only is the wealth and prosperity of a country de- 
 pendent upon its trade, but it is obvious that it can only pay 
 for its administration and for its development works by its 
 exports and the results of its industry. It is manifest there- 
 fore that it is of the first importance that a Government 
 should do everything in its power to promote and encourage 
 commerce. Some of the principal ways in which this can 
 be effected are the following : — 
 
 {a) By promoting scientific research a Government may 
 prove the suitability of the climate and soil for introduced 
 products, improve the quality of existing ones, and check 
 animal and plant diseases. 
 
 (b) While refraining from competition with private enter- 
 prise, a Government can pioneer the way and prove the 
 possibility of remunerative imdertakings. It can, for instance, 
 run a service of lorries or a line of river steamers for the 
 transport of produce, imtil private enterprise is ready to 
 undertake it. 
 
 (c) It can, as I have said, afford some protection to the 
 producer and the small trader from the coercion of ^the com- 
 bine on the one hand, or a fraudulent middleman on the 
 other. 
 
 (d) It can assist commerce and industry by educating 
 clerks, accountants, mechanics, and others required in the 
 transaction of business. 
 
 (e) It can avoid all taxation in restraint of trade, and take 
 every care that the necessary taxes fall as lightly as possible 
 on it. 
 
 if) It can provide facUities for transport and communica- 
 tion by railways, improved waterways, and roads, by ship- 
 ping, and by an effective postal and telegraphic service. 
 
 (g) It can improve the quality of produce by inspection 
 and rejection of inferior qualities at the port of shipment, 
 and by stringent laws against fraudulent adulteration. 
 
 {h) It can provide and maintain an adequate coin currency, 
 and promote its use in many ways. 
 
 That a Government should not be a competitor against 
 private enterprise is admitted, and is, in fact, one of the 
 chief objections to chartered company government. It has, 
 however, been suggested that a Government may with advan- 
 
484 TRADE. 
 
 tage liarticipate in such enterprise, and so secure a share of 
 the profits for the pubhc revenue, provided that by so doing it 
 enjoys no preference or advantage which competitors do not 
 share. 
 
 The principle appears to me both unsoimd and dangerous. 
 If the undertaking is one beyond the scope of private enter- 
 prise, or one in which it is so impossible to forecast the con- 
 ditions and profits that a private firm would not engage in 
 it unless offered very substantial inducements by Govern- 
 ment, — as in proving a coalfield, which can only be opened 
 up by the construction of a railway and port, — it is better 
 for the Government to take the initiative on its sole respon- 
 sibility. If, as in a case of oil-boring within my experience, 
 a company asks for financial assistance, the Government is 
 not justified in accepting a speculative risk which financiers 
 will not incur. If, again, the venture is one in which private 
 enterprise is already engaged, such as the schemes fore- 
 shadowed by the Eesources Development Committee, par- 
 ticipation by Government must inevitably create conditions 
 unfair to competition. Even the investment of surplus funds 
 in well-estabUshed local concerns may give rise to sus- 
 picions of preference, however unjustified. It is in every 
 way more desirable that such funds should be invested in 
 new development works undertaken by Government itself, 
 such as railways and harbours. The inherent objection to 
 the participation of the State in speculative enterprise is 
 that the Government cannot become bankrupt, and hence 
 if its action proves ill-advised the taxpayer must redeem 
 the position.! Competition in, or participation in, enterprises 
 for profit is, of course, a very different matter from encourage- 
 ment of nascent industries by Government (see p. 499). 
 
 When speaking of monopoUes I referred to the grant of 
 
 ^ The East African Economic Commission elaborates in some detail a project 
 for a "development bank" under Government control — half its directors being 
 officials. The capital, which must in that case be chiefly or entirely found by 
 Government (though it is stated that ' ' Government itself is unable to execute 
 urgent reforms of certain economic utility for want of funds "), would be applied 
 to financing promising schemes "on the security of their potential value," and 
 the bank would float companies, in which it would take shares, and appoint 
 officials and others as directors. — Loc. dt., p. 28. 
 
 The Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce, sitting in London, 
 passed a resolution on 1st July 1921, declaring "that Government control of or 
 participation in industry and commerce discourages individual initiative, and 
 renders trade conditions uncertain and artificial, and that it should be dis- 
 couraged." 
 
CONCESSIONAIRES. 485 
 
 " concessions " — a term susceptible of various meanings. 
 Under the regime of King Leopold in the Congo, the State, it 
 is said, claimed all " vacant lands," and compelled the natives 
 to collect the produce under a system of " labour taxes," 
 whether directly for the State or for the concessionaires, to 
 whom vast blocks of land were leased. In four-iifths of the 
 country, remarked a German newspaper, all ivory and rubber 
 belong to the State, and a European who buys them is 
 looked on as a receiver of stolen goods. Under the wise and 
 liberal rule of King Albert this system has been abolished. 
 The French adopted a similar regime in their Congo 
 territories. 
 
 This system has not been tolerated in British tropical 
 Africa, though we read of concessions to collect rubber in 
 areas of two square miles in Uganda, and enormous blocks 
 of tmiahabited land have been granted to concessionaires in 
 East Africa. Concessions on the Gold Coast have been based 
 on a system the very antithesis of that on the Congo — viz., 
 on a recognition of the right of native chiefs to dispose of 
 lands, minerals, and even of the sole privilege of collecting 
 sylvan produce, ostensibly in the name of the tribe. The 
 subject, in so far as the Gold Coast is concerned, is exhaus- 
 tively dealt with in Sir H. Belfleld's report, to which I have 
 already referred at some length.^ Viewed solely from the 
 economic standpoint, the one system, if carried to the same 
 lengths as the other, would be equally effective in creating 
 monopolies detrimental to sound development. The term 
 " concession " is unknown in Nigeria. 
 
 Applications have been made for a concession of a very 
 different kind — viz., for the sole right to erect oil-miUs iti 
 a given area. Their object is to obtain the fruit of the oil- 
 pabn while fresh and free from the fatty acids which cause 
 rancidity, and rob it of 50 per cent of its most valuable 
 contents, rendering it fit only for making soap instead of 
 margarine. The monopoly is asked for in order to protect 
 the mill-owner from the risk of a rival miU benefiting by the 
 development effected at his expense. The proposal has 
 attractive features. It suggests a vision of the forest of wild 
 palms reduced to an ordered plantation, the improved varieties 
 of trees properly spaced and tended, so that the maximum 
 yield per acre should be obtained, anH the fruit collected by 
 
 1 Cmd. 6278 of 1912. Vide supra, pp. 305-309. 
 
486 TRADE. 
 
 means of light tramways intersecting the plantation.^ The 
 native would not be deprived of his rights in the land or its 
 produce, and fair prices woidd be assured, since there would 
 be no compulsion to sell to the mill. As a practical proposi- 
 tion, however, it would be dii3£icult for the mill-owner to secure 
 the guarantees he desires. He could only do so by separate 
 agreements with the owners of the land — whether tribal or 
 individual — that they would not allow the erection of a rival 
 null within the agreed area for a term of years, and enforce 
 a like stipulation on any land alienated by them. Others 
 have demanded, not protection against a rival mill, but that 
 the natives shall be prohibited from seUing to any one other 
 than the concessionaire, and compelled to bring in the fruit 
 while fresh — a type of concession inconsistent with British 
 policy. 
 
 The opponents of concessions fear lest the acquisition of 
 any form of exclusive rights should lead to the gradual acquisi- 
 tion of the land itself, so that the natives should eventually 
 be reduced to the status of paid labourers. To prevent any- 
 thing of the kind must be the first duty of those who are 
 charged with the protection of native rights. On the other 
 hand, the introduction of capital and organising ability, by 
 increasing output and improving quality, is a benefit not 
 only to the country, but to mankind. Intelligent apprecia- 
 tion of the world's progress and needs compels us to recognise 
 with Lord Leverhulme ^ that vast areas of exceptionally fer- 
 tile land cannot for aU time remain as unreclaimed jungle, 
 and large quantities of a commodity of great value as food 
 be allowed to rot ungathered, at the caprice of primitive races 
 who lack the incentive to make the most of nature's gifts. 
 In one district, says Mr Parquharson, the natives when shown 
 how to make biscuit rubber cut down their para trees because 
 it was too much trouble. The native is growing kolas, he 
 says, because they require even less labour than cocoa, and 
 the jungle fire he kindles to prepare the land for his shifting 
 cultivation destroys oU-palms and the humus of the soil. 
 
 The education of the natives in scientific agriculture and 
 improved products can be promoted (as I said in chapter xiv.) 
 by the grant to Europeans of small agricultural estates, even 
 
 ^ See Mr Smart's evidence, Edible Nuts Committee. — Cmd. 8247 of 1916, pp. 
 111-125. 
 
 ^ Paper at Royal Colonial Institute, 7th April 1919. 
 
PEBPAEATION OF PRODTTCE FOR EXPORT. 487 
 
 in a country where European settlement is not possible, for 
 they are iavaluable as models for the native cultivator to 
 emulate, and as an ocular demonstration of what scientific 
 culture can produce. On this subject I shall have more to 
 say ia the next chapter. Large " concessions " are not neces- 
 sary for this purpose. He is no true friend to the African 
 who would deprive him of the incentive which an object- 
 lesson can alone bring home to his intelligence. The problem 
 is to avoid the evils of the concessionaire,"^ while ensuring 
 the proper and adequate development of natural resources, 
 and the example of the European-owned plantation will 
 assist ia its solution. 
 
 But it is of even greater importance in those countries 
 where the native must be the producer, to ensure that the 
 produce he grows for export is shipped in the best possible 
 condition. The quality of cocoa is greatly enhanced by 
 proper grading, drying, and uniform fermentation ; palm-oU 
 should not contain more than 10 per cent of fatty acids, and 
 should be extracted from the fresh fruit and not kept tiU it 
 is rancid ; palm-kernels should show at least 48 per cent of 
 oil ; 2 oil should be brought to market " soft," and not 
 " hard," by the expenditure of a little extra trouble ; rubber 
 should be marketed as " biscuit " and not " lump " ; hides 
 can be better flayed, more imiformly stretched, and denuded 
 of superfluous offals, which add to their weight and bulk ; 
 cotton from distant villages can be reduced to a third of its 
 bulk and weight by hand-ginning and crude presses, and its 
 quaUty improved by careful sorting ; gums need to be 
 graded — one might go on indefinitely to show how the quality 
 and value of raw produce can be increased by proper pre- 
 paration. 
 
 It goes without sayiag that it is of the first importance 
 to the trade of a country that its exports should bear a 
 high reputation for quality, and command a high price in 
 the world's markets. If the reputation for a particular article 
 
 ^ A concessionaire's rights under British law are at best precarious, as was 
 shown in the case of Messrs Cook v. Sigcau, when Pondoland was transferred to 
 the Crown. It was admitted that the concessionaire had given good value, but 
 on appeal the Privy Council upheld the cancellation, mainly on the ground that 
 "the concessions created no legal obligation, because their execution depended 
 solely upon the will of the paramount chief, and there existed no possible means 
 of enforcing them." 
 
 •^ Letter of Mr Robert Miller to the West African Press, 22nd October 1919, 
 from which most of these percentages are taken. 
 
488 TEADE. 
 
 from a particular country be bad, it is difficult for an indi- 
 vidual producer, or a discriminating merchant, to obtain full 
 value for the exceptional quality of his exports, and pro- 
 gressive deterioration is likely to result. 
 
 Stringent laws, strenuously enforced, against fraudulent 
 adulteration must be supplemented by fixing a standard of 
 purity for exports ia collaboration with the merchants, and 
 by prohibiting shipment of produce which does not comply 
 with the tests. The Government of Nigeria held the view 
 that the Government inspection should take place prior to 
 shipment only — viz., after purchase, — and that it was the 
 function of the merchant to discriminate as to quality by 
 giviag a better price for a good article. The Governments 
 of India and of Natal arrived at the same conclusion.^ The 
 view which has been advanced, that the merchant is in theory 
 concerned only with the exchange of commodities, and not 
 with their quaUty, would in practice be not unlikely to result 
 in difficulty ia disposing of stocks, and the eventual loss of 
 his market. 
 
 Some merchants, on the other hand, have desired the 
 appointment of Government inspectors in the native markets 
 prior to purchase. Such a system obviously affords oppor- 
 tunities for peculation and extortion on the part of the sub- 
 ordinate native officials employed on the work, which it is 
 exceedingly difficult to detect and check. Nor does it appear 
 justifiable to make it an offence to offer inferior produce for 
 
 ^ A Committee on this subject appointed by the Government of India 
 reported that the most effective method for securing a good standard was by 
 combination among buyers. The issue of certificates of purity would involve 
 a large staff of inspectors, to which the Committee was "emphatically opposed." 
 " Control at the port of export, and refusal to allow the export of produce below 
 a minimum standard of purity, fixed in consultation with the trade," was, they 
 considered, the best system. It should be carried out by the Customs Depart- 
 ment, and a small charge made. While it is the duty of the Government to 
 protect the cultivator, " the Government of India has (they declare) time and 
 again decided that it is not for them to take any steps in the matter, and the 
 remedy lies with the trade." — (' Indian Trade Journal,' 19th April 1918.) These 
 views are endorsed by the Indian Industrial Commission. — (Cmd. 51 of 1919, 
 p. 143.) 
 
 In Natal the quality of maize for export had fallen to a very low standard, when 
 the Government found it necessary to intervene by grading and marking, and 
 the rejection of all below a fixed standard. The inspection was carried out at 
 the port, any other method being found impossible, and an enormous improve- 
 ment resulted. The French on the Ivory Coast instituted an "office guinfen" 
 for the inspection of rubber at the port of shipment, rejecting all that was not 
 up to standard. Rejections, at first 25 per cent to 30 per cent, soon fell to 
 3 per cent. Shippers held buyers responsible for the loss. 
 
PEODTJCE INSPECTION. 489 
 
 sale, provided that there is no fraudulent intent. The 
 Government, moreover, cannot accept responsibility for 
 the results of inspection conducted in a distant market 
 without any check on subsequent deterioration or adultera- 
 tion. 
 
 The increase in West Africa in the number of small native 
 exporters who have no business reputation to lose, and whose 
 profits are not greatly affected by the colony's standing in 
 the produce market, increases the urgency of the need for 
 Government intervention. The first necessity is for merchants 
 to employ expert buyers and middlemen.^ They reply that 
 it is very difficult in the conditions of West Africa to get 
 expert buyers, for their British staff is constantly changing. 
 It should, however, be no more difficult for merchants to find 
 expert and honest native buyers than for Government to 
 find the qualified inspectors who would be necessary if pro- 
 duce were inspected before shipment. Two of the most ex- 
 perienced witnesses before the Edible Nuts Committee con- 
 demned the system of produce inspection by Government 
 prior to purchase, while others supported it.^ Government 
 through its Agricultural Department can assist in educating 
 the producer. Export duties — since they are levied equally 
 on inferior as on valuable produce — exert an influence in the 
 right direction. 
 
 A difficulty no doubt arises in regard to inspection prior to 
 shipment at small ports, and complaints may arise as to 
 delays caused by inspection at large ports, where the volume 
 of exports is great. The latter could perhaps be met by 
 granting exemption to a shipper whose consignments had 
 been found for a specified period to be invariably well above 
 the standard, provided that he satisfied the Government that 
 
 ^ The late Mr Farquharson, of the Nigerian Agricultural Department, observed 
 that the employment of low-paid buyers, with ready reckoners and a flat rate, 
 instead of skilled, highly-paid men with special knowledge of produce, had led to 
 deterioration. Kubbish, he remarked, should not be allowed to occupy cargo- 
 space when shipping is scarce. 
 
 ^ Captain (now Major- Gen era!) Gray, with very long local experience, stated 
 that when buying kernels he could tell the percentage of shell and dust within 
 1 per cent or 2 per cent, and "any man who deals in the business should be able 
 to do the same. " Inspection, he insisted, " is a matter for the merchants them- 
 selves to arrange." Mr Trigge, of the Niger Company, with long experience of 
 the home markets, was equally emphatic. — Report of Edible Nuts Committee, 
 Cmd. 8247 of 1916, questions 1409 and 1681-82. For the evidence of merchants 
 —for and against— see questions 819, 1409, 1679, 1887, 2593, 4909, 5493. (Also 
 818, 5443, and 5492 re the practice in Dahomey.) 
 
490 TRADE. 
 
 his uninspected shipments had realised the standard prices 
 at their destination. 
 
 The Uganda Produce Protection Ordinances, 1913 and 1918, 
 empower the Governor to make rules for licensing buyers, 
 dealers, and growers of produce. I am not aware how this 
 ordinance has worked in practice, but as a general principle 
 I think that the less Government interferes in trade, and the 
 fewer the number of licences, the better. 
 
 A feature of African trade which merits a passing refer- 
 ence is the tendency to direct barter, under the mistaken 
 notion that a double profit is thus secured, since the vendor 
 of produce must buy where he seUs.^ It is a short-sighted 
 policy opposed to the true principles of trade. The inex- 
 perienced agent may think that he is doing a smart stroke of 
 business in foisting unsaleable stock upon the ignorant native, 
 and that by refusing to pay cash he prevents his purchasing 
 in a rival store, or he makes the mistake of offering goods 
 ostensibly one-third more in value than the cash price, in- 
 stead of inviting purchase by variety and cheapness. The 
 result is to discourage trade, as those have found who have 
 adopted a more liberal and far-sighted pohcy. The concensus 
 of reports is to the effect that trade has increased greatly 
 wherever cash has been introduced.^ It may even be con- 
 sidered justifiable, by a " Truck Act," to give the vendor 
 of produce the right to claim payment in cash, at a rate equal 
 to that of the goods offered, and the right to purchase for 
 cash goods offered for public sale. 
 
 Nor must the trader in distant regions lose sight of the 
 fact that his interests are largely identical with those of the 
 administration, and it is to his advantage to assist the Govern- 
 ment, as far as he is able, by promoting the circulation of 
 currency. Since a portion of the output of the country must 
 
 ^ Mr Neville, of the Bank of British West Africa, who claims personal know- 
 ledge of West Africa since 1874, writes that " British merchants aa a body, prior 
 to the establishment of regular banking, showed a decided disinclination for cash 
 dealings, believing the barter system to be more profitable, and it was left to the 
 Germans at Lagos in particular to import British silver, freight and insurance 
 being paid by the British Mint. This cash advantage, in conjunction with a large 
 supply of Hamburg gin, gave them a practical monopoly of the produce trade." 
 — ' African Societies' Journal,' June 1917. 
 
 ^ In Nigeria it is reported that a peasant bringing goods for sale, and requiring 
 cash to pay his tax, or to buy some special article, has in some districts been paid 
 in goods he does not want. These he sells in the local market for what they will 
 fetch, and imported goods may thus often be bought more cheaply in the native 
 market than in the neighbouring store. 
 
COIN CXTREENCY. 491 
 
 go to pay for its administration and development works, and 
 be collected ia the form of a tax (whether at the coast as 
 cnstoms dues, or ia the interior as a direct tax), it is for 
 him to assist in converting it iato a form ia which it can be 
 readily collected for revenue, and transmitted in payment 
 of iadebtedness at home. The Government on its part is 
 able to afford him substantial assistance in return by cashing 
 his bills or vice versa in distant trading posts. 
 
 It is unnecessary to observe that the introduction of a coin 
 currency is an immense aid to trade. Primitive currencies 
 such as cowries, brass rods or rings, " maniUas," &c., being 
 heavy and bulky, increase in value the farther they have to 
 be carried into the interior, so that there is no stable rate of 
 exchange.^ Cowries can soon be eliminated by prohibiting 
 their import — ^for they rapidly break and disappear, — but to 
 forbid their use so long as they exist would be unjust to 
 owners. They remain in use in India to this day, but are 
 reported to have entirely disappeared in the trade centres 
 of Zaria and Kano in Mgeria. 
 
 It is important that the lowest values should be represented 
 — ^tenths of a peimy are a convenient unit, — ^for prices rise if 
 the unit is large. The Currency Board, under the able chair- 
 manship of Sir G. Fiddes, introduced a local coinage into 
 West Africa — ^though in the interests of a universal Empire 
 currency one could wish it had been possible to retain the 
 British coins, whole securing the mint profit to the colony.^ 
 East Africa is unfortunate in sharing the fluctuations of the 
 Indian rupee. Notes are not adapted for use by a primitive 
 people, and destroy confidence. Being constantly exposed 
 to the weather, they are soon reduced to pulp, and they are 
 often torn in half to be shared between two persons. 
 
 The subject of trade departments or boards in the colonies, 
 and of home agencies for the dissemination of commercial 
 intelligence, is one which demands attention. The African 
 dependencies, owing to their great size, have special need 
 
 ' In the early days in Nigeria it was necessary to stabilise the value of the 
 cowrie by forming Government reserves at different centres. Difficulty was 
 experienced for some time, for a soldier could not understand why his shilling 
 was only worth 1200 cowries at one station and 2000 in another, though its 
 purchasing value in food might be greater in the first than in the second. 
 
 ^ The Board was established in 1913, and in four years (deducting British coins 
 repatriated) shipped silver coin to the face value of over four million sterling. The 
 assets of the Board on 30th June 1917 stood at £1,867,000, an average of £497,000 
 per annum.— Cd. 8883 of 1917. 
 
492 TRADE. 
 
 of a department to co-ordinate the mass of information on 
 commercial subjects derived from various sources, internal 
 and external ; to supply information both to the local Govern- 
 ment and to the Board of Trade and the Overseas Trade 
 Department ; to conduct correspondence with the Imperial 
 Institute and Kew regarding the commercial value of potential 
 products ; to reply to inquiries, and to examine applications 
 in regard to new enterprises. For this purpose a special 
 department or a commercial branch of the secretariat is 
 required. 
 
 It woidd be the business of the officer in charge of such 
 a department to compile information "as an expert for 
 experts, as bases for an active poUcy, and not merely to ex- 
 plain changes years after they have occurred." He should 
 be famiMar with the publications, the pertinent legislation, 
 and the development of other tropical dependencies, and 
 have an expert knowledge of and touch with the home and 
 foreign markets, and be competent to report on the prospects, 
 and the needs as regards transport, &c., of any district (or 
 any special product) which appears to offer opportunities for 
 development. 
 
 The issue of a trade journal or supplement to the ' Gazette,' 
 with useful extracts from local and other reports, and the 
 prompt publication of an annual trade report, could not faU 
 to be of value to merchants, and to promote the trade of the 
 colony. The latter should include information as to railway, 
 river, and ocean freight rates, postal and telegraphic services 
 and charges, and terms of leases of lands and minerals, as 
 well as a review of each line of commerce and industry. 
 
 An Economic Board, such as exists in the Sudan, might 
 usefully be instituted in all the African dependencies, espe- 
 cially if it included unofficial members, and so assisted in 
 bringing together officials and producers. It would assemble 
 from time to time, to consider any important proposals re- 
 garding trade and development, and advise the Government. 
 It could meet at various places in the coimtry, so as, to hear 
 local opinion and study the economic needs on the spot. 
 The report of the East African Economic Commission, to 
 which I have frequently referred as an authoritative state- 
 ment of the views of the European community in that colony, 
 devotes much space to recommendations in this connection, 
 but the wide executive and financial powers which the Com- 
 
FRENCH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE. 493 
 
 missioners would confer on the Economic Board would seem 
 — ^in spite of tlieir disclaimer — to invite conflict with the 
 Government and Legislative Council.^ Such powers would 
 certainly be unadapted to West Africa. 
 
 The French, it is said, refer all questions relating to trade 
 and commerce to the local Chamber of Commerce, and their 
 action has been held up as a model for British imitation. So 
 far as my experience goes, however, British Governments 
 have been only too anxious to avail themselves of the expert 
 advice of the local Chamber ; but owing to the fact (on which 
 I have elsewhere commented) that the principals of firms 
 are not themselves resident in British Africa, and decline to 
 aUow their representatives to speak with authority, the reply 
 to any reference from Government is often colourless, 
 and any matter of importance is referred home by the 
 Chamber. 
 
 A French Chamber of Commerce differs, moreover, very 
 essentially from a British Chamber. It is formed, not by the 
 merchants themselves, but by the Government under an 
 Order of the Council of Administration, which prescribes the 
 number of French, foreign (" European and such-like "), and 
 native members, with elaborate definitions of the electorate 
 and the conditions of the annual election. The Chamber re- 
 cently created at Lom^ is constituted under thirty-seven 
 articles. Even " corresponding members " (without a vote) 
 must be qualified under the commercial code, and their elec- 
 tion is subject to the approval of the Commissaire de la 
 E^publique. It receives a subsidy from Government in the 
 form of an addition to the Ucence fees and customs dues, and 
 it partakes of the nature of a municipal body in that it can, 
 with the approval of the Commissaire, incur debts, and collect 
 taxes or rates for the erection of buildings, &c. 
 
 I venture to think that the British system of dividing 
 these duties and powers between a Municipal Council and a 
 Chamber whoUy and entirely appointed by the merchants 
 themselves, and free from Government control, is more in 
 accord with British sentiment and practice. The question 
 of native membership is then left for their own decision. 
 An Economic Board such as I suggest would ia no way inter- 
 fere with the local Chamber, though its unofficial members 
 would no doubt be drawn from the Chambers of Commerce 
 
 ^ Report, loc. cit., pp. 23, 24. 
 
494 TEADB. 
 
 and of Mines. Its merit would lie in the fact that both 
 oflBcials and unofflcials would be better able to tender useful 
 advice to Government after hearing each other's views. 
 
 The report of the East African Economic Commission re- 
 commends that the proposed trade commissioner for East 
 Africa should have a corresponding agency in London.^ 80 
 far as the requirements of the European settlers are con- 
 cerned, it is perhaps open to question whether an agency 
 under private control — which might possibly include the func- 
 tion of disposing of produce for individual shippers — might not 
 prove more useful, and less Ukely to give rise to controversy 
 than one under the control either of the Board of Trade or 
 the local Government. The need for commercial intelligence 
 would to some extent be met by the suggestions made in 
 chapter ix. (pp. 188-89). 
 
 So far as West Africa is concerned, the annual report of 
 the London Chamber of Commerce states that " it was unani- 
 mously agreed that owing to the totally different methods 
 employed in the carrying on of business by merchants in 
 the British West African colonies, as compared with other 
 dominions and colonies, the appointment of a trade com- 
 missioner for those colonies is unnecessary, and would be of 
 no advantage." 2 The Sudan Government maintains an 
 agency in London, but the business requirements of all other 
 African dependencies under the control of the Colonial Office 
 are now transacted by the Crown agents. 
 
 The work of the Crown Agents' Department is not directly 
 concerned with colonial trade, but I will digress for a moment 
 to discuss the subject, since it has some bearing on the 
 question of overseas agency and the market which the 
 dependencies afford to the manufacturers of the United 
 Kingdom. 
 
 The system has been vigorously attacked both by Governors 
 of colonies and by the colonial press.* Towards the close of 
 
 1 Ibid., pp. 29, 30. 
 
 ^ Report of May 1921. The trade of West Africa differs from that of most 
 other places, as pointed out by the Liverpool Merchants' Association (October 
 1921), in that manufacturers do not consign direct to local buyers. Probably 
 90 per cent of both import and export trade is conducted between British firms 
 and their branch houses. There is very little if any c.i.f. sale of exported 
 produce in West Africa. 
 
 ^ Sir H. Johnston writes that " the out-worn institution of the Crown agents 
 must disappear" after the war. — 'African World,' 17th August 1918. Mr Morel 
 speaks of them as "an anomaly which ought to disappear," and quotes Sir 
 
THE OEOWN AGENT SYSTEM. 495 
 
 his administration of the Colonial Offlce, Mr Chamberlain 
 circularised the Crown colonies asMng for any specific com- 
 plaints, and left it on record that ia his view the number of 
 these was small, and not serious in proportion to the number 
 of colonies, and that " the existing system had beyond ques- 
 tion worked weU for the colonies," a view which his successor 
 — ^Mr Lyttelton — endorsed, while at the same time introducing 
 some modifications with the object of making the Crown 
 agents more directly responsible to the colonial Governments.^ 
 Criticism and complaint has not, however, been silenced, 
 though it cannot, I think, be denied that in the course of 
 years the agency has grown in efficiency, and the old com- 
 plaints of delay, «&io., have now little or no justification. 
 The chief objections which are taken to the system may 
 perhaps be summarised as follows : — 
 
 (1) That colonial Governments are compelled imder colonial 
 regulations to obtain aU their requirements — whether they 
 be materials costing millions for railway or harbour construc- 
 tion, or small articles costing only a few pounds — through 
 the Crown agents, and are precluded from calling for local 
 tenders, except for local produce. Some relaxation of this 
 rule has been urged in the interests of private enterprise 
 in the colonies, but the general principle undeniably has the 
 advantage of placing in very competent and experienced 
 hands the greater part of the capital expenditure of colonial 
 revenues. It also ensures a preference to the home market, 
 if it can supply the goods required — a matter of great im- 
 portance to the United Kingdom. 
 
 (2) That though in the words of Mr Chamberlain " the 
 able, upright, and single-minded service " rendered by the 
 Crown agents — ^who are paid fixed salaries and have no 
 pecuniary interest in the agency — ^is absolutely unquestioned 
 and unquestionable, the system is not in accord with business 
 principles. Colonial criticism of materials and stores pur- 
 chased by the Crown agents can, it is said, only be directed 
 to quality and not to price, since the colonial Government 
 has no means of knowing the range of home and foreign 
 
 W. Macgregor in support of hia views. — ' Affairs of West Africa,' p. 31. On the 
 other hand, Sir C. Bruce ia enthusiastic in their praise. — ' Broad Stone of Empire,' 
 vol. ii. chap. xxi. 
 
 ^ Cd. 1944 of 1904. In view of the frequent questions in the House, Lord 
 Crewe appointed a Committee in 1908 under the chairmanship of Colonel Seely 
 to inquire into the allegations. Their report was entirely favourable. 
 
496 TRADE. 
 
 prices, and does not see the tenders made. There is there- 
 fore, the critics allege, an inevitable and natural bias on the 
 part of the Crown agents towards limiting the Ust of firms 
 from whom tenders are invited to a comparatively few of 
 the highest standing, with prices corresponding to their re- 
 putation (in some cases wholesale dealers and not manu- 
 facturers), and to incur imduly heavy charges for inspection, 
 &c. One per cent commission is charged on all stores obtained 
 through the Crown agents. It is asserted that the list 
 of tenderers is too exclusive, that opportunities for purchasing 
 bankrupt stock are not fully utUised, and that these methods 
 do not make for economy. 
 
 (3) Another complaint is that if a mistake is made for 
 which the supplying firm cannot be held responsible, or if 
 the goods are not suitable, the colony must bear the loss, 
 since the Crown agents accept no financial liability, and that 
 such mistakes — though in my experience they are rare — 
 might be minimised, were the services of expert officers of 
 the requisitioning department more fully utDised. Indeed 
 the remedy for both this and the last-mentioned complaint 
 lies largely in the hands of the colonial Governments, which 
 should direct their departmental officers to keep in closer 
 touch with the Crown agents when in England. On the 
 other hand, the extensive business of the Crown agents some- 
 times enables them to dispose of unsuitable stores elsewhere. 
 
 (4) That the colonies pay a substantial sum — ^in the assess- 
 ment of which they have no voice — ^for the transaction of 
 their business (apart from commission, inspecting charges, 
 &c.), and may reasonably ask for a fuller statement of the 
 way in which this amount is assessed, and the disposal of 
 interest on current balances, including salaries of officers on 
 leave. 
 
 Business agencies in the execution of contracts and orders, 
 and the exercise of large patronage, are, it is argued, liable, 
 in case of failure to give satisfaction, either to the termina- 
 tion of the agency, or to pecuniary UabUity, or to censure ; 
 but a colonial Government can exercise no option, and Parlia- 
 ment has no right of scrutiny, since the fimds are not voted 
 by it, unless a grant-in-aid is involved. The accounts are, 
 however, audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General, 
 and in theory at any rate are passed by the Secretary of 
 State. 
 
GREATER LOCAL LATITtTDE DESIRABLE. 497 
 
 To that section of the Crown agents' business which deals 
 with railway construction, and has provoked the greatest 
 criticism, I have referred in the last chapter. 
 
 Such are the criticisms to which the Crown agents' Depart- 
 ment as an institution of the Empire has been exposed. 
 That it has been worked with singular ability, with unvarying 
 courtesy, and with single-minded devotion by the Crown 
 agents themselves, who are not responsible for any defects 
 in the system they administer, no one will, I think, deny. 
 In all banking, and operations connected with the issue of 
 loans, they have earned universal approbation. 
 
 The Memo, of 1904 states that the Crown agents transact 
 the business of forty-four colonies, exclusive of various mili- 
 tary forces, &c. But the expenditure of single dependencies 
 Uke Mgeria or Malaya (including loans) would to-day repre- 
 sent a very great part of the aggregate expenditure of twenty 
 years ago, and their general business has proportionately 
 increased. It would seem open to consideration whether in 
 such cases more latitude to colonies in the transaction of 
 their business would not be advisable. The Indian Industrial 
 report criticises adversely the parallel system of the Stores 
 Department of the India Ofi&ce.^ 
 
 1 Cmd. 51 of 1919, pp. 126-130. 
 
 21 
 
498 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Necessity for economic development — State-aided enterprise — Railways — 
 Research and propaganda — Functions of the technical departments : 
 {a) Laboratory research ; (6) Experimental research ; (c) Propa- 
 ganda and instruction — The native staff — Practical application of 
 research results — The Imperial Institute — Advantage of free native 
 cultivation — Specialisation in dealing in products — The evolution of 
 industrialism — The indictment against Indian policy — First steps in 
 Africa : (a) Preparation and semi-manufacture of exports ; {b) Local 
 substitutes for imports ; (c) New local manufactures — Employment 
 of native capital — Industries not inimical to British trade. 
 
 It is not the purpose of this chapter to record the statistics 
 of the phenomenal progress achieved by our tropical African 
 dependencies in the last two decades,^ but rather to offer 
 with diffidence some few suggestions, which may or may not 
 commend themselves to those who now guide imperial poUcy, 
 whether officially or as magnates of commerce. I had hoped 
 to inaugurate some of them in Mgeria had not the war ren- 
 dered all such projects out of the question. 
 
 Writing after the war in a circular despatch to colonial 
 Governors,^ Lord Milner observed that " it is more than ever 
 necessary that the economic resources of the Empire should 
 be developed to the utmost," in view of the depletion of raw 
 materials, and the financial burdens left by the war. Much 
 of the existing deficiency, he adds, could be produced by the 
 tropical colonies if their great potential resources were ade- 
 quately developed.* 
 
 > The table and note on p. 45 shows that the total trade of British tropical 
 Africa had increased in this twenty years nearly seven-fold, from under llj to 
 over 764 millions sterling. 
 
 2 Despatch of 11th June 1919. 
 
 3 The potentialities of the African tropics for the supply of raw materials and 
 food were, as I have pointed out in an earlier chapter, the chief cause of the 
 partition of Africa among the nations of Europe. Other nations have proceeded 
 
STATE AID TO ENTEEPEISE. 499 
 
 The Indian Industrial Commission discusses the desirability 
 of GoTernment "pioneering" of industries— viz., "the in- 
 ception by Government of an industry on a small commercial 
 scale, in order to ascertaia and overcome the initial diffi- 
 culties, and discover if the industry can be worked at a profit, 
 when private enterprise is not forthcoming." i In Jamaica 
 we read that the priaciple of State aid for enterprises has 
 been accepted " with the object of inculcating in the minds 
 of the people the principle of co-operation ia every phase of 
 industry." Large areas of land have been acquired by the 
 Government, divided into holdings, and sold to the peasantry, 
 who are encouraged to improve them by facilities offered by 
 agricultural loan banks. Such iaducements may be needed in 
 the new effort to develop industrial enterprise in India (vide 
 infra), or they may be adapted to the conditions of the West 
 Indies, where one of the objects in view is to check emigra- 
 tion (200,000, we are told, have gone from Jamaica to the 
 United States and Cuba in the past two years). Moreover, 
 the education afforded by the advanced system of agricultural 
 colleges, &c., has presumably evolved a more scientific method 
 of peasant cultivation than at present obtains ia Africa. 
 
 As we have seen, however, ia the chapter on land, there is 
 no need for the State to acquire land for peasant proprietors 
 in Africa, and the commercial banks are prepared to afford 
 them such assistance as the conditions justify. In the larger 
 operations' of commerce, enterprising and wealthy companies 
 with abundant capital are ready in West Africa to explore 
 every avenue of trade and development, and ask for no 
 
 in a more systematic way than England. When the United States assumed 
 control of the Philippines, the Chicago University commissioned Mr AUeyne 
 Ireland to study British, Dutch, and French methods in the Far East. 
 Governor-General Roume in French West Africa sent special missions to England 
 to study the organisation of commercial ports, to America to study production 
 and trade in oils, to Belgium and Holland to study commercial exhibitions, 
 and to Indo-China to study political problems. The German Association of 
 Merchants and Manufacturers (Kolonial Wirtschaftliches Komittee), with 
 Government support, sent out botanical and agricultural expeditions to German 
 and other colonies to report on economic possibilities, and how native industries 
 could be improved and increased by scientific methods. The conference between 
 British and French merchants in April 1920, at which every kind of subject of 
 mutual interest was discussed, and standing Committees for preparing questions 
 for future conferences appointed, was a new and practical departure. The usual 
 British panacea is a Royal Commission of Enquiry, as advocated recently in 
 Parliament (August 1919). The results of their immense labours, and the 
 examination of a host of witnesses, are buried in the pages of a voluminous 
 blue-book. 
 1 Report, p. 135. 
 
500 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 State assistance other than the development of transport 
 facilities ; adequate educational estabUshments, both general 
 and technical, for the training of native subordinates ; effi- 
 cient research departments in agricidture and forestry ; an 
 adequate currency ; and co-operation in the normal sphere 
 of Governjnent functions. Private enterprise in all these 
 branches, including banking and shipping,^ is ready enough 
 to provide capital or service if the prospects justify the ven- 
 ture, and where this is the case the less State interference — 
 whether imperial or colonial — the better. 
 
 The participation by Government in commercial enterprise, 
 whether justified in order to pioneer the way, or in such excep- 
 tional cases as those referred to on page 484 (coal-mines, water 
 transport, &c.) is, however, an entirely different matter from 
 the ioitiation by Government of development works such as 
 railways, harbours, irrigation, and roads, which fall within its 
 proper sphere. In the less wealthy dependencies — and even in 
 augmentation of the resources of those whose financial position 
 is strong — Imperial guarantees will assist the mother country 
 by enabling the colonies to undertake such remunerative 
 development projects, which otherwise would have been de- 
 ferred, and though their cost may be enhanced by present- 
 day prices of materials, the benefit of immediate construction 
 win be reciprocal.^ I shall therefore confine myself to those 
 matters in which it is the undoubted function of the local 
 Government to co-operate with private enterprise, and to 
 suggestions by which on the one side or the other the co- 
 operation, as I think, can be made most effective. 
 
 In the first place, I would reiterate that the foremost of 
 
 ' The Commissioners who presented the Economic Report of 1919 on East 
 Africa ask that " the United Kingdom in her own interests should foster certain 
 products by arranging ... for improved shipping facihties." They propose the 
 creation of a chartered bank with £2,000,000 capital, financed by and under 
 Government control ; and they ask that the capital required for the development 
 of the main trunk system of railways should be provided from Imperial funds 
 free of interest for fifteen years. Tliese proposals are individual to Kenya colony, 
 and since they are fully described in the report, I do not propose to discuss them 
 further here.— Report, pp. 26, 28, 35, 41, and 42. 
 
 ^ Since these pages went to the press, Mr Churchill, with the same foresight 
 and imagination which guided his great predecessor at the Colonial Office — Mr 
 J. Chamberlain — has urged the development of the Crown dependencies as the 
 best way of meeting the present crisis in trade and industry. Loans to the 
 amount of £20,000,000 will be floated on their own security, and the Prime 
 Minister has announced (19th October 1921) that Imperial guarantees will be 
 given where needed for further loans. This policy, says the city editor of the 
 ' Times,' meets with the cordial approval of commercial men. 
 
EAILWATS AND EESEAECH. 601 
 
 all requirements for material development in Africa is rail- 
 ways. Everything else — even research — ^is subordinate to this 
 prime necessity. Much progress has been made in these two 
 decades, but even the arterial systems are still incomplete. 
 A railway in Africa is bound to be remunerative, generally 
 in a very short time — indeed, sometimes almost before it is 
 completed. As the Under-Secretary observed in a debate 
 on the Colonial Oflftce vote, thousands of miles of railways 
 are built in the Dominions through waste and unpopulated 
 lands, but you cannot lay 100 miles of line in Africa but 
 it pays in a few months. In the Dominions there is a mUe of 
 railway for every 220 of the population ; in the Crown colonies 
 and protectorates the ratio is only one for every 7700.^ 
 
 The financial standing of most of our African protectorates 
 is sufficient guarantee for large loans, the interest on which is 
 a first charge on revenue. An imperial guarantee may — as in 
 the case of the new ISTyasa railway — ^be granted if desired. 
 It wiQ cost the British taxpayer nothing. Wherever there is 
 an objective, wherever there is population, railway construc- 
 tion will pay. One great difficulty is the supply of the neces- 
 sary subordinate staff — a matter to which I have referred in 
 the chapter on education. If railways are built, feeder roads 
 with auxiliary transport will grow of themselves. 
 
 The second main line of development is by research — 
 which shall " systematise experience and place it at the dis- 
 posal of private enterprise " — and propaganda. These are 
 functions of Government.^ The agricultural, forestry, and 
 veterinary departments need to be greatly strengthened and 
 brought into closer and more fruitful co-operation with each 
 other and with other departments — administrative and educa- 
 tional — on the one hand, and with commercial agencies on the 
 other, so that they may increase residts by combined effort in- 
 stead of overlapping, and keep abreast of progress in the home 
 institutions such as the Imperial Institute, and the bureaux 
 of entomology and of mycology, and the home universities.^ 
 
 ^ Colonel Amery in debate of August 1919. 
 
 ' Colonel Amery, in a letter to the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, suggested 
 that they should supplement the work of Government by organising research work 
 on their own account, and either endow chairs for agriculture, geology, &c., at the 
 University, or form a Research Association under the Government Industrial 
 Research Department. 
 
 ' I have before me the reply of the Leeds University (dated 1st February 1921) 
 to ' ' Lord Milner's suggestion that fuller and more systematic use may be made 
 of the scientific and technological departments of the British Universities in 
 
502 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 The District Officer, in turn, should ever be collecting 
 data as to the resources and possibilities of his proviace, 
 submitting samples and iastructing the people, not pressing 
 the cultivation of any particular crop, but informing them 
 of the demand and price, and assisting the technical depart- 
 ments in making known the elementary truths regarding bush 
 fires, shifting cultivation, deforestation, isolation of disease 
 and the Uke, and in outlying stations keeping a record of 
 meteorological observations. 
 
 The objects in view are to increase the quantity and quality 
 of the economic resources of the country by new discoveries, 
 by raising the standard of cultivation, by scientific animal 
 and plant breeding, and by preventing loss and destruction 
 — ^whether by disease or by wasteful methods. The results 
 obtained by research in India are stated to " have added 
 enormously to the productive capacity of the country." To 
 the three technical departments which I have named may 
 be added the geological survey now being undertaken in most 
 colonies for research in miaerals. 
 
 The work of these departments faUs into three more or 
 less distinct spheres of activity, between which a somewhat 
 greater discrimination may be advisable, as weU as a clearer 
 appreciation of the precise object in view, in the courses of 
 instruction given to natives. 
 
 The first branch of work — ^laboratory research — is con- 
 cerned, as Lord Milner says, with objects whose practical end 
 is not immediately obvious ; with the investigation of the 
 chemical and bacteriological properties of different soils, and 
 the means of increasing their fertility ; with analysis of the 
 qualities and possible uses of new products ; with the assay 
 of mineral ores ; and, above all, with ascertaining the cause 
 and checking the spread of disease both of animals and plants, 
 " by which literally millions of pounds are lost each year." 
 
 carrying out researches for the benefit of the colonies and protectorates, and in 
 recruiting the number of trained investigators required for that purpose, both in 
 tliis country and abroad." In both directions the University promises its hearty 
 co-operation. By the invitation of the Vice-Chanoellor (Sir M. Sadler), I have 
 myself been privileged to vievp its well-equipped laboratories for research. It is 
 recommended that research studentships should be endowed, and that after 
 completing a post-graduate course candidates for scientific posts in the colonies 
 should be selected by a system of nomination rather than by competitive 
 examination. "As years went on the departments of the University would 
 accumulate a wider experience of the conditions of the various colonies . . . 
 and an intimate connection would be maintained between scientific investigators 
 in the colonies and those at the universities at home." 
 
EXPEEBHENTAL EESEAECH. 503 
 
 In this task the Empire Cotton Corporation proposes to 
 assist by adding to the local staff a few scientific investigators, 
 who will specialise in their own particular line while remain- 
 ing imder the control of Government. Nothing could be 
 better, and I trust that many large firms will follow their 
 example. The supply of trained investigators is by no means 
 too large, and their time should not be wasted in lecturing 
 to boys, or merely in demonstrations from the practical 
 utility standpoint. For this pure research work, the African 
 dependencies do not, and will not in the near future, supply 
 native candidates. Eeference libraries and study-leave are 
 matters of great moment to the branch. 
 
 The second sphere of activity in the technical departments 
 is concerned with experimental research by means of planta- 
 tions, where improved varieties, and types resistant to disease 
 and suited to the climate and soU, may be tested over a 
 series of years, indigenous types improved by selection and 
 by hybridisation, and the best varieties converted into species 
 which shall breed true to type and combine the various im- 
 provements ; ^ or, on the other hand, by means of Uve-stock 
 farms for experimental treatment of disease, culture of serums, 
 improvement of stock, and so on. 
 
 The central institution, necessary alike for the pure re- 
 search branch and for continuous supervision of experimental 
 work, should be located where the greatest variation in soil 
 and other conditions affecting agriculture and forestry are 
 obtainable, and for Uve-stock where the best opportunities are 
 available for the veterinary department. 
 
 The senior staff must consist of highly-trained specialists, 
 working in collaboration with the laboratory investigators, 
 and themselves conducting practical tests. The subordinate 
 European staff need not have the same scientific knowledge, 
 but they must be capable of recognising and diagnosing dis- 
 ease in animals and plants, of arranging and supervising ex- 
 periments, of imparting instruction in practical agriculture, 
 forestry, and the care of animals, and in the preparation of 
 produce (whether of crops or of hides, &c.) for the market. 
 
 The third branch of work of these departments is intimately 
 
 ' Excellent results have been obtained in Nigeria by the introduction of 
 improved varieties of sugar-cane, tobacco, maize ("Hickory-King"), and cotton, 
 and local crops have been improved by seed selection. There is an eager 
 demand, and the native is learning no longer to reserve his worst produce 
 for seed. 
 
504 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 associated with the second, and consists in propaganda, and 
 instruction — locally by means not only of the British staff 
 (including the administrative and educational officers), but 
 also by trained native instructors touring through the country, 
 and by the preparation of leaflets deahng in simple language 
 with each special subject ; outside the colony by fuU and 
 adequate reports for the information of private enterprise 
 and commerce. This branch of the work utilises the experi- 
 mental plantations and the live-stock farms as object-lessons, 
 where the results obtaiaed, and the lessons to be learnt from 
 them, may be conveyed by demonstration in new methods 
 and improved implements, in seed selection, preparation for 
 the market, manuring, pruning, grafting, and drainage, on 
 the one hand, and the management and improvement of 
 stock and the practical treatment of diseases on the other. 
 
 Small " model farms " are maintained at various centres 
 throughout the country, and visited periodically by the staff, 
 for the Like purpose, and as nurseries for the distribution of 
 seeds and seedUngs. Private estates conducted on scientific 
 principles and under skilled European direction are hardly 
 less valuable as models for natives, and private stock farms 
 or ranches serve a Uke purpose. 
 
 It is particularly desirable to interest the native adminis- 
 trations in such matters, and to induce them to institute 
 similar instructional farms for themselves. Indian experience 
 attests the value of practical lectures and demonstrations — 
 adapted to the particular district — ^but regards the effect 
 as ephemeral. Plantations which show the actual results 
 obtained by the methods advocated, and the increased money 
 value realised by a successful neighbour, have a more lasting 
 effect and produce a demand for seed distribution. ^ 
 
 Agricultiiral and stock shows also excite interest, and help 
 to stimulate co-operation by organised bodies, such as the 
 seed unions of Madras. Prizes can be given not only for the 
 best exhibits, but for the best kept and equipped plantations. 
 
 This branch (viz., propaganda and instruction) should be 
 supplemented by the largest possible number of Africans 
 who have passed one of the higher school standards, and have 
 specialised in the continuation classes — ^in one or the other line. 
 At this stage they would be transferred to the department 
 
 ^ Report on agriculture in India, 1916, p. 66 et seq. ; and Indian Industrial 
 Commission, Cmd. 61 of 1919. 
 
TEAINING OF NATIVE STAFF. 505 
 
 concerned for a three years' course as paid apprentices. The 
 value of this class cannot, I think, be too highly estimated, 
 either as subordinates in charge of model plantations (agricul- 
 tural or forestry), and stock farms, or as instructors accom- 
 panying the British staff on tour, and imparting instruction 
 in their own language, or as technical teachers in the schools. 
 
 The attempt to attach half-educated schoolboys, who have 
 evinced no special aptitude or likiag for the work, to those 
 departments as " learners " has not, in my experience, proved 
 a generally useful one. In many cases they resented manual 
 work, and were too ill-educated to be able to benefit by 
 instruction in theory. It is not untU a youth has manifested 
 some incUnation towards the work, and has acquired an 
 elementary knowledge of the subject, that it is worth while 
 to pay him as an apprentice, or to spend the valuable time 
 of the scientic staff on his instruction. A special class, last- 
 ing for a few days only, to a gathering of headmasters and 
 teachers of schools during vacation, may have very useful 
 results, and encouragement is afforded by granting certificates 
 of proficiency which qualify the holder for a small increase 
 of pay. 
 
 Continuity on these lines would, I hope, in course of time, 
 by the creation of a demand for agricultural training of a more 
 advanced type, render possible the formation of an agricul- 
 tural college, but such an institution would at present be 
 premature in most, if not in aU, of our African dependencies. 
 With the aU-important question of elementary and practical 
 teaching of agriculture, forestry, &c., in the primary and the 
 village schools I have dealt briefly in the chapter on educa- 
 tion. The subject should, I think, be a compulsory one in 
 Government and aided schools alike. 
 
 Eesearch and its practical application should between them 
 include a systematic survey of natural resources, and their 
 results should increase the diversity of the commercial pro- 
 ducts, so that a country may not risk disaster by being 
 dependent on a single staple. By the expansion of the export 
 of ever-improving raw materials, or by their utilisation in 
 organised local industry, the prosperity of the people and 
 the revenues of the State may be enhanced.^ " The type of 
 
 ^ A good example of the results which may be obtained by organised scientific 
 investigation, and its practical application, may be seen in the flax industry of 
 East Africa : "In 1911 an expert in flax was appointed, and his work during the 
 
506 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 mind best qualified to undertake scientific research is pro- 
 bably least adapted to deal with commercial matters," so 
 that a link is required to connect research and successful 
 commercial undertakings. This may probably be found in 
 the suggested department of trade and industry, whose r61e 
 it would be to place the results of scientific inrestigation 
 before the industrialist, and to secure for them the test of 
 practical applications. The agricultural and the forestry 
 economist, and agricultural and forestry engineers, are no 
 less essential for practical development than the work of the 
 laboratory or of the forest conservator. 
 
 In the Imperial Institute the tropical protectorates have 
 an invaluable agency, which combines the functions of re- 
 search with those of inquiry as to commercial utility, demand, 
 and prices in the home markets. The scientific departments 
 abroad can work in close collaboration with it, submit samples 
 for analysis and report, and refer any special problem for 
 concurrent or independent investigation. 
 
 Its able director would, however, be the first to insist on 
 the vital necessity for research on the spot, where the con- 
 ditions necessary for commercial success can be studied with 
 abundant material. It is through the local department that 
 samples should be submitted to the Institute, with carefully 
 verified data, and to the local department should be sub- 
 mitted for local confirmation the results obtained in England 
 before publication. India, the Commissioners consider, has 
 outgrown the uses of the Imperial Institute, but the Insti- 
 tute can keep in touch with progress in India for the benefit 
 of Africa. 
 
 " No sound policy has yet been formulated," says Dr 
 Barker, echoing the dictum of Benjamin Kidd, " to ensure 
 the development of tropical lands in the interest of Europe, 
 while safeguarding the rights of the native." The formula 
 we suggest in reply is : " Develop resources through the agency 
 of the natives under European guidance, and not by direct 
 European ownership of those tropical lands which are un- 
 suited for European settlement." As in the sphere of political, 
 
 next three years clearly showed that flax culture could be made very profitable. 
 Pre-war prices for British East African flax averaged about £50 a ton, but vpith 
 improved knowledge on the part of growers, higher prices may be anticipated — in 
 fact a recent consignment sent home realised £220 a ton, this being the current 
 price for the higher-grade flax on the home market at the time. " — East African 
 Report, 1916-17. 
 
PEASANT PEODUCEKS V. ALIEN ESTATES. 507 
 
 80 also in that of material progress — teach the native to man- 
 age his own affairs and better his own methods. " The tropics 
 will never be developed by the natives themselves," says 
 Kidd, and he shows how the mistaken idea that the British 
 tropics if left to themselves would begin to exploit their own 
 resources, and develop into modern States, resulted in the 
 decrease of trade in the West Indies and Guiana from fifteen 
 to six million sterling.^ The development must be under 
 British guidance, without encroaching on native rights, or 
 reducing the African to a state of serfage. 
 
 I said in chapter xiv. that as a cultivator of his own land 
 the African will work harder and produce more than he wiU 
 as a hired labourer, and the progress made wiU be the more 
 rapid and permanent, and the output cheaper, while labour 
 difficulties do not arise. There are, however, those who hold 
 a contrary view. The late Mr Parquharson, Acting Director 
 of Agriculture in Southern Nigeria, whose opinions I have 
 already quoted as those of an able and original thinker, con- 
 sidered that the labour employed on native-owned cocoa 
 estates was inadequate to maintain even an ordinary standard, 
 and the soil was exploited and impoverished. Undue profits 
 were made and spent on luxuries instead of on the land. 
 Large blocks of land acquired by coast traders were left to 
 the care of an ignorant headman, the labour was underpaid, 
 and the owner was indifferent as to the quaUty of the produce. 
 Cocoa-growing thus tended to become an industry in the 
 hands of large owners, and not of peasant proprietors. The 
 real remedy against " these greatest enemies of agriculture " 
 was, in his view, the introduction of European enterprise, as 
 proved by the higher prices which the cocoa of the Cameruns 
 and San Thom^ could command.^ In his opinion education 
 was useless, and only compulsion would effect reform. 
 
 The Olustration supplies the answer. The methods of San 
 Thom^ and the Cameruns are too well known to need 
 description here. Large European estates cannot be worked 
 
 ' ' Control of the Tropics,' pp. 35, 39, and 52, &c. 
 
 ^ It ia stated that native-owned plantations of cocoa in the Cameruns are 
 much better kept than those in British protectorates, and that the cocoa is of 
 better quality, since the natives had at some time been compulsorily employed 
 and taught on the German estates. The German policy is of course the reverse 
 of that for which I contend (see notes, pp. 391 and 397). On the East Coast for 
 miles inland, in the low-lying tropical belt, and in the West on the slopes of 
 the Camerun mountain and in the coastal regions, permanent German-owned 
 plantations were formed. 
 
508 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 without recourse either to imported or to compulsory labour. 
 Estates owned by native absentee landlords who have no 
 interest in agriculture, and acquire them by foreclosing on 
 mortgages, differ essentially from the principles of the free 
 cultivator working for his own benefit on his own land. The 
 evils of such a system as Mr Farquharson described are not, 
 however, taherent iu native-owned plantations of the type 
 to which I have referred elsewhere, under the supervision of 
 their native owners. 
 
 But no one will, I think, deny that small well-managed 
 estates in European ownership are invaluable as object-lessons 
 to supplement the efforts of Government ; and it is, as Colonel 
 Amery declared, to the advantage of Africa that they should 
 be encouraged, in order to set a high standard in centres of 
 native population. The European owner can often co-operate 
 with and assist the small native cultivator by purchasing his 
 crop, grading, packing, and preparing it for market, and 
 transporting it with his own, thus affording a useful object- 
 lesson to the native. 
 
 The advantage of speciaUsation in one or two commodities 
 is worthy of the consideration of merchants. The specialist 
 would select areas whose soil and climate favour a particular 
 product, and confine his attention to them, to the exclusion 
 of districts less favourable, buying all of the product which 
 the area could produce, offering prices according to quaUty, 
 and taking a personal interest in its improvement and the 
 increase in the quantity offered for sale. The Cotton-grow- 
 ing Corporation will lead the way in this field of speciaUsation 
 — an example which may prove invaluable to the economic 
 progress of Africa. The same arguments for selection and 
 specialisation apply to hides. 
 
 Turning from these questions of the improvement of the 
 exports from Africa, let us consider the matter from the 
 larger standpoint of African progress. Since we have accepted 
 the task of guiding the people along that path, we must con- 
 template the time when they too wiU desire to manufacture 
 for themselves, instead of remaining dependent on the fac- 
 tories of Europe, and we have seen that the African is capable 
 of becoming an efficient and skilled mechanic.^ 
 
 1 The Industrial Commission says of India: "Her labour is inefficient, she 
 relies almost entirely on foreign sources for foremen and supervisors, and her 
 educated people have yet to develop a right tradition of industrialism " (p. 4). 
 The words apply with added force to Africa. 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF rNDUSTRIALISM. 509 
 
 In the natural evolution of industrial progress a country 
 begins by exporting raw materials ia exchange for manu- 
 factured goods, later improving its exports by better prepar- 
 ation and semi-manufacture, and finally becoming itself a 
 manufacturing community. The self-governing Dominions 
 offer strildng illustrations of this process, but India, of course, 
 as a tropical dependency under British control, offers a closer 
 parallel. 
 
 Whether the African races are capable, like Japan and 
 other races of the Bast, of some day rivalling Europe and 
 America in manufactures requiring the highest skill, it is for 
 the distant future to determine, and we may safely leave 
 posterity to deal with the problem, if and when it arises. 
 Our present task is clear. It is to promote the commercial 
 and industrial progress of Africa, without too careful a scrutiny 
 of the material gains to ourselves, that we may not incur the 
 accusation of having inflicted upon Africa " the grave economic 
 wrong " for which our commercial poUcy in India is alleged 
 to have been responsible in that country. 
 
 In the younger dependencies in Africa we are shaping 
 policies for the future, and if in the material, no less than in 
 the moral and political sphere, we have benefited from the 
 experience of the past and enlarged our ideals, the principles 
 upon which these policies are framed must accord with our 
 larger horizons. Our reward may probably be misrepresentation 
 and dislike, for though the individual benefactor may some- 
 times meet with gratitude, the national benefactor never does. 
 
 The indictment against British commercial policy in India 
 is formulated by the Hon. Pundit Malaviya, a member of 
 the Indian Industrial Commission, and supported by weighty 
 arguments in his addendum to the report.^ It has, he says, 
 been our poUcy to encourage the export of raw materials, 
 and to improve their quality, to promote trade and com- 
 merce, but not manufacture and industry. Instead of making 
 India strong and self-supporting, we have in our own interests 
 as a manufacturing nation retarded her industrial progress, 
 which had already reached a high development when Europe 
 was uncivilised. 2 We have made her dependent on ourselves 
 
 ^ Report of the Indian Industrial Commission, 1916-1918. — Cmd. 51 of 1919, 
 pp. 245-300. This chapter will not be without utility if it avails to invite the 
 attention of those who have not read it to this report, which the ' Times ' (10th 
 December 1919) describes as of "epoch-marking importance." 
 
 ^ It must be remembered that Kano in Nigeria has also for 1000 years been a 
 manufacturing city trading its cloth, &c. , for raw materials. Its sheep and goat 
 
510 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 for manixEactTired goods, and undtily dependent on agricul- 
 ture, with resulting famines, though we may claim to have 
 ameliorated their severity by railways and a superb organi- 
 sation. 
 
 The Commissioners deplore " the laissez-faire Government 
 tradition in industrial matters, which has rendered India 
 liable to foreign penetration in time of peace, and to serious 
 dangers in time of war." This has been due in part to " the 
 erroneous idea that tropical countries, with their naturally 
 fertile lands and trying cUmate, were suited to the produc- 
 tion of raw materials rather than to manufactures." ^ 
 
 But though we may admit that in the last century the 
 industrial progress of India was not as rapid as it might 
 have been, and that commerce prospered too well for Govern- 
 ment to give proper thought to industry, recent years have 
 seen considerable developments in her mills and power- 
 plants,^ and the output of manufacttired goods, while the 
 lessons of the war and the poUcy outlined for the future point 
 to the opening of a new chapter. 
 
 In Africa the profits to be made by the production of raw 
 materials and foodstuffs are so large, the majority of the 
 people are so Uttle advanced, and the means of transport and 
 the fuel supplies for industrial undertakings so little developed, 
 that we are not as yet called upon to consider the question 
 from the Indian standpoint, and may regard the futtire of 
 Africa for some decades to come as chiefly concerned with 
 the development of her agricultural, pastoral, and mineral 
 resources. 
 
 The time has, however, already arrived in some of the 
 more prosperous protectorates to take the first steps, by 
 seeing, as I said in the last chapter, that the raw materials 
 are brought to the most finished state possible before export, 
 with the object of increasing their value, avoiding waste in 
 
 skins, beautifully tanned and dyed red, had become famous under the name of 
 "Morocco leather" (since they were exported by sea from that country), and 
 had been an important article of trade for centuries. (Compare the " ram-skms 
 dyed red " which Moses required for the tabernacle. — Exodus xxv. 5. ) 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 6. , . J ., 
 
 2 See the Indian Progress Report (No. 143 of 1919), pp. 22, 105, &c., and the 
 Report for 1920 (No. 202), pp. 96, 97. The Tata Iron and Steel works alone 
 produced in 1917-18 nearly | million tons, and saved the situation m the war, 
 exporting to Mesopotamia and Palestine 1800 miles of railway track, 13,000 ft. 
 of bridging, 200 engines, and 6000 vehicles. Sir V. Chirol (' Times,' 19th March 
 1921) tells how the founders had to look to American assistance for the inaugura- 
 tion of this enterprise in the face of British apathy. 
 
FmST STEPS IN AFEICA. 511 
 
 preparation, utilising by-products, and decreasing bulk and 
 so saving cost in transport both by land and sea. With 
 these objects in view mUls have already been erected locaUy 
 to crush palm-kernels, and so secure a better quality and 
 nearly double the quantity of oU. Similar miUs for dealtug 
 with ground-nuts would greatly decrease transport charges, 
 for the value of the oil-cake in England is less than the extra 
 cost of transporting the undecorticated nuts from districts 
 like Kano in the interior. The oil should be transported in 
 casks, or preferably ia tank waggons and steamers. 
 
 Railways in Africa have to carry excessive loads going 
 seawards, which necessitates empty or half-loaded up-traias, 
 and so adds to freight charges. Labour would also be saved, 
 for at present the nuts must be decorticated by hand, or 
 shipped imdecorticated, since they are broken by machinery, 
 and deteriorate unless the oU. is expressed at once. The 
 value of the oU-cake for manure or fuel, and especially for 
 cattle food, would be considerable, for in the tropics, towards 
 the end of the dry season, the village herds are reduced 
 almost to starvation, while the large nomad herds have to 
 traverse great distances, and congregate in the marsh lands 
 to find subsistence, with consequent increase of epizootic 
 disease. 
 
 Giimeries for separating the Unt from the seed cotton, 
 and hydraulic presses for baling, have also been erected. 
 Local tanneries for the partial preparation of hides, Uke the 
 " East India Kips " from Madras, and similar treatment for 
 skins, would decrease their bulk and freight charges. By 
 the introduction of simple industrial processes, aided by 
 machinery, almost aU the raw produce exported from Africa 
 could be improved in quality, and labour and transport charges 
 reduced. Many products at present neglected could also be 
 placed on the home market, especially from West Africa, 
 which is only about half the distance of Calcutta or the 
 Straits from England, and has no canal dues to pay.^ 
 
 ' To the African merchant, as to the old East India Company, it ia not a 
 matter of vital importance whether the goods he exports are raw materials or 
 manufactured articles. Vested interests in England, however, declared that it 
 was a mistaken policy on the part of the East India Company to export the 
 latter. The new departure was inaugurated in 1905 by the creation of the De- 
 partment of Commerce and Industry, but was again resented by the European 
 community of Madras, as being an interference with private enterprise. The 
 "Swadeshi" movement was directed to secure for India some of the profits 
 accruing from the manufacture of her raw materials. 
 
612 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 By the adoption of the same principles of self-help, these 
 countries should be able to render themselves independent 
 of many of the articles at present imported at great cost from 
 overseas, thereby saving their revenue for internal develop- 
 ment. Hitherto it has been a pernicious tradition to order 
 everything from England. The mother country has no need 
 to fear a diminution of her market by such a policy, as I 
 shall presently endeavour to show. On the contrary, the 
 consequent extension of railways, irrigation works, &c., in- 
 creases it, and even the older markets merely change the 
 nature of their demands. 
 
 I have in my report on Nigeria indicated a number of such 
 local industries.^ Cement — of which thousands of tons are 
 imported annually, a demand which increases with the ex- 
 tension of ferro-concrete work for bridge-building, piers, 
 houses, &c. — should be locally made, where, as in Nigeria, 
 lime, clay, and coal are available. Brick and tile making 
 in properly constructed kilns should save the importation of 
 much building material, and improve the quality and per- 
 manency of the houses. Sawmills and carpenter shops, fitted 
 with up-to-date power-driven machinery, should utilise the 
 local timbers, and render unnecessary the import of shocks 
 for oil-casks, doors, window-frames, and furniture, &c., while 
 the export of sawn and seasoned timber should replace that 
 of unwieldy logs. Simple machinery for the preparation of 
 fibres should result in an enormous saving by the local manu- 
 facture of twine and of sacks, of which millions are at present 
 imported. 
 
 It may even be that the time is ripe for inaugurating the 
 local manufacture of some of the articles in demand by the 
 natives. Experiments are already reported from Nigeria in 
 the making of soap and candles from ground-nut oil. Already 
 in 1914 Zanzibar was manufacturing 75,000 lbs. of soap 
 a month, and exporting cocoa - nut oil to Madagascar.^ 
 Sugar in smaU quantities has been made ia Nigeria by West 
 Indians attached to the Missions. Improved varieties of cane ' 
 have been introduced and done well.^ Soda, fire-clay, and 
 
 1 Cmd. 468 of 1920. App. VI. gives cost of local tiles in contrast with other 
 roofing materials. 
 
 2 Report for 1914, Cd. 7622 of 1915, p. 11. 
 
 ' Indian reports say that sugar-beet yields 20 tons of white sugar as compared 
 with 15 tons from cane, requires six months instead of nine to mature, needs 
 only a fifth of the irrigation, and no manuring. 
 
ENCOUEAGEMENT OF LOCAL INDTTSTRIES. 513 
 
 sand are all obtainable in abundance for the manufacture 
 of glass bottles. It will not be till later, as in India, that 
 the manufacture of cheap textiles, of paper from bamboo 
 and other wood pulp, and even the production of " power- 
 alcohol," ^ will become practical propositions in the industrial 
 development of Africa. 
 
 The encouragement of progress in manufacturing industry 
 is the counterpart of free trade in commerce, and brings its 
 own reward in extended markets for higher - class goods. 
 The attempt to suppress local industries by excise duties or 
 otherwise is, on the other hand (like a restricted market for 
 exports of raw materials), a short-sighted policy, unjust to 
 the people for whose development we have assumed respon- 
 sibility, and one, moreover, which fails to achieve its selfish 
 object.^ These industrial developments in the tropics are the 
 more necessary under present conditions of labour in Europe 
 and America, and the increasing cost of transport. They 
 must necessarily be initiated by Europeans,* and we have 
 
 ' The Committee which reported on this subject in June 1919 (see also the 
 Beport of the Australian Committee of 1917) arrived at the conclusion that the 
 outstanding and fundamental attraction of alcohol as motor fuel lies in the fact 
 that since some of its chief sources are found in the vegetable world the supplies 
 are continuously renewed, and can be greatly expanded without encroaching on 
 food supplies. These sources are products which contain {a) sugar, (6) starch, or 
 (c) cellulose. Of the first, the flowers of the mahua tree {Bassia latifolia) yield 
 90 gallons of alcohol to the ton, as against 20 from potatoes. The tree grows all 
 over India, and should do well in Africa. Of the second, the sweet potato 
 (Batatas edulis) and yams (Dioscerea), maize {Zea mays) and casava {Mainhot 
 utUiitima), are all common African products, which can be grown in unlimited 
 quantities. Of the third the supply is illimitable, not only in the waste of the 
 saw-mills, but in the scrub-growth of untilled lands. The Committee recorded 
 its opinion that " so far as vegetable sources of raw material for the manufacture 
 of power-alcohol are concerned, we must rely mainly, if not indeed entirely, on 
 increased production in tropical and semi-tropical countries. " 
 
 ^ The right of a local Government to impose such import duties as it may see 
 fit in its own interests was in principle challenged by the opponents of the Indian 
 cotton goods tari£E. The British Government, they argue, refused to permit the 
 Bombay manufacturers to establish the tariff for their own private benefit, in the 
 belief that free trade would best promote India's prosperity, and Indian consumers 
 thereby obtained their goods more cheaply. Their opponents maintain that 
 though the Indian consumer may temporarily have to pay a higher price while 
 Indian mills are in their infancy, he will eventually buy more cheaply ; that the 
 temporary enhancement in price is more than compensated by the encouragement 
 afforded to Indian industry and employment ; and that the tariff was undeniably 
 imposed in the interest of Lancashire and not of India, as proved by the imposition 
 of an excise on Indian-made goods, and the circumstances in which the tariff was 
 imposed and maintained against Indian opinion. 
 
 * Owing to the difficulty of getting managing directors to reside in the country 
 long enough to give the necessary continuous supervision, large " agency firms " 
 grew up in India, consisting of several partners, who took turns in managing the 
 
 2k 
 
514 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 already seen that the desirability of " pioneering " them in 
 India is recommended by the Industrial Commission. 
 
 The replacement by local manufacture of goods in demand 
 by the natives (e.g., soap, sugar, &c.) does not, however, 
 increase wealth as the better preparation of exports does, or 
 save revenue and so lighten taxation and increase fuotids for 
 development, as does the local manufacture of Government 
 necessaries at present imported {e.g., furniture, tiles, cement, 
 &c.). Discrimination, moreover, must be exercised ia order 
 to avoid deflecting labour which would be more profitably 
 employed in growing or collecting raw materials for export 
 than in competing with the output of organised industry 
 and power- driven machinery in civilised countries. 
 
 It would be the object of a progressive industrial pohcy 
 to interest African capitalists — and there are not a few who 
 have made considerable fortunes in trade — ^ia enterprises such 
 as these, instead of hoarding their money or expropriating 
 the small landholders by usury. The Government would seek 
 to induce the educated classes to take an increased share in 
 such developments, and would place expert technical advice 
 at their disposal. It would train native foremen for positions 
 of responsible charge, and would encourage local industry 
 by local purchase after eflficient inspection as to quaUty, 
 irrespective — as the Indian report urges — of whether such 
 purchases might compete with an established external trade. 
 If our object be to employ native capital in native under- 
 takings, in productive industry instead of exclusively in 
 trade, and to overcome the aversion from industrial pursuits 
 which characterises the educated African no less than the 
 Indian, the practical system of education which I have advo- 
 cated elsewhere must be reinforced by adequate opportunities 
 for industrial enterprise, larger and more iadependent than 
 that afforded by Government workshops. Progress will be 
 slow, and there is no occasion to hasten it unduly. 
 
 WiU our captains of industry in England to-day take the 
 same narrow view that their predecessors did, or do they 
 realise more fully their responsibility for the progress of 
 subject races ; and has experience taught them that the 
 due discharge of that responsibility is not antagonistic to 
 their own interests ? 
 
 business in India and in London. — Indian Report, pp. 12, 13. It would be 
 advantageous if African merchants did the same. 
 
LOCAL INDUSTEIES NOT INIMICAL TO BRITISH TKADE. 515 
 
 The development of industrialism in Africa would seem 
 at first sight to deprive us of our markets, and to Umit our 
 supplies of raw materials, but experience has shown that 
 the result has only been to change the character of the trade. 
 The creation of cotton-miUs iu India deprived Lancashire 
 of an enormous market for cheap calico, not only ia India 
 but in East Africa ; but, as a leading Manchester merchant 
 told me many years ago, the loss had been made good by 
 the demand for textiles of a better quaUty and design, to 
 the benefit of the trade. 
 
 When factories are established to manufacture the cheaper 
 articles, which formed the staples of their earlier needs, our 
 customers have required in their place the specialised tools, 
 machinery and belting for these new factories, and the iron- 
 work for buildings, &c. With increasing wealth, and an 
 improved standard of comfort, they require fabrics of cotton 
 and wool of a higher class than they can themselves produce. 
 Imports of all kiads increase with prosperity and the growth 
 of industrialism. Our trade with Japan is over eight times 
 greater than it was twenty-eight years ago, and that with 
 the United States is two and a half times its volimie in 1880. 
 In spite of the industrial progress of India, she still exports 
 large quantities of raw materials to this country, and her 
 trade with us to-day, though differing in kind, is greater 
 than it has ever been.^ 
 
 ' In the half-century from 1865 to 1918 India's imports increased from about 
 25 to 110 millions sterling, and her exports from about 35 to 163 millions ; her 
 total trade from about 60 millions to 273. The import of cotton piece goods 
 in 1917-18 stood at 38 per cent of the total, the next largest being only 10 
 per cent. Of these, the pre-war average from the United Kingdom was 98 per 
 cent in grey and white goods and 93i per cent in coloured. Her exports to the 
 United Kingdom were 26 per cent (to the Empire 53 per cent, pre-war average 
 42 per cent) in 1917-18.— [Progress Report 143 of 1919, pp. 99, 100.] The recently- 
 issued Report for 1920 (No. 202) gives the latest figures. The import of cotton 
 goods has fallen to 28 per cent (the lowest since 1866), but of these the United 
 Kingdom supplied 89'8 per cent (an increase on 1919 of 12J per cent), Japan 
 coming second with 7 per cent only. The share of the United Kingdom in the 
 total imports had increased from 45 per cent to 51 per cent (to whole Empire 
 61 per cent). The exports to the United Kingdom had increased to 30 per 
 cent (to Empire 44 per cent) — (pp. 86-89). 
 
516 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (Continued). 
 
 The economy of labour — Domestic animals— Mechanical appliances 
 
 Irrigation — Reclamation of desert — Natural power— Saving of waste 
 —Staple products— Oil-nuts— Cotton— Cocoa— Hides— Timber— The 
 task of the forest officer — Destruction of forests — Measures for pro- 
 tection — Reserves — Reasons for conservation — The object in view : 
 co-operation — Other methods — Other products and possible products 
 — Ranching and stock-raising — Tsetse-fly — Preservation of game. 
 
 I HAVE dealt in a previous chapter with the subject of the 
 labour supply in Africa, and the means by which it can be 
 augmented, and I propose ia this chapter to make some few 
 suggestions as to how the existiug supply can be better utilised 
 and economised, and how the produce of the tropics can be 
 increased in quantity and value by the resources of science 
 and the saving of waste. I will take a few of the principal 
 staples as illustrative of these suggestions. 
 
 Agriculture is the most essential of iudustries, and increase 
 of output means improvement of social conditions, and a 
 larger demand for articles of comparative luxury. At present 
 the yield of the staple crops of Africa is poor, and probably 
 even less than the yield in India. ^ 
 
 In the economy of human labour the use of domestic animals 
 stands foremost. I have already dwelt on the value of the 
 ox for transport, but the people of tropical Africa have stiU 
 to learn his value in agriculture. It is probably no exaggera- 
 tion to say that half the population of the East would starve 
 if deprived of the use of the ox in the operations of field culti- 
 
 ' Sugar-cane in India 10 tons per acre ; Java 40 tons. Ginned cotton in India 
 98 lbs. per acre ; United States 200 lbs. ; Egypt 450 lbs. Rice in India, half that 
 of Japan. Wheat in Indi» 814 lbs. per acre ; England 1919 lbs. — Indian Industrial 
 Report, p. 53. i 
 
ECONOMY OP LABOtTR. 517 
 
 vation. Since men alone tend oxen in Africa, the result, as I 
 have elsewhere said, will be to replace female labour in the 
 fields to a large extent. When the ox takes the place in 
 Africa which he has occupied for centuries both in agriculture 
 and transport in Asia, a very large number of men will be set 
 free for productive work. 
 
 The utilisation of domestic animals for these purposes 
 obviously depends upon the simultaneous introduction of 
 simple appliances known for at least 3000 years in the East, 
 but of which the primitive tribes, and even the advanced 
 communities of Africa, are strangely ignorant.'^ Of these, 
 the plough for earth work, the windmill and the Persian 
 water-wheel {saMa) for Ufting water for irrigation, are the 
 most ancient and simple. They may be supplemented, and 
 the latter perhaps superseded by more modern methods and 
 appliances. The use of simple mechanical appliances can also 
 be extended to other operations, such as grinding com, crack- 
 ing or decorticating nuts, expressing oU, and many other 
 tasks, at present laboriously performed by hand. 
 
 Lord Leverhulme teUs us that in civilised countries the 
 capital invested in machinery represents more than 90 per 
 cent of the cost of production, and human labour only 10 per 
 cent. In Africa the proportions are reversed, and the problem 
 of labour education is how to reduce this proportion, so as 
 to make greater use of the labour supply. 
 
 Of imported mechanical appliances, the windmill (already 
 largely used in European gardens) and pumps supplied on the 
 hire-purchase system for testing before purchase, small sugar- 
 mills, hand-gins for cotton, and continuously operated screw- 
 presses for oil extraction, are aU within the compass of the 
 peasant's intelligence. The craftsman should in like manner 
 benefit by the use of synthetic dyes, of mill-yarn, of sheet- 
 metal, and of sewing-machines, and many other aids and 
 appliances for his " cottage industries " ; but I am here 
 primarily concerned with the development of the exportable 
 
 1 We read of the plough in Deuteronomy (xxii. 10), 1450 B.C. Though prac- 
 tically unknown in tropical Africa, it is in constant use by the Abyseinians. 
 The " Meston " plough has been found the most useful type in India. Mr Lamb 
 (Director of Agriculture, Northern Nigeria) is however sceptical as to the value 
 of the plough in Africa — citing Egypt in illustration — and sees no great future 
 for the use of European agricultural implements. The use of the plough has 
 become very popular in Uganda, and a ploughing school has been established, — 
 (Annual Report, 1918-19.) 
 
518 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 resoiiTces of the cotuitry, and these, so far as the native is 
 concerned, are agricnltural, and for this in the tropics the 
 essential factor is the water-supply. 
 
 It is estunated that there are in India 3,000,000 irrigation 
 weUs, by which some 16,000,000 acres are brought under 
 cultivation. But the African cultivator — elsewhere than in 
 the Sudan, where he has to some extent copied the methods 
 of Egypt— is singularly backward in this respect. With the 
 exception of the weighted lever {shaduf), by which water is 
 raised 5 or 6 ft., he is ignorant of any mechanical appliances 
 for irrigation, the benefit of which in the arid regions subject 
 to drought would be incalculable. By the use of animal 
 power, with the Persian wheel or with rope and bucket as 
 ID India and China, by deepening existing wells and digging 
 new ones, by imported pumps, by boring for artesian water, 
 or by tube-weUs (viz., pipes driven to water-level), the 
 area of production might be greatly extended, the fertiUty 
 of the land increased, and many a crop saved in the 
 drought.^ 
 
 Throughout Asia permanent irrigation channels, led by 
 carefully-adjusted gradients from the higher reaches of a 
 neighbouring stream, often many miles distant, traverse the 
 cultivated lands, from which each field draws its supply when 
 needed. They have existed from time immemorial, and 
 often stand between the cultivator and famine. In Africa 
 this system is almost entirely lacking, and needs to be in- 
 troduced.^ 
 
 The Governor of Sierra Leone lately intimated that funds 
 had been provided for the purpose in the estimates of that 
 colony for the current year, and the extremely sensible course 
 of bringing two instructors from India " to teach the simple 
 processes of irrigation in use by the peasantry in the Bast " 
 had been adopted. " Later," he added, " it may be possible 
 to make reservoirs and canals to bring large tracts under 
 cultivation." * The Governor of Nigeria has also foreshadowed 
 some possibility of expenditure on irrigation in the provinces 
 of Sokoto and Bomu. I have already mentioned the keen 
 
 1 See " Note on Well-boring," by W. M. Sohutte, Bulletin (of Bombay) 68 of 
 1914, and "Well Waters of Western India," Mann, No. 74 of 1915. 
 
 ^ The tribes around Lake Baringo (East Africa) form an exception, and have a 
 well-organised system of irrigation ; there is also a simple form in the Taita and 
 Voi districts. — Adm. Handbook, 'Kenya,' pp. 248 and 395. 
 
 ' Speech to Legislative Council, 25th December 1920. 
 
BECLAMATION BY IRRIGATION. 519 
 
 interest of the Sultan of Sokoto in artesian well-boring. There 
 are immense possibilities. 
 
 The creation of storage reservoirs may in some cases also 
 provide a piped water-supply of pure water for large cities, 
 thereby not only adding greatly to the comfort of the people, 
 and decreasing water-borne diseases, but also saving labour 
 in the carrying of water.^ 
 
 How even the arid desert itself may be reclaimed and con- 
 verted into highly productive land has been illustrated by 
 the canal colonies of the Punjab, and the extension of irri- 
 gated land in Egypt. The same results cannot be realised in 
 the greater part of the desert tracts of Africa, which are not 
 traversed by mighty snow-fed rivers like the five great streams 
 from which the Punjab derives its name. But the Nile crosses 
 the Eastern Sahara, and the northern bend of the Niger 
 touches its southern fringe in the west, while the Okavango 
 and Cunene may yet be employed to fertilise the Northern 
 Kalahari. It is for such projects that the services of the 
 agricultural engineer and irrigation oflBcer are needed. 
 
 French schemes for impoundiag the flood-water of the 
 Niger iu Lake Fagabini and surrounding depressions near 
 Timbuktu are estimated to result in a water surface of some 
 500 square miles, irrigatiag 750,000 hectares (2900 square 
 miles) for cotton cultivation.* What may be done ia a small 
 way has been shown by the results achieved by an observant 
 District OfiBcer — ^Mr Edwards — ^in the Sokoto province of 
 Nigeria, which borders the Sahara desert. 
 
 He observed that the mouths of the various tributaries of 
 
 ^ Such a reservoir for supplying the city of Kano from the Chalowa river was 
 planned before the war, but had to be deferred (p. 208). 
 
 ^ The scheme ia stated to consist of " a barrage across the river and the digging 
 of a canal on the right bank," at a cost of 250,000,000 francs. Such a scheme 
 must necessarily have a very serious effect on the navigability of the lower Niger, 
 which for the last 700 miles flows entirely through British territory, and forms 
 an artery of communication by river-steamers on which commercial firms have 
 invested much capital. Great Britain was appointed custodian of the Niger 
 navigation under the Berlin Act, and though that Act is abrogated by the new 
 Convention of 10th September 1919 (except as regards Article 1 of that Conven- 
 tion, which establishes the principle of free trade within an area therein defined), 
 the principles of the navigation clauses of the Berlin Act are re-enacted, with the 
 general object of facilitating the navigation of the Niger and Congo. 
 
 One seems to recollect, at the time of the British conquest of the Sudan, that 
 the French protested against the possibility of restrictions of the supply of the 
 Nile water to Egypt, and were the position reversed there is little doubt that the 
 French would take exception to the claim of a Power controlling the upper reaches 
 of the Niger to construct a barrage, and deflect so large a volume of water. 
 
520 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 the Sokoto river-bed had become blocked by detritus, and 
 the resulting lakes had in turn become filled with sediment 
 and finally dried up, so that the river level was higher than 
 surrounding areas of land. By cutting a series of short chan- 
 nels only a few hundred yards long, he reflooded these de- 
 pressions, creating reservoirs totalling 3000 acres, with a 
 storage of 20,000,000 cubic yards of water, to the immense 
 benefit of agriculture.^ 
 
 The seriousness of this problem of irrigation is enhanced 
 by the increasing desiccation of the continent, and the en- 
 croachment of the desert on the cultivated lands.^ This 
 disastrous retrogression from productive output is no doubt 
 assisted by the ruthless destruction of forest trees, which has 
 decreased the rainfaU. Some years ago Mr Theodore Bent 
 attributed the desiccation of the Eastern Sudan to " the 
 Arab and his axe " — viz., the indiscriminate felling of trees 
 for camel fodder. ^ 
 
 The utilisation of natural power belongs to a later stage 
 of industrial progress, but it is not too soon, as Lord Milner 
 has pointed out, for each Government to make a survey of its 
 resources in water-power, and rough estimates of the cost of 
 utilising such waterfalls, natural or artificial, as would supply 
 power by electric transmission, especially for existing railway 
 and other workshops. 
 
 In seeking to develop the economic resources of a country, 
 the efforts of Government will be directed not only to in- 
 creasing productivity, but to saving waste. The native culti- 
 vator will be taught the value of by-products, and the neces- 
 
 ' ' Geographical Journal,' August 1918, March 1919, and December 1920. 
 
 '^ " The evidence is held to be incontestable that the Sahara desert within the 
 historic period, and the Kalahari much more recently, were weU watered and 
 thickly populated." — Ibid., February 1919. I have myself witnessed the rapid 
 encroachment of the desert in both cases. The Resident of Sokoto (Mr Arnett) 
 writes : " Whether we consider merely what we have seen from year to year with 
 our own eyes, or examine what has been happening during past decades or past 
 centuries, there are the same processes in operation, — the drying up of rivers, 
 streams, and lakes, the diminishing rainfall, the dying out of large forests and 
 their replacement by poor scrub, the increase in area where crops will not grow, 
 and the gradual decline in yield on the best-watered parts ; lastly, the never-ceasing 
 movement of races, tribes, families and individuals from north to south." There 
 is ample evidence that all of the Central African lakes are shrinking, and traces of 
 ancient beaches can be found far inland at much higher levels. — See Handbook, 
 ' Kenya,' p. 122, &c. 
 
 ' In Nigeria stringent regulations prohibit this practice. Forest reserves of 
 over 1000 square miles have been created in the Sokoto province alone, and artesian 
 boring is to be tried. 
 
PEEVENTION OF WASTE. 521 
 
 sity for conserving fuel supplies. I have in this connection 
 referred to the destructive processes of "shifting cultiva- 
 tion" (p. 299), to the impoverishment of the soil by bush 
 fires, to preventible diseases in live-stock (from which it is 
 estimated that £1,000,000 is lost yearly in East Africa),^ 
 to plant diseases, to the waste in methods of preparation of 
 produce for export, and to the neglect of by-products. All 
 these and many others which affect the animal and vegetable 
 products of AMca call for thought and remedial action, by 
 education of the natives through Government agencies in 
 co-operation with merchants, and especially by interesting 
 and instructing the native administrations. 
 
 In the exploitation of minerals the terms of leases and 
 licences must ensure that wasteful methods are not employed, 
 by the exhaustion of the richest " pockets " of alluvial fields 
 — " picking the eyes out of the country," as the phrase is — 
 which ought to pay for the systematic working of the whole 
 area, and that adequate development work is done by those 
 whose profits are considerable. If properly qualified men are 
 employed by the mining companies ; if licences and leases are 
 granted on short terms, renewable for good work ; if short- 
 term simple leases, unlDurdened by onerous conditions, are 
 obtainable by the small capitalist ; and if the Government 
 Inspectorate Staff is adequate and capable — ^much will have 
 been done to ensure the careful exploitation of an alluvial 
 mine-field. 
 
 I have neither space nor am I competent to discuss in 
 detail the chief products of tropical Africa and the means 
 by which the quality of each might be improved. In this 
 paragraph I will merely recapitulate, in illustration of the 
 ways in which waste may be avoided and output increased, 
 some of the suggestions already made regarding them. 
 
 Eecent discoveries regarding the hardening of oil by hydro- 
 genation, while increasing the value of certain vegetable 
 oils by rendering them suitable for the manufacture of mar- 
 garine, has accentuated the competition of inferior fish-oils 
 for the same purpose. The fatty acids increase when im- 
 purified oil is kept, and they reduce the glycerine content and 
 the value of the oil. Only the oil extracted from the kernels 
 (" kemel-oU ") has hitherto been used for edible purposes, 
 but recent processes of refining have rendered the oil from 
 
 1 Economic Report, loc. cit, p. 20. 
 
522 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 the fruit itself (" palm-oil ") available for margarine.^ The 
 world's competition for fresh oils for edible purposes, as well 
 as for soap-maMng, candles, and lubricants, is likely to 
 become increasingly keen, and Africa must adopt improved 
 methods t£ she means to hold her own. Properly-organised 
 plantations of oil-palms must replace the haphazard collection 
 of the wild forests, as we have seen in the case of rubber. 
 The Dutch are making a vast experiment in the intensive 
 culture of the oil-palm in the East Indian Archipelago, and 
 already claim to produce more cheaply than West Africa. 
 Local mills for expressing the oil,^ the use of hand appli- 
 ances for cracking the nuts, and in districts distant from 
 means of transport the use of hand-presses, should result in 
 improved quality, in economy of labour, and of bulk and 
 weight, while providing cake for feeding local stock and for 
 manure. In the report of the Edible Nuts Committee will 
 be found a very great deal of useful information on this 
 subject.^ Legislation, strictly enforced, is necessary to pre- 
 vent the tapping of the stem for liquor — a more lucrative 
 product than the oil when transport charges are heavy.* 
 The value of this product is very great. ^ 
 
 Biardly less important than palm products — ^in the future 
 if not in the present — ^is cotton. The bibliography of Empire- 
 grown cotton is already becoming portentous, as a reference 
 to the list of publications on p. 59 of the exhaustive report 
 of the Empire Cotton Committee will show.^ The main 
 problem in the development of cotton-growing for export 
 is to ensure that it shall be at least as lucrative a crop to the 
 
 ' Mr Tingey, in a paper read at the Rubber Exhibition in June 1921, atates 
 that if the fatty acids exceed 10 per cent, palm-oil cannot be profitably used for 
 edible purposes ; at present they may be anything from 14 per cent to 70 per cent. 
 
 2 The chief difficulty lies in getting adequate supplies of fresh fruit to keep a 
 mill going. To supply 5 tons a day for 200 days in the year is estimated to 
 require 30,000 trees, covering at least 400 acres, and a large and regular labour 
 supply. Native methods only extract about 12 per cent of the 17 per cent to 
 20 per cent of oil contained in the fruit. — ' Imperial Institute Bulletin,' September 
 1917, &c. 
 
 3 Cd. 8248 of 1916. See also the many references given in the bulletin quoted. 
 * The process is known as " cabbage tapping," and is opposed to native lav? and 
 
 custom. Tapping by an incision in the flower-stalk does not injure the tree. 
 
 > The quantity of palm-oil and kernels exported from Nigeria alone in 1919 was 
 318,000 tons, valued at £9,200,000. Between 1900 and 1913 exports increased 
 from IJ to 5 million sterling. — Foreign Office Handbook 94, p. 45. 
 
 8 Cmd. 523 of 1920. See also Appendix B of the Indian Report (Cmd. 51, 
 1919). These two reports form landmarks in the history of Empire cotton-grow- 
 ing, and formulate a policy. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF COTTON. 523 
 
 cultivator as ground-nuts and other exportable products 
 which are attended with less risk of failure from climate or 
 disease. This, as Mr M'Connell pointed out in his excellent 
 paper at the Eoyal Colonial Institute,^ can be achieved by 
 growing the varieties which command the best price and 
 yield the highest percentage of Mnt ; by obtaioing the largest 
 possible output per acre ; and by reducing charges in con- 
 nection with transport and marketing. The two former are 
 matters of research and experiment ; the latter may be 
 effected by the adoption of some of the suggestions I have 
 already made regarding labour and transport. I add a few 
 further tentative suggestions in regard to this particular crop. 
 
 In districts which offer every inducement for cotton- 
 growing except population, a scheme of colonisation by im- 
 migration from congested districts might, under the auspices 
 of a powerful organisation such as the Empire Cotton Cor- 
 poration, prove of value, with the co-operation of the local 
 Government. A deputation of village headmen having ap- 
 proved the site, free transport and temporary food suppUes 
 woidd be provided for the immigrants, with the requisite 
 cotton-seed. 
 
 Ginneries and pressing machinery should be estabhshed in 
 the centre of cotton-producing areas, and not on the railway, 
 with a view to minimising transport, since the seed cotton is 
 more than three times the weight, and perhaps a hundred 
 times the bulk, of the pressed bales of Unt. These can easily 
 be carried by mechanical transport from the ginnery to the 
 railway, thus saving time and cost to the cidtivator, while 
 the seed has not to be retransported back again. The ginnery 
 should, if possible, be driven by water-power. 
 
 Imported cloth, if cheap and strong, decreases the demand 
 for raw cotton for local weaving. Hew incentives to the 
 cultivation of cotton would be afforded by faculties for in- 
 suring the crop against disease and drought, so as to reduce 
 the risk to the cultivator. This might perhaps be effected 
 through the local banks. 
 
 Eisks from drought may be further reduced by the partial 
 irrigation of rain-grown cotton — viz., by irrigation only in 
 the driest weeks, to save the crop in case of prolonged drought. 
 This can be done by the methods and appliances I have sug- 
 gested, and the knowledge that he had such means at his 
 
 ^ See 'United Empire' for April 1921. 
 
524 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 disposal for saving his crop would no doubt do much to 
 popularise the cultivation of cotton with the peasant culti- 
 vator. Cotton already enjoys the advantage of being a later 
 crop than the main staples, so that the cultivator is able to 
 turn his attention to it when they are already harvested. 
 Arrangements for collecting direct from the growers, so as to 
 exclude the middleman's profit— for which he often renders 
 Uttle or no equivalent service — are advisable. For this pur- 
 pose I think the hand-propelled ped-raU, which I have de- 
 scribed in the chapter on transport, would be very useful — 
 for its pressure when loaded is only 6 lb. to the square inch, 
 and it can be taken over growing crops without injuring 
 them. 
 
 Since the peasant cultivator is more influenced by the 
 success of his neighbour than by any amount of advice, it 
 may be useful to guarantee a few selected planters against 
 loss if they wiU grow improved varieties under prescribed 
 conditions. In Nigeria the native administrations have been 
 encouraged to pass by-laws prohibiting the sowing of any 
 but the authorised seed in specified districts, in order to 
 prevent hybridisation, and deterioration of a successful exotic 
 variety.^ It is most essential that the cultivator should be 
 guaranteed a minimum price over a period of time,^ and that 
 he should be assured of a market at that price for all the 
 cotton he can grow.^ 
 
 ' As regards Nigeria some suggestions will be found in my report (Cmd. 468, 
 1920). The Chad region offers great possibilities for irrigation. The Shuwa Arabs 
 are very intelligent, and understand something of irrigation. Their higher 
 standard of life is an incentive to earn money. Their ex-slaves are now casual 
 labourers. The extension of the railway to Chad is under consideration. There 
 are extensive areas in this district suitable and available for cotton, and a tolerably 
 good labour supply. Zaria is the headquarters of the cotton industry. Irrigation 
 from the Chalowa and Hadeija rivers should increase the yield. " Allen's " variety 
 has been introduced, and the quantity exported has increased very rapidly. It 
 should gradually supersede all native cotton. Sokoto cotton is mostly carried to 
 Zaria, 246 miles. The completion of the main trunk road will render wheeled 
 transport possible, and lorries can obtain a load both ways — thus greatly reducing 
 cost — since there are large cities along the route. The provinces of Kontagora 
 and Borgu afford large areas suitable for cotton, but the difficulty here is lack of 
 population and labour owing to the slave-raiding of the past. The eradication of 
 venereal disease, and a greater yield of foodstuffs per acre, by improved varieties 
 and labour-saving methods, are, as I have said, the remedies. 
 
 ^ For lint cotton which commands a price of 5d. per lb. in Liverpool, Id. per 
 lb. (seed cotton) can be given in Nigeria, and so in proportion. 
 
 ' Complaints are made that although the natives have been urged to grow 
 cotton, Lancashire is not willing to purchase it if American cotton is plentiful. 
 Sir H. Leggett states that out of 50 000 bales of the Uganda crop of 1920 only 
 
IMPORTANCE OP INOEEASING THE OUTPUT. 525 
 
 With the important question of directing the crop to British 
 markets I have dealt in chapter xiii. (pp. 271-72). The most 
 promising solution seems to be that adopted in the Sudan 
 with the Gezireh, Kassala, and Tokar cotton crops, where a 
 system of tripartite profit-sharing has been introduced with 
 success between the Government, which provides the water 
 for irrigation, private enterprise which furnishes the capital, 
 and the natives who undertake the labour. Cotton-growing 
 is essentially a native industry, and the best results have been 
 obtained where this is recognised.^ In Uganda the Cotton 
 Ordinance prohibits the purchase of cotton in specified dis- 
 tricts, except at the standard price and at licensed buying 
 posts. ^ It has not been found necessary in Nigeria to interfere 
 with the liberty of the individual to sell his produce to whom 
 and at what price he prefers. The importance of encouraging 
 this industry caimot be over-estimated.^ 
 
 The gravamen of the remarks which I have made in chapter 
 xix. in regard to the cocoa industry is, that greater attention 
 on the part of the cultivator is needed in clearing the ground, 
 removing diseased trees and stumps, which breed fungoids — 
 in short, more labour and care, if the yield and quality are to 
 come up to a reasonable standard,* and plantations must not 
 
 8000 had been bought up to date, and asked that preference should be given to 
 Empire-grown cotton at equal prices for equal quality. The Corporation will 
 see to this. — ' United Empire,' April 1921, p. 245. 
 
 ' This is the case in Uganda (Coryndon, ' United Empire,' June 1920) and in 
 Nigeria. In Nyasaland 76 per cent is grown on European estates, and only 24 
 per cent by natives. — Foreign Office Handbook 95, p. 49. 
 
 ' In the Sudan ginneries and the importation of cotton-seed are subject to licence. 
 A scheme is adopted for enclosing the warehouses in which cotton is stored 
 with gauze netting, so as to catch and destroy the boll-worm moth when it 
 emerges. All cotton is graded and sealed by Government. — Handbook 98, pp. 
 99, 100. 
 
 ' Of the total export of manufactured goods from the United Kingdom, 
 valued at £411,000,000 in 1913, £125,000,000 consisted of cotton goods. 
 A capital of £500,000,000 is employed, and it is estimated that not fewer than 
 10,000,000 people in this country are directly or indirectly engaged in the 
 industry. The total requirements of the United Kingdom are put at four 
 million bales of 500 lbs. each per annum. Of this, 3,200,000 comes from the 
 United States, leaving 800,000 to be found from other sources within and 
 without the Empire. The Empire output is over 5J millions, but 85 per cent is 
 unsuitable for Lancashire. It is therefore very essential to increase the Empire- 
 grown supply of long-staple varieties, since Mr M'Connel states that the United 
 Kingdom is dependent at present for 75 per cent of its requirements on foreign 
 countries. — Cotton Beport, loc. cit., appendix ii. and p. 54. 
 
 ^ It is asserted that the average yield per tree in native-owned plantations 
 on the Gold Coast is under 1 lb. on the best land, while on Government planta- 
 tions on inferior land it is 8 lbs. —Nigerian 'Pioneer,' 18th February 1918. 
 Dr Unwin states that the Gold Coast cocoa is "the lowest grade put on the 
 
526 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 be overcrowded. I have emphasised also the importance of 
 paying a price according to quality. At present it is stated 
 that the farmer who takes the trouble to prepare his beans 
 properly can obtain no better price than his neighbour whose 
 plantation is neglected.^ 
 
 Since the cocoa must be fermented on the spot to avoid the 
 necessity of carrying the bulky pods to a central fermenting 
 and drying station, uniformity in fermentation can only be 
 secured by educating the native to dry and ferment the beans 
 himself, the merchant completing the process so as to ensure 
 the cocoa reaching the European market without deterioration. 
 Such a system is more consonant with the self-reliant tradi- 
 tions of British trade, and less "bureaucratic," than the 
 demand that Government should employ expert cocoa sam- 
 plers in every village, and prohibit purchase except of certifi- 
 cated cocoa. Model plantations run by Government as 
 object-lessons are needed. This crop forms the main staple 
 of the Gold Coast, and is rapidly increasing in importance in 
 Nigeria. 
 
 As regards hides, freight charges may be reduced by de- 
 creasing balk as the result of partial preparation. Natives 
 may be instructed in better methods of flaying and of drying 
 the hides, discarding ofEals, &c. The Indian report contains 
 a useful appendix on tanneries.^ Africa possesses many ex- 
 cellent tanning materials. The excellence of the tanned goat- 
 skins of Kano (see note, pp. 609-10) proves the high efficiency 
 of their methods. I have myself furniture upholstered with 
 this leather, which is almost as good to-day as when done 
 twenty years ago. 
 
 The preservation and control of the forests of Africa is 
 a matter of such vital economic importance that it demands 
 more than the brief references which I have already made to 
 it.* The forest of&cer is concerned both with the afforestation 
 of areas denuded of forest and with the preservation of exist- 
 
 world'e markets," and commands only half the price of better grades. He 
 advocates a tax on each tree according to its healthiness. — 'West Africa,' 25th 
 December 1920. 
 
 1 Foreign Office Handbook No. 93, p. 33. 
 
 3 See Appendix D, Cmd. 51, 1919. 
 
 3 It is to Mr H. N. Thompson, Director of Forests, Nigeria (late of the 
 Indian Forestry Department), that West Africa owes the proper recognition of 
 the importance of forestry, and these notes are compiled from his teaching. 
 His report on the Gold Coast was published as a Blue - book (Cd. 4993 of 
 1910.) 
 
PRESEEVATION OP FORESTS. 527 
 
 ing forests and their "organisation," so that different age 
 classes of trees are evenly graded, and occupy equal areas, 
 and the forest may return its full annual interest on the 
 timber-producing capital. To efEect this the conservator 
 regulates the niunber and girth of trees to be felled in the 
 reserves, their removal without damage, and their replace- 
 ment by saplings. For an effective forest administration, a 
 continuous policy, to which the Government alone can give 
 efEect, is essential.^ Native administrations cannot take a 
 sufflciently far-sighted view, and are apt to sacrifice the 
 interests of the future to present needs ; but they can be 
 associated with the Government in carrying out its policy, 
 and entrusted with the largest possible share of responsi- 
 bility and initiative, in accordance with the principles of 
 native rule described in chapters x. and xi. 
 
 "Shifting cultivation," which I have fuUy described else- 
 where (chapter xiv., p. 299), is the most potent agent in the 
 destruction of forests. By this system the cultivator takes 
 up from five to nine times (according to the period of rotation) 
 the acreage annually cropped. Primeval forest is thus replaced 
 by secondary and inferior growth, in which useless trees 
 predominate, and eventually by grass, with consequent jungle 
 fires, tUl the land is quite exhausted. 
 
 The chief measures for the preservation of forests are : 
 (a) a better system of agriculture ; (b) the creation of forest 
 reserves (see chapter xv., p. 315) ; and (c) the protection in 
 unreserved areas of the more valuable species, by prohibiting 
 felling for sale, except by licence. All forests in the upper 
 catchment areas of rivers should be reserved, and areas 
 should be reserved for afforestation where forests do not exist. 
 Mr Thompson states that the area placed imder reserve in 
 different countries varies from 15 per cent to 67 per cent, 
 and he considers that 33 per cent, as in India, is the miniTrmnn 
 in a well-populated tropical country, and the proportion should 
 be greater in less-populated regions. 
 
 The objects of forestry reserves are : — 
 
 1. To supply forest produce continuously for local use 
 (railways, buildings, and native requirements) and for export, 
 and to add to revenue. 
 
 ' This is recognised even in countries with the most advanced forestry 
 organisation. In France and Germany, municipal and even private forests are 
 under Government supervision. 
 
528 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 2. To conserve tlie water-supply and control the " run-off " 
 from the hills, thus regulating waterfalls for power, main- 
 taining irrigation and the flow of springs, ensuring a higher 
 level in the rivers in the dry season, and preventing floods, 
 which deposit large quantities of barren soil in the valleys, 
 and ruin them for agriculture. 
 
 3. To increase the humidity of the atmosphere, and so 
 promote the growth of crops. Experiments in Europe prove 
 that forests increase rainfall by 28 per cent. 
 
 4. To prevent landslides and erosion, silting of rivers, and 
 shifting sands. 
 
 5. To act as barriers against the spread of insect and 
 fungoid pests from one cultivated area to another. 
 
 6. To conserve and improve the qualities of the soil, until 
 required for cultivation by the increase of the population. 
 
 7. To form a sanctuary for game, and provide grazing in 
 time of famine. 
 
 The law should empower the Governor to create reserves 
 compulsorily (if agreement with native communities claiming 
 ownership is not possible) on lands " in respect of which it 
 appears that the extinction of forests is diminishing, or likely 
 to diminish, the water-supply, or injuring the agricultural 
 conditions of neighbouring lands, or imperilling the continuous 
 supply of forest produce to the village communities contiguous 
 to such lands." 
 
 Where forests are recognised as tribal property, a " settle- 
 ment " is made with the native grantors, in which all native 
 rights (imless extinguished by purchase) are protected, in- 
 cluding the right to take forest produce for domestic require- 
 ments. Produce for sale or export is controlled by Govern- 
 ment, the tribal authorities receiving a royalty upon it. Except 
 as regards the rights recorded in the " settlement " the reserve 
 become^ an estate exclusively subject to forest law, on which 
 trespass may be prohibited. 
 
 Advanced native communities have in some cases in Nigeria 
 been entrusted with the entire charge of a reserve, under the 
 supervision of the forest officer. In most cases they partici- 
 pate in its control, and share its profits. The forest officer 
 looks after the planting and care of seedlings, the maintenance 
 of fire-traces, the regulation of grazing, and other technical 
 work in a reserve, instructs the natives, and sees that the 
 law and the terms of the settlement are observed. In some 
 
AFFORESTATION. 529 
 
 eases it may be desirable to fire the reserve annually, early 
 ia the year, to prevent the occurrence of later fires at the 
 end of the dry season, which destroy all young trees, espe- 
 cially if there is an accumulation of combustible material. 
 
 Partial protection in unreserved areas is afforded by pro- 
 hibiting, except under licence, the felling of protected trees 
 of special value, until such time as sufficient reserves have 
 been created. Plantations are maiutained for the supply of 
 seedlings, includiug exotic trees of value such as teak, and 
 also to provide fuel near large cities. Newly-afforested areas 
 require much protection from fires and from cattle. The 
 planting of economic trees, such as oU-palms, kolas, cocoa- 
 nuts, and fruit-trees on cultivated lands is encouraged. Gum- 
 bearing acacias are protected by special legislation in the 
 Sudan. 
 
 Particular attention is needed to prevent the wholesale de- 
 struction of trees for steamer fuel, or iu the vicinity of mines 
 for pit-props and other purposes. The supply to natives at 
 cost price of cheap angle-iron, or rod-iron, for hut-building 
 will decrease the annual destruction of saplings. The example 
 of Government in improved methods of exploitiug a forest, 
 and establishing a market for the less-known classes of timber, 
 may afford a useful lesson.^ 
 
 In the more arid regions, where extensive forests do not 
 exist, the trees require protection agaiast the axe of the 
 nomad, who lops off the limbs to afford fodder to his camels, 
 and leaves the stump to die. The afforestation of such regions 
 in order to check the encroachments of the desert, to act as a 
 break to dry and scorching winds, to increase rainfall, and to 
 provide fuel and timber, is a work of immense benefit and 
 importance. 
 
 The development of plantation rubber has of late years 
 received so much attention that there is no need of any 
 remarks on this head. In Africa the native must be better 
 traiaed ia methods of tapping and of coagulatiag the latex. 
 
 In making these brief and somewhat crude suggestions 
 regarding some of the chief staples of tropical Africa, I have 
 not attempted to discriminate between the share of the 
 
 ' Such an experiment was undertaken iu Nigeria under the able control of 
 Mr Thompson, and an industry worth some £250,000 (including the forest) was 
 built up in six years, "which was from every point of -view a complete success." 
 It was estimated that 500,000 cubic feet of timber would be cut in 1920. — 
 Dr Unwin, Forest Consultant, in ' West Africa,' 12th June 1920. 
 
 2l 
 
530 EOONOMIO DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Government, the merchant, the native administration, or 
 the individual native cultivator in giving effect to the object 
 in view — the increase in quantity and quality of African 
 exports. For it is essentially a task which invites and depends 
 upon co-operation. The Government, by means of its technical 
 departments, by improved transport, and in the other ways 
 upon which I have dwelt elsewhere, leads the way and assists 
 the efforts of others, and endeavours to awaken the interest 
 and excite the emulation of the native administrations. The 
 merchant has it in his power to prove to the natives the prac- 
 tical benefit of the methods suggested, by offering good prices 
 for improved products, and in some cases by himself co- 
 operating with Government in providing the object-lessons 
 required. The native rulers can exert their influence, with 
 immense benefit to the people, by popularising by example 
 and precept the teaching of the new methods where they are 
 opposed to the conservative customs of primitive cultivation. 
 By such co-operation material prosperity will be assured. 
 
 The African tropics afford a vast and fascinating field for 
 experiment in the acclimatisation of new products, with a 
 view to broadening the basis of industry, and for the improve- 
 ment of those products which are indigenous. The Indian 
 agricidtural, forestry, and veterinary publications are full of 
 suggestion and experience for Africa.^ 
 
 In the domain of vegetable products one may instance the 
 need of investigation into the question of fodder grasses, and 
 the storage of grass as hay or ensilage.^ Fibres are chiefly 
 important in the barren lands near the east coast, since they 
 will not bear heavy transport charges from the interior ; and 
 as the Director of Agriculture on the Gold Coast observes, 
 they cannot compete with " cocoa grown with the minimum 
 expenditure of capital and energy and the maximum financial 
 return." Sisal, ramie, and piassava * have received attention. 
 
 1 See ' General Catalogue of Government of India Publications ' (Government 
 Printing Office, Calcutta). 
 
 ^ Guinea-grass and alfafa have both received some attention, and the former 
 promises well. Bersem-grass and shaftal (Trifolium aZex and resvpinatum), 
 highly praised in India, merit experiment. ("Bersem as a new fodder crop," 
 Bulletin No. 66 of 1916, Calcutta). 
 
 ' The fibre of the common food-plant " okro " is said to be better than that of 
 jute (' Board of Trade Journal," 7th October 1909, p. 26). We read of a company 
 being formed at the Cape to exploit the baobab tree {Adansonia digitata), and 
 a leading commercial firm reports that " it is probably the finest paper-material 
 without exception to be found in Nature." 
 
VARIOUS POSSIBLE PEODXJCTS. 531 
 
 It is reported that jute grows well, and flax (which, of course, 
 stands in a class apart) has lately, as I have narrated, proved 
 a valuable crop in East Africa.^ In the interior, rope, string, 
 and especially bags for produce may, as we found during the 
 war, be profitably manufactured as " cottage industries " by 
 primitive tribes. 
 
 Maize, if grown for export, requires bulk carriage by rail 
 and sea, and storage and discharge by elevators. The Germans 
 had prepared for a large ripe-banana export, the fruit being 
 prepared in drying sheds. This industry should promise well. 
 The dried fruit makes an excellent stew, and tastes like dried 
 figs. Pine-apples of great size and very delicious flavour were 
 grown in the Government gardens in Mgeria, and could be 
 canned for export. Banana-flour, ginger, and limes offer 
 possibilities. The latter grow and fruit most freely in West 
 Africa ; the juice or citric acid coidd be prepared from it 
 locally. The cultivation of vegetables has been neglected 
 in West Africa, though the French have set us an example.^ 
 
 In favourable localities the curing and fermentation of 
 high-class tobacco may offer a valuable export, as has been 
 proved in Nyasaland. The sunflower yields a valuable oil 
 and cake, which is largely exploited in Eussia. The castor- 
 oil plant gives good results in French Dahomey. Economic 
 trees, such as the kola, the cocoa-nut (which is little liable to 
 disease and easily harvested), the giim-bearing species, timber- 
 trees Uke the teak, fruit-trees like the mango, aU call for 
 increased attention. It is worth remembering that South 
 Africa, being in the southern hemisphere, offers particular 
 advantages as a source from which to obtain yoimg plants of 
 fruit-trees and other economic species, since they can be 
 transplanted at the most favourable season, and introduced 
 into tropical Africa just before the rains. 
 
 The field for enterprise is no less in the animals and the 
 animal products of Africa. Cattle, goats, sheep, and swine 
 
 ^ The Agricultural Department of Nyasaland reports on a wild product, 
 "buaze" (Secwridaca longipedunculata), as being in every way superior to flax. 
 It is said, however, to be difficult to cultivate, and the gum it contains renders 
 it hard to separate the fibre. — Handbook 95, p. 54. 
 
 ' On the Bauchi plateau in Nigeria the cultivation of potatoes has been eagerly 
 adopted by primitive tribes, and they can now be bought in the native markets. 
 We read of vegetables, sun-dried and compressed into bricks, being exported 
 from India to Mesopotamia, and found indistinguishable from fresh. — See 
 'The Sun-drying of Vegetables,' by G. Howard. Bulletin No. 8 of 1917, 
 Calcutta. 
 
532 ECONOmO DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 can all be unproved, whether for meat or hides, by crossing 
 with imported stock, by castration of males, and provision 
 of stud animals for service of females of approved standard. 
 The possibilities of stall-feeding instead of or in addition to 
 grazing, of cattle fodder and cake, of inoculation and other 
 preventive measures against disease, invite fuUer investiga- 
 tion. Ostrich-farming,^ bee-keeping (a lucrative industry in 
 India), ^ the domestication of the elephant, eland, and zebra,^ 
 and the breeding of zebroid mules — all these and a himdred 
 other problems offer inducements to the scientific investigator. 
 
 Thousands of tons of dried fish are imported yearly to 
 West Africa, though the sea teems with every variety, which, 
 with the use of steam trawlers, proper curing estabUshments, 
 and refrigerators, could be made available for food, and the 
 offals for valuable manure. 
 
 The day of the nomad pastoral must before long pass in 
 Africa as it has passed in other countries, and give place to 
 viUage-owned herds. Already in Ehodesia movement beyond 
 defined areas is prohibited without a veterinary officer's 
 permit. The northern provinces of Nigeria and the northern 
 territories of the Gold Coast have been said by experts to be 
 at least as well suited for cattle-rearing as Ehodesia or North 
 AustraUa, and they have the great advantage that their 
 proximity to Europe enables the meat to be sent to the home 
 market within the number of days' for which "chilled" car- 
 cases will keep. 
 
 In those regions of British tropical Africa, however, where 
 water and fodder are foimd, foreign enterprise in ranching is 
 generally already forestalled by the indigenous population 
 and its cattle. In such districts there is no room for the 
 ranch properly so-called, but the European stock-breeder on 
 a limited holding should not only be able to find profit, but 
 by the object-lesson which his methods afford to the native, 
 and by the purchase of surplus native stock, he may be of 
 the greatest value to the country. 
 
 ' In West Africa, the French have experimented largely in ostrich-farming, 
 and claim success. The cost is estimated at £i per bird per annum (Revue 
 Coloniale, 1901). In East Africa, the indigenous bird under proper care is 
 reported to produce feathers almost equal to the South African. 
 
 2 Calcutta Bulletin, No. 46 of 1915. 
 
 s The zebra is reported to have done well in harness in South Africa, and to 
 be immune to horse-sickness. The experiments of Baron de Parana in Brazil 
 in the breeding of zebra mules appear to be extremely successful. — 'Times,' 
 13th November 1899. 
 
VALUE OF OBJECT-LESSON IN STOCK-EAISING. 533 
 
 If it be our aim to teach the natives how to develop the 
 resources of their couatry themselves ia the most efficient way, 
 there is perhaps no sphere of industrial activity in which an 
 object-lesson is more essential than in that of stock-raising. 
 For there is no class more conservatively ignorant than the 
 pastoral races of Africa, whose methods have not changed 
 since the time of Abraham. To such people no means of 
 education other than ocular demonstration is of any use 
 whatever. 
 
 The educative value of an object-lesson in the treatment 
 of the common diseases,^ isolation against contagion, selection 
 for breeding, the flaying of hides, and fattening for market, 
 &c., cannot be overrated. But the application of modem 
 science can do more than this. By artesian well-boring, and 
 raising water by mechanical appliances and irrigation, by 
 importing stock and cross-breeding, by introducing new fodder 
 grasses and scientific methods of storing them, by utilising 
 local oil-cake for fattening, and by creating a steady market, 
 a trade of great value may be built up. The wild nomad 
 pastorals of to-day may become the stock-raisers of to- 
 morrow, and the yearly increment of the herds, instead of 
 perishing by epizootic disease and the starvation of the dry 
 season, may provide food for the industrial classes of Europe, 
 who in turn will raise the standard of comfort of the natives 
 by their manufactured goods. We have seen the process 
 at work aU over the world ; it is no longer the fanciful picture 
 of the enthusiast. 
 
 This form of enterprise seems indeed to offer such oppor- 
 tunities for genuine development as to merit every encourage- 
 ment, even if the non-native lessee encroaches somewhat 
 on the grazing lands of the pastorals. The area granted must, 
 of course, depend on what is available, and will form an 
 adequate inducement. A few square miles of ordinary graz- 
 ing land with water might be attached to a larger block 
 of 100 or even 200 square nules of land at present useless. 
 The conditions of the lease should be liberal, for the task of the 
 lessee is to convert arid waste into profitable pasture lands.^ 
 
 ^ Rinderpest and East Coast fever, of which the germ is conveyed from animal 
 to animal, and not like anthrax or tetanus contained in the soil, are preventible 
 diseases comparatively easy to stamp out. — Tanganyika Report, 1921, p. 58. 
 
 ^ Land can be acquired in Rhodesia at a distance of 25 miles and upwards from 
 the railway, for 5s. an acre and upwards ; 5 per cent of the purchase price is 
 paid on allotment, and the balance in nineteen instalments. — British South 
 
634 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Among the desiderata of the future few projects are of 
 greater importance than the extirpation of the tsetse-fly, 
 alike for the eradication of " sleeping-sickness " (of which it 
 carries the bacillus), and the corresponding disease (trypani- 
 somiasis) among cattle and other live-stock. The achievement 
 of Colonel Gorgas in his campaign against the mosquito in 
 Panama has shown that there is no reason to despair of 
 success against the tsetse-fly by the methods adopted in San 
 Thom6 Island, where it has been accomplished. 
 
 The task, colossal though it be, is facilitated by the fact 
 that the " fly-belts " are for the most part well defined, 
 and often not extensive. The first step is to map these accu- 
 rately — a task for which I collected material for many years 
 in Nigeria. Guinea-fowl, which feed on the pupse (as well 
 as on grasshoppers, ticks, &c.), should be protected. Inci- 
 dentally the pea-fowl and the jungle-fowl, so common and so 
 picturesque in the forests of India and Burmah, should be 
 introduced into Africa. 
 
 The society for the preservation of the fauna of Africa (of 
 which I have the honour to be an original member) has done 
 much to preserve the big game of the continent, and has 
 devoted special care to the elephant.^ Viewed, however, 
 from the economic standpoint, the wild elephant must share 
 with monkeys and wild pigs the charge of being terribly de- 
 structive to native crops. He soon learns that he is immune 
 from serious assault, and defies the peasants' efforts to drive 
 him off. The wanton destruction wrought by a herd in a 
 banana plantation or a young forest is terrible. The number 
 of elephants in each herd should be known, and licences to 
 shoot a proportionate number of mature males each year can 
 be issued, so as to afford the cultivators some protection. 
 The best means, on the other hand, of preventing the ruthless 
 extermination of the elephant for ivory is to prohibit the 
 export of aU tusks under a minimum weight, and to make it 
 
 African Pamphlet, 'Rhodesia,' p. 22. The size of ranches in Australia (where 
 areas of 1500 square miles have been granted) bears, of course, no comparison, for 
 the country had no indigenous population. 
 
 ' The massacre of elephants for ivory used to be very great indeed some years 
 ago. Published figures of ivory exported from German East Africa and the Congo 
 are" as follows: in 1893-94 from German East Africa, 13,923 tusks weighing 
 242", 494 lbs. ; in 1894-95, 14,692 tusks weighing 317,777 lbs.— viz., 28,615 tusks 
 or 14,300 elephants ; average tusk under 20 lbs. In 1892 from the Congo 183J 
 tons, say 10,300 elephants. Total elephants killed in these two areas alone, 
 24,600 per annum. 
 
PBESEEVATION OF FAUNA. 535 
 
 an offence to attempt to export or to offer such tusks for 
 sale. 
 
 The game laws of British dependencies in Africa now afford 
 protection to the beautiful fauna — the mata desiderata are to 
 institute a close season, and for the larger game a sanctuary ; 
 to protect some of the rarer species, and the females and 
 immature males of all ; to prohibit the destruction of game 
 by unfair means, such as nets, game-pits, poisoned arrows, 
 and hunting with dogs ; and to offer rewards, as in India, 
 for hyenas and snakes. 
 
536 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE LAW AND THE COXJETS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 The law in African dependencies— Ordinances— Regulations— The courts 
 —The Supreme Court— Merger of judicial and executive functions- 
 Disadvantages of the Supreme Court as the sole tribunal — The pro- 
 vincial courts — Contrast between the two systems — Some advantages 
 of provincial courts — Legal practitioners in courts — Special procedure 
 re plea and oath — Collective punishment— Reconciliation — Native 
 debts— Value of native courts— The objects in view — Native custom- 
 ary law — Constitution and powers of native courts — Supervision of 
 native courts. 
 
 The fundamental law, applicable alike to Europeans and na- 
 tives in all our African tropical dependencies, is the common 
 law and doctrines of equity, administered concurrently, and 
 the statutes of general application which were in force in 
 England at the time the administration was created. "• This 
 body of law is modified (a) by any law made by the Imperial 
 Parliament which is declared to extend to any or all of these 
 dependencies, 2 and by orders of His Majesty ia Council ; and 
 (6) by local ordinances. 
 
 This fundamental law, in so far as it is applicable to natives, 
 is modified by the proviso that British courts shall in civil 
 cases affecting natives (and even non-natives in their con- 
 tractual relations with natives) recognise native law, religion, 
 and custom when not repugnant to natural justice and 
 humanity, or incompatible with any local ordinance, especially 
 in matters relating to land, marriage, and inheritance. The 
 native courts administer native law. Thus in a Moslem State 
 
 1 In some colonies, where a European code existed prior to the assumption of 
 British rule, the fundamental law existing at the time was not changed — e.g., 
 part of Canada and Mauritius retain the Napoleonic code, and the Cape retains 
 the Roman Dutch law. 
 
 ^ Parliament does not usually legislate direct for the colonies. — ' Taring,' p. 407. 
 
ORDINANCES AND REGULATIONS. 537 
 
 such as Zanzibar, or the Emirates of Mgeria, British courts 
 recognise the Koranic law in dealing with natives, and it 
 constitutes the fundamental law of the native courts, subject 
 to the provisos mentioned. 
 
 It is one of the first preoccupations of a British Administra- 
 tion in newly-occupied territories to check with a strong 
 hand the exercise of arbitrary acts, whether by Europeans, 
 official or unofficial, or by native chiefs without the authority 
 and safeguards provided by the courts of law. 
 
 Ordinances — except on certain subjects reserved in the 
 Royal Instructions, which require prior reference to the Secre- 
 tary of State — are enacted, after pubUcation in the ' Gazette,' 
 by the Legislative Councils of the Colonies, and when assented 
 to by the Governor become law, subject to disallowance by 
 His Majesty. Ordinances for the protectorates are enacted 
 by the Governor-in-Council, and unless urgent must be pub- 
 Ushed in the " Gazette ' for two months prior to enactment, 
 so as to give ample time for any suggestions or criticisms. 
 In some cases the Colonial Legislative Council is, or was, 
 empowered to enact laws for the protectorates attached to 
 the colony, as well as for the colony. The Executive Council 
 considers aE draft Bills. In order to simplify the criminal 
 law, and to enable every person to know what are offences 
 in law, and the degree of pimishment attached, most de- 
 pendencies have a criminal code, in which the English criminal 
 law is codified with some minor local adaptations.^ 
 
 Most ordinances empower the Govemor-ia-Council to make 
 regulations with limited penalties, and also Orders in Council 
 having the force of law. In some cases a municipality, or a 
 native administration or other authority, is empowered to 
 make rules or by-laws, subject to approval and publication 
 ia the ' Gazette.' Eegulations can be made and altered with- 
 out the formalities and delays, or the congestion of the Statute- 
 book, involved by frequent amending ordinances. They can 
 deal in great detail with complicated matters, which are un- 
 suited, or indeed impossible, to embody in a statute, and 
 which may be applicable only to a particular district. 
 
 A strong and effective Legislative Council is apt to chafe 
 under this partial transfer of legislative power to the Governor 
 and his Executive Council, and to demand that all regulations 
 shall be submitted to it for final approval. This would to a 
 
 ' In East Africa the Indian penal code is adopted with modifications. 
 
538 THE LAW AND THE COtTRTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 large extent introduce delay and formality, and would overtax 
 the time of the Legislative Council, the xmofiBcial members of 
 which have their own business to attend to, upon which 
 attendance at the council makes no small inroads. 
 
 The Executive Coimcil, consisting of the heads of the prin- 
 cipal departments and the Attorney-General, is a body weU 
 constituted to scrutinise and amend regulations intended to 
 give effect to a law, and members of the Legislative Council 
 have always, of course, the power to criticise them by way of 
 motion. The occasion for these protests, which one reads 
 from time to time in the debates of all colonies, would, how- 
 ever, be decreased, if the structural regulations under a 
 skeleton ordinance (viz., one which does little more than em- 
 power the Governor to make regulations), together with other 
 regulations of special importance, were submitted to the 
 council before coming into operation, and if all other regula- 
 tions and Orders-in-Council were laid on the table — as indeed 
 they usually are. 
 
 It is of importance that amendments to regulations should 
 convey a clear meaning without the necessity of reference. 
 The busy man has no time to ascertain what is the purport 
 of an announcement that " regulation ... is amended by 
 inserting (or omitting) the words ..." It is also very desir- 
 able that all regulations and Orders - in - Council published 
 during the year should be available in a bound volume (and 
 issued to aU who have to administer them), and that they 
 should be reprinted as amended every three or four years. 
 I have known a case in which no volume of regulations had 
 been issued for a generation at least, and even the law officers 
 were uncertain in regard to them. 
 
 The highest tribunal in an African dependency is the 
 Supreme Court, which exercises all the local jurisdiction, 
 civil and criminal, vested in His Majesty. It consists of a 
 Chief Justice and Puisne Judges, including, it may be, those 
 of a neighbouring colony. The full court, consisting of the 
 Chief Justice and two or more judges, forms a Court of Appeal 
 from the decisions of the Divisional Courts, and a further 
 appeal lies to the Privy Council, in claims over £500 in value, 
 or if a question of pubUc importance is involved. The Boyal 
 prerogative of pardon or commutation is exercised by the 
 Governor alone. 
 
 The area under the Supreme Court jurisdiction is usually 
 
MERGER OF JXTDICIAIi AND EXECUTIVE POWERS. 539 
 
 formed into divisions or circuits, and Assizes are held periodi- 
 cally in each division, and at any place the Chief Justice may 
 appoint. Special courts are also held at the discretion of 
 the divisional judge. The bidk of the work of the Supreme 
 Court is, however, done by courts of limited jurisdiction, 
 under magistrates or ex officio commissioners (viz., adminis- 
 trative or police officers), who deal with cases within the 
 powers assigned to them, or commit them for trial to the 
 Divisional Court. 
 
 In countries of great size, like the African dependencies 
 and India, it is obviously unavoidable that judicial and 
 executive powers should be exercised by the same officer, 
 and that some of the officers who exercise small judicial 
 powers should not possess recognised legal qualifications. 
 The separation of these functions would seem unnatural to 
 the primitive African, since they are combined in his own 
 rulers, and a system which involved the delay caused by 
 reference, even in minor cases, would be detested. The 
 people Uke to bring such cases to a man whom they know, 
 who can often effect settlement without litigation. He would 
 usually have more experience of native motives, and hence 
 of the degree of criminality — a point of view to which I shall 
 refer again presently. As a judicial officer he can maintain 
 closer touch with the native courts, which he has to super- 
 vise, and whose cases he occasionally transfers to his own 
 court. Moreover, in a country recently brought under ad- 
 ministration, and in times of political difficulty, occasions may 
 arise when the strictly legal aspect must give way to expe- 
 diency — as we have seen in the chapter on slavery. I am 
 convinced that, even were it possible, the separation of the 
 judicial and executive functions held by the District Officer 
 would not be for the good of the country.^ 
 
 ' " I do not consider," says Chief Justice Osborne, " that the merger of judicial 
 and executive functions in the same officer works badly in West Africa." Sir E. 
 Speed, Chief Justice of Nigeria, points out that the law administered is largely 
 native law, and with this and with the native language the Administrative Officer 
 should be more familiar than the Assize Judge, who may be new to Africa or to 
 the colony. The same inevitable exercise of dual functions obtains in India, and 
 in other dependencies. 
 
 By Ordinance I. of 1st January 1902 of the Gold Coast Legislature (enforcing 
 the Royal Order-in-Council of 26th September 1901) the Chief Commissioner 
 of Ashanti — an executive (and legally unqualified) officer — was vested with the 
 powers of a judge of the Supreme Court, except in matrimonial cases. Appeals 
 lay to the Governor — not to the Supreme Court — by whom sentences exceeding 
 five years were confirmed. District and Provincial Commissioners, not neceBsarily 
 
540 THE LAW AND THE COXJETS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 Though the Supreme Court is well adapted for the needs of 
 an old-established colony, and of those commercial centres 
 where non-natives and educated natives chiefly reside, it 
 labours under certain disadvantages as the sole British tribimal 
 in a country like Africa, where distances are great and means 
 of transport deficient, where the people are addicted to 
 endless litigation regarding tribal boundaries and the posses- 
 sion of land, and where there is a multiplicity of languages. 
 The restricted powers of the Commissioners, and the natural 
 tendency to remand cases for trial at Assize, must in the 
 circumstances cause delays, and result in cases being heard 
 at great distances from the place where they originated, with 
 hardship to witnesses, who must be forcibly detained, and in 
 waste of time by the reopening of land disputes long since 
 settled by the executive officer. The subject is discussed at 
 much length in the report on the amalgamation of Mgeria.^ 
 
 " Delay," wrote the Chief Justice of Nigeria, discussing the 
 judicial system of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate, " is the 
 greatest enemy of efficient administration of criminal law, and 
 delay is inherent in the Supreme Court system, ... it has, 
 in my opinion, proved a failure." Mr Osborne, late Chief 
 Justice of Southern Nigeria, writes : " The Supreme Court 
 is not the most suitable tribimal for new territories in the 
 opening stages of civilisation. ... It is not so much the 
 establishment of the tribunal itself which is unsuitable as its 
 inevitable consequences — viz., the influx of ahen practitioners." 
 He adds that the civil jurisdiction of the Supreme Court 
 should not be extended to newly-administered districts until 
 the people are thoroughly familiarised with British methods, 
 and " only when the tribal and communal boundaries have 
 been poUticaUy settled, so that they cannot form the subject 
 of litigation." 
 
 Both Chief Justices, after long experience in West Africa, 
 supported by a strong body of expert opinion, thus condemn 
 
 possessed of professional qualifications, exercised varying powers, with an appeal 
 to the Chief Commissioner's Court. A circuit judge was appointed in 1919. — 
 'A Vanished Dynasty,' Sir F. Fuller, pp. 214 and 221. 
 
 Mr F. H. Migeod, an officer of the Gold Coast Government, who recently 
 visited the Congo in his journey across Africa, relates that he found warlike 
 operations on a considerable scale in progress there. He attributes the outbreak 
 partly to "the separation of judicial from administrative functions," for the 
 judicial officers were apt to work against the political officers, whose power and 
 influence has thus been undermined. — 'West Africa,' 14th May 1921. 
 
 1 Cmd. 468, 1920, pp. 20-25 and 75-78. 
 
THE PROVINCIAL COtTRTS. 54] 
 
 the extension of the Supreme Court jurisdiction to newly- 
 acquired territories, on the grounds that it involves unneces- 
 sary delays and hardships on litigants, prisoners awaiting 
 trial, and witnesses (with a consequent inducement to conceal 
 crime) ; ^ because it introduces alien practitioners, who foment 
 litigation for their own gain ; does not effectively punish 
 crime ; and creates needless friction with the executive, 
 whose carefully-adjudicated decisions in land cases may be 
 called in question, with a consequent weakening of their 
 influence and authority in the maiatenance of law and order ; 
 while the work of the court becomes congested by the fre- 
 quency of appeals. These are important conclusions, which 
 no doubt have a wider application than Nigeria. 
 
 The alternative known as the " Proviacial Court System " 
 was set up by me in Northern Nigeria at a time when the 
 Treasury grant admitted of only a single judge, who could 
 not possibly have held Assizes throughout a country more 
 than five times the size of England — putting aside other 
 aspects of the question. Under the close supervision of the 
 Governor and Chief Justice the system had worked well for 
 fifteen years, and with the approval of the Chief Justices 
 of both north and south it was extended to the whole of 
 Nigeria on amalgamation. 
 
 The system has been criticised by some who have had no 
 practical experience of it, and has been warmly praised by 
 others who have seen it in operation. A full discussion of the 
 matter may be found in the report referred to. I will endeav- 
 our briefly to indicate how it has dealt with the difficulties 
 I have described, omitting minor controversial details — such 
 as who should be confirmtag officer, or whether the powers 
 of transfer to the Supreme Court should be exercised con- 
 currently or solely by the Governor or Chief Justice, &c. 
 
 The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is restricted terri- 
 torially imder this system to those "local limits" to which 
 it is best adapted, and which are capable of indefinite ex- 
 pansion as the development of the territory proceeds and 
 circumstances require, but it exercises full jurisdiction in aU 
 proceedings, civil and criminal in the coimtry, to which a 
 
 ' The peasant prefers to suffer oppression rather than leave his farm and his 
 family for an indefinite time, for he is uncertain' whether he will find them un- 
 harmed on his return. It becomes, therefore, almost impossible to procure 
 witnesses, and the least that can be done is to maintain them, and to give liberal 
 compensation for detention. 
 
542 THE LAW AND THE COURTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 non-native is a party. In each province — there are twenty- 
 one in Nigeria — ^a Provincial Court is set up, with unlimited 
 powers and concurrent jurisdiction over non-natives, except 
 in the local Umits of the Supreme Court — ^within which District 
 Officers or other magistrates become commissioners of that 
 court. The Provincial Court is thus relieved of the bulk of 
 judicial work which is not directly concerned with the native 
 administration. 
 
 The Eesident of the Province, as President, alone exercises 
 full powers ex officio, and aU administrative officers are Com- 
 missioners of the court, with powers varying according to 
 their legal knowledge and proved capacity, irrespective of 
 their rank. Judicial ability counts for promotion. Police offi- 
 cers and others may be similarly appointed by the Governor. 
 All criminal cases in which a penalty of six months imprison- 
 ment or its equivalent is infficted, and civil suits in which a 
 judgment of £50 and upwards is awarded, require confirma- 
 tion by the Governor, who in practice delegates his powers 
 to the Chief Justice, or it may be to a Lieut.-Govemor 
 assisted by his legal adviser. It is usually sent by telegraph. 
 
 The returns of the cases tried, usually called the " Cause 
 Lists " of the Eesident, and through him those of the Com- 
 missioners, are transmitted to the Governor or his delegate, 
 and they operate automatically as appeals, and ensure some 
 uniformity in sentences. There is no other appeal in criminal 
 cases, but an appeal lies to the Supreme Court in civil suits 
 over £50. Capital sentences must be confirmed by the Chief 
 Justice before final review by the Govemor-in-Council. The 
 confirming officer can, on judicial grounds, reduce or annul 
 a sentence, or order a rehearing before the Supreme or Pro- 
 vincial Court. 
 
 It would at first sight seem as though there were little 
 difference between the " Provincial Court system " and the 
 " Supreme Court system," since the same law is administered 
 by the same men in both cases, and there is the same obUga- 
 tion to take cognisance of native customary law. In the 
 Provincial Court system, however, a larger initiative and more 
 extended powers are conferred upon experienced officers. If 
 fully quaUfied — and apart from practical experience (which is 
 the best training) there are many barristers and solicitors 
 among the administrative staff — a district officer may be 
 allowed to exercise the fuU powers of the court, subject to 
 the rules for confirmation. If without professional qualifica- 
 
SAFEGUAE.DS PEOVTDED. 543 
 
 tion, every administrative ofiBcer is required to pass a simple 
 test in law and evidence, suited to the restricted powers he 
 exercises.^ The verdict of the judicial oflacers after a long 
 experience in reviewing and conflrmiag the sentences of these 
 courts, has been that they have progressed steadily in effi- 
 ciency, and the work has been carefully and satisfactorily 
 done. 
 
 Under this system no cases come automatically before the 
 Supreme Court, and the procedure is summary and simple. 
 Any case, especially a technical or compUcated civil suit, 
 or a murder case where there is a conflict of evidence, can be 
 transferred to the Supreme Court, either by the Chief Justice 
 or at the request of one of the parties, or of the Provincial 
 Court with his consent. A British subject may originate 
 proceedings in the Supreme Court, and if summoned by a 
 Provincial Court may demand trial in the Supreme Court, 
 though in practice few such demands have been made. 
 
 In order to cope with the work before provincial courts were 
 created, very large powers were conferred in the Southern 
 Nigerian Protectorate on native courts, which consisted of a 
 large number (as many as sixty in some cases) of illiterate 
 chiefs of the most primitive communities. Any District 
 Officer, however junior, sat as President, and ia this anomalous 
 position could exercise larger powers than as a Commissioner 
 of the Supreme Court.^ 
 
 It is claimed for the Provincial Court system that it re- 
 stricts the powers of the junior officer, and surrounds him 
 with safeguards to prevent injustice. All minor cases pass 
 through the hands of the Eesident (who can transfer any case 
 from a Commissioners' Court to his own), and are reviewed 
 by the legal adviser. The Eesident is the officer with the 
 largest experience of native administration. Important cases, 
 
 ^ Memoranda on judicial procedure and points of law, noting any miscon- 
 ceptions or errors brought to light by the cause lists, have, since the creation of 
 the system, been issued to administrative officers in Northern Nigeria. These 
 officers at first attended the Supreme Court, and were personally instructed by the 
 Chief Justice, but the courts have now their own tradition, and such methods 
 are no longer necessary. 
 
 ^ Mr Chamberlain, 9th April 1900, replying to a question in the House, stated 
 that a District Commissioner in Sierra Leone, sitting with native chiefs, could 
 hear and determine capital cases. There was no right of appeal to the Supreme 
 Court, but the death sentence requires the warrant of the Governor. Counsel 
 were allowed to appear in a District Officer's Court, but they could not appear 
 when he sat with native chiefs or assessors, except in capital cases or by leave of 
 the District Commissioner. No test of legal knowledge was demanded from these 
 officers. 
 
544 TECE LAW AND THE COURTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 on the other hand, are tried by qualified ofBcers with a know- 
 ledge of native law and custom, and often of the native lan- 
 guage also. Their judicial work adds to their store of know- 
 ledge regarding land tenure, flshiag, hunting, and forestry 
 rights, &c., while the Assize Judge is probably ignorant of 
 local customs, and very much in the hands of his interpreter. 
 Serious cases are tried on the spot with less delay, and less 
 chance of suborniug witnesses, and the sentence or judgment 
 is subjected to the scrutiny of the confirming officer. The 
 influence of the District Officer, which is of vital importance 
 in the interest of good government, is increased instead of 
 being lessened, and by putting an end to litigation regarding 
 land, friction with the Supreme Court is abolished, and 
 frivolous and costly litigation decreased. 
 
 There is a consensus of official opinion that the courts are 
 popular with the people, since justice is brought within the 
 reach of all and delay avoided, but they are unpopular with 
 the educated natives. This class is almost entirely confined 
 to the limits of the colony proper,^ and large commercial 
 centres, which remain under the Supreme Court jurisdiction, 
 and they have therefore little or no personal experience of the 
 Provincial Courts. Their ground of objection is that legal 
 practitioners are excluded from them, and from appearing 
 in appeals from them to the Supreme Court in civil suits, 
 except by leave of the Chief Justice when a question of law 
 is involved. 
 
 In Africa, as in India, the legal profession has a strong 
 attraction for the native, and is overcrowded — ^in Nigeria 
 largely by aliens from other colonies. Its members and their 
 friends are very clamant; but both Chief Justices, and 
 (according to Sir E. Speed) " every single officer, judicial or 
 administrative, who has had any experience of districts 
 recently brought under control, has emphatically pronounced 
 against the right to be represented by cotmsel." ^ They state 
 that the touts of native lawyers have constantly fomented 
 Utigation among the illiterate people of the interior, ever- 
 
 ^ The colony proper is l/240th part of the area of Nigeria. 
 
 2 Sir E. Speed adds that the Yorubas and Bgbas — the most progressive tribes 
 in the south — expressly stipulated that no lawyers should have audience in the 
 courts in their territories — though usually speaking their language, — and this 
 demand has, I believe, recently been reaffirmed by the latter. See also the 
 reference to Sierra Leone practice in the last footnote (p. 543), and to Indian con- 
 ditions at the end of this chapter. 
 
LEGAL PRACTITIONEES IN PEOVINCIAL COURTS. 545 
 
 ready to reopen land disputes — most of which were not 
 hona-fide questions of individual or family ownership of land, 
 but disputes as to tribal or other boundaries — ^which had been 
 settled after thorough investigation by the District Oflacer. 
 They point out that the native lawyer is probably a complete 
 stranger to the country, and certainly has nothing in common 
 with these tribes, of whose language and customs he is ignorant, 
 and among whom he has only comparatively recently dared 
 to penetrate under British protection for professional gain. 
 
 These charges were not denied by the native members of 
 council — ^themselves barristers of high standing. But the 
 opponents of the system appealed to the Secretary of State 
 and to sympathetic societies in England, largely on the 
 ground that a man accused on a capital charge had a right 
 to be defended by counsel. The judges, however, afllrm that 
 native barristers rarely attended crimiaal trials, which were 
 not sufficiently lucrative, and confined themselves chiefly to 
 the recurrent appeals in land cases, from which, as Chief 
 Justice Osborne observed, the " fat fees " accrue. 
 
 This specious argument might have been met (with little 
 satisfaction to themselves) by allowing counsel to appear in 
 capital trials, but Chief Justice Speed was averse to such a 
 course, and held that existing safeguards (including the power 
 of transfer to the Supreme Court) were ample, and it was the 
 duty of the judge to watch the interests of the accused. For 
 the rest, he showed that there was ample commercial business 
 in which counsel could find legitimate employment. Thus 
 Indian experience repeats itelE in Nigeria, and doubtless in 
 other African dependencies.^ 
 
 ' Sir Francis Fuller, in his book, ' A Vanished Dynasty ' (chapter xii. p. 220), 
 gives an account of present-day administration of justice in Ashanti : " The close 
 touch and constant intercourse between commissioners and natives have en- 
 gendered feelings of mutual regard and respect. Nor is it too much to add that 
 this sympathy has, in many instances, amounted to real affection. Litigation is 
 beloved by the Ashantis, and land disputes form a large proportion of court cases, 
 owing^to the accruing value of the soil for planting purposes. Litigants are only 
 too ready to take their complaints to the Commissioners, who, they well realise, 
 will mete out strict justice at but slight cost to the parties. Appeals lie from 
 the Commissioner's decision to the Governor of the Gold Coast Colony, but this 
 last procedure is seldom resorted to. 
 
 "By wise decree lawyers cannot plead in the dependency, for such a litigious 
 people would fight to the bitter end and ruin themselves in payment of ex- 
 orbitant fees. One of the secrets of their present contented state may be 
 ascribed to this rule. . . . The penalties which may be inflicted by the Com- 
 missioners vary according to rank from a maximum of six months' imprisonment 
 allowed to District Commissioners, to one year in the case of a Provincial 
 
 2 M 
 
546 THE LAW AND THE COXJB.TS OP JUSTICE. 
 
 Nothing except education can compare in importance with 
 the administration of justice in British colonies, and this 
 must be my apology for so lengthy a discussion of this matter, 
 for the issues are not confined to Nigeria. Sir Edwin Speed, 
 lately Chief Justice of Nigeria, whose views are shared by his 
 able successor, and others who have maintained these prin- 
 ciples in the face of a very vocal and occasionally opprobrious 
 agitation, deserve the gratitude of the silent and ignorant 
 millions whose welfare is affected. I am indeed convinced 
 that those native gentlemen who have espoused the cause 
 of the native barrister have done so in ignorance of the real 
 issues at stake. 
 
 Turning now to matters of procedure, a plea of not guilty 
 is recorded on behalf of an illiterate accused, and in capital 
 cases the evidence must, generally speaking, be sufficient for 
 conviction irrespective of his own assertions. In other cases, 
 if the accused adheres to his plea of guilty, he would be con- 
 victed unless the evidence was such as to throw strong doubt 
 on his guilt. I recoUect the surprise of a Chief Justice new 
 to Africa, when an accused man pleaded guilty to having 
 turned himself into a hyena by night and devoured children, 
 because there was a consensus of village opinion that he had 
 done so. Or when another, who manifestly could not have 
 committed the murder of which he was accused, pleaded 
 guilty because his friends had told him it would save trouble 
 if he did so. 
 
 It is regarded as insulting by a Moslem, and as a misuse of 
 the Koran, to be required to swear an oath that he will not 
 give false evidence, or to statements of detail, though he is 
 w illin g to swear if his evidence is challenged, or if the matter 
 is one which is vital to the issue ; for the rest he is willing to 
 affirm. Pagans are sworn on the knife or bayonet. 
 
 There is a type of judicial iaquiry, iudispensable among 
 primitive and barbarous communities, which we have of late 
 
 Commissioner, and finally five years in the Chief Commissioner's Court. All 
 sentences exceeding five years must be confirmed by the Governor. Up to 1919 
 the Chief Commissioner heard all important cases, but in that year a Circuit 
 Judge was appointed to relieve him of these duties. " 
 
 The Nigerian system appears to differ from this only in that confirmation is 
 required for every case over six months' imprisonment instead of five years ; that 
 the powers exercised by Commissioners are graduated according to legal know- 
 ledge and proved capacity instead of by rank alone, and that the duty of 
 reviewing sentences is in practice delegated by the Governor to the Chief 
 Justice. Ashanti is "annexed territory" enjoying the status of a "colony." 
 
COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT. 547 
 
 seen applied in principle in Ireland. When it is apparent 
 that a community has taken part in, or connived at, an 
 outrage — murder, riot, or arson — and voluntarily accepts 
 responsibility for it, or refuses to give evidence, and know- 
 ingly harbours the criminals, possibly aggravating the offence 
 by opposing the poUce or military forces, the Governor is 
 empowered by special ordinance to cause a judicial inquiry 
 to be held, at which the chiefs and notables are afforded an 
 opportunity of exonerating themselves and their people. If 
 they are recalcitrant, or if the charge is proved, a collective 
 fine may, with the approval of the Governor, be imposed, 
 and if not paid may be collected by distraint. It need not 
 be collected in full, and the village can be " bound over," 
 the balance standing as security, and being remitted unless 
 the peace is again broken.^ This procedure — " binding over " 
 — ^is very useful in cases of " political " disturbance due to 
 the assumption by a chief of powers which do not belong to 
 him, or to the intrigues of one who has forfeited his position. 
 
 British courts are directed to promote reconciliation in 
 avoidance of htigation when possible, and the administrative 
 officer, in his dual judicial and executive capacity, is well 
 able to give effect to this direction. District Officers are, of 
 course, constantly occupied in hearing informal complaints 
 and petitions, which can be settled advantageously without 
 recourse to the courts. A debt by a native to a European 
 may not be enforced, if it is reasonably probable that the 
 debtor did not understand the nature of the obhgation and 
 the consequences of defaidt. 
 
 The profound importance of the administration of British 
 justice in British courts in our dependencies needs no emphasis 
 by me, but in my view, if oulT aim be to raise the mass of the 
 people of Africa to a higher plane of civilisation, and to devote 
 thought to those matters which (though less picturesque than 
 the construction of large pubhc works, or a large surplus 
 revenue) most intimately affect their daily life and happiness, 
 there are few of greater importance than the constitution of 
 the native courts. These must be based on a system which 
 contains the elements of steady growth and evolution, pari 
 
 ' Sir J. D. Rees, formerly British Resident in the native States of the 
 Malabar coast, speaking of the Moplahs, says that similarly "special acts were 
 passed in 1854 providing for penal fines in the district in which outrages are 
 committed."— 'Times,' 26th August 1921. 
 
548 THE LAW ANB THE COXIRTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 passu with the growth of village education. Among the 
 most primitive of human commxmities, it is in the adjudica- 
 tion of tribal and family disputes, in the punishment by com- 
 mon consent of the violation of accepted rules of conduct, 
 and in the authority vested in chosen members of the com- 
 munity to give effect to the popular will, that the germ of 
 progress and evolution is to be found. This is the very " eye " 
 of the seed whose spontaneous and natural growth means 
 healthy development. 
 
 It may perhaps hardly seem worth while to set up a crude 
 tribunal consisting of primitive pagans, who can hardly be 
 called chiefs, and have but a limited control over a few 
 families, but from such small beginnings alone is it possible 
 to create the rudiments of law and order, to inculcate a sense 
 of responsibihty, and evolve among a primitive community 
 some sense of discipline and respect for authority. A Eesident 
 in such cases will doubtless feel that it would be much less 
 trouble to do the work himself than to place even the smallest 
 reliance upon so ineffectual an instrument ; but even though 
 the judicial work be not so weU done as it would be by him- 
 self, it is only by the patient training of such a court that 
 better tribunals can be evolved and real progress achieved. 
 The close supervision of such a court, and the personal educa- 
 tion of its members, will involve more labour and personal 
 effort than direct administration, but it is surely worth the 
 effort. 
 
 If the native courts are to become an integral part of the 
 machinery of Government — in which they will take an in- 
 creasingly important share as they increase in efficiency — in 
 accordance with the system of encouraging the native com- 
 munities to manage their own affairs, to which I have alluded 
 in a former chapter, then as it seems to me the following 
 must be among the aims which the Eesident will set before 
 himself and his staff : — 
 
 (a) To provide for the ISTatives tribunals which fully under- 
 stand their own customs and modes of thought, and command 
 their confidence. 
 
 (6) To create an adequate number of courts, so that each 
 unit may have its own, and complainants may be able to 
 obtain redress without travelling prohibitive distances, and 
 the difficulties of summoning witnesses may be reduced. 
 
 (o) To foster their influence, and to make them effective 
 
OBJECT OF NATIVE COTJETS. 549 
 
 instruments of justice, by teaching them, and by enforcing 
 strict impartiality and integrity. 
 
 {d) To develop independence of judgment, initiative, and 
 a sense of responsibility, while maintaining a close super- 
 vision, and avoiding unnecessary interference. 
 
 (e) To put a stop to the adjudication of cases elsewhere 
 than in a duly constituted court. 
 
 {/) To promote co-operation between the native executive 
 authority and the courts. In the more advanced communities 
 the courts would look to the native officials to effect arrests, 
 and to see that the sentence or judgment of the court was 
 didy executed, including the payment of fines. They in turn 
 would support the executive authority against the alien 
 native middleman and other disintegrating influences, includ- 
 ing that of fetish in pagan districts. 
 
 (g) To promote co-operation between the provincial and 
 native courts as component parts of a single judicial system, 
 and to relieve the former of work which can better be done 
 by the natives themselves. With this object the native court 
 can upon occasion undertake a preliminary investigation, or 
 its members can sit as assessors in the Provincial Court to 
 advise regarding native law and custom. 
 
 Such a system, in which the judges and members of a court 
 receive adequate salaries but no personal share of the fines 
 inflicted — ^which formerly constituted a large part of their 
 income, — ^is an integral part of an organised native administra- 
 tion. The court receipts are paid into the native Treasury, 
 from which the court ofiBcials, like all others, receive their 
 salaries. Since the native staff is not necessarily so limited 
 in numbers as the European, a gradual discrimination between 
 those charged with judicial or with executive responsibility 
 respectively becomes feasible, by the training of a body of 
 selected native judges, distinct from the district headmen, 
 and wholly independent of the earnings of the court for their 
 emoluments. 
 
 The jurisdiction of native courts is limited to natives, and 
 with the exception of a few specified ordinances which they 
 are empowered to enforce — such as those relating to taxation 
 and to native authority — they administer native law and cus- 
 tom only, modified or added to by such by-laws as may be 
 made by the Native Authority to give effect to local ordi- 
 nances. The native customary law must, of course, be ad- 
 
550 THE LAW AND THE COURTS OP JUSTICE. 
 
 mitted as such by competent spokesmen, and not the mere 
 whim or ipse dixit of the chief, and it must be that of the 
 tribe to which the accused or defendant belongs. It must 
 also be consonant with the dictates of humanity and of 
 natural justice. 
 
 Thus a native law which enforces the destruction of twins 
 would not only be unenforceable, but the court must regard 
 the act as an offence; such a case would, however, as a 
 matter of course, be tried in the Provincial Court. Or again, 
 if an ordinance or regulation constitutes it an offence to 
 tap the stem of the oil-pahn for liquor, the native court, by 
 means of a by-law, would recognise the act as punishable, 
 even if not contrary to native law and custom. 
 
 Space precludes any attempt to review the system of native 
 courts in the various British African dependencies, and I 
 will confine myself to a few brief notes on those set up in 
 Mgeria.i They vary both ia constitution and powers, from 
 the Moslem court presided over by a siagle judge (sitting with 
 or without assessors), learned in law and apt in precedent, 
 to those which I have described as the very germ of embryonic 
 evolution. The former present some points of interest, but 
 it is the latter which form the more difficult problem of 
 administration. 
 
 The courts are set up by warrant (a version ia the vernacular 
 being printed in parallel columns for the Moslem courts) ia 
 which the powers they may exercise and the limits of their 
 jurisdiction are defined, and the judges and members (if any) 
 are named. These are settled by the Eesident in consultation 
 with the paramount chief if there is one. 
 
 The courts are chiefly engaged in settling questions which 
 arise out of the domestic relations, such as matrimonial dis- 
 putes, petty debts, trespass, assaults, and inheritance — ^where 
 both parties are natives subject to its jurisdiction. Alien 
 natives permanently residing in the jurisdiction would be 
 amenable to the court, but those who are not so resident, 
 or who are not ordinarily subject to native court jurisdiction 
 — e.g., British subjects born in the colony — are only amenable 
 with their own consent. A similar exemption is extended to 
 natives in the permanent service of Government, but they are 
 encouraged to take their matrimonial and petty debt cases 
 
 ^ See note on page 199-200 regarding the constitution and powers of the native 
 courts in Uganda. 
 
POWERS OF PRIMITIVE NATIVE COURTS. 551 
 
 to the native courts, to which, in fact, it is reported that they 
 increasingly resort. 
 
 Powers are conferred upon the courts in proportion to the 
 ability and integrity of its members. In criminal matters 
 those of the lowest grade are naturally very small, for the 
 members are too ignorant, and often too dominated by fetish, 
 to use them wisely. But I regard it as essential that these 
 courts should be genuine native courts, not hampered by 
 formalities of procedure, or presided over by a District Ofllcer 
 with an interpreter, so that the members become mere 
 dummies. To confer large powers on such primitive courts, 
 to demand Msts of cases (necessarily without adequate notes 
 even in cases which would in a Proviacial Court require con- 
 firmation) for review by an overworked judge of the Supreme 
 Court, and to allow appeals to the Supreme Court, is in my 
 view hopelessly to confuse the functions of a native court 
 with those of the British Commissioner's Court — as I conceive 
 them — and to reduce the former to a caricature of the latter. 
 They are no longer native courts in any proper sense of the 
 term, they are no longer educative, and " abuses are so many 
 and so grievous " that the country is better without them.^ 
 
 It is essential that the courts should be open at all times 
 to the District Officer, who can revise the sentence or judg- 
 ment, or order a rehearing, or, if desirable (because there is a 
 conflict of evidence, or for some reason it appears doubtful 
 if justice would be done), re-try the case in his own court. 
 This close supervision takes the place of appeals, which would 
 
 ' The courts which formerly existed in Southern Nigeria (central and eastern 
 provinces) were set up to remedy the state of chaos which is reported to have 
 been brought about by the breakdown of tribal authority. This is said to 
 have been due partly to the slave-trade, which was chiefly in the hands of 
 middlemen traders, who thus usurped the power of the chiefs, partly to the 
 growth of the wealth and power of the coast chiefs and middlemen at the 
 expense of those in the interior, and partly by the increasing power of the Arcs, 
 a tribe of professional slave-dealers, who ruled by fetish and terror and 
 destroyed the power of the tribal chiefs. 
 
 The object of the native courts was to re-establish the power of the chiefs after 
 the Arcs had been conquered. Tribal authority, except through the medium of 
 the native courts, was however abolished, for clause 15 of the Ordinance (No. 15 
 of 1906) enacted that " no jurisdiction (other than that of the native court) shall 
 be exercised in the district by any other native authority on any pretext what- 
 ever." A native council (viz., a native court other than a "subordinate court") 
 could inflict a sentence of imprisonment for two years, with or without flogging, 
 and determine personal suits up to £200 ('Southern Nigeria Laws,' ed. 1908, 
 chap. 123). As » consequence of Supreme Court intervention, it was alleged that 
 frequent acquittals on technical legal grounds of self-confessed murderers had 
 destroyed confidence and induced the chiefs to take the law into their own hands. 
 
552 THE LAW AND THE COXJUTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 merely foster the tendency to litigation, and destroy the 
 influence of the court. This passion for litigation is not, 
 however, whoUy to be condemned, for it provides a safety- 
 valve, and supersedes recourse to violence. 
 
 There can be no more important duty imposed upon an 
 administrative officer than that of keeping the closest touch 
 with the native courts — especially those of the lowest grade, 
 — of seeing that the sentence or judgment is that of the 
 court itself, iminfluenced by the clerk or by tribal partisan- 
 ship, that the decisions are reasonable and just and within 
 the powers of the court, and of verifying the disposal of fines 
 and fees. This he can do by frequently attending the sittings, 
 and by questioning the members, the clerk, and others. 
 
 He would impress on the court the necessity of granting 
 a patient hearing, but avoid intervention himself during the 
 proceedings, so as not to lower the prestige of the court, or 
 appear to try the case himself. Even if the decision appears 
 wrong on the facts, it is better to abstain from interference 
 at the time, and to suggest modification later, since the court 
 which heard the case is the best judge, and revision should be 
 as unobtrusive as possible, in order to preserve its influence. 
 The District Officer is not justified in overriding the genuine 
 opinion of the court as to native law and custom, which alone 
 it administers. 
 
 If, however, an unjust decision were given from corrupt 
 or perverse motives, the Provincial Court would deal with 
 the matter. If a complaint is preferred against a court, the 
 investigation should be conducted on the spot, so that mem- 
 bers can explain their action. Similarly, tE a judgment or 
 sentence is cancelled, the reason should be explained in open 
 court. The review of their cases encourages the court by 
 showing them that an interest is taken in their proceedings, 
 and it is iastructive to the District Officer. The efficiency of 
 the native courts depends on the adequacy of the British 
 staff. 
 
553 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 COURTS OF JUSTICE (Continued). 
 
 The evolution of native courts in primitive communities — Clerks of native 
 courts — Higher - grade courts — Application of ordinances, &c., in 
 native courts — Native courts and slavery — Punishments by native 
 courts — Imprisonment— Corporal punishment — Other punishments^ 
 Capital sentences — Punishment of women — Differences in native 
 punishments — Witchcraft — Respective functions of British and native 
 courts — Results in Nigeria — Offences against natives — The judge's 
 vacation — Magistrates — The Indian parallel — Appendix : The French 
 system. 
 
 The object of the lowest grade of native court in a very- 
 primitive community is to transfer the patria potestas, exer- 
 cised by the head of a family, or of a village group, to a 
 tribunal covering a wider area of jurisdiction, without destroy- 
 ing the authority of the village panchayet (CouncU of Elders) 
 on the one hand, or the legitimate executive authority of a 
 chief on the other hand. Thus the decision of a recognised 
 tribunal is substituted for the arbitrary will of an individual 
 (whether a chief or a fetish priest), or the operation of mob- 
 law, and the power of the secret society. As the official 
 explanation of the recent Native Jurisdiction Bill in the 
 Gold Coast aptly expresses it, " the headman and the village 
 chief will continue to exist, and their customary right to 
 sit in arbitration for the settlement of small local disputes 
 win not be taterfered with. They will, however, have no 
 power to enforce their decisions as a tribunal, and persons 
 dissatisfied with such decisions must apply for redress to 
 the tribimal of the superior chief. It is only at this stage 
 that it becomes necessary to facilitate and regulate the ad- 
 ministration of justice in the tribunals." 
 
 Each clan must have its court, or easy access to one, and 
 since each unit desires representation, the number of members 
 
554 COtTRTS OP JUSTICE. 
 
 must at first be large, and the area of jurisdiction small. 
 Only the principal members need perhaps hold warrants and 
 receive sitting fees. As each court gains in self-confidence, 
 competence, and prestige, and members learn that they are 
 not mere partisans of the litigants of their own tribe, the 
 number of members can be decreased, and the area of juris- 
 diction enlarged, or new courts created to deal with expanding 
 work. In order to check frivolous and vexatious litigation, 
 the complainant in any case dismissed by the court may 
 with advantage be charged a fee. 
 
 As soon as may be, fixed salaries to members would be 
 substituted for sitting fees. The members can i£ desired be 
 elected by the community, subject to approval (so as to ensure 
 that their election has not been due to any wrong influence, 
 and that they are the best men), but the expedient of appoint- 
 ing an ahen as judge is one I deprecate. Though an educated 
 Moslem, or a Christian clerk, may secure more rapid progress, 
 the principle of evolution on indigenous Unes would be re- 
 tarded. It may, however, in exceptionally difficult cases be 
 necessary to adopt this method, with assessors from the tribe 
 of each litigant.^ 
 
 ' My able succesaor (Sir H. Clifford), in hia speech to the Nigerian Council in 
 December 1920, remarks : " There is, I fear, only too much reason to apprehend 
 that the wide judicial powers granted to a host of ' warrant chiefs ' — few of 
 whom have any extended or natural jurisdiction over more than a small fraction 
 of the people upon whose affairs they adjudicate — are too often used as legalised 
 instruments of oppression. In such localities I think we cannot hope to build up 
 native administrations, because the collective or national instincts and senti- 
 ments which are their foundation are lacking. ... It should be our object . . . 
 while exercising a much closer supervision over the dispensation of justice by 
 the native courts, to allot to the chiefs collectively a fairly substantial share of the 
 revenues which those courts collect, for expenditure under the supervision of 
 their Eesidents upon local works of visible utility. ... I hope to see a return 
 to the old system inaugurated, subject to such alterations in detail as changed 
 conditions may render necessary." 
 
 The apprehension that wide judicial powers would be exercised oppressively is 
 no doubt only too well founded. The new system curtailed these powers very 
 drastically, and it was the aim of the administration (which was being effectively 
 carried out) to reduce the host of "warrant chiefs" (as they had been called) as 
 rapidly as circumstances would permit and to increase the supervision. The 
 principle of distributing among very primitive chiefs a portion of the court 
 receipts gives rise to a fear lest heavier fines may be imposed. It is true that 
 among the most primitive tribes the foundations of organised administration are 
 lacking, but I do not think that it is beyond the capacity of the British district 
 officer gradually to create that foundation, through and by the tribal organisa- 
 tions, by which in some cases the tribes have unaided evolved a higher status. 
 
 It was intended that the system introduced should be in the nature of evolution 
 and progress, and not such as would present to the native mind any idea of sub- 
 versive change. The district officer no longer presides, the powers of the courts 
 
CLEEKS OF NATIVE COXIRTS. 555 
 
 la order to give effect to these principles, it is obvious that 
 the procedure of a native court should not be modelled on 
 that of a British court, or hampered by the observance of 
 legal formalities. Some degree of formaUty is, however, 
 desirable, in order to maintain its dignity and influence, such 
 as assembly in a regular court-house, and the preservation 
 of strict order and decorum. Whether the issue of a formal 
 summons, or a warrant of arrest, may or may not be desirable, 
 will depend upon the degree to which the community has 
 become habituated to the procedure of the British courts. 
 
 But it is obviously necessary that every court should 
 maintain a record of its cases — often a mere entry of the 
 decision and date is enough — as a check on the receipt coun- 
 terfoils for the fines and fees received. These entries act as 
 a check on the members, who fear lest an imrepoited case 
 should come to the knowledge of the district officer. In more 
 important cases — especially land disputes — ^unless there is a 
 record, cases would be brought up again and again. The 
 provision of a reliable clerk or scribe for this purpose is one 
 of the chief difficulties to be overcome in setting up tribunals 
 among primitive and illiterate people, who dislike and fear 
 court clerks. 
 
 In the lower-grade courts of the Northern Provinces of 
 Nigeria, scribes capable of keeping simple records in the 
 vernacular were generally available in the Moslem districts. 
 Some pagan courts rendered an oral account weekly to the 
 District Officer — a course preferable to employing a Mohame- 
 dan scribe, who would probably display a tendency to prose- 
 lytise. In the south, half-educated youths from Mission 
 schools could be obtained for low salaries ; but efficient and 
 reUable men were not available, and there was a danger lest 
 the clerk should dominate the court (as investigation proved 
 to be the case), and would use the glamour of his education, 
 and his supposed influence with Government, to extort bribes 
 and pervert justice. 
 
 The law administered under such conditions would no 
 longer be native law and custom, which would gradually 
 
 are curtailed, the number of members gradually reduced, a closer supervision is 
 enjoined, the receipts of the courts are paid into revenue, the influence of the 
 court clerk is controlled, and appeals to the Supreme Court are abolished. We 
 have seen that in the early conditions of the country the courts as established 
 were a substantial advance, but in none of these directions,' it is to be hoped, will 
 the projected reversion to the " old system " be found desirable. 
 
556 COURTS OP JTJSTICE. 
 
 be destroyed, but a hybrid based on English law as known 
 to the clerk from some elementary text-book. The clerk 
 was placed in a position of great temptation where there 
 were no chiefs capable of exercising authority, and it is not 
 surprising that many succumbed to it. It is essential that 
 the members should learn that the clerk is the servant, not 
 the master, of the court, and that he should not be allowed 
 to interfere in any way with its judicial work. The only 
 effective check on such malpractices is constant supervision 
 by the District Ofl&cer (especially as regards the disposal of 
 fines and fees), the gradual education of the members, and 
 the periodical transfer of clerks from one court to another. . 
 
 The powers of a native court of the highest grade in Nigeria 
 may extend to capital sentences — a question to which I shall 
 refer in a later paragraph. The court of the head chief may 
 consist of his principal officers with a native judge, and be 
 constituted as a " Judicial Council," empowered by the 
 Governor to exercise executive functions. It would have 
 concurrent jurisdiction with the native judge's court, but can 
 best deal with such matters as offences or defaults by the 
 officials of the native administration, land and boundary 
 disputes which refer to ancient titles, quarrels between Mos- 
 lems and pagans, sedition by fanatical preachers, breaches 
 of by-laws made by the native authority, and cases in which 
 the action or authority of the native judges are called in 
 question. The Moslem ruler and his coimcil are guided by 
 equity, the native Kadi solely by " the Book." Much of 
 the time of the latter is occupied in the administration of 
 estates of deceased persons. 
 
 The court of the chief native judge in a province can be 
 made an appellate court for the lesser Moslem courts, which 
 would submit their reports through him for comment, and 
 any recommendation to the Eesident. The chief Kadi would 
 call in any native judge, if he so desired, and discuss his cases 
 with him. 
 
 Tribunals such as these are capable, like British courts, 
 of modifying their fundamental law by giving due weight to 
 native law and custom when dealing with pagans, and like 
 them should sit with pagan assessors when dealing with 
 tribal customs. The best Moslem judges are actuated by 
 enlightened traditions as to the equaUty of all persons before 
 the law. Some are averse from the inffiction of fines, on 
 
APPLICATION OF ORDINANCES BY NATIVE COURTS. 557 
 
 the groimds tliat no revenue should accrue from the adminis- 
 tration of justice. " Justice is of God, and no man should 
 derive profit from dispensing it." In accordance with Mo- 
 hamedan custom, the ruler must be acknowledged as supreme 
 over the judiciary equally with the executive. 
 
 The advanced courts in non-Moslem countries have no 
 written code of native law, with voluminous books of refer- 
 ence, such as the Mohamedan jurists possess. They admin- 
 ister the unwritten native customary law of their community, 
 and the simple principles of English law. As opportunity 
 permits, it would no doubt be desirable gradually to reduce 
 this mixed and unwritten body of principles to a simple 
 code, and to train judges on the parallel of the Moslem Kadis. 
 
 It is important that the advanced native communities, 
 whether Christian or Moslem or pagan, should have an oppor- 
 tunity of becomiug acquaiuted with the ordinances of Govern- 
 ment which affect them, both with a view to their promul- 
 gating their main principles in the form of by-laws for 
 observance by native courts, and in order to promote the 
 feeling of solidarity with Government which it is so desirable 
 to foster. For this purpose a transcription of such laws into 
 the simplest possible language, and the rendering of it rato 
 the vernacular, for distribution and explanation by District 
 Officers, is, I think, of great value, for ignorance of the law 
 is a very valid excuse when it is enacted in an xmknown 
 language. 
 
 Such laws are those relating to slavery, vaccination, the 
 possession of firearms or of imported spirits ia prohibited 
 districts, the forestry regulations, the adulteration of produce, 
 the preservation of wild animals, and various clauses of the 
 criminal code, among others. These higher courts can be 
 encouraged to enforce by-laws based on these ordinances, 
 and others deaUng with such matters as sanitation, markets, 
 the isolation of infected cattle, the control of middlemen 
 touts, the checking of grass fires, and similar questions. The 
 object of such a by-law is, on the one hand, to make the 
 matter with which it deals cognisable by a native court — 
 which, unless so empowered can only administer native law 
 — and, on the other hand, to inform the people that a specified 
 act, or failure to act, wUl, in accordance with the by-law, be 
 dealt with as an offence by the native courts. As being the 
 lawful orders of the ruler, such by-laws can be enforced with 
 
558 COtlRTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 Koranic sanction. Lower-grade courts can make useful by- 
 laws against fetish ordeal, the worship of the smallpox fetish, 
 shifting cultivation, grass fires, tapping palms for liquor, the 
 use of poison, and concerning the occupation of land by- 
 strangers. 
 
 The attitude of a native court towards slavery questions 
 has already been discussed in the chapter on slavery. Briefly, 
 its authority cannot be invoked to the detriment of any 
 person on the grounds that he or she is or was a slave — 
 e.g., to assist an owner in detaining or recovering a slave — 
 nor can it discriminate as regards sentence or award between 
 a slave and a free man, but its assistance can be invoked on 
 behalf of the slave by certifying to liberation and ransom. 
 A native court should, like a British court, view the relations 
 between the master and a slave who of his own wish con- 
 tinues in that status as those between master and servant, 
 and not between owner and slave. 
 
 Native customary law (even Koranic law), speaking gene- 
 rally, regards offences as having been committed against the 
 individual rather than against the community, and punish- 
 ment therefore takes the form of vengeance and reprisal. 
 An African despot regarded rebeUion as a crime against him- 
 self, and he resorted to burying or burning alive, to succes- 
 sive mutilations till the victim expired, or to impalement. 
 Witnesses and prisoners were tortured to extort evidence, or 
 a confession of guilt. Imprisonment was rare, and could 
 only be inflicted in a capital city possessing a dungeon. I 
 have described in chapter x. the dimgeon at Kano. 
 
 The conception that the suppression of crime for the public 
 benefit is the function of the State, and that it can be effected 
 by punishments which are deterrent though humane, and by 
 the reform of the criminal, while the individual aggrieved 
 has his own remedy in a civil action for damages, is one 
 which has to be instilled into the rulers and the courts. The 
 punishments inflicted upon the African by his own rulers 
 were sufficiently deterrent, but chiefs complain that wherever 
 the white man comes crime increases, and they are not allowed 
 to inflict punishments which will check it. 
 
 Imprisonment — a form of pimishment which the un- 
 organised commimity could with difiSculty inflict — becomes 
 under British rule the most common. It has an educative 
 value, for the community on the one hand by showing that 
 
JtTDICIAL PENALTIES — IMPRISONMENT. 559 
 
 convict labour may be employed for the public benefit — ^in 
 road-making, sanitation, &c., — and, on the other hand, for 
 the individual, who is taught a trade, such as brick-making, 
 or the making of sacks, twine, rope, mats, or baskets. But 
 the extent to which it is deterrent varies greatly. To some 
 the regular work and good food is not distasteful. I have 
 known a prisoner due for discharge prove triumphantly that 
 he had still a day to serve. On the inauguration of the British 
 administration in Northern Nigeria we had no gaols, or even 
 houses other than the grass-mat shelters in which we all 
 Uved. Prisoners lived in the village, and reported them- 
 selves for work each morning. On one occasion a prisoner 
 ran away. The single constable in charge ran after him, 
 and failing to capture him and fearing the consequences, 
 he laid down his rifle and equipment and bolted himself, 
 whereupon a prisoner marched his fellow-convicts back to 
 prison, bringing the constable's arms with them. 
 
 Such incidents would seem to indicate that prison life, so 
 far from being deterrent, is even popular. That it is not looked 
 on as degrading may be judged by the respectful salute paid 
 by a warder to a prisoner of petty rank, and by the terms of 
 fellowship and equality which often exist between the prisoners 
 and their guardians. 
 
 Yet there are other tribes to whom even a short term of 
 imprisonment means death. They simply piaed away and 
 died, or made desperate attempts to escape. I have known 
 the hard-won confidence established with a primitive tribe 
 destroyed in a moment by the transfer to prison of a convict 
 whom they considered had been carried off as a slave. It 
 is the District Officer who knows these things, and can best 
 gauge the degree of criooinality on the one hand, and the 
 deterrent effect of the punishment on the other. ^ 
 
 Imprisonment can be inflicted by British courts, and the 
 convict removed to prison ; but unless native court prisoners 
 are confined in British gaols — a course to which there is 
 obviously strong objection — it can only be inflicted by native 
 courts at those centres where a native administration prison 
 exists under the close supervision of a District Officer, who 
 
 ' I once spent some time among a tribe in North Nyasaland where apparently 
 a thief or burglar was considered to be lawfully entitled to the property he had 
 
 stolen and would openly offer it for sale to its original owner — if he chose to 
 
 take the risk of losing his life in its acquisition. 
 
560 COTIETS OF JITSTICB. 
 
 can see that the prisoners are properly fed and cared for, 
 and that accused persons are not detained interminably with- 
 out trial, and where a medical officer is available to attend 
 the sick whom it is undesirable to release to spread disease 
 in their villages.^ 
 
 Since imprisonment is not always deterrent, and often 
 difficult for a native administration to carry out, the native 
 courts have to resort to corporal punishment^a common 
 form of penalty ia African communities. There are those in 
 England who allow their anxiety for the gentle treatment 
 of. the criminal to outweigh the claims of the law-abiding 
 for protection, who measure the deterrent effect on the 
 African by what would be deterrent to themselves, and 
 clamour to apply to Africa a code which it has taken us 
 many years to reach. 
 
 That code should indeed be applicable to the non-negro 
 races of Africa, and to the educated African, who, hke the 
 Asiatic, shares with the European an increased sensibility 
 both to the moral degradation and the physical pain of cor- 
 poral punishment, which the primitive African does not feel.^ 
 They forget that only about a himdred years ago sentences 
 of 1000 lashes were inflicted for comparatively trivial offences 
 in England : it was a capital offence to steal to the amount 
 of 5s. from a shop, and a chUd could be hung for stealing 
 5s. worth of apples. The opposition to the repeal of this 
 shockingly barbarous law was led by the English bishops ! ^ 
 
 No English gentleman, least of aU a lover of Africa, can 
 do otherwise than regard with detestation the methods of 
 Germany, or contemplate the revival in Africa of the bar- 
 barous traditions from which we ourselves have so recently 
 emerged. I am glad to think that I may have assisted in 
 directing Mr Chamberlain's attention to the question of arbi- 
 trary flogging — ^which led to the strict limitation of corporal 
 
 ' It is somewhat curious how keen an interest the advanced native administra- 
 tions in Nigeria take in these institutions in contrast with the horrors of their 
 former dungeons. The native prisons are now surrounded by imposing walls, 
 kept scrupulously clean, and elaborate prison books are kept by the official in 
 
 2 I could give some very striking experiences of the insensibility to physical 
 pain of the African, but space does not permit. , 
 
 ' The date was 1811 — within the lifetime of my own father. See 'Life of 
 Sir S. Romilly,' vol. ii. pp. 331 and 380. At page 368 an instance is quoted of a 
 soldier being flogged to death for being dirty on parade, and another of a veteran 
 of sixty, who bore an exemplary character, being given 300 laahes for absence 
 for a day. See also ' Thirty Years' Peace, ' Martineau, vol. i. chap. vii. p. 98 et seq. 
 
COBPOEAi PTJNISHMENT AND CAPITAL SENTENCES. 561 
 
 punishment by Britisli courts — and to the abolition of the 
 old " chain-gang," which disgraced British rule in East Africa 
 in the early 'nineties. 
 
 But the law-abiding section of the community has a claim 
 to consideration at least equal to that of the criminal, and 
 pimishment must therefore be deterrent. We are somewhat 
 apt to run to extremes. There is nothing inhumane in con- 
 secutive floggings, inflicted at considerable intervals, with 
 every formaUty and precaution (especiaUy in the case of the 
 African, whose inability to anticipate the future I have de- 
 scribed), or in whipping (as opposed to flogging) for repeated 
 offences of larceny. E"ative courts administering native law 
 have more latitude in these matters, and their penalties may 
 be greater or less severe than a British court would award 
 for the same offence, provided they are not contrary to 
 humanity. It is very desirable that summary punishments 
 for crimes of violence should, when possible, be carried out 
 at the scene of the crime. 
 
 Pines can be more easily imposed when currency has been 
 introduced, and they are suited for offences other than crimes 
 of violence, provided that care is taken that they are never 
 the perquisite of the court. Punishments involving derision 
 are particularly effective and deterrent in Africa, such as 
 confinement in the stocks. I have heard of prisoners being 
 ordered by a native court to march round the village pro- 
 claiming their sentence. 
 
 Native courts are often better able to get at the truth 
 than a British court is, owing to their more intimate know- 
 ledge of native modes of thought. In pursuance of the policy 
 of self-government in domestic affairs, the power of life and 
 death has in Nigeria been allowed to some of the most 
 advanced Moslem courts, presided over by judges learned in 
 Mohamedan law. The sentence is pronoimced by the ruler. 
 Such powers are regarded as inherent in the ruler of a Moslem 
 State. " Now we know that the Emir is Emir indeed since 
 he has the power of Ufe and death," the people of Hlorin are 
 reported to have exclaimed. 
 
 Such cases are very carefully reviewed by the Eesident, 
 who usually has some knowledge of Mohamedan law, and his 
 report and recommendation must be submitted to the Governor 
 when reviewing the sentence in council.^ Owing to the admis- 
 
 ^ See note on p. 543 re capital powers of native courts in Sierra Leone. 
 
 2 N 
 
562 COtTRISS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 sion of hearsay evidence, the weight attached to the Koranic 
 oath, and a procednre which appears to us crude, it is often 
 diflScult to decide between the desire not to interfere with 
 decisions which are in accord with the native law, and fully 
 accepted by popular opinion on the one hand, and the fear 
 of concurrence in the execution of a possibly innocent man 
 on the other. The Secretary of State considered that " un- 
 less the capital sentence has been passed for an offence which 
 is not punishable by death under English law, or unless the 
 facts disclosed in the Alkali's report on the case, or in that 
 of the Eesident, are such that there is a serious likelihood of 
 a miscarriage of justice tE the sentence is carried out, the 
 Governor and the Executive CouncU are justtfted in accepting 
 the verdict and sentence of a native Mohamedan court which 
 has passed a sentence within its powers, after a trial carried 
 out in accordance with the procedure enjoined by the native 
 law, and not obviously inequitable, even though that proce- 
 dure is widely different from the practice of EngUsh criminal 
 courts." Since the native courts are integral parts of the 
 machinery of administration in a British protectorate, the 
 Governor cannot evade responsibility for their action. Addi- 
 tional evidence is therefore called for when necessary, and 
 the Eesident goes fully into every case before recording his 
 recommendation. 
 
 Difficulty arises in dealing with female criminals, for unless 
 there are separate quarters in the prison, with female ward- 
 resses (and there may not be a native administration prison 
 at all), it is manifestly impossible to confine them, even 
 temporarily. Moslem judges in Africa are liberal ia their 
 treatment of women (who, under the Maliki law, may hold 
 and bequeath real and personal property and contract debts, 
 «&c.), but since the Koran, like the Mosaic law, prescribes 
 death by stoning for the offence of adultery, they maintain 
 the necessity of substituting a light birching on the shoulders. 
 
 The person who inflicted the chastisement had to keep 
 some cowrie-shells under his or her armpit, so as to prevent 
 the raising of the arm to strike with force. If the cowries 
 dropped the culprit was reprieved. It was, I believe, uni- 
 versally allowed to " buy the lashes," if preferred, by paying 
 from Is. to |d. for each stroke. Eepugnant as the infliction 
 of corporal punishment on a woman must be to the mind 
 of a British officer, it is questionable whether in the circum- 
 
WITCHCEAFT CASES. 563 
 
 stances it could be said to be " repugnant to natural justice 
 and humanity," which, would justify intervention. But with 
 the improvement of native prisons, and the provision of 
 separate cells for women, it has been possible to prohibit the 
 practice altogether. It has, of course, never been inflicted 
 by a British court. * 
 
 In reviewing the findings of a native court a nice dis- 
 crimination is often required between unnecessary interfer- 
 ence with native custom on the one hand, and the violation 
 of natural justice on the other. Thus the payment of blood- 
 money in expiation of certain cases of homicide may not be 
 repugnant to natural justice, and when admissible xmder 
 Moslem law it has been ruled that interference is not neces- 
 sary, though the penalty does not accord with our views. 
 But to demand it from relations or fellow-vOlagers, where no 
 connivance has been shown, would not be in accord with 
 justice. Lifelong imprisonment for debt would be equally 
 inadmissible. 
 
 Some even of the devout Moslems who interpret the Koranic 
 law are not immune from a lingering belief in the power of 
 the " Evil Eye," and in their endeavours to give due regard 
 to pagan custom are found to differ considerably in their 
 treatment of witchcraft cases, whether it be the complaint 
 of the person bewitched or the murder of a person supposed 
 to be a wizard. The same difficulty is presented in a British 
 court, and confronts the Governor in his exercise of the 
 prerogative.^ 
 
 It may, for instance, be in evidence that the ordeal by 
 poison was actuated by a profound belief that it would 
 be harmless i£ the accused were innocent. The accuser 
 may or may not have been actuated by maUce, and those 
 
 ' The present Governor of Nigeria says that he had caused exhaustive inquiry 
 to be made on this subject, and was satisfied that the " floggings " are adminis- 
 tered with the object of subjecting an adulteress "to acute humiliation rather 
 than to any very severe bodily pain." He adds : "I see no reason actively to 
 interfere with the practice of the Mohamedan courts. Of their own motion they 
 have reduced the very severe punishments prescribed for adultery in the Koran 
 to an actual and more or less publicly-inflicted humiliation, accompanied by 
 corporal punishment of an almost nominal description. I have asked the 
 Residents, however, to let it be generally known that the Government dislikes 
 the idea of women being flogged, and would be glad to see the practice die out. 
 To do more than this, however, would, in my opinion, be inexpedient at the 
 present time." — Speech, 31st December 1920. 
 
 * Similar cases are not infrequent even in Great Britain. See the amazing 
 story from the Channel Isles in the ' Times ' of 8th October 1920. 
 
564 COXOBTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 who administered the ordeal may have had no option but 
 to do so when it was demanded, or the accuser may have 
 killed the supposed witch in defence, as he believed, of his 
 own Ufe. Or twias may have been murdered, or even human 
 sacrifice perpetrated to avert, as they beheved, disaster from 
 the village. 
 
 The degree of criminality is lessened by the superstitious 
 terror which prompted the crime, but the necessity for 
 stamping out such practices compels recourse to deterrent 
 penalties, and since fear of death was the motive, no less 
 penalty than death will be deterrent. It appears to me, there- 
 fore, that the only course which an administration can follow 
 is to see that it is thoroughly understood ia every village 
 that participation in such deeds wiU involve the death penalty, 
 while exercising the prerogative in any case in which any 
 extenuating circumstances can be shown, and discriminating 
 between wizards who exercise their supposed powers benefi- 
 cently, or for gain or revenge. 
 
 As a general rule, offences against the person are appro- 
 priately dealt with by a native court, while offences against 
 public order would be tried in a British court. Competent 
 authorities assert that it is more in accord with native modes 
 of thought that the latter class should be regarded as private 
 wrongs, and that actions for damages should be encouraged 
 rather than trials for criminal offences. 
 
 A British court would, of course, deal with all offences 
 which are not such under native law, or are not made justici- 
 able by a native court, by virtue of a by-law. Even if thus 
 brought within the purview of a native court, offences which 
 we regard as serious may to them appear venial, and in such 
 a case they would preferably be dealt with by a provincial 
 coiirt. 
 
 If important evidence is inadmissible in a Moslem court — 
 such as that of a son against his father or a slave against 
 his master — and its omission affected the issue of the trial, 
 the case should obviously be transferred. Similarly, if a 
 difference in religion was likely in any way to prejudice the 
 chances of a litigant, or to cause favour or disfavour to be 
 shown towards an accused person — as, for instance, if a Mos- 
 lem murderer were leniently treated because his victim was a 
 non-Moslem or a slave ; or if the evidence of a Moslem was 
 held to override that of a Christian or pagan ; or if inherit- 
 
RESPECTIVE FUNCTIONS OF BEITISH AND NATIVE COtTRTS. 565 
 
 ance by will were denied to an " unbeliever " ; or in cases 
 among primitive tribes where superstition or the position of 
 the accused might affect the course of justice. 
 
 On the other hand, in cases of quasi-religious rebellion, 
 such as the frequent emergence of a " Mahdi " in the early- 
 days of British rule in Mgeria, the passing of sentence by 
 the native ruler, who is also the religious head, may serve 
 to convince the peasantry that they have been misled. But 
 it is very necessary to see that vindictive sentences are not 
 inflicted, or — such is the native mind — that the idea does not 
 gain credence that Government fears to try the case, or 
 desires excessive penalties. 
 
 A superior native court — especially the judicial council of 
 a ruler — ^may be more competent to deal with a disputed land 
 boundary where ancient rights are in question than a British 
 court. It is of importance that such decisions should be 
 recorded in its archives, especially in the cases of extra- 
 territorial allegiance to which I have referred elsewhere. 
 
 The native courts of Mgeria which I have endeavoured to 
 describe are stiU in their infancy, and the ideals regarding 
 them, which the British staff hope some day to realise, are 
 only as yet partially achieved. But there is a consensus of 
 opinion both in the north and south that they command 
 confidence, that their judgments are generally fair and just, 
 and their returns passably accurate. That they serve a use- 
 ful purpose is evident from the number of cases, almost 
 entirely civil disputes, with which they deal.^ It is interest- 
 ing to learn that the by-laws promulgated by the chiefs are 
 appreciated, and in Sokoto cattle-owners appeal to the courts 
 against persons violating the rules against the isolation of 
 diseased herds. 
 
 The illiterate African, when clothed with power, is like other 
 people apt to misuse it, and for the better protection of the 
 native population against illegal acts by the soldiery it is 
 desirable that " civil offences " (viz., criminal offences by 
 persons subject to mihtary law against the ordinary law of 
 the coimtry) should be tried by the civil courts to which the 
 people are accustomed to look for redress. 
 
 ^ The Lieutenant-Governor of the Northern Provinces, in his report for 1919, 
 states that there were 407 native courts, which dealt with 148,255 cases. There 
 were 69 prisons, and a daily average of 2512 prisoners in a population of nine 
 millions. 
 
566 COTIRTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 One of the most difficult of all offences to deal with — as 
 has also been found in India — ^is the crime of extortion in the 
 name of Government, and of lying reports brought against 
 those who have failed to satisfy the blackmailers, to which 
 I have already referred (pp. 135 and 252). The ignorant 
 peasantry are easily misled, especially if the impostor is wear- 
 ing part of a soldier's uniform. Even if aware of the ille- 
 gality of the demand, they may regard it as a lesser evil than 
 having to go long distances to complain, or to defend them- 
 selves against his charges, involving detention as witnesses 
 when their crops demand their care. They fear the plausible 
 lies of the accused, and his greater familiarity with the ways 
 of the white man. 
 
 Continual touring through the villages by the District 
 Officers, the hearing of the complaint on the spot and the 
 infliction of a floggiag when the offender is convicted, and 
 education, are the only methods of checking this hateful 
 offence, which brings odium on the Government. As a 
 measure of precaution, it is desirable that all bona fide mes- 
 sengers should carry a badge of office ; that the sale of dis- 
 carded uniforms should be prohibited ; and that payment 
 should never be made through a third person. The diffi- 
 culty of finding honest subordinates is one of the greatest 
 causes of anxiety in tropical administration. Forced presents 
 to those in authority, though sanctioned by custom, cease 
 to be legitimate when the recipient is a salaried officer of 
 Govermnent or of the native administration. 
 
 In the tropics there is stagnation during the season of the 
 heavy rains. Crime and htigation both decrease, while 
 travelling (on assize) is most difficult. This therefore is the 
 period fixed for the court vacation ; and in West Africa, where 
 officials have four months' leave after completing a year in 
 Africa, it is much to the advantage of pubhc work, as well 
 as more popular with the judges themselves, that they should 
 take their leave annually during the court vacation. 
 
 One vacation judge can carry on the urgent work of the 
 court, while the police magistrates in the larger commercial 
 centres deal with minor crime and other business. These 
 officers in Nigeria belong to the judicial and legal department, 
 while the " station magistrates " in the smaller centres, who 
 are engaged less with court work than with municipal affairs, 
 are selected from the administrative staff. 
 
PARALLEL CONDITIONS IN INDIA. 567 
 
 The description of the constitution of the new frontier 
 province in India (which was inaugurated by Lord Curzon 
 in 1901 after over twenty years of discussion), given by the 
 ' Times ' correspondent, is in many respects so apposite to 
 the conditions of Africa that I make no apology for quoting 
 a few passages.^ 
 
 " There is," says the writer, " a growing school of critics 
 who condemn our present system of administration in India 
 for . . . the complicated legal machinery of the courts of 
 justice ; who assert that . . . the executive officers are the 
 slaves of clerical routine, and the judicial ones of legal techni- 
 calities ; that both alike have lost their old touch with the 
 people, and that the only classes which benefit by this develop- 
 ment are the office babus, and the barristers and pleaders, 
 parasitic growths ahen to the soil of India, but thriving on 
 the system we have introduced. With this condition of things 
 is contrasted the golden age of personal contact and paternal 
 Government, of rough justice and true sympathy between 
 the white men and the natives of the soil. . . . The compU- 
 cated land tenure in the Peshawar district gives unusual 
 opportunities for disputes, and of these the bona fide ones 
 can often be settled out of court, but those of a bogus nature 
 are carried on in a spirit of gambling, from court to court, 
 in the hope that victory may at last be achieved by the 
 ingenuity of a pleader or the ignorance of a judge. . . . The 
 jirga and the village organisation stUl exist (among the Balu- 
 chis) in their primitive vigour, and by taking these as their 
 basis the authorities have been able to dispense with much 
 of the judicial machinery of a larger province, and yet at the 
 same time to keep down crime within much narrower bounds. 
 In all cases, civil, criminal, and revenue, except serious offences 
 committed by European British subjects, a single officer is 
 the final appellate authority ; he disposes of them with a 
 minimum of legal formalities, and he prohibits pleaders except 
 by special permission from practising in Baluchistan. The 
 general principle is to put pressure on the people, through 
 their natural leaders, to settle their own disputes, and to 
 hold those leaders responsible for the good behaviour of their 
 village or clan." 
 
 The results, says the writer, are admitted to be " wonder- 
 fully good," and he lays special emphasis on " the restriction 
 
 1 'Times,' 13th November 1901. 
 
568 COURTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 of the privileges of pleaders, and the curtailment of appeals." 
 The reforms, he tells us, are not without their critics, and to 
 their criticisms must be added the protests of the pleaders. 
 
 The judicial system adopted by the French in their African 
 territories cannot fail to be of interest, and since it is tersely 
 though comprehensively described in the Foreign OfBice Hand- 
 book, recently issued,^ I have added as an appendix to this 
 chapter the account which it gives. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE JTJDIOIAIi SYSTEM IN FRENCH TEOPIOAL AFRICA. 
 
 "The judicial system rests upon the decrees of November 10, 1903, 
 and of August 16, 1912, the latter of which replaces the system of 
 native courts provided for in the former enactment. A complete dis- 
 tinction is drawn between the sphere of authority of French and native 
 courts. The former exercise jurisdiction exclusively in all cases where 
 both parties are not natives of French West Africa or French Equa- 
 torial Africa, or of foreign possessions between these limits, and do not 
 enjoy in their native places the rights of Europeans. The cases which 
 affect natives are reserved for the native courts ; but natives may agree 
 to submit their civil actions to the French courts, in which case French 
 law is applied in determining their rights. If either party is a 
 European, French law is always applied to the exclusion of native 
 law. 
 
 "The French courts form an elaborate hierarchy of (1) Justices of 
 the Peace with very limited powers ; (2) Justices of the Peace with 
 extended powers at Kayes, Bamako, Kankan, and Bov6, and Tribunals 
 of First Instance at Konakry, Grand Bassam, Kotonou, Saint Louis, 
 and Dakar, with full powers in civil and commercial matters, and con- 
 siderable jurisdiction in less serious criminal offences ; (3) Assize 
 courts to deal with crimes proper ; and (4) a Court of Appeal, which 
 hears appeals from the Courts of First Instance and from Justices of 
 the Peace with extended powers. Decisions in these colonial courts 
 are subject to revision by the Courts of Cassation. 
 
 " The native courts are also arranged hierarchically. They com- 
 prise (1) village courts consisting of the chief, who may give decisions 
 in civil and commercial matters if submitted to him, but whose de- 
 cisions are not binding on the parties ; (2) the courts of the sub- 
 divisions, composed of a native president and two native assessors 
 with deliberative voices, selected by the head of the colony on the 
 
 1 No. 100 of 1920, pp. 7-9 and 13. 
 
THE SYSTEM IN FEENCH WEST AFRICA. 569 
 
 recommendation of the head of the division : these courts have full 
 civil and commercial jurisdiction, and criminal jurisdiction in such 
 matters as are not reserved to the tribunals of the divisions, subject to 
 appeal to these tribunals]; (3) divisional tribunals, consisting of the 
 chief civil oflBcer, assisted by two native assessors with consultative 
 voices only. The divisional tribunal hears appeals from the courts of 
 the subdivision in all civil and 'commercial matters, and from decisions 
 in criminal cases of a grave character, including murder, dangerous 
 wounding, pillage, arson, kidnapping, poisoning of wells, and mutila- 
 tions ; it has also an exclusive criminal jurisdiction in respect of 
 offences of slave-dealing, crimes committed by native Government 
 agents or against them in the exercise of their duties, crimes com- 
 mitted by soldiers in union with non-soldiers, usurpation of Government 
 authority, offences against regulations affecting matters specially 
 assigned to these courts, and offences against the safety of the State ; 
 and (4) a special section of the Court of Appeal, composed of three 
 councillors, two officials, and two natives, charged with the duties of 
 homologation and annulment. Any decision of the inferior courts 
 may be submitted to it by the Procurator-General ; and it deals also 
 with every sentence of over five years' imprisonment or in respect of a 
 slave-trade offence, pronounced by the divisional tribunals, and with 
 sentences exceeding six months' imprisonment or 500 francs fine 
 imposed on native Government agents. 
 
 " The native courts apply native law ; in cases where the parties are 
 subject to different laws they follow the law of the place of conclusion 
 in respect of contracts (including marriage), and in respect of questions 
 of status that of the defendant's tribe. The penalties allowed are 
 death, imprisonment for life or for a term not exceeding twenty years, 
 banishment for the same period, and fines; penalties for breach of 
 contract are permitted if in accord with native law. Europeans who 
 have disputes with natives may submit themselves to the courts, in 
 which case native law is applied. These rules are subject to modifica- 
 tion both in Senegal and in certain portions of Upper Senegal and the 
 Niger, in the Niger Territory, and in Mauretania. ... 
 
 " Great progress has also been made in the application to the natives 
 of regular administration ; and, though the administrators necessarily 
 retain special powers of taking repressive measures against natives 
 without bringing them before the established courts, the Governor- 
 General has laid it down (circular of September 28, 1913) that, since 
 the enactment of the decree of August 12, 1912, the use of these 
 reserved powers should be restricted to cases where political considera- 
 tions render action by the ordinary courts dangerous, or at least highly 
 undesirable." 
 
570 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 SOME OTHER PROBLEMS. 
 
 A. Municipal Self-Governmeni. — Disinclination to pay rates — Autonomy 
 
 depends on financial solvency — Nomination or election of councillors 
 — Varying types of municipalities — Constitution and powers in 
 Nigeria — Distinctive features of townships. 
 
 B. Armed Forces and their Employment. — African races as soldiers — 
 
 Points to be noted — Danger of discontent among troops — The appli- 
 cation of force — Home 'critics — Methods of maintaining law and order 
 — The attitude of primitive tribes — Mistaken methods — The avoid- 
 ance of occasions of trouble — "Hill-top" pagans — Method of using 
 force — Military operations — Enforcing the civil law — Measures to 
 avoid conflict— Nature of penalty-^Precautions. 
 
 (a) MUNICrPiX SELF-GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Throughout the foregoing chapters I have urged the wisdom 
 of decentralisation on the one hand, and on the other hand 
 of allowing the natives to manage their own domestic affairs, 
 in proportion to their ability. In chapter x. I discussed the 
 devolution of authority to " native administrations " for the 
 control of executive duties, and in chapters xxvii. and xxviii. 
 I described how the principles could be applied to judicial 
 work by the creation of native courts administering native 
 law and custom, and approved by-laws. 
 
 The third sphere to which this principle is appUcable is 
 that of municipal responsibility. The two former applied 
 to the vast mass of the population, from the primitive savage 
 to the " advanced community," but this form of devolution 
 appUes, as I have said in chapter iv., to the educated class 
 of natives, and to the unofficial European community. Here 
 is the opportunity for the educated African to show that he 
 is in earnest in his desire for self-government, by hearty co- 
 operation in the conduct of those affairs which most imme- 
 
DISINCLTNATION TO PAY BATES. 571 
 
 diately concern his own interests. Nor will occasion be lack- 
 ing to prove his ability to control the welfare of those illiterate 
 classes who live under conditions more nearly resembling 
 tribal life, for every mimicipaUty has its native town peopled 
 by these folk. 
 
 How is it, then, that the strong movement towards muni- 
 cipal control, which is so marked a feature of social progress 
 in Europe, finds so little corresponding expression in those 
 large cities on the West African coast, where the educated 
 African and the European unofflcials are chiefly to be found ? 
 The reason is that since the fundamental basis of autonomy 
 is financial independence, the funds at the disposal of a 
 municipality must be derived (as in every civilised com- 
 munity) from local rates and taxes ; and, with a few notable 
 exceptions, the natives who clamour for the right to govern 
 the millions of the interior are disinclined to make a con- 
 tribution, however moderate, to municipal fimds for the right 
 to govern themselves. They content themselves with agitat- 
 iag by the press and platform that town councillors should be 
 elected and not nominated by the Governor. It is a mere 
 side-issue, with which I will presently deal. 
 
 Manifestly the Government, as trustee for the governed, 
 is only justified ia allocating such a sum of money, raised by 
 taxation from the people of the interior (on whom falls the 
 bulk of the customs and other taxes), as may seem to be 
 reasonable and equitable for the maintenance of the port and 
 other facilities in which the hinterland is interested. For the 
 rest, the greater part of the cost of purely municipal services 
 and amenities must be provided by those for whose benefit 
 they are maintained. 
 
 So long, therefore, as the municipal funds are dependent 
 on a grant from revenue, complete local control must be 
 deferred, and it is the duty of the Governor to select for the 
 proper supervision of those funds the councillors who in his 
 judgment are best suited to discharge that responsibility. 
 
 These are nominated at the suggestion of those best able 
 to advise. They are selected for their local influence, their 
 experience of affairs, and their public spirit, nor do I recollect 
 any instance where the nomination has given rise to popular 
 dissatisfaction. It is also obviously desirable that any possible 
 friction between unofficial members of the Legislative Council 
 and the town councillors of the capital city should be avoided. 
 
572 SOME OTHER PKOBLEMS. 
 
 Subject to these provisos there can be no objection to the 
 election of the members of the mimicipal body, but since the 
 European, Asiatic, and native communities represent some- 
 what different though not antagonistic interests, it is desir- 
 able that each should elect its ovm members, and perhaps 
 preferable that the fimctions of legislative and municipal 
 councillor should be combined in the same individual. The 
 European community has, I think, usually been satisfied 
 with nomination by the Governor, nor has the native com- 
 munity shown any great eagerness to exercise the vote when 
 granted. 
 
 As with the native administrations, and the native courts, 
 and indeed any and every other institution in Africa, it is 
 obvious that the constitution and the powers delegated to a 
 town council must vary according to the circumstances, and 
 the degree of its development. In some the education and 
 intelligence of its native citizens may well fit them to bear 
 an equal, and in native affairs a predominant, share with the 
 European community, and the council can be entrusted with 
 large powers of civic responsibihty. Others may claim a 
 large measure of autonomy on the grounds that they are 
 financially seK-supporting. In one, the policy of segregation 
 may have simplified many questions, and differentiated the 
 responsibihties of European and native members respectively. 
 In another, a survival of tribal authority may co-exist with 
 the progressive educated section, and claim its share of 
 control. 
 
 The constitution and the powers of the municipal body 
 must therefore vary according to the importance of the com- 
 munity, the measure of its abihty to accept, and discharge 
 satisfactorily, independent or semi-independent powers, and 
 the degree to which it is able to provide its own financial 
 requirements. 
 
 The township ordinances and the regulations made under 
 them in the several African dependencies are very volumin- 
 ous. In Mgeria the general principle has been adopted of 
 including aU matters directly connected with health and 
 sanitation ia a "Public Health Ordinance," for the proper 
 enforcement of which the medical and sanitary departments, 
 and their representatives, on the town councils, are respon- 
 sible, while all matters of internal control and finance, of 
 roads, buildings, and lands, &c., are included in a " town- 
 
CONSTirUTION OP TOWNSHIPS. 573 
 
 ship's ordinance." The whole or any part of the regulations 
 under these ordinances may be appHed to any particular 
 township, or varied in their application by special rules or 
 by-laws. 
 
 Townships under the control of a "local authority," and 
 duly defined as to area, are created by a ' Gazette ' notice. 
 They are in Nigeria of three classes. The local authority in 
 the first class is a " town council " consisting of official and 
 unofficial members — ^European and native, — the intention 
 being that so soon as it becomes independent of a grant 
 from revenue the imofficials should constitute an elected 
 majority. It appoints its owa officers and employees, and is 
 charged with the administration within its area of specified 
 ordinances (to the extent prescribed), such as those relating 
 to motor traffic, liquor, dogs, water-works, auctions, markets, 
 pawnbrokers, and public health, &c., and it receives as revenue 
 the rates, fees, charges, and fines which accrue. It is also 
 empowered to make by-laws (subject to approval) for giving 
 effect to these laws, and for the good order and control of the 
 township. 
 
 The local authority — usually a " station magistrate " — of 
 a second-class township is appoiuted by the Governor, and 
 exercises the ordinary powers of a corporation, assisted by 
 an " advisory board " of nominated officials (including the 
 health officer) and unofficials including natives. The chair- 
 man of the board may be senior in standing to the local 
 authority, who is charged with the execution of routine duties, 
 and the carrying out of the decisions of a majority of the 
 board, subject to the concurrence of the Lieut. -Governor. 
 Eules and by-laws are made by the Governor, and include 
 authority to administer such laws, and impose such licences, 
 &c., as may be desirable. The local authority, working in 
 conjunction with the medical, public works, and other depart- 
 ments, deals with sanitation, housing, roads, markets, land 
 leases, water-supply, public gardens, &c., and collects rates, 
 rents, and licence fees. 
 
 The third class consists of such small centres as contain 
 few European or educated native residents. It is an embryo, 
 and the local authority — usually the District Officer — ^is with- 
 out an advisory board or a township fund. The township 
 estimates of revenue and expenditure are subject to the 
 approval of the Lieut. -Governor. 
 
574 SOME OTHER PEOBLEMS. 
 
 The essential feature of a township is that it is an enclave 
 outside the jurisdiction of the native authority and native 
 courts, which are thus relieved of the diflBcult task (which 
 is foreign to their functions) of controlling the alien natives 
 and employees of the Government and Europeans, who, 
 together with natives engaged in ministering to the require- 
 ments of the township, constitute the native residents. Per- 
 sons properly belonging to the native jurisdiction are as far 
 as possible excluded, and the local authority has power to 
 eject undesirable persons and prostitutes, subject to appeal. 
 Exceptions, of course, exist, as in many of the old coast 
 towns. 
 
 Townships of the first and second class are placed in the 
 Supreme Court jurisdiction, of which court the local authority 
 in a second-class township is a commissioner. British law 
 is administered, and no resident may own a slave. Recreation 
 groimds and club-houses are encouraged for social intercourse. 
 General principles are laid down as to the size and care of 
 " compounds," the location of outhouses, the construction of 
 roads and avenues, precautions against fires, the control of 
 markets and hawkers, the overcrowding of native residential 
 sites, offensive trades, and similar matters, including, in par- 
 ticular, the rules regarding segregation with which I have 
 dealt in a former chapter. New townships should never be 
 located close to a native city. 
 
 (6) ARMED FORCES AND THEIR EMPLOYMENT. 
 
 In my earUest African experience it feU to my task to 
 engage levies of wild and undisciplined savages to withstand 
 the slave-raiders m Nyasaland; later, to create the first nucleus 
 of a disciplined force in Uganda ; and finally, to raise the 
 West African Frontier Force in Nigeria, which eventually 
 became the model for the troops of the West African depend- 
 encies. I have therefore had some experience of the African 
 as a fighting man. The typical African races may, as soldiers, 
 be described as keen and courageous fighters, impulsive, 
 obedient, and faithful, with implicit trust in their leaders. 
 Under the best oflBcers they are capable of becoming excellent 
 troops in action. Their weak potuts are, that they lack a 
 sense of responsibility, which makes them undependable in 
 reporting crime and in exercising control as N.O.O.'s, and 
 
SOME SUGGESTIONS EEGAEDING TEOOPS. 575 
 
 unreliable as sentries. These drawbacks are less manifest in 
 the negroid than in the pure negro races, while the miotic 
 tribes — ^known as " Sudanese " and " Blacks " — ^though not 
 intelligent, are more dependable in these respects, and the 
 Hausas approximate to them. 
 
 The loyalty and gallantry of our native African troops in 
 the war were the pride and the weU-merited reward of the 
 officers who had trained them, and who led them in action. 
 It would, I think, be untrue to say that they gave their lives 
 to uphold the British Empire, for that was a conception 
 beyond their understanding, l^o doubt they hated what 
 they knew of German rule, but their chief motives were, I 
 thiak, personal love of their officers, the terms of pay offered, 
 the decorations they hoped to win, ignorance of the con- 
 ditions of warfare to which they would be exposed, and their 
 natural courage and love of adventure. 
 
 There are a few points which I think it is worth while to 
 note in connection with the military side of African adminis- 
 tration, and I will put them very briefly : — 
 
 {a) Eecruiting should not be restricted exclusively to 
 Moslems, who may be susceptible to reUgious propaganda. 
 Diversity of language is the chief difficulty in using pagan 
 tribes, but they learn the lingua franca with surprising 
 rapidity. 
 
 (b) The period of enlistment should be for as long as pos- 
 sible, and re-engagement should be encouraged in every way. 
 The cost and labour of training men who are later discharged 
 as unKkely to make good soldiers is thus saved, efficiency 
 is increased, and, above aU, the danger of flooding the country 
 with men trained to arms and discipline and European methods 
 of warfare is lessened. It is true that the material for reserves 
 is pro tanto decreased — a matter which I do not personally 
 regard as of much importance. 
 
 (c) The number of troops it is necessary to maintain depends 
 partly on their mobility, partly on the proportion of Euro- 
 peans to natives. It can be reduced as railways, roads, and 
 mechanical transport add to mobihty. The proportion of 
 Europeans should not, I think, be less than 4 per cent in 
 peace and 10 per cent or 12 per cent in action. I am strongly 
 opposed to any form of conscription.^ 
 
 ' In the war Nigeria was able to recruit all, and more than all, the troops 
 asked for, for service overseas, without any form of conscription, though the 
 
576 SOME OTHER PKOBLEMS. 
 
 (d) To promote fellow-feelmg and concord, officers and 
 men should, as far as is compatible with their own special 
 duties, assist in civil work, and be identified in the general 
 aims and policy of the administration. Officers and British 
 N.C.O.'s should be encouraged to learn the language, for an 
 officer interested in the people acquires a better understanding 
 of his own men, and his time is more fully employed. 
 
 (e) The employment of native levies in aid of the troops, 
 and a fortiori the issue of arms to natives for the purpose of 
 carrying out reprisals — a course, as we are informed in a 
 consular report, which is occasionally adopted by the French 
 — is, in my opinion, a policy which may lead to such grave 
 abuses, and is so subversive of discipline among the troops, 
 that it should, I think, be universally prohibited, imless the 
 very existence of the administration is at stake. ^ ISo non- 
 combatant natives other than necessary transport should 
 accompany a force engaged to enforce the law. 
 
 (/) The arms of the force should be kept in an arms house, 
 under the close supervision of the British N.C.O.'s, and 
 issued only when required by the troops on duty or at drill. 
 
 (g) The system of deferred pay is, I think, a valuable one. 
 It acts as a check on desertion, and provides a soldier on 
 discharge with a lump stma to start life as a trader, thereby 
 acting as a great incentive to enlistment. 
 
 (h) Soldiers should not be exempt from fatigue work, which 
 is a valuable part of their discipline. With the diminution 
 of purely military duties — especially of fighting — I should 
 like to see a considerable part, if not the whole, of our African 
 forces converted into engineer or pioneer corps, employed on 
 railway and road construction, and similar work, made popular 
 by a small extra working pay. Such attempts as I have seen 
 in this direction have been wonderfully successful. 
 
 (j) Similarly the armed constabulary, known as " Civil 
 
 Sultans of Sokoto and Bornu asked permission to use compulsion. Conscription 
 wag established in the French Colonies in Africa by the decree of 7th February 
 1912. The terms were four years' service between the ages of twenty and 
 twenty-eight, with liability for foreign service. — Handbook 100, p. 13. The 
 'Times' (16th April 1918) estimates that the contingents for the war, including 
 labourers, numbered 700,000. 
 
 1 In the 'Annual Report for East Africa, 1909-1910," it is stated that "the 
 system of issuing arms and ammunition to the rubber collectors (in Tanaland) 
 has proved most successful, as the men have confidence that they will get all they 
 make, instead of as formerly having to pay toll to the Somalis in food and pro- 
 duce." — Cd. 6467 of 1911. The system is, I think, one to be deprecated, if 
 indeed it is not in violation of our obligations under the Brussels Act. 
 
DANGER OF THE WRONG TYPE OF OFFICEE. 577 
 
 Police," should, I suggest, be employed in all townships and 
 organised districts as an unarmed force, and trained in detec- 
 tive and purely police duties. Only those small detachments 
 employed in out-stations to supply escorts, guard prisoners 
 and prisons, or to relieve the military forces, should bear 
 arms, so that the latter may be kept together in larger units 
 under their own ofilcers for drill and discipline. 
 
 Where a handful of white men are engaged in the difiBcult 
 task of introducing peace and good government among a 
 vast and ignorant population, the chief danger, as we have 
 learnt to our cost in India, in Uganda, ia the Sudan, Somali- 
 land, the Gold Coast, and Sierra Leone, lies in possible dis- 
 affection among the troops. This has, I think, invariably 
 been due to grievances of their own, and not to political 
 causes. I have seen, alike among Indian troops in the Afghan 
 war, and in Nigeria in the advance on Kano, how the native 
 soldier identifies himself with the Government he serves, and 
 wiU march against his co-religionists, and even against his 
 own village. Mutinies may generally be ascribed to lack of 
 touch and ignorance of causes of discontent. 
 
 It is impossible, therefore, to exaggerate the importance of 
 selecting the right type of ofOicer and British N.C.O. Men 
 who have sympathy with and are proud of their soldiers will 
 be followed with blind devotion, while the martinet who 
 despises his men, loses his temper, and strikes or abuses 
 them — happily an extremely rare phenomenon — should be 
 got rid of as a public danger. I am not in favour of tribal 
 companies, which lead to quarrels in barracks, but battalions 
 or wings of battalions, composed of races which have no 
 afianities with the population of the region in which they are 
 serving, and even the introduction of an alien battalion may 
 be a wise precaution. 
 
 There was a time — I am not sure that it has wholly passed 
 —when it seemed the fashion for good folk in England to 
 accuse the African administrator of partiahty to " punitive 
 expeditions," and to sneer at his explanations. The tone of 
 the press and of questions in the House of Commons, and 
 the accusations of certain societies, led the man on the spot 
 to feel that he was regarded as a swashbuckler, ever ready 
 to carry fire and sword into some peaceful African territory, 
 that he might lay claim to having been the first to hoist the 
 flag, or might gain some paltry decoration. Miss Kingsley 
 
 2 
 
578 SOME OTHEE PROBLEMS. 
 
 led the way, in contrast to what she called " the honourable 
 wars of conquest by the French," and even an African ad- 
 ministrator was found to declare that " there would be fewer 
 of these Uttle wars if there were no decorations." ^ 
 
 Now the British military officer in tropical Africa is usually 
 a public-school boy, with the traditions of fair-play common 
 to that class. The use of modern rifles against antagonists 
 armed only with archaic weapons is contrary to that sense 
 of fair-play. He is, moreover, almost invariably very sym- 
 pathetic to primitive races, and regards them as his own 
 special prot^g^s. Military officers, in my experience, when 
 employed in administrative work, are perhaps especially apt 
 to champion their own charges, and to shield them from 
 the penalties which their acts may have merited. 
 
 The British officer is very sensitive to the charge of reck- 
 less disregard of native hfe, and resents it very bitterly. 
 Not once but very many times I have known an officer, with 
 an armed escort at his heels, expose his life recklessly to a 
 shower of poisoned arrows, a scratch from one of which would 
 probably mean death, rather than fire a shot, in the convic- 
 tion that he would presently be able to settle matters without 
 bloodshed. And I have sometimes wondered whether those 
 who without knowledge accuse him of carelessness of human 
 Ufe would have stood the test themselves. 
 
 British officers engaged in African work appreciate the 
 motives of those societies which have constituted themselves 
 the protectors of subject races, whether from slavery, liquor, 
 opium, or maladministration, for they are championing the 
 causes which the administrative officer generally has most 
 at heart. But he feels that they are sometimes too ready to 
 beheve evU of others, and to start with the hypothesis that 
 there is something to conceal. During very many years of 
 African administration it is my experience that it is more 
 often necessary to warn the British officer against exposing 
 his own life too freely than against needlessly sacrificing 
 those of others. 
 
 The maintenance of law and order depends in every country 
 on the power of coercion by force, and is supported by force 
 if collectively defied. The ultimate sanction for recourse to 
 the use of armed force to compel obedience to the law is 
 derived from the same source as the right to inflict a judicial 
 
 1 Sir Chas. Eliot, ' The East African Protectorate,' p. 200. 
 
THE MAINTENANCE OF LAW AND OB.DEK. 579 
 
 penalty. It is inherent in the right to govern, and that 
 Tight entails the obUgation of protecting aU sections of the 
 fcommimity from outrage and violence. The Government 
 which is unable or unwiUing to do this ceases to be worthy 
 of the name. Though, as Mr Chamberlain finely said twenty- 
 three years ago, the idea that colonies were paying depen- 
 dencies had been replaced by the idea of kinship, and the 
 sense of possession in the tropics had given place to that of 
 obligation, for " our rule could never be justified unless it 
 added to the happiness and prosperity of the people. Never- 
 theless (he added) you cannot have omelettes without break- 
 ing eggs, you cannot destroy the practices of barbarism, of 
 slavery, of superstition which for centuries have desolated the 
 interior of Africa without the use of force." ^ 
 
 Judicial powers are exercised in accordance with the strict 
 interpretation of the law, which lays down the method by 
 which law-breakers shall be brought to trial, and the maximum 
 penalty for each class of offence ; but when the law is defied 
 and is temporarily in abeyance, and cannot be enforced by 
 the ordinary processes, the methods by which recognition of 
 the law must be restored are dictated by the Head of the 
 executive, without appeal to judicial tribunals. It is there- 
 fore essential that his personal approval — or that of the 
 Lieut. -Governor or other responsible officer to whom hmited 
 powers in this regard may have been delegated — should be 
 ^ven. Without such approval the employment of armed 
 iorce, beyond the limits of legal sanction, except for self- 
 defence, renders an officer Uable to process of law. 
 
 In Africa you are dealing with tribes who, as a general 
 rule, regard force as the sole arbiter, who are combative, and 
 value life very lightly indeed. Let me put a case in illustra- 
 tion. The yoimg bloods of a tribe, confident in their own 
 weapons, and ignorant of the power of the rifle, think maybe 
 that a " scrap " with the white man, who objects to their 
 raids on less warhke neighbours, would not be unattractive. 
 Conciliatory talks in such a case are obviously useless, and 
 are oidy tolerated by the tribe ia order to gain opportunity 
 to count the number of the escort, or to provide a favourable 
 occasion for a surprise attack. The British officer, hating to 
 " mow down " the brave savages who expose themselves so 
 
 1 'Proceedings of Royal Colonial Institute,' vol. xxvii. pp. 236, 237 (1896 and 
 1897). 
 
580 SOME OTHER PEOBLEMS. 
 
 unknowingly, reserves his fire, and in the encounter only- 
 two or three are killed. For the moment they are cowed, and 
 come in to hear the white man's terms. Probably he imposes 
 a fine of a few goats, and iasists that for the future they shall 
 refrain from attacking their neighbours. They readily agree, 
 and presently they are all chaffering with the soldiers on 
 friendly terms. 
 
 After the next beer-drinkiQg the young men propose to 
 make a foray. The elders remind them of the compact with 
 the British olBcer. " What is this white man," they retort, 
 " that we should fear him ? Had he not fifty soldiers, and 
 he only killed three of us ? These rifles which make such a 
 terrible noise are not so deadly as our own poisoned arrows. 
 But we will make an overwhelming combination this time, 
 and be sure of success. Moreover, we will attack him un- 
 awares in a place of thick jungle." So messages are sent 
 round the whole district — another fight takes place. This 
 time the tribesmen, despising the rifle, charge recklessly. 
 Their numbers are great, and the troops have to fire in earnest 
 to avoid being overwhelmed. The casualties among the tribes- 
 men are very heavy. They count them up, and decide that 
 the rifle is stronger than the bow and arrow, and the game 
 is not good enough. The ofiflcer's report perhaps reads — 
 " Enemy's casualties, 50 Mlled ; ours, 1 killed, 2 wounded." 
 " Mere butchery ! " cries the critic. 
 
 This hypothetical case suggests reflections. If in the first 
 attack the officer had fired with more deadly effect, and 
 demonstrated the power of the rifle beyond doubt, the ulti- 
 mate loss of life would have been much less. The critic would 
 perhaps have asked, " Could you not have beaten off the 
 attack with less loss of life ? " and receiving an affirmative 
 reply, would suggest that here indeed was a case of ruthless 
 slaughter for the mere love of killing. 
 
 I will take another case. A friendly tribe in the neigh- 
 bourhood of a British trading depot welcomes the advent 
 of the administration, and gladly pays the nominal tax, of 
 perhaps 6d. a head per annum, as a token of its intention to 
 keep the peace. Presently it is raided by a neighbour, and 
 it appeals for the promised protection. Perhaps it is quite 
 ready to undertake a vendetta of reprisals, including the 
 carrying off of women, &c., but is restrained by the law of 
 the white man. 
 
AVOIDANCE OP OCCASIONS OF TROUBLE. 581 
 
 The Government sends a message to the aggressive tribe, 
 inlorming them that it is loath to resort to force, but if they 
 will not desist from attacking peaceful neighbours, there will 
 be no alternative. In one such case I received a reply that 
 they had eaten every kind of man except a white man, and 
 they invited me to come that they might see what I tasted 
 like. 
 
 These are instances, which it were easy to multiply, of the 
 occasions in which an African administrator finds himself 
 compelled to resort to force. As the power of the Government 
 to enforce its prohibition of inter-tribal war and the murder 
 and looting of traders and enslaving of persons becomes 
 known, and still more as the District Officer gets into closer 
 and closer touch with the tribesmen, and relations of mutual 
 liking and goodwill are formed, the necessity of resorting to 
 force decreases, until it is only necessary in the case of bandit 
 communities, with whom all other methods have failed. To 
 avoid occasions of trouble, turbulent districts are declared 
 to be " unsettled," and Europeans are forbidden to enter 
 them. Government and native court messengers are not sent 
 into districts where they are Ukely to be attacked, and armed 
 natives are never sent to effect arrests by force. 
 
 Some comers of tropical Africa, however, resemble the 
 condition of predatory warfare which is characteristic of 
 animal life in the ocean's depths. Centuries of slave-raidiag 
 and of iuter-tribal warfare had driven some of the pagan 
 communities to build their villages among the boidders and 
 caves, on or near the crests of the hills, where they were 
 invulnerable to attack. A little precarious cultivation in the 
 valley below — ^whence their women daily toil up the hillside 
 with the day's supply of water — ^forms their livelihood, with 
 the exception of the loot of passing traders. 
 
 It has been the aim of the Mgerian Government to induce 
 these " hill-top pagans," as they are called, to build their 
 villages in the plain below, and this has been a condition 
 imposed whenever their lawless actions have necessitated 
 coercive measures. It is a practical guarantee of the adoption 
 of peaceful agriculture. Few now remain in such fastnesses.^ 
 
 When, therefore, the law has been defied by the murder of 
 a Government agent or others, or by the head-hunting pro- 
 pensities of a predatory tribe, recourse must be had to force, 
 
 ' See note, p. 222. 
 
582 SOME OTHER PROBLEMS. 
 
 if the community refuses to surrender the murderers, or to 
 allow their arrest, and accepts collective responsibility for the 
 crime — threatening the agents of Government with violence. 
 The people of England have of late years had these condi- 
 tions brought home to them in Ireland, and can realise them 
 as they did not realise before. 
 
 The object which the party of police or soldiers has in 
 view is the arrest of the original offenders and their abettors 
 for trial by due process of law, and the imposition of some 
 penalty on the community under the Collective Punishment 
 Ordinance, to which I have referred in chapter xxvii. This 
 object may sometimes be attained without bloodshed by the 
 exhibition of a sufficiently imposing force. 
 
 In Nigeria, since the earliest days of the administration in 
 the north, very explicit rules have been in operation regarding 
 the conditions in which force, when unavoidable, may be 
 applied, and the respective duties of the officer in command 
 of the armed party on the one hand, and the civil officer on 
 the other. Doubtless similar rules are in force in all our 
 protectorates, and my reader who has not had personal ex- 
 perience of administration in Africa may be interested to 
 know their nature. 
 
 In the first place, a clear distinction is drawn between 
 military operations and the support of the civil power in 
 enforcing obedience to the ordinary law. " Military opera- 
 tions " (now happily a thing ahnost entirely of the past) are 
 undertaken when some widespread rising — due to the appear- 
 ance of a local Mahdi, or the revival of the cult of some 
 " Juju " or other cause — ^has taken place, accompanied per- 
 haps by the murder of Europeans and Government employees, 
 and there are possibilities of the disaffection spreading and 
 assuming dangerous proportions. 
 
 The conduct of operations and the responsibility for the 
 measures taken rest, in this case, primarily on the senior 
 military officer, acting under the direct instructions of the 
 Governor. A civil officer is attached to the force to carry 
 out measures of pacification as they become possible. 
 
 At the present day, in Africa, the disciplined and well- 
 armed forces at the disposal of Government are generally 
 weU able to carry out any necessary coercive measures with- 
 out recourse to surprise attacks on villages by night, and fire 
 should never be opened until the women — who are indistin- 
 
ENFORCING THE CIVIL LAW. 583 
 
 guishable from the men even at a short distance— have been 
 afforded time and a means of escape. Effective prohibition 
 of looting, or indiscriminate burning of villages — ^which are 
 demoralising to the troops and reminiscent of the slave- 
 raider— is invariably enforced, and such acts are sternly 
 repressed. It may generally be advisable to retain the troops 
 for a time in a district in which mihtary operations have 
 been necessary, and their presence has a wholesome effect. 
 
 In all other cases the armed force is at the disposal of the 
 civa officer for the enforcement of the civU law, and upon 
 him rests the responsibility for its application, the officer in 
 command of the armed party being responsible only for the 
 actual conduct of the offensive and defensive measures, and 
 the control of the constabulary or soldiers. 
 
 When, therefore, a community has committed serious crimes, 
 and it is known that armed opposition will be offered to the 
 administrative officer, an armed party accompanied by a 
 medical officer is applied for by the Eesident, who explains 
 the reasons which necessitate intervention, unless extreme 
 urgency compels him to accept responsibility for immediate 
 action. 
 
 The officer in command of the " patrol " — who must always 
 be a European — may not commence hostilities until required 
 to do so by the civil officer, or extend the area of the opera- 
 tions, after the first resistance has been overcome, without 
 his concurrence, and must justify his action if he continues 
 them when the civil officer has intimated that in his opinion 
 they should cease. On the other hand, it is for the officer in 
 command to judge whether his force is adequate, to take 
 proper precautions for their safety, and to control them in 
 action. 
 
 On approaching the village the civil officer endeavours to 
 get into touch with the people, informing them of his demands. 
 If the threat is sufficient he proceeds with his escort to inter- 
 view the chiefs, withdrawing again temporarily to give them 
 time to comply with his terms, and surrender the criminals. 
 If, however, the demands are ignored, he advances to occupy 
 the village, after giving time for the non-combatants to clear 
 out. Fire is not opened unless the force is attacked, or there 
 is no possible doubt of the intention to attack. The object 
 still is to occupy the empty village with as little loss of life 
 as possible. 
 
584 SOME OTHEE PROBLEMS. 
 
 A fine of live-stock and grain is collected and supplies for 
 the troops, and the civil officer again endeavours to get in 
 touch with the chiefs and elders, informing them that they 
 will not be seized if they come in to parley, but that if they 
 do not, the principal huts will be fired — viz., those of the 
 chiefs, and any which are known to belong to the criminals. 
 If these pacific overtures have been unsuccessful, the troops 
 remain in occupation until the chiefs make their submission, 
 which would rarely be delayed beyond a day or two. 
 
 Thus extreme measures are only resorted to when the 
 tribesmen refuse any other alternative. The punishments are 
 not unduly severe, for in Africa the burning of a hut, which 
 is built of reeds and grass, and rapidly reconstructed, is not 
 so heavy a penalty as confiscation of live-stock and crops. 
 Permanent crops (economic trees, &c.) are never destroyed, 
 and it is preferable to seek out and inflict loss on the fighting 
 men than to destroy food, thereby causing hunger to those 
 who are not directly responsible. 
 
 A penalty is provisionally imposed after full inquiry under 
 the Collective Punishment Ordinance, and is subject to the 
 Governor's approval. If the casualties have been heavy, and 
 if the criminals are surrendered, it is usually made as Mght as 
 possible, especially if the tribe had not hitherto been under 
 administrative control. It usually consists in the surrender 
 of a number of arms or bows and arrows, a smaU fine, or a 
 few days' work on road-making. 
 
 It is, of course, made clear to all officers, civil and military, 
 that they have no authority to inflict any punishment what- 
 ever except by due process of law, or in such cases as those 
 described by special authority from the head of the Govern- 
 ment, and then only in conformity with the instructions. 
 
 Great care must be taken to ascertain that the alleged 
 crimes have actually been committed, and also to ascertain 
 whether they were perpetrated in reprisal for some outrage 
 or crime done by the persons murdered or assaulted. Very 
 full reports are required from both the civil and the military 
 officer, with careful estimates of all casualties, and an account 
 of the origin of the trouble and the measures taken to avert 
 hostilities. 
 
 In the beginnings of African administration recourse to 
 the use of force to restrain lawlessness and crime, and to 
 stop inter-tribal disputes, was, as Mr Chamberlain said in 
 
RELUCTANCE OF BEITISH OFFICEES TO USE FORCE. 585 
 
 the passage quoted, often unavoidable, but in my experience 
 it has chiefly been due to the inadequacy in the numbers of 
 the civil staff. The best officers hardly ever find it necessary, 
 and the way ia which turbulent and sometimes treacherous 
 tribes have been converted into staunch friends — ^fairly law- 
 abiding and progressive — ^by the sympathy and personal 
 courage of the British District Officer, is nothing short of 
 amazing. 
 
.586 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 SOME OTHER PROBLEMS (Continued). 
 
 C. Missions. — The debt to Missions— Missions in East Africa — Mission- 
 aries and politics — Missions in West Africa — Evils of sectarian rivalry 
 — Polygamy — Missions and European prestige — Social effects of Mis- 
 sion work — Missions in pagan districts — Missions to Moslems — Lord 
 Salisbury's opinion — Restriction in Nigeria and the Sudan — Justifi- 
 cation of restriction — The Moslem point of view — Concurrence of 
 Government needed for establishment of Missions — Mission spheres 
 — Religious ministrations. 
 
 B. — The Use of Intoxicants. — Import of spirits — Origin of movement for 
 suppression — The position in West Africa — Measures of restriction — 
 Prohibition by convention — The moral aspect of the traffic — The 
 material aspect — The present position and policy — Native liquor — 
 Control of native liquor — Distilleries. 
 
 (c) MISSIONS. 
 
 In the chapter on education I pointed out how great a debt 
 the secular governments in tropical Africa owe to the efforts 
 of the missionaries, by whom the bulk of the subordinate 
 native staff has been trained, and I advocated a closer co- 
 operation between the Government and Missions in their 
 common task for the welfare of the people. It is to the 
 devoted work of the missionary that the educated African 
 owes his existence, for their schools preceded by many de- 
 cades the comparatively recent Government educational estab- 
 lishments. If it has been said with some truth that trade 
 preceded the flag in many parts of tropical Africa, it may be 
 said with equal truth that missionary effort has generally 
 preceded either, and opened the way for both. Missions have 
 been the pioneers of our tropical Empire, and the wives of 
 missionaries have done much by example, as weU as by patient 
 leaching. 
 To the eminently practical, unostentatious, and successful 
 
MISSIONS IN EAST AFRICA. 587 
 
 work of Dr Laws and his colleagues of the Livingstone Mission, 
 and to the other Scottish Missions in E"ya8aland, it has already- 
 been my privilege to bear witness.^ Though that country 
 was, when I knew it, unappropriated by any European 
 Power, and the scene of some of the worst barbarities of the 
 slave-raider, the Missions, with remarkable restraint, refrained 
 frona using their influence to acquire secular power, or to 
 precipitate the inevitable conflict with the aggressive forces 
 of Islam, though they appreciated its aims (see p. 359). 
 
 In Uganda the circimistances were different. Here an 
 isolated Mission had been established, 800 or 1000 miles in 
 the interior, without any means of access by waterway, as 
 the result of an outburst of enthusiasm evoked by Stanley's 
 appeal. Protestant Missions were quickly followed by those 
 of the Eoman Church. Islam had already preceded the 
 Christian Missions, and the adherents of the rival creeds 
 fought out their differences in bloody battles. Great numbers 
 of Christian converts were put to death, many of whom were 
 burned alive. Twenty-two of them have recently been 
 beatified as martyrs.^ 
 
 The Christians won, and the Moslems were ousted from 
 the country, tiU they were repatriated by me after a new 
 defeat in 1891. With this common danger removed, the 
 rival Christian sects (which, however, were perhaps more 
 political than religious, and represented French and British 
 influence respectively) could no longer be restrained from 
 settling their mutual antagonism in the old way. In a pitched 
 battle the Protestants were victorious, and Cardinal Lavi- 
 gerie's vision of the revival of the temporal power of the 
 Pope in an African State vanished away.^ Uganda, like 
 !N"yasaland, became a British protectorate. 
 
 In these turbulent times it was difficult for the English 
 (Protestant) Missions to refrain from participation in the 
 politics of the country — the more so that their Boman Catholic 
 (French) rivals frankly asserted their right to do so. Sir G. 
 Portal stated that the respective missionaries were the veri- 
 table political leaders of the two factions. Later, however, 
 when the head of the British Mission declared to the accredited 
 representative of the secular power that he regarded this 
 
 ' ' Rise of East African Empire,' vol. i. pp. 68-75. 
 
 2 ' Times,' 7th June 1920. 
 
 ' ' The British East African Company.' P. Macdermott, p. 129. 
 
588 SOME OTHER PKOBLEMS, 
 
 participation in political affairs as withia the ftmetions of the 
 Missions, his view was discountenanced by the Home Com- 
 mittee of the Church Missionary Society.^ 
 
 In the West, missionary effort was largely identified with 
 the philanthropic impulses which, following the suppression 
 of the overseas slave-trade, led to the founding of the Free- 
 town settlement for liberated slaves at Sierra Leone. These 
 Missions, with the exception of that to the Hausa Moslems, 
 were chiefly confined to the coast and adjacent regions, and 
 to the waterway of the Mger, until the extension of the 
 administration to the interior, and the opening of railway 
 communication, gave access to districts further afield. 
 
 The beneficial effect of Mission work in Africa is marred 
 — no less than religious work in Christian countries — ^by 
 sectarian rivalries and differences in teaching. The antagon- 
 ism between the Protestants and Eoman Catholics which so 
 puzzled Mtesa of Uganda was no doubt accentuated by 
 national rivalry, and resulted, as we have seen, in actual war. 
 Elsewhere it is often disguised under a thin veneer. 
 
 The special dogmas of the " Memnonite Brothers in Christ," 
 the " Pentecostal Missions," and many others, confuse the 
 African, and have no doubt encouraged that secessional 
 movement which in West Africa has led to the establishment 
 of various African Churches in which polygamy is recog- 
 nised, or some other departure from orthodoxy is introduced. 
 
 Church conferences have shown that there is a minority 
 among those interested in Mission work who regard poly- 
 gamy with tolerance, as an institution almost universal in 
 the tropics from the earliest records of history. The early 
 maturity of women, and the rapid evanescence of their sexual 
 attractions in contrast with men ; the postponement of the 
 weaning of children (p. 66) ; the necessity for every woman 
 to have a male protector in the conditions of African life ; 
 the practical impossibility of chastity among unattached 
 women ; the sanction of tradition and custom, are arguments 
 brought forward in defence of the institution. 
 
 On the other hand, it is urged that it favours the wealthy 
 and the powerful, and may even deprive some few of the poor 
 of the possibility of finding a mate at all — though statistics 
 show that in most African countries there is a preponderance 
 — though not a large one — of females. Whether polygamy is 
 
 ' ' Rise of East African Empire,' vol. ii. pp. 456-458. 
 
BENATIONALISING EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 589 
 
 responsible for an increase or decrease in the population 
 appears to be ia doubt, but it would certainly seem to decrease 
 prostitution. 
 
 Some few Missions carry the ideal of the equality of man 
 to a point which the iuteUigence of the primitive savage does 
 not appreciate in its true significance. That a white man 
 should come to Africa to do menial work in the furtherance 
 of an altruistic ideal is not comprehensible to him, and the 
 result is merely to destroy the missionary's own influence for 
 good, and to lessen the prestige of Europeans, upon which 
 the avoidance of bloodshed and the maintenance of law and 
 order so largely depend in Africa. 
 
 The Colonial Office issued a regulation towards the close 
 of the war that missionaries must obtaiu sanction before 
 proceediag to West Africa. Its object, no doubt, was not 
 primarily concerned with the financial position or the physical 
 fitness of the applicant and his family for life in the tropics, 
 but these things merit attention too. We read of the arrival 
 of a ship with " several small children, being taken by their 
 parents to stations many miles from medical aid, there to 
 stay for two or three years " ; of a missionary and his wife 
 whose joint salary, in these times of excessive prices, was 
 £160 per annum — too poor to buy meat.^ I recollect a case 
 of a missionary too poor to take his dying wife out of the 
 country. These things do not promote the cause of the 
 gospel. They do harm. 
 
 I have in chapter iv. discussed the influence of Christianity 
 and of Islam respectively on the social life of their converts, 
 remarkiQg that the former has exerted a more denationalising 
 effect than the latter — a result perhaps inevitable from the 
 fact that Christianity has been promulgated by Europeans, 
 and Islam by tribes naturaUsed in Africa. I am not, I hope, 
 wrong iu believing that Missions have of late years increas- 
 ingly recognised the desirability of discouragiag the adoption 
 of European dress and habits by natives where they have 
 not already become practically universal — as in the coast 
 towns among the educated classes. The " black white man " 
 has been scornfully handled by his own Press, and there seems 
 now to be a growing tendency to a race-consciousness which 
 deprecates the slavish imitation of European dress and customs. 
 
 1 Letter from a "Tropical Resident for many Years." — 'West Africa,' 23rd 
 October 1920. 
 
590 SOME OTHEE PROBLEMS. 
 
 On the question of the advisability of the establishment of 
 a Mission in a pagan region, a very natural divergence of 
 opinion may arise between the missionary and the adminis- 
 trator who is charged with the maintenance of peace and good 
 order. The latter fears that the advent of defenceless Euro- 
 peans in turbulent districts, where as yet the machinery of 
 Government has not been set up, or only partially intro- 
 duced, and is unable to ensure adequate protection of life 
 and property, may result ia some imtoward catastrophe 
 which wiU necessitate a punitive expedition. In the gradual 
 extension of the area of Government responsibility, as staff 
 and finance permit, he cannot allow his hand to be forced. 
 In most cases, therefore, an " Unsettled Districts " ordinance 
 empowers the Governor to prohibit the entry of Europeans 
 — whether missionaries, prospectors, or too adventurous 
 traders — ^into such regions as may be notified in the ' Gazette.' 
 The missionary, on his part, declares that he asks for no pro- 
 tection, and will accept the consequences of carrying out his 
 Master's command to preach the gospel to every person, and 
 he demands the right to do so in a British protectorate. 
 
 Every administrator would, I think, cordially welcome the 
 establishment of Missions among pagan tribes — except, per- 
 haps, that type of Mission to which I have alluded, whose 
 actions, however well-intentioned, degrade the European in 
 the eyes of the native. It would only be in extreme cases, 
 where insulting treatment, or worse, might compel interven- 
 tion, and so cause loss of life — not only of the missionaries — 
 that temporary prohibition would be enforced.^ 
 
 In some cases the adoption of a nominal profession of 
 Christianity by a community has outrun the control of the 
 heads of the Mission, and residted in fracas with pagan neigh- 
 bours. Traders who have become Christians carry their 
 proselytising zeal with them no less than their Mohamedan 
 compatriots, and (as Bishop Melville- Jones explained to me) 
 the result is an automatic spread of nominal Christianity, 
 in which the converts have not yet learned the principles of 
 the faith they profess, and the supervising staff is insufficient 
 to meet the needs. The administration on the other hand, of 
 
 ^ The late Lord Salisbury observed that formerly a missionary who courted 
 martyrdom exposed only himself. To-day he exposes the people to reprisals, 
 " because his position is closely mixed up with that of the secular Powers, who 
 cannot in justice to their own subjects allow his death to go unavenged." 
 
MISSIONS TO MOHAMEDANS. 591 
 
 course, insists that the profession of any creed, whether it 
 be Christian or Mohamedan, shall in no way absolve the 
 convert from obedience to his rulers, or from the observance 
 of native law and custom when not repugnant to his conscience. 
 
 The case is otherwise when the missionary desires access to 
 an advanced Moslem State, where his presence would be re- 
 sented, and might be regarded as a breach of the pledge of 
 non-interference with the religion of the people, with conse- 
 quent loss of confidence. " At present," wrote the Special 
 Correspondent of the ' Times ' in the Sudan ia 1900, " all 
 Englishmen are regarded as officers or representatives of the 
 Government. The tourist is everywhere saluted in the streets 
 of Omdurman. It would be impossible for any Englishman 
 to establish a Mission without causing the belief that this was 
 a department of Government. The Government could not 
 disclaim responsibility. It would be accused of a breach of 
 faith." ^ The correspondent of the same paper in Nigeria 
 used almost identical language in 1911.^ 
 
 And indeed the native ruler has some grounds for consider- 
 ing that exceptional protection is accorded to a European, or 
 even to a native Christian. If a Moslem missionary were 
 hustled out of a pagan village, it is probable that the Govern- 
 ment would never hear of it, and would only intervene if 
 murder or a grievous assault had been committed. But the 
 native evangelist from the coast is unlikely to suffer ia silence, 
 and would receive the active support of the missionaries in 
 his complaiats. In a Moslem emirate in Mgeria, it is un- 
 likely that violence would be offered, imtil smouldering dis- 
 content took fire in the preaching of a " Mahdi," hostile aUke 
 to Europeans and to the native rulers who had worked in 
 harmony with them, and had tolerated the Christian pro- 
 paganda. 
 
 On this subject Dr Blyden quotes an interesting pronounce- 
 ment of the late Lord Salisbury, who was at the time Foreign 
 Minister.^ Speaking on 19th June 1900 at Exeter Hall of 
 " the position which this coimtry, and those who represent 
 its moral and spiritual forces, occupy to those great Mohamedan 
 popidations which in so many parts of the world come into 
 
 1 'Times,' 16th April 1900. 
 
 ^ 'Times ' 5th and 14th September 1911. See also the letter from Sir Mack- 
 worth Young of 22nd September 1911, and a reply dated 28th September. 
 3 ' West Africa before Europe,' p. 71. 
 
592 SOME OTHEK PROBLEMS. 
 
 close connection with our rule," he said, " I have pointed out 
 to you how difficult it is to persuade other nations that the 
 missionary is not an instrument of the secular Government. 
 It is infinitely more difficult in the case of Mohamedans. 
 He cannot believe that those who are preaching the Gospel 
 against the religion of Mahomet are not incited thereto and 
 protected therein, and governed in their action, by the secular 
 Government of England, with which they are connected. 
 . . . And remember that in these Mohamedan countries you 
 are not dealing with men who are wholly evil. You are 
 dealing with men who have a religion, erroneous in many 
 respects, terribly mutilated in others, but a religion that has 
 portions of our own embodied iu its system. Tou are dealing 
 with a force which a sincere though mistaken theism gives to 
 a vast population. You wiU not convert them. I do not say 
 that you wiU never do so — God knows, I hope that is far from 
 our fears. But dealing with events of the moment, I think 
 that your chances of the conversion of them, as proved by 
 our experience, are infinitely small, and the danger of creating 
 great perils and producing serious convulsions, and it may be 
 of causing bloodshed, which shall be a serious and permanent 
 obstacle to that Christian religion which we desire above all 
 things to preach, is a danger that you must bear in miud." 
 
 The " man in the street " asks difficult questions. It 
 costs, says he, an ascertainable sum to convert each native. 
 If souls are of equal value in the sight of God, why establish 
 a Mission in a district where, prior to the advent of the railway, 
 the cost must be many times as great as in one more accessible, 
 and consequently the number of souls saved in proportion 
 to the subscriptions received from supporters must be so much 
 fewer ? In Uganda the experiment was perhaps justified, 
 because the material upon which the Mission had to work 
 was so eager. But is it justified, he would say, in the case 
 of a Mission to Moslems, of whom Lord Salisbury said that 
 experience proved that the chances of conversion are in- 
 finitely small ? ^ Would not the money be better employed 
 in Missions to pagans, where cannibalism, human sacrifice, 
 
 ' The writer of the very interesting articles on the "Opening of the Sudan," 
 to which I have referred, though sympathetic to the missionary view, says : 
 " Missionaries have never obtained any great success in Mohamedan countries. 
 It is sometimes alleged that a genuine conversion of a genuine Mussulman has 
 never taken place. He has a traditional contempt for the dogmas of Christi- 
 anity." 
 
B.ESTEICTIONS IN NIGEEIA AND StTDAN. 593 
 
 and the terror of fetish superstition exercise a sway which 
 Islam has abolished where it has taken root ? 
 
 Such discussions are outside the domaiu of the adminis- 
 trator, but for the reasons which concern his own respon- 
 sibility it was found necessary, both by Lord Kitchener in 
 the Sudan and by myself in Mgeria, to prohibit for the time 
 being the establishment of Christian Missions in Moslem dis- 
 tricts. The four Missions which hurried to Omdurman after 
 the defeat of the Mahdi " all laboured under the heavy engage- 
 ment laid upon them by the late Governor-General, of not 
 attempting to convert a member of the Mohamedan religion," 
 and were compelled to confine their energies to medical and 
 educational work, and to propaganda among the pagans. 
 
 It was a particularly hard sentence in the Sudan, for the 
 pagan tribes lay beyond, and not on the way to the Moslem 
 centres, as in Nigeria. It was, moreover, to atone for the 
 violence with which the death of Gordon had been avenged, 
 " to heal the feud and to bear the reconciling Christian mes- 
 sage to the Mahdists, that the missionaries sought to enter 
 the Sudan. . . . They saw in the Arabs a people whose capa- 
 city of receiving the true faith may be measured by their 
 capacity of dying for the false one." ^ Later the nile was 
 relaxed, and Missions were allowed to enter the Sudan on 
 condition that all members were unreservedly under the local 
 laws and regulations, and that they should " act only with 
 the approval and permission of the Governor-General, and 
 with the concurrence of the local authorities of Government 
 in the province," and that " each Mission is a separate body 
 under the sole control of its local head ia the coimtry." ^ 
 
 Are these restrictions justified ? " The value of mission- 
 aries to a State lies not in the number of proselytes whom 
 they convert, but in the lives they lead." Are such men to 
 be excluded and every petty trader allowed freedom to settle 
 where he chooses ? The reply of the administrator, however 
 
 1 Ibid. 
 
 '^ Sir R. Wingate to Governor of Uganda, 30th November 1905. The Foreign 
 Office Official Handbook No. 98, published in 1920, says: "The policy of 
 the Sudan Government has always been and remains that of encouraging 
 Islam in all its legitimate modes of expression. It has built and maintained 
 many moaques all over the country. Christian churches and schools are allowed 
 only in Khartum city. . . . Outside Khartum no Christian missionary is 
 authorised to preach in any part of the Northern Sudan. . . . The early Govern- 
 ment pledge of non-interference with any man in the exercise of his religion has 
 been loyally kept" (p. 57). 
 
 2p 
 
594 SOME OTHER PEOBLEMS. 
 
 reluctantly given, can only be what it has always been in 
 Nigeria : that the Government will offer no objection if the 
 ruling chief concurs ; that in a matter solely concerned with 
 religion the Government does not feel justified in compelling 
 a Moslem ruler to grant permission which but for Government 
 intervention he would refuse ; that access to a Mission-field 
 which is gained by such means is in doubtful accord with the 
 principles of Christianity, and it lies with the missionaries 
 of their own efforts in medical and educational work to win 
 acceptance, and to change hostility into friendship — a change 
 which will, moreover, be fostered by the general spread of 
 education. This can perhaps be effected by the object-lesson 
 of their work in neighbouring pagan districts, or in those 
 regions not under Moslem rule, where Christian and Mohame- 
 dan teachers meet on neutral ground. 
 
 At present the ejection of Christian missionaries by a 
 native ruler could only be regarded as an act hostile to the 
 Government which had authorised their coming, and could 
 not be tolerated by it. If a Moslem ruler, in reply to the 
 question whether he had any objection to the presence of 
 missionaries, says that he and his responsible chiefs do not 
 desire them, imless the Government orders otherwise, there 
 is no escaping from the conclusion that their presence depends 
 on the secular force of the Government. The responsible 
 spokesman of the Church Missionary Society in London re- 
 pudiated the desire to introduce Missions on such terms. 
 
 It has sometimes been alleged that the Governments of 
 the Sudan and Nigeria favour Mohamedanism. The attitude 
 which British Governments have endeavoured to assume is 
 that of strict neutrality, impartiality, and tolerance in all 
 religious matters — that " every man should be free to worship 
 God as he chooses." If, however, any particular form of 
 religion sanctions or enforces acts which are contrary to 
 humanity or good order, the Government intervenes regard- 
 less of religious sanctions. Thus in the case of Islam, slave- 
 raiding and slave-dealing and any exclusive privilege of 
 Moslems in the Courts of Justice ; in the case of fetish creeds, 
 human sacrifice, ordeals, and twin-murder ; and among Chris- 
 tian converts, any attempt to repudiate the authority of 
 chiefs, or forcibly to interfere with the religious observances 
 of their neighbours — or of Moslems to interfere with Christians 
 — are all alike prohibited. 
 
THE MOSLEM POINT OF VIEW. 595 
 
 The attitude of the native Moslem ruler is very natural. 
 He commands allegiance as the "Head of the Faith." The 
 Koran enjoins implicit obedience to his commands. A wide- 
 spread desertion to Christianity would undermine his secular 
 no less than his religious power. The English missionary, 
 and even the native pastor from the coast in European coat 
 and trousers (whom he dislikes), would rob him of authority. 
 His own devout followers would regard him as a traitor, who 
 had opened the gate to the enemy. 
 
 Moreover, the Mohamedan law which regulates the conduct 
 of a Moslem as a citizen, is so bound up with that which 
 prescribes his religious obligations, that to separate the one 
 from the other is a new and difficult conception to his mind. 
 The itinerating missionary preacher who teUs his hearers that 
 the claim of their chiefs to be their rulers and guides equally 
 in spiritual as in the material relations of life is founded on 
 heresy, seems to him to differ little from the preaching of 
 sedition. The attitude of Mohamedans towards the Christian 
 Government which has deprived them of their dominant 
 position, and made their favourite pastime of slave-raiding 
 a criminal offence, has on the whole been one of tolerance 
 and acquiescence. 
 
 That the Moslems of Northern Mgeria, cut off from access 
 to Tripoli and the Mediterranean coast, have maintained so 
 high a standard of competence in Mohamedan jurisprudence 
 and literary ability ia Arabic ; that while retaining a dignity 
 of deportment and courtesy of manners they have resisted 
 denationalising tendencies ; that their influence over the 
 lower classes and neighbouring tribes has increased now that 
 their rule has been purged of its excesses ; and that the better 
 classes have consistently maintained their hostility to intoxi- 
 cating liquor, speaks well for the hold which Mohamedan 
 culture, within its limits, had obtained over these northern 
 races. 
 
 For the reasons I have given it is necessary that the prior 
 concurrence of Government should be sought before a Mission 
 is established in either a Moslem or a pagan district. There 
 can be no fear that a British administrator would withhold 
 consent unless for some very cogent reason. If his reasons 
 appeared insuflacient, there is probably no class which com- 
 mands a wider means of influencing public opinion through 
 the Press and Parliament, and can more effectively bring 
 
596 SOME OTHEE PEOBLEMS, 
 
 any decision which it regards as unjust to the bar of public 
 opinion in England, than the missionaries and their sup- 
 porters. 
 
 But these reasons do not stand alone. Cases have been 
 kQown where the sole apparent motive for the extension of a 
 Mission was to compete with an earlier arrival. This rivalry, 
 as the story of Uganda and many a minor field has shown, 
 is greatly to be deprecated, and justifies an administrator 
 in withholding his sanction. 
 
 It is much to be desired that spheres of Mission influ- 
 ence should be mapped out, within which each particular 
 sect should be free to teach accordiag to its own dogmas, 
 without aggression from others. In Uganda I carried out 
 this principle after the fighting, and it is more or less in 
 operation in Northern Nigeria. But in the complicated net- 
 work of Mission activities which I found existing in Southern 
 Nigeria it was difficult to effect an agreement. If the heads 
 of the various Missions could come to terms on this -matter, 
 nothing but good would result. It has been reported to me 
 by administrative officers that the spectacle of the jealousy 
 between rival Missions has a very bad effect on the people, 
 and increases the tendency towards indiscipline.^ 
 
 There is no Established Church in our African dependencies, 
 though bishops — European and African — are appointed to 
 dioceses, which parcel out British tropical Africa between 
 them. In Southern Nigeria the salary of a chaplain was pro- 
 vided from revenue, but the Colonial Office has directed that 
 he shall not be replaced when he retires. That the cost of 
 building churches and the maintenance of a minister should 
 fall on the very smaU group of Europeans and Christian 
 natives who can count with any degree of certainty on being 
 permanently resident at any place, is to ask more than the 
 none too large salaries at their disposal can provide. 
 
 Missionaries, when asked to undertake religious services, 
 have in some cases repUed that their duties did not extend 
 to such work ; in others, they have generously responded. 
 Whether some satisfactory arrangement could be made is a 
 matter which seems to deserve the consideration of the 
 societies. The absence of the outward observances of religion 
 
 ^ In the Sudan among the pagan tribes in the south " the Government 
 encourages Christian missions, and has allotted strict geographical limits or 
 ' reservations ' to the different churches." — ' Foreign Office Handbook,' p. 58. 
 
PEELING AGAINST THE LIQUOE TRAFFIC. 597 
 
 among European Christians is, I believe, a matter of com- 
 ment among Mohamedans, whose creed is so insistent on 
 such public observances. 
 
 {d) THE USE OF INTOXICANTS. 
 
 The horrors of the overseas slave-trade from West Africa 
 were succeeded by the steady growth of a trade in cheap 
 spirits for sale to the natives. The facts, brought to light by 
 the Colonial Congress of the Temperance League in 1886, 
 and the data recorded in a pamphlet by Eev. H. Waller, 
 reinforced the startling reports of Burton, Thomson, and other 
 eminent African explorers regarding the demorahsation of 
 the native races by the liquor traffic. Public opinion was 
 considerably stirred, and on 30th March 1887 a very in- 
 fluential meeting was held in London, followed on 1st April 
 by another ia the conference-room of the House of Commons ; 
 and on 27th April a Committee was formed under the presi- 
 dency of the Duke of Westminster and the chairmanship 
 of the Bishop of London, on which a large number of Mission 
 and other societies were officially represented, for the pre- 
 vention of the traffic. The Committee pubhshed quarterly 
 papers, and an annual report. A debate in the Commons 
 took place in March 1888, and an influential deputation to 
 the Foreign Minister (Lord Salisbury) was organised in Decem- 
 ber 1888, and elicited his strong support. A further debate 
 took place in May 1889 in the House of Lords. As a result 
 of these efforts, the subject was included in the work of the 
 Brussels Conference of 1889. 
 
 By the Brussels Act — ^ratified in 1892 — the Powers agreed 
 (Articles 91-94) that total prohibition, except for non-natives, 
 should be enforced in that part of Africa lying between 
 N. lat. 20° and S. lat. 22°, in which the use of distilled liquor 
 did not exist or had not been developed, and that elsewhere 
 a specified duty should be imposed as a minimum, subject to 
 revision after six years. Holland, who has no African posses- 
 sions, and was the chief exporter of trade gin, jeopardised the 
 Act by her long delay in ratifying. 
 
 In that year the total quantity of trade spirits imported 
 into British West Africa was about 3,400,000 gallons. The 
 average duty imposed by the different British colonies stood 
 at Is. 8d. per gallon, and the aggregate revenue realised was 
 
598 SOME OTHER PROBLEMS. 
 
 £236,724. la 1894 half the revenue and 94.8 per cent of the 
 customs of the Mger Coast Protectorate were derived from 
 spirits, and in 1895 the ' Times ' observed that half the produce 
 exported from West Africa was purchased with spirits. The 
 duties in the French and German colonies were much lower. 
 
 Twenty-one years after the ratification of the Brussels 
 Act in 1892 — the year before the war — the duties had been 
 more than trebled (average, 5s. 9d.), but the quantity imported 
 had nevertheless more than doubled (7,144,549 gallons), while 
 the revenue derived from duties had increased eight-fold 
 (£1,832,420). This immense increase in the imports was 
 probably attributable rather to the expansion of trade in the 
 interior than to an increase of consumption in the older 
 markets near the coast. 
 
 At the stipulated revisions of the duties, in 1899 and 1906, 
 Great Britain was willing to raise them to any level, but 
 France and Germany would only consent to follow her lead 
 to a very limited extent ; and since the colonies of aU three 
 Powers alternate with each other with common frontiers, 
 any increase in British duties, in excess of those in a neighbour- 
 ing foreign colony, involved the maiatenance of a costly 
 preventive service. 
 
 These figures show that the policy of gradually raising the 
 duty had so far failed to effect any decrease in the import. 
 When I assumed the governments of Southern and Northern 
 Nigeria in 1912, the former colony was by far the largest 
 importer, though the quantity in proportion to its population 
 was only about half that of the Gold Coast. The duties were 
 rapidly raised each year from 5s. 6d. to 10s. a gallon in 1918, 
 with the intention of crushing the trade. But the war proved 
 an even more effective agent by closing the export from Ham- 
 burg and Eotterdam, and in 1917 the import had fallen to 
 about one-twentieth of the pre-war total. ^ The Gold Coast, 
 however, which obtained nearly three-fifths of her spirits 
 from the United States, continued to increase her imports, 
 and actually reached her highest record in 1916.^ The Governor 
 of Sierra Leone also reported that the United States was 
 rapidly taking the place of Germany in the traffic^ 
 
 ' Cmd. 468 of 1920, pp. 55-59, in which a full account is given. 
 ' The Gold Coast imported double as much rum as gin, while Nigeria consumed 
 eight times as much gin as rum (' Times,' 8th April 1919). 
 3 ' Sierra Leone Annual Report, 1917,' Cd. 8434, p. 5. 
 
THE CONVENTION OP SEPTEMBER 1919. 599 
 
 The belief hitherto held by the merchantB that the native 
 would not produce raw materials for export except in exchange 
 for spirits was abundantly disproved by the facts in Nigeria, 
 for the value of native produce exported ia 1917 was actually 
 the highest recorded. The loss of revenue, amounting to over 
 £1,000,000, had been made good by other means, and the 
 theory that no single Government could act independently 
 for fear of smuggling had been shown to be without founda- 
 tion. The merchants were quick to respond, and now pressed 
 for the gradual extinction of the trade. 
 
 On 10th September 1919 a Convention * was signed between 
 the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium, Portugal, 
 and the British Empire prohibiting throughout the territories 
 of tropical Africa under their respective control " the importa- 
 tion, distribution, sale, and possession of trade spirits of every 
 kind, and of beverages mixed with these spirits," together 
 with certain other " distilled beverages injurious to health." 
 A minimum duty upon all other distilled beverages was fixed, 
 and distillation in tropical areas was wholly prohibited. 
 Article 22 of the Treaty of Versailles had already pledged its 
 signatories to the " prohibition of abuses such as . . . the 
 liquor traflftc." 
 
 Early in the same year prohibition of " trade spirits " was 
 enforced in all the British West African dependencies, in 
 anticipation of the Convention, which was to come into 
 force from date of ratification. The French Government 
 (which had made a step forward by abolishing the sale of 
 absinthe in liTovember 1914) followed on 8th July 1919 with 
 a similar decree, but made it applicable only to foreign — viz., 
 non-French — spirits. This action was severely condemned 
 by the ' Temps,' and the eminent French publicist, M. EmUe 
 BaUlaud (in ' Les Cahiers Coloniaux '), observed that " the 
 errors — not to use a stronger term — verge on the violation 
 by the French Government of international agreements signed 
 by itself. . . . France seemed to be using the great principles, 
 to which she had appealed for the protection of native interests, 
 merely to protect her national spirit trade against foreign 
 competition." ^ 
 
 The British Foreign Of&ce, at the instance of the Liverpool 
 and Manchester Chambers of Commerce, protested,^ on the 
 
 1 Cmd. 478 of 1919. ^ June 1920, quoted by 'West Africa,' 3rd July 1920. 
 3 ' Manchester Chamber of Commerce Monthly Record,' January 1921, p. 15. 
 
600 SOME OTHEE PROBLEMS. 
 
 groimds that discrimination between British and French im- 
 ports in the territories to which the Convention of Jmie 1898 
 applied was a contravention of that agreement, and as regards 
 French Equatorial Africa an infringement of the Berlin Act. 
 The Union Coloniale, which represents aU the French West 
 African trading firms, and had advocated even more drastic 
 measures of suppression than the British merchants were 
 prepared to support, appealed to M. Simon, but were informed 
 on 18th December 1919 — viz., after the signature of the Con- 
 vention — that the decree was applicable to all French colonies, 
 and he could not consent to alter it.^ 
 
 In view, however, of the protest of the British Government, 
 the prohibition was withdrawn by decree of 23rd March 1920, 
 and alcohol, whether French or other, was no longer prohibited. 
 The French, however, remain under the obligation incurred 
 by the Convention of September 1919.^ 
 
 Now that this consummation has thus happily been reached, 
 so far at any rate as British tropical Africa is concerned, there 
 is no occasion to go into any detail regarding the moral objec- 
 tions to this trade, which Mr Chamberlain summed up by 
 saying that he held it as a matter of deep conviction that it 
 was discreditable to the British name and disastrous to trade. 
 But since, as we shall see, there are still loopholes, of which 
 the powerful vested interests concerned may take advantage, 
 I wiU very briefly summarise some of the arguments. 
 
 A Committee appointed by Lord Crewe in 1909 took a great 
 deal of evidence on the spot.' They negatived the view that 
 the traffic was responsible for physical deterioration, or a 
 decrease in the birth-rate, which I am myself inclined to 
 attribute chiefly to venereal disease.* " But however this 
 
 ^ Ddpeche Coloniale quoted by 'West Africa,' 6th November 1920. 
 
 ^ The " Native Races and Liquor Traffic Committee" informed me at the end 
 of May 1921 that this Convention "had not yet been put into operation by the 
 French, " but it was anticipated that a prohibiting decree would issue shortly. 
 
 3 Cd. 4906, October 1909. 
 
 ' Dr Bedford, I. M.S., Director of the Central Excise Laboratory in India, 
 stated that there was nothing physiologically injurious in the trade spirit. The 
 Committee reported that the almost unanimous medical opinion was that it was 
 not responsible for physical deterioration. This verdict, of course, applies to the 
 liquor sold in West Africa, and not to that sold in South Africa or elsewhere. 
 Tlie conflict of evidence with the earlier reports of wholesale race deterioration 
 (which may be found in the first two or three reports of the "United Com- 
 mittee ") may perhaps be explained in part by an improvement in the quality of 
 the liquor between the date of those reports (1887) and the sitting of the Com- 
 mittee (1909). 
 
MOEAL AND MATERIAL ASPECTS OF THE TEAFFIC. 601 
 
 may be," I wrote, " no one can deny that it is a sterile import, 
 upon whicli the natives (of Southern Nigeria) wasted over 
 1^ millions sterling annually without securing any improve- 
 ment in their standard of comfort, or increasing their pro- 
 ductive output, and that it is a disgrace to an administration 
 that nearly half its revenue should be derived from such a 
 source." ^ It was calculated that the consumption in Southern 
 Mgeria was about one gallon (at 50° TraUes ^) per head per 
 annum ; but the calculation is quite unreliable. In Nigeria 
 railway rates on spirits increased rapidly with the distance 
 from the coast, with the object of making them not less than 
 the cost of head-carriage. 
 
 Prom the commercial point of view, the spirit trade was a dis- 
 astrous policy — as I pointed out in the ' Nineteenth Century ' 
 as long ago as 1897.* Not only was it a foreign manufacture, 
 carried in foreign vessels — and pro tanto opposed to British 
 trade — ^but since it supplied German vessels with outward 
 cargoes, it enabled Germany to secure the practical monopoly 
 of the homeward pahn-kernel trade.* The Comptroller of 
 Customs in Nigeria states that " Continental trade spirits 
 were the mainstay of German outward cargoes, and Germany's 
 African trade was built up on them." The spirit trade was 
 indeed synonymous with German influence in West Africa. 
 It is a traffic which not oidy usurps the place of more legiti- 
 mate trade, but kills it. 
 
 The prohibition of " trade spirits " presupposes a definition 
 of the article, but it is by no means easy to define, as may 
 be seen by the varying definitions of the difEerent Govern- 
 
 See report on Nigeria (Cmd. 468 of 1920). 
 
 ^ This is the strength at which the duty has been calculated since 1909 — 
 viz., 12^ u.p. by English standards (English proof is 37° absolute alcohol). This 
 reform made it no longer profitable to import over-proof spirit for local manipu- 
 lation. The further the spirit travels up-country the more diluted it be- 
 comes. 
 
 ' " Liquor Traffic in Africa," November 1897. The article contained a review 
 of the evidence as to both the moral and material aspects of this question. 
 See also 'Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute," vol. xxvii. p. 31. 
 
 ■* The Committee state that 90 per cent of the spirits imported into Nigeria 
 come from Holland and Germany. Mr T. Welsh (a member of the Committee), 
 writing to the 'Times' (28th January 1919), states that seventy-one German 
 vessels with an aggregate tonnage of 329,000 tons were mainly engaged in supply- 
 ing West Africa with intoxicants. The manifest of one ship — the Degwma — which 
 he says is typical, showed 169,288 gallons (approximately) of liquor. The German 
 Woermann Line was created by the spirit trade, for though the bulk of the 
 spirits came from Holland they were shipped in German vessels. 
 
602 SOME OTHER PEOBLEMS. 
 
 ments.i Mr Welsh argues that quality and price should be 
 the determining factors, and states that Cuban rum is admitted 
 to Sierra Leone, while West Indian, French, Spanish, and 
 English liquors are being offered at moderate prices.^ An- 
 other correspondent states that he has seen quotations of 
 Scotch whisky at 4s. 6d. a case f.o.b. Glasgow and Leith. 
 
 At the conference between British and French merchants 
 iu April 1920 the spirit trade was the subject of prolonged 
 discussion. The views expressed by Mr Holt and other Brit- 
 ish merchants were moderate and practical. It was finally 
 unanimously resolved to advocate the restriction and regula- 
 tion of imported alcoholic liquor, but that since fermented 
 liquors have been used by the natives from time immemorial, 
 absolute prohibition would be an interference with personal 
 liberty ; that the import of wines and beers free from noxious 
 constituents and impurities should be permitted, except to 
 prohibited areas ; and that, without expressing an opinion 
 as to the importation of properly-rectified spirits, they should, 
 it imported, be reduced in alcoholic strength, and consumption 
 restricted by a duty of 15s. or more per liquid gallon at the 
 fixed maximum strength. 
 
 The alternatives seem to be either total prohibition of dis- 
 tilled liquor, while admitting fermented beverages — for to 
 prohibit the import of these while native-made intoxicants 
 are beyond control would be absurd and unjust to non- 
 natives, — or some method (which I should prefer) of imposing 
 a duty which will increase in severity as the spirits fall below 
 a given standard of quality and price, so that it would no 
 longer pay to import any spirits below that standard. 
 
 The attempt to deprive a people entirely of a stimulant 
 or sedative to which they have become accustomed, has 
 usually done much more harm than good to the classes on 
 
 ^ The Colonial OflBce, in a letter to the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce dated 
 24th April 1919, quoted the following definitions: "In Nigeria, 'spirits 
 imported for sale to natives, and not generally consumed by Europeans.' In 
 Sierra Leone, ' spirits commonly knovpn as trade or common gin, and trade or 
 common rum.' In the Gambia, 'spirits of a low-grade value, which in the 
 Receiver-General's opinion, subject to any direction of the Governor, are 
 imported mainly for native consumption.' In the Gold Coast no definition of 
 the term ' trade spirits ' has been adopted, but ... no difficulty in restricting 
 licences to other than trade spirits is anticipated in practice." The Chamber's 
 own definition reads : ' ' Spirits which are contained in bottles of less than one- 
 sixth of an imperial gallon, or being contained in such bottles have not been in 
 warehouse in the country of manufacture for at least three years." 
 
 2 'Times,' 11th March 1920. 
 
NATIVE FERMENTED LIQTJOE.. 603 
 
 whose behalf the legislation was initiated, while interferiag 
 with the liberty of those who use it in moderation, and 
 creating new offences. The arbitrary prohibition of opium, 
 used in moderation, to which a smoker had become habitu- 
 ated, has in some places in the East resulted ia the increased 
 use of morphine and cocaine, with far worse results. In the 
 case of spirits there is the alternative of fermented beverages 
 — ^wines, beer, and native-made intoxicants — as a safety- 
 valve, but there seems no good reason why natives should 
 be debarred from purchasing high-priced spirits of good 
 quality in a non-prohibited zone equally with Europeans. 
 DeUvery from the customs warehouse might, however, be 
 made contingent on dilution to a fixed maximum strength, 
 and sale in excess of that strength forbidden by law. 
 
 I have advocated a light beer, prepared in local breweries, 
 which is Mkely to be popular among natives of West Africa, 
 who have a great liking for the bitter kola-nut. 
 
 The use of fermented liquor is universal throughout Africa. 
 It is usually made from grain (a fermented gruel), or from the 
 sap of various pahns, especially the raphia (vinifera) and the 
 wild date. The oil-palm is also tapped, though the stem in- 
 cision, which destroys the tree, is in Nigeria prohibited by 
 law, and enforced by native court by-laws. It woidd, if 
 resorted to on a large scale, threaten the staple industry of 
 Southern Mgeria, but tapping by means of an incision ta 
 the flower-stem does not seriously injure the tree. I am 
 told that the maximum strength which it is possible for palm- 
 wiae to reach is 7 per cent absolute alcohol, as against 44.86 
 per cent in trade spirit as ordinarily sold. The result of some 
 tests showed ordinary palm- wine to contain about 4.69 per 
 cent absolute alcohol (8.2 per cent of proof spirit). 
 
 In East Africa the beverage made by fermenting the liquid 
 contained in the green cocoanut {Madafu) produces a most 
 potent drink (tembo), which the Moslem owners of the planta- 
 tions, though abstaining themselves, allowed their slaves to 
 prepare and sell in great quantities to the neighbouring pagan 
 tribes (Giryama), among whom I have seen more drunkenness 
 than elsewhere in Africa.^ The banana-wine of Uganda is 
 very like cider, and though consumed in large quantities is 
 not a violent intoxicant. Reports from the grain-producing 
 
 1 Drunkenness is said to be increasing, in spite of a tax on Tembo. — Handbook, 
 ' Kenya,' p. 324. 
 
604 SOME OTHEE PROBLEMS. 
 
 districts of the Northern Provinces of Mgeria speak of con- 
 stant orgies held by primitive tribes. Whole villages, in- 
 cluding women and children, indulge in continued intoxica- 
 tion, with crime and bloodshed as a result.'^ Eestriotion of 
 drunkenness among primitive tribes can only be effected by 
 gradual administrative progress and educational reform, and 
 by the introduction of palatable and less noxious beverages. 
 
 It is possible to exercise some control over the preparation 
 and sale of native-made intoxicants through the native 
 administration, in Moslem districts, where their use is con- 
 trary to Koranic law.^ But Moslems are often indifferent to 
 the use of intoxicants by pagans under their control, as 
 shown by the Arabs on the east coast, and the Committee 
 of 1909 reported that the Moslem communities of Southern 
 Mgeria traded in spirits, and were averse to prohibition. 
 
 In townships and mining areas, and in proximity to the 
 railways, where direct control is feasible, a check can be in- 
 stituted, but among pagan tribes it is at present impracticable 
 to introduce any form of licence or excise on native-made 
 intoxicants. The Congo State is reported to have forbidden 
 the manufacture of liquor over 8° in strength, but such a 
 rule would be extremely difficult to enforce. It seems dtesir- 
 able that a system of licences for the sale of imported intoxi- 
 cants should be instituted wherever feasible, and gradually 
 extended to the manufacture and sale of native liquor, as the 
 administrative machine permits of effective control. 
 
 The really serious danger Ues in the acquisition by the 
 natives of knowledge of the simple process of distillation. 
 In the conditions of Africa pot-stiUs would be impossible to 
 detect or control. Sir Samuel Baker relates how he amused 
 himself by teaching the natives of Unyoro how to distil 
 spirit from sweet potatoes. I found in 1890 that the Sudanese 
 had not forgotten the art. The introduction of sugar-refining 
 in Africa is to be feared for the same reason. 
 
 Many distilleries have been erected in Portuguese Africa, 
 and President King stated in his inaugural address that they 
 are rapidly increasing in Liberia. The Greeks have introduced 
 them in Abyssinia. Subject to reservations in the Italian 
 
 * ' Native Races and their Rulers,' C. L. Temple, p. 173.i 
 " By the Native Liquor Regulation decree of 1914 totaljprohibition was en- 
 forced in Zanzibar (a Moslem State). — Cd. 7622 of 1917, p. 17 (annual report). 
 
DANGER OP NATIVE DISTILLEEIES. 605 
 
 colonies, distilleries (whicli were inferentially recognised by 
 the Brussels Act) are now absolutely forbidden by the Con- 
 vention of September 1919, to which Portugal is a party. 
 It is to be hoped that the League of Nations, under whose 
 control the International Office is placed, will take special 
 measures to ensure the observance of this important article. 
 
606 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 CONCLUSION — THE VALUE OF BRITISH EULE IN THE TROPICS 
 TO BRITISH DEMOCRACY AND THE NATIVE RACES. 
 
 The nature of the task — The views of the " Laboirr Research Department " 
 — The cost to the British taxpayer — The benefits to the democracy 
 — Food and defence — Trade and employment — Openings for personal 
 enterprise — Formation of national character — Motives for acquisition 
 — Some moral incentives — Pressure of population — The right of 
 mankind to tropical products — The verdict of democracy — Accusa- 
 tions in regard to treatment of native races — Benefit to Africa — 
 England's mission. 
 
 Three decades have passed since England assumed effective 
 occupation and administration of those portions of the interior 
 of tropical Africa for which she had accepted responsibility 
 when the nations of Europe partitioned the continent between 
 them. How has her task as trustee, on the one hand, for the 
 advancement of the subject races, and on the other hand, 
 for the development of its material resources for the benefit 
 of manMnd, been fulfilled ? There is no one, I think, who 
 has been privileged to bear a share ia the task, with its im- 
 measurable opportunities, who, looking back, would not 
 echo Mr Ehodes' dying words, " So much to do — so little 
 done ! " 
 
 In the foregoing chapters I have endeavoured to describe 
 some of the problems which confront the administrator, and 
 with diffidence to indicate the path by which, as it seems 
 to me, the best solution may in the course of time be foimd. 
 
 Viceroys and Governors of the older dependencies, of 
 Colonies and of Dominions, occupy posts of greater titular 
 importance than those who are entrusted with the charge 
 of these tropical dependencies iu Africa, but their own per- 
 sonal initiative is circumscribed and controlled by Ministers, 
 
NATXJEE OF THE MANDATE IN APEICA. 607 
 
 by effective assemblies and councils, by a local press which 
 reflects public opimon and criticism, and to a greater or less 
 extent by the Parliament and press of England. The Gover- 
 nors in Airica are to-day gradually being brought under the 
 same guidiag and controlling rafluences, but in the earlier 
 beg inning s of our rule these influences hardly existed. Neither 
 the Foreign OfiBce nor the Colonial OfiBce had any experience of 
 Central African conditions and administration, when, at the 
 close of the nineteenth century, the summons for effective 
 occupation compelled this country to administer the hinter- 
 lands of the West African colonies, and to assume control of 
 vast areas on the Nile, the Mger, the Zambesi, and the great 
 lakes in the heart of Africa. 
 
 The self-governing Dominions grew by slow stages from 
 smaU mimicipahties to the status of United Nations. In India 
 and the Eastern colonies, territorial expansion was the slow 
 increment of many decades. But in Africa it was not a matter 
 of expansion from existing nuclei of administration, but of 
 sudden creation and improvisation. Perhaps it was weU that 
 Great Britain, foUowing the tradition of the Empire, did not 
 (as she might have been expected to do) select from her most 
 experienced servants, trained in the school of Indian adminis- 
 tration, those who should grapple with this sudden emergency, 
 but trusted to the men on the spot. The pioneers of African 
 administration came to their task with minds unbiassed by 
 traditions imsuited to the races and conditions of Africa, 
 and more ready to attempt to make bricks without straw. 
 The perspective of history wiQ perhaps show more clearly 
 the magnitude of that task, and the opportunity it gave for 
 initiative, almost unprecedented in the annals of the Empire. 
 
 It was for these pioneers to cope with the internal slave- 
 trade, the very existence of which was hardly known in 
 England, to devise their own laws, to set up their courts of 
 justice, to deal with foreign aggression, to create an adminis- 
 tration, and bring order out of chaos. The funds at then- 
 disposal were wholly inadequate, the staff poorly paid, 
 painfully insufficient, and recruited somewhat at haphazard, 
 whether for chartered companies or for Crown dependencies. 
 The areas to be controlled were most of them many times the 
 size of England, with populations numbered in miUions, seeth- 
 ing with internal strife, and wholly without roads or means 
 of communication. . 
 
608 CONCLUSION : VALUE OF BRITISH BtTLE. 
 
 The nation is justified in demanding how, in such circum- 
 stances, the administrative officers and their colleagues in 
 the judicial and educational departments on the one hand, 
 and the engineers, the medical, agricultural, and forestry 
 officers, and the rest of the technical staff on the other hand, 
 have acquitted themselves in their respective responsibilities 
 towards the native races, and the material progress of these 
 countries. 
 
 We are all familiar with the creed of the " Little Eng- 
 lander." At each fresh access of responsibility and expan- 
 sion of the Empire he has warned us that " the white man's 
 burden " was already growing too heavy for this country to 
 bear, that the British taxpayer was being called on to support 
 the ambitions of chauvinists, and that the native races were 
 misgoverned and robbed of their lands and their proper profits 
 by the greed of exploiters. 
 
 Of late, since the war, it would almost seem as if an organised 
 attempt was being made to promulgate these doctrines among 
 the Labour Party, and to persuade them that the existence 
 of the Empire is antagonistic alike to their own interests and 
 to those of the subject races. That Party has not as yet had 
 experience of overseas problems. Its " Besearch Department " 
 for the investigation of these subjects appears to have fallen 
 under the influence of those who hold these narrow views. 
 They woidd persuade the British democracy that it is better 
 to shirk Imperial responsibility, and relegate it to international 
 committees ; that material development benefits only the 
 capitalist profiteer ; and that British rule over subject races 
 stands for spoliation and self-interest. Guided by these ad- 
 visers — some of the more prominent of whom are apparently 
 not of British race — ^the Labour Party has not hesitated to 
 put forward its own thesis of Government of tropical depen- 
 dencies under the Mandates. To these views I hope that I 
 have already in some measure offered a reply, and I wUl 
 endeavour briefly to summarise in these concluding pages. 
 
 " Nothing," says Sir C. Lucas, " should appeal so strongly 
 as the Empire to democracy, for it is the greatest engine of 
 democracy the world has ever known. ... It has infected 
 the whole world with hberty and democracy." * There is 
 no doubt that the control of the tropics, so far from being a 
 charge on the British taxpayer, is to him a source of very 
 
 ' 'United Empire,' March 1919. 
 
THE COST TO THE BRITISH TAXPAYER. 609 
 
 great gain. I have in a previous chapter shown how the 
 products of the tropics have raised the standard of comfort 
 of the working man, added to the amenities of his life, and 
 provided alike the raw materials on which the industry and 
 wealth of the community depend, and the market for manu- 
 factures which ensure employment. 
 
 So keenly do other nations value the assured possession 
 of these sources of supply and these markets, that they have 
 been willing to expend enormous simis for their acquisition 
 and development,! and (unlike Great Britain) have built tarifE 
 walls aroimd them to exclude other nations from participa- 
 tion. " Never in the world's history was there an Empire 
 which in proportion to its size encroached so httle upon the 
 public time and the pubhc cost." * 
 
 The temporary subsidies which have been paid to some of 
 these tropical possessions in their earlier years, as " grants- 
 in-aid," have decreased yearly until the countries became self- 
 supporting, since which time they have not cost the taxpayer 
 a penny, and the temporary grants have been indirectly much 
 more than repaid. 
 
 Prior to the war Mgeria was the latest addition to the 
 Empire, and if against the original payment to the Chartered 
 Company and all subsequent grants, be set the profit derived 
 by the British Exchequer on the import of silver coin, and 
 the contributions offered by Mgeria to the war, it will be 
 found that the debit is on the other side, and the country, 
 with all its potentialities and expanding markets, has cost 
 the British taxpayer nothing. Its trade — already £42,000,000 
 — ^the greater part of which is with the United Kingdom, is 
 of the kind which is the most valuable possible to the workers 
 of this country — ^raw materials and foodstuffs in exchange 
 for textiles and hardware. 
 
 Democracy has learnt by the war how absolutely dependent 
 it is on the supply of these vital necessities from overseas, 
 and even for the material for munitions in time of war. We 
 have realised that the import can only be maintained by 
 command of the seas. Some of these tropical dependencies 
 are essential as naval bases, as cable and wireless stations, 
 and as aerodromes, for that command of sea and air and of 
 
 1 Herr Demburg stated that Algeria had cost France £343,720,000 up to 1906. 
 —'Times,' 23rd November 1906. 
 ^ Lucas, loc, cit, 
 
 2q 
 
610 CONCLUSION : VALUE OF BRITISH EULE. 
 
 world communications upon which these islands depend for 
 their existence. Without them we could only survive on such 
 terms as the powerful nations might choose to dictate. 
 
 Before the war the Little Englander was wont to argue 
 that these world-wide outposts were a source of weakness, 
 and in time of war their defence would be a burden which 
 we could not sustain. But when Armageddon came, we 
 required no additional garrisons to hold these vast territories 
 in check ; on the contrary, thousands of volunteers were 
 ready to fight the Empire's battles. The West African 
 colonies (relying, of course, on British supremacy at sea) 
 were able, with the French, to capture the German Cameruns 
 and Togoland, and to send thousands to fight or serve as 
 transport units in German Bast Africa, and if need be in 
 Palestine. These colonies asked for no financial assistance 
 to help them through the crisis ; indeed, they subscribed 
 largely to the cost of the war and to war charities. 
 
 But let us return to the more normal conditions of peace 
 and commerce. It is alleged that we could do an equally 
 lucrative trade in the possessions of other Powers, instead of 
 incurring the cost and responsibility of maintaining posses- 
 sions of our own. But I have shown that foreign colonies 
 are increasingly exclusive, and do not welcome British com- 
 petition ; that the cost of maintenance is borne by the revenues 
 of the colonies themselves, and not by the British taxpayer ; 
 and, finally, it were easy to demonstrate that the largest 
 proportion of their trade is done with the United Kingdom 
 and not with foreign nations. 
 
 The fallacies put forward by these critics have long since 
 been disproved, though the Labour Party may not be familiar 
 with the statistics. It suffices here to point out that the 
 trade of the single dependency of Mgeria for 1920 stood at 
 over £42,200,000 in value, which, however, was probably 
 abnormal and due to the " boom " of that year. Of this 
 96.74 per cent of the imports and 97.35 per cent of the exports 
 were carried in British vessels — mainly, of course, to British 
 ports.^ For East Africa and Uganda the latest figures (1918- 
 1919) show 84.3 per cent of imports and 91.1 per cent of 
 exports from and to the Empire (United Kingdom 61 per 
 
 ^ Governor's address to Nigerian Council, December 1920. The destination is 
 not stated, but in 1918 92.4 per cent of exports, and 87 per cent of imports, 
 were to and from the Empire.— Cmd. 508/14 of 1919. 
 
THE VOLUME OF TRADE. 611 
 
 cent and 53.5 per cent).i How rapidly the trade of these 
 colonies is expanding may be judged from the fact that the 
 trade of Mgeria in 1913 (pre-war) was under 13 1 million. 
 
 As to the assertion that we do just as good trade with 
 countries in tropical Africa which are not under the British 
 flag, I find in the ' Statistical Abstract for the British Empire ' ^ 
 that the trade of the United Kingdom with all French posses- 
 sions (iacludiag those ia India and the Par East) was, ia 1913, 
 £6,730,244, whUe our trade with the siagle dependency of 
 Mgeria for the same year stood at £8,278,813, in spite of the 
 fact that in that year Germany had monopolised nearly half 
 the Mgerian trade, which has since reverted to the United 
 Kingdom.* 
 
 The critics quote statistics showing the proportion that 
 the trade of this or that tropical dependency bears to the 
 whole volume of our foreign trade, as though any comparison 
 could be instituted between our commerce with wealthy, 
 populous, and highly industrialised countries Uke the United 
 States, Germany, or France, and that of new and undeveloped 
 markets in the tropics, whose present output or demands are 
 no measure whatever of their future potentialities. 
 
 And though our markets are free to all the world, British 
 merchants have no small advantage in the first-hand and 
 early knowledge of the conditions and resources of each 
 country, available in their own language. They can and do 
 bring their influence to bear in order to secure as far as pos- 
 sible that the conditions of trade shall be made to suit their 
 own convenience. The home market, provided it can hold 
 its own as to quality, price, and rapidity of delivery, has the 
 first opportunity of supplying colonial demands. 
 
 These are indeed matters of such common knowledge that 
 I refrain from dilating further upon them, and will content 
 myself with referring to one or two other aspects which have 
 
 1 East African Report, 1918-19, No. 1073 of 1921. 
 
 ^ Cd. 7827 of 1915. It is to be regretted that no later edition has yet 
 
 appeared. t, • ■ r ■ 
 
 3 The war has, of course, exercised a great influence on the origin of imports 
 and the destination of exports of the African dependencies. In Nigeria prior to 
 the war Germany by importing trade spirits had, as we have seen, been able to 
 monopolise the export of palm-kernele, and so to secure 44 per cent of the exports. 
 This has been almost completely absorbed by British merchants. In other West 
 African colonies, however, the place of Germany has been largely taken by the 
 United States. The pre-war proportion of the East African trade with the 
 Empire is given by the Economic Commission (p. 11) as 62J per cent of imports 
 and 54J per cent of exports. 
 
612 CONCLUSION : VALUE OP BRITISH RULE, 
 
 perhaps received less recognition. The abounding progress 
 of our tropical dependencies calls not only for millions of 
 pounds worth of railway and other construction material, 
 but for men to construct and to maintain the railways and 
 other works. The expansion of administration equally de- 
 mands officers for every branch — administrative, medical, 
 educational, &c. The development of commerce requires 
 local agents. The opening of mine-fields calls for expert 
 workers. 
 
 /In all these fields of activity openings are afforded for 
 ©very class of the youth of England, whether from the uni- 
 versities, the technical schools, or the workshop. It is diffi- 
 cult to realise how severe would be the blow to the Ufe of the 
 nation if these thousands of avenues to independent initiative 
 and individual enterprise and ambition were closed, as Ger- 
 many has largely dosed them to her people by her crime 
 against the world._J 
 
 I have already pointed out that this large field of oppor- 
 tunity and of responsibility must undoubtedly have con- 
 tributed very greatly to the formation of the national char- 
 acter, which the late Lord Salisbury described in memorable 
 words : " Our people, when they go into the possession of 
 a new territory, carry with them such a power of initiative, 
 such an extraordinary courage and resource in the solving 
 of new problems and the facing of new difficxdties, that if 
 they are pitted against an equal number — I care not what 
 race it is, or what the part of the world is — and if you keep 
 politics and negotiations ofE them, it will be our people that 
 wUl be masters, it will be our commerce that will prevail, 
 it will be our capital that wfil rule, though not a sword has 
 been unsheathed, and though not a blow has been struck in 
 their defence." ^ He did but echo the words of Adam Smith, 
 which I have quoted elsewhere, that the debt of the colonies 
 to the motherland consists in the fact that " it bred and 
 formed the men who were capable of achieving such great 
 actions, and of laying the foundations of so great an Empire." 
 
 The British working man is told that the exploitation of 
 Africa was undertaken by groups of financiers and capitalists, 
 who desired to profiteer at the expense of the nation and of 
 the native races aUke. " Common greed," says the reviewer 
 of the Labour Eesearch Committee's report, summing up the 
 
 ' Debate, House of Lords, 11th February 1895. 
 
MOTIVES FOR ACQUISITION. 613 
 
 gist of the argument, " came to be avowed openly as the most 
 respectable of reasons for establishing colonies or protectorates 
 anywhere and everywhere," ^ in contrast with the nobler 
 motives which prompted the bold adventurers of the spacious 
 Elizabethan days. 
 
 I will not digress to discuss those motives here, or the 
 navigation laws which treated the colonies merely as sources 
 of profit, or the fortunes which Macaulay's " E"abobs " brought 
 from India, or the quest for an " El Dorado." The partition 
 of Africa was, as we aU recognise, due primarily to the economic 
 necessity of increasing the supplies of raw materials and food 
 to meet the needs of the industrialised nations of Europe. It 
 is a cheap form of rhetoric which stigmatises as " common 
 greed " the honourable work by which men and nations earn 
 their bread and improve their standard of life.^ 
 
 But while admitting this we must not lose sight of the fact 
 that several of our West African colonies had been acquired 
 solely as depots to assist in the suppression of the overseas 
 slave-trade, others in support of missionary endeavours which 
 were certainly not prompted by greed for profit. Others 
 again, as I have shown, were necessary for the maintenance 
 of our sea-power. In all these cases a higher civilisation was 
 brought into contact with barbarism, with the inevitable 
 result, as history teaches, that boundaries were enlarged in 
 the effort to protect the weak from the tyranny of the strong, 
 to extend the rule of justice and liberty, to protect traders, 
 settlers, and missions, and to check anarchy and bloodshed 
 on our frontiers, even though territorial expansion was not 
 desired.^ I^Tor must we ignore the very real desire of the 
 people of this country to assist in the suppression of slavery 
 and barbarous practices. These are matters in which I am 
 convinced that the British democracy has a deep interest, 
 deeper perhaps than its political leaders credit it with. They 
 cannot be disposed of with a sneer.^ But I return to the 
 economic question, since this argumemof_L'. capitalist exploi- 
 
 1 ' The New Statesman,' 19th June 1920. 
 
 ^ Carlyle, describing all that work has done for England, and what it has made 
 England, says : "The English are a dumb people. They can do great acts but 
 not describe them. . . . Their epic is written on the earth's surface : England her 
 mark." — 'Past and Present,' p. 135. 
 
 ' As Bacon says : " It was not the Komans who spread themselves upon the 
 world, but the world which spread itself upon the Romans." — 'Essays,' 
 p. 44.' 
 
614 CONCLTJSION : VALUE OF BRITISH EXILE. 
 
 tation " appears to be a favourite one with whicli to capture 
 Jie-gar of Labouri,^-- ' "~ " - 
 
 In the introductory chapter I cited statistics to show that, 
 at the time of the first impulse of Imperial expansion in the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth, the small and chiefly agricultural 
 population of these islands was able to supply its own essential 
 needs in food and materials ; that when the second impulse 
 came 240 years later, after the Napoleonic wars, the popula- 
 tion had quadrupled, while in the next seventy-five years of 
 the nineteenth century, 1816-91 (when the partition of Africa 
 began in earnest), it again nearly doubled itself. The con- 
 gestion of the population, assisted by the discovery of the 
 application of steam to industrial uses, led to the replacement 
 of agriculture by manufacturing industry, with the conse- 
 quent necessity for new markets for the product of the factory, 
 and the importation of raw materials for industry, and of 
 food to supplement the decreased home production, and feed 
 the increased population. The same phenomenon was to be 
 seen ia Germany and elsewhere in Europe.^ I recapitulate 
 these figures because their importance in this connection can 
 hardly be over-estimated. 
 
 But mere increase in population alone, prodigious though 
 it was, does not represent the fuH measure of the pressure on 
 the Governments of the industrial nations of Europe. The 
 standard of comfort, and what had come to be regarded as 
 the absolute necessities of life by the mass of the population, 
 had, during the nineteenth century, advanced in an even 
 greater ratio. I cannot here attempt to depict the contrast. 
 It is enough to recall the fact that 100 years ago a labourer's 
 wage was 4s. to 6s. a week. He rarely tasted white bread, 
 for the quartern loaf stood at lid., and had been double that 
 price a few years before. Still less could he aiford to eat beef 
 or mutton. Towards the close of the nineteenth century, 
 tea, coffee, and cocoa, previously unknown luxuries, were 
 his daUy beverages and white bread his daily food. Sugar 
 
 ' The population of the United Kingdom in 1816 was about 19,890,000, and 
 in 1891 it had increased to 38,104,000. That of Germany was respectively 
 24,831,000 and about 50,000,000, and of France about 29,000,000 and 38,342,000. 
 The pressure of population was thus not so great a factor in France, who was 
 foremost in the scramble for Africa. Her motives, as I have said, were chiefly 
 due to the belief that it was by expansion in Africa alone that she could hope to 
 find means to recover from the effects of the war with Germany in 1870. — See 
 note 1, p. 3. 
 
THE EIGHT TO SHAKE IN TROPICAL PEODTJCTS. 616 
 
 was cheap, and rice, sago, and other tropical products were 
 in daily use. If my reader will turn to the pages of Miss 
 Martineau's history, i or to those of Carlyle, and contrast the 
 condition of squalor and misery in which the bulk of the 
 people of these islands lived in 1816 with the conditions pre- 
 vailingi in 1891, he wiU realise how insistent had become the 
 demand alike for the food-supplies and for the raw materials 
 which were the product of the tropics. 
 
 These products lay wasted and ungarnered in Africa be- 
 cause the natives did not know their use and value. Millions 
 of tons of oU-nuts, for instance, grew wild without the labour 
 of man, and lay rotting in the forests. Who can deny the 
 right of the hungry people of Europe to utiUse the wasted 
 bounties of nature, or that the task of developing these 
 resources was, as Mr Chamberlain expressed it, a " trust for 
 civilisation " and for the benefit of mankiad ? Europe bene- 
 fited by the wonderful increase in the amenities of life for 
 the mass of her people which followed the opening up of 
 Africa at the end of the nineteenth century. Africa benefited 
 by the influx of manufactured goods, and the substitution of 
 law and order for the methods of barbarism. 
 
 Thus Europe was impelled to the development of Africa 
 primarily by the necessities of her people, and not by the 
 greed of the capitalist. Keen competition assured the maxi- 
 mum prices to the producer. It is only where monopoUes 
 are granted that it can be argued that profits are restricted • 
 to the few, and British policy has long been averse to monopo- 
 lies in every form. The brains, the research, the capital, and 
 the enterprise of the merchant, the miner, and the planter 
 have discovered and utilised the surplus products of Africa. 
 The profits have been divided among the shareholders repre- 
 senting all classes of the people,^ and no small share of them 
 has gone to the native African merchant and the middleman 
 as well as to the producer. It is true to say that " a vast 
 area of activity has been opened up to the British workman, 
 in which he shares with the capitalist the profits of the develop- 
 ment of tropical resources." * 
 
 1 'The Thirty Years' Peace,' vol. i. chapters 4, 7, &c. 
 
 2 Lord Leverhulme lately stated that in his Company alone — which is largely 
 concerned in the development of the African tropics — there were no less than 
 127,000 shareholders. 
 
 3 Bruce loc. cit., p. 4. In view of all these facts I read with amazement the 
 verdict of' the Labour Research Committee, that " it is doubtful whether the 
 
616 CONCLXTSION : VALtTE OF BEITISH EtTI.E. 
 
 In accepting responsibility for the control of these new 
 lands, England obeyed the tradition of her race. British 
 Africa was acquired not by groups of financiers, nor yet (as 
 I have related in chapter i.) by the efforts of her statesmen, 
 but in spite of them. It was the instinct of the British democ- 
 racy which compelled us to take our share. When Mr Glad- 
 stone's Cabinet in 1893 had decided to evacuate Uganda, he 
 was told by his Scottish agent that if he did so he would have 
 to evacuate Downing Street too. Even were it true — and I 
 have shown that it is not — ^that we could do as lucrative a 
 trade in the tropical possessions of other nations, there can 
 be no doubt that the verdict of the British people has been 
 emphatic that we will not ask the foreigner to open markets 
 for our use, or leave to him the responsibility and its reward. 
 Nor will tariff walls, like those of Jericho, fall flat at the 
 sound of the trumpet of the new Labour leaders. 
 
 " The general effects of European poUcy in Africa have 
 been almost wholly evil," says the Labour reporter, yet he 
 admits that " experience and temperament have made the 
 rule of the British over non-adult races an example of every- 
 thing that is best in modern imperialism." The verdict of 
 another of the prophets of Labour is to the same effect. The 
 fundamental character of British official policy in West Africa, 
 he says, has primarily been influenced by a desire to promote 
 the welfare and advancement of the native races. England, 
 he points out, led the way in the suppression of the overseas 
 slave-trade, paying enormous sums in compensation to slave- 
 owners in the West Indies, and at the Cape, and to Spain 
 and Portugal, and in patrolling the seas. She espoused the 
 cause of Congo reform, and of the indentured labour in 
 Portuguese West Africa. The extension of British control 
 in the Gold Coast hinterland was (he adds) to secure protec- 
 tion of the natives, and in Southern Nigeria to suppress war 
 and human sacrifice. 
 
 The indictment against European misrule in Africa appears 
 therefore to lack consistency, and to be directed chiefly against 
 foreign Powers, though bitter charges, as we have seen, are 
 made against some of the Eastern British dependencies in 
 Africa, which have been fully discussed in these pages. In 
 
 acquisition of territory in Africa has added to the power of the European States 
 who have assumed it. It is certain that it has not added to their wealth." — 
 ' Empire and Commerce,' p. 317. 
 
THE DUAL MANDATE. 617 
 
 SO far as they concern the territories of other Powers, this 
 attitude of what Mr Ehodes called "unctuous righteous- 
 ness," which has the appearance of assuming that others 
 a,re actuated by less generous motives than our own, is more 
 likely to promote resentment than reform. That the aims 
 of these critics are good will not be denied, but they write 
 without actual experience, and they create prejudice where 
 sympathy and appreciation would be more promising of 
 results. 
 
 ^Let it be admitted at the outset that European brains, 
 capital, and energy have not been, and never will be, ex- 
 pended in developing the resources of Africa from motives 
 of pure philanthropy ; that Europe is in Africa for the mutual 
 benefit of her own industrial classes, and of the native races 
 in their progress to a higher plane ; that the benefit can be 
 made reciprocal, and that it is the aim and desire of civilised 
 administration to fulfil this dual mandate^ 
 
 By railways and roads, by reclamation of swamps and 
 irrigation of deserts, and by a system of fair trade and com- 
 petition, we have added to the prosperity and wealth of these i 
 lands, and checked famine and disease. We have put an; 
 end to the awfid misery of the slave-trade and inter-tribal) 
 war, to human sacrifice and the ordeals of the witch-doctor. \ 
 Where these things survive they are severely suppressed. We ''< 
 are endeavouring to teach the native races to conduct their 
 own affairs with justice and humanity, and to educate them 
 alike in letters and in industry. 
 
 When I recall the state of Uganda at the time I made the 
 treaty in 1890 which brought it under British control, or the 
 state of Nigeria seven years later, and contrast them with 
 the conditions of to-day, I feel that British effort — apart from 
 benefits to British trade — has not been in vain. In Uganda 
 a triangular civil war was raging — ^Protestants, Eoman Catho- 
 lics, and Moslems, representing the rival political factions of 
 British, French, and Arabs, were murdering each other. But 
 a short time previously triumphant paganism had burnt 
 Christians at the stake and revelled in holocausts of victims. 
 To-day there is an ordered Government with its own native 
 parliament. Liberty and justice have replaced chaos, blood- 
 shed, and war. The wealth of the country steadily increases.^ 
 
 ^ The last report, 1918-19, shows an export of cotton alone valued at close on 
 a million sterling.— Cmd. 508/37, 1920. 
 
618 CONCLUSION : VALUE OP BEITISH EULE. 
 
 The slave-raids and tyranny of the neighbouring kingdom of 
 Unyoro have given place to similar progress and peace. 
 
 In Nigeria in 1902 slave-raidiag armies of 10,000 or 15,000 
 men laid waste the country, and wiped out its population 
 aimually in the quest for slaves. Hundreds of square miles 
 of rich well -watered land were depopulated. Earth bore 
 witness to a similar condition of things fifty years ago. Men 
 were impaled in the market-place of Kano. I have described 
 its dungeon (p. 199). Nowhere was there security for life 
 and property. To-day the native Emirs vie with each other 
 in the progress of their schools ; the native courts administer 
 justice, and themselves have liberated over 50,000 slaves. 
 The Sultan of Sokoto and the other Emirs are keenly in- 
 terested ia such questions as afforestation, artesian well-boring, 
 and vaccination. The native prisons have been pronounced 
 by the medical authority to be a model for Government to 
 imitate ; the leper settlement in Bornu under purely native 
 control is the most successful I know of. 
 
 I refer to these two countries because I happen to have 
 personally witnessed their condition prior to the advent of 
 British control, but similar results may be seen in every 
 other British dependency in tropical Africa. 
 ~ Ss Eoman imperiaUsm laid the foundabions of modern 
 civilisation, and led the wild barbarians of these islands along 
 the path of progress, so in Africa to-day we are repaying the 
 debt, and bringing to the dark places of the earth, the abode 
 of barbarism and cruelty, the torch of culture and progress, 
 while ministering to the material needs of our own civilisa- 
 tion. In this task the nations of Europe have pledged them- 
 selves to co-operation by a solemn covenant. Towards the 
 common goal each wUl advance by the methods most con- 
 sonant with its national genius. British methods have not 
 perhaps in all cases produced ideal results, but I am pro- 
 foundly convinced that there can be no question but that 
 British rule has promoted the happiness and welfare of the 
 primitive races. Let those who question it examine the 
 results impartially. If there is unrest, and a desire for in- 
 dependence, as in India and Egypt, it is because we have 
 taught the value of hberty and freedom, which for centuries 
 these peoples had not known. Their very discontent is a 
 measure of their progress. .-— 
 
 We hold these countries because it is the genius of our race 
 
ENGLAND'S MISSION. 619 
 
 to colonise, to trade, and to govern. The task in which Eng- 
 land is engaged in the tropics— alike in Africa and in the 
 East — has become part of her tradition, and she has ever 
 given of her best ia the canse of liberty and civilisation.^ 
 There will always be those who cry aloud that the task is 
 beiag badly done, that it does not need doing, that we can 
 get more profit by leaving others to do it, that it brings evil 
 to subject races and breeds profiteers at home. These were 
 not the principles which prompted our forefathers, and secured 
 for us the place we hold in the world to-day in trust for those 
 who shall come after us. 
 
 ^ " I believe," says Sir C. Lucas, " that to our people has been given the work 
 of carrying justice and freedom throughout the world. I do not claim for them 
 any immunity from wrong-doing. Like other people, they have sought and found 
 gain. But I find the weak peoples of the world looking to and trusting England. 
 I find British justice a proverb among nations. ... I believe the world to be a 
 better Vforld for the fact that the British have peopled some lands with their 
 own race, and taken the rule of others into their own hands." 
 
 ' ' We of West Africa ought from our heart of hearts to thank Almighty God 
 that we have been born into the British Empire," says a Lagos paper on Empire 
 Day 1920; while a Gold Coast journal observed that "to us of West Africa 
 Empire means a relation of goodwill between the Imperial unit and its links, 
 harmonising all interests irrespective of race and colour." West Africa, it adds, 
 looks to Imperial Britain to lead the nations to a just recognition of Africa's 
 claims. 
 
 Beaulieu pays a very generous tribute to England's success. " La nation qui 
 tient le premier rang dans la colonisation, celle qui donne h tous I'exemples de 
 vastes empire fond^s au dela des mers, c'est I'Angleterre. . . . Mais le temps 
 le grand maitre et ce juge impartial, qui met enfin de compte chaque peuple k la 
 place que ses qualites ou ses defauts lui assignent sddorme k I'Angleterre pour ne 
 plus le lui reprendre le premier rang parmilea nations colonisatrices." — Loc. cit., 
 vol. ii. p. 246. See also vol. i. p. 92. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aborigines — 
 Protection Society (A.P.S.), 190. 
 Re labour, Kenya, 393, 408, 410, 414. 
 Re native lands, 293. 
 Abyssinia — 
 Distilleries, 604. 
 People of, 67. 
 
 Slavery and arms, 205, 388-9. 
 Tolls, 254. 
 Trade, 46. 
 Use of plough, 517. 
 Administration (see Government) — 
 Duties of, 94-5. 
 Problem of, 7, 606-7. 
 Adoption of children, 385-6. 
 Advanced communities (see Native Ad- 
 ministration), 72, 75, 79, 117, 200-3. 
 Contrast Moslem and pagan, 205, 211. 
 Africa (see Tropics) — 
 Council, q.v. 
 
 Description of, chap, iv., 1, 5, 64-5. 
 Desiccation of, 520. 
 Effect of civilisation, 91-2. 
 Fauna, 634-5. 
 History, 1-3, 66. 
 Industrial policy, 509. 
 Opening of, 2, 4, 17-18, 360, 613-17. 
 
 (See European. ) 
 People of, 66-75, 401. 
 Population, 45, 66, 320, 332. 
 South, q.v. 
 
 Task in, 5, 6, 217, 607-8. 
 Age-Classes — 
 Of pagans, 220. 
 Of trees, 527. 
 Agricultural — 
 College, 505. 
 Shows, 504. 
 Tribes, 73. 
 Agriculture — 
 Importance of, 516. 
 Model farms, 504. 
 New products, 530-1. 
 Research in, 501-3. 
 Staff, 503-4. 
 
 Training in, 419-21, 424, 604-6. 
 Yield of crops, 616. 
 
 Ajasa{Hon. K.), 89,439. 
 Alcohol (see Liquor) — 
 
 For power, 474, 513. 
 Aliens (see Europeans, Native Strangers. 
 &c.)— 
 
 Control of, by suzerain, 92, 207. 
 
 Government as landlord of, 206, 277. 
 289. 
 
 Land, transfer to (see Land). 
 
 Native rulers as, 209-10. 
 Amalgamation of governments — 
 
 Advantage of, 97-100, 179. 
 
 In Nigeria, 100-2. 
 America — ■ 
 
 At Berlin Conference, 11, 15, 
 
 Commercial treaties, 278. 
 
 Export of liquor, 598. 
 
 In Guam, 124. 
 
 Negroes in, 81-2, 117. 
 
 Eecognises native treaties, 11, 15. 
 
 Slavery, 356-7. 
 
 Study of tropics, 499. 
 
 Trade with, 515. 
 Amery (Col. L.) — 
 
 Colonial Office reform, 166. 
 
 Favours model alien estates, 508. 
 
 Imperial preference, 275-7. 
 
 Improved native conditions, 93. 
 
 Married officers, 142. 
 
 Railways, 501. 
 
 Research, 501. 
 
 Selection of staff, 138. 
 Appeal courts, 181-2. (-See Courts.) 
 Apprentices — 
 
 Agricultural, 505. 
 
 Clerical, 88-9, 447. 
 
 Of slaves, 367. 
 
 Technical, 448-9, 
 Arabic, teaching of, 138, 453-4. 
 Arabs : of the North, 64, 
 
 Of Zanzibar (see Zanzibar) — 
 As explorers, 79, 
 Attitude to Europeans, 20. 
 Free labour, 403. 
 Slave-trade, 358-9. 
 Area of British tropics, 45. 
 Aristotle re slaverv, 356-6. 
 
622 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Armitage (Capt., Chief Commissioner, 
 N.T. of Gold Coast) : Kule through 
 chiefs, 199. 
 Arms — 
 
 Of troops, 576. 
 
 Prohibition of, 4, 205, 361. 
 Arnett (B. J., Resident, Nigeria) — 
 
 Assessment, 248. 
 
 Desiccation, 520. 
 
 Slavery in Sukoto, 364, 374-5. 
 
 Success of, 222. 
 Ashanti {see Fuller) — 
 
 An advanced despotism, 76, 204, 211. 
 
 Concessions in, 352. 
 
 Courts (British), 539-40, 545. 
 
 Courts (native), 510, 516. 
 
 Education, 429. 
 
 Land tenure, 286, 303. 
 
 People of, 70, 78. 
 
 Status of, 37. 
 Asiatics {see Indians, Arabs, &c.) — 
 
 Colonisation by, 42, 317-23, 416. 
 
 Contrast with Africans, 6. 
 
 Immigrations, 67, 74, 76. 
 Assessment of taxes, 239-40, 246-9. {See 
 
 Tax.) 
 Assisted — 
 
 Emigrants, 417. {See Indentured.) 
 
 Schools {see Education). 
 Auction (of land), 337-9. 
 
 Baden-Powell (B. H.) : Individual owner- 
 ship, land, 235, 344. 
 Baillaud (Emile) — 
 
 England in Africa, 13. 
 
 French and liquor traffic, 599. 
 Baker (Sir S.) teaches distilling, 604. 
 Balfour of Burleigh (Lord), Committee's 
 views on — 
 
 "Combines," 479. 
 
 Imperial preference, 276, 278. 
 
 Restriction of markets, 268-9. 
 Ball (Dyer) : Slavery in China, 354. 
 Bananas, export of, 531. 
 Banking, 260-1. 
 Bantu, 68, 70. 
 Barter-trade, 251, 490. 
 Barth (Dr)— 
 
 Free labour v. slavery, 365. 
 
 Slave-raiding, 361, 618, 
 
 Travels, 2. 
 Basutos, 65. 
 
 Taxation, 257. 
 Batty (J. H. ), Preface, ix. 
 
 Export duties, 264, 270. 
 
 Price of produce, 478. 
 Beanlieu (Mons. P. L.) — 
 
 Africa not fit to stand alone, 82, 
 198. 
 
 Apprentice system for slaves, 367. 
 
 Free labour, 419. 
 
 French in Africa, 3. 
 
 Land ownership, 345. 
 
 Policy, 59-60. 
 
 Praise of England, 58, 619. 
 
 Rail construction, 462. 
 Bechuana, 66. 
 
 Export duties, 263. 
 
 Railway, 466. 
 
 Tax 257. 
 Belfield(SirH. C.)— 
 
 Gold Coast land report, 282-9, 303. 
 
 Population, Gold Coast, 153. 
 
 Views re concessions, 305, 485. 
 Benin — 
 
 Advanced despotism, 76, 231. 
 
 Art, 70. 
 
 Custom of Igba, 387. 
 
 Land tenure, 303. 
 
 Progress, 70. 
 Berbers : Conquests of, 76. 
 Berlin Act — 
 
 Effective occupation, 11. 
 
 Export duties, 263. 
 
 Free-trade zone, 277- 
 
 Objects of, 4, 48-9, 51, 336. 
 
 Protectorates, 33. 
 Binger (Capt.) : Salt trade, 266. 
 Blyden (Dr E. W.)— 
 
 African journalism, 80. 
 
 Education, 428. 
 
 Islam in Africa, 78, 591. 
 
 Lines of negro progress, 82, 89. 
 
 Use of Arabic, 453. 
 Borneo : Labour, 417-8. 
 Bosworth-Smith : Islam, 78. 
 Britain, population of, 1816-1891, 614. 
 British — 
 
 East African Company, 14-6, 20-1. 
 
 Free-trade policy, 11. 
 
 Ideals and results, 5, 58-9, 617-9. {See 
 Empire.) 
 
 Reasons for entering Africa, 4, 9-10. 
 
 South African Company, 21-4, 343-4. 
 
 Staff, 94-5. (S«e Staff.) 
 
 Subjects (status of), 36, 39. 
 
 Tropics, 45-64. {See Tropics.) 
 Bruce (Sir C.)— 
 
 African Council, 174. 
 
 Colonial Office reform, 158, 160-2, 167. 
 
 Grown Agents, 495. 
 
 Tropical development, 615. 
 Brussels Act — 
 
 Objects, 4, 48-9, 58, 360-2. 
 
 Obligations of Powers, 34. 
 
 He liquor, 597-8. 
 Bryce (Viscount) : Labour, Kenya, 394, 
 
 410. 
 Buckland (W. W. ): Roman law of 
 
 slavery, 355. 
 Burke : Need for relaxation, 108. 
 Burma : Land law of, 344. 
 Buxton (Viscount) : Rhodesian Land 
 
 Committee, 343. 
 Buxton (Sir V. ) : Education (religious), 
 436 ; (industrial), 445. 
 
 Cadet service (native), 88-9, 447. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 623 
 
 Cameruns — 
 
 Area and population, 45. 
 
 Capture of, 610. 
 
 Cocoa, 507. 
 
 Mandates, 62. 
 
 Rainfall, 65. 
 
 Tax in, 257. 
 Cannibalism — 
 
 Accusations of, 369. 
 
 Moral sense of cannibals, 75 
 
 Origin of, 73, 355. 
 Capitalist — 
 
 African, 514. 
 
 Charges of greed of, 61, 612-15. 
 Capital sentences [see Punishment). 
 Caravan tolls, 254-5. 
 Cardinall (A. W.) : Land tenure, N.T. of 
 
 Gold Coast, 286, 303. 
 Carlyle — 
 
 Conditions in England in 1816, 615. 
 
 The work of England, 613. 
 Carr (H., Chief Inspector, Education, 
 Nigeria) — 
 
 Education, results of, in Nigeria, 428. 
 
 Native press, 80. 
 
 Supply of teachers, 443. 
 
 True path to self-government, 89. 
 Carriers, 475-6. (.See Transport.) 
 Carts [see Transport). 
 Cattle, 632-3. {See Ranching.) 
 
 Jn dry zone, 298. 
 
 Oil-cake for, 511, 522, 
 ■ Ownership of, 73, 401. 
 Cement, manufacture of, 512. 
 Chamberlain (Mrs Joseph) — 
 
 African nurses, 151. 
 Chamberlain (Rt. Hon. Joseph) — 
 
 Compulsory labour, 234. 
 
 Crown agents, 495. 
 
 Medical staff and tropical schools, 151. 
 
 Opinion re continuous responsibility 
 scheme, 107. 
 
 Policy in Africa, 4, 13, 29, 163, 167, 500. 
 
 Policy in Malaya, 130. 
 
 E«asons for his success, 162-3, 178. 
 
 Eolations of colonies to United King- 
 dom, 163, 167, 579. 
 
 Relations with Governors, 163, 178, 
 185-6. 
 
 Sierra Leone hut tax, 256. 
 
 Sierra Leone native courts, 543. 
 
 State ownership of railways, 469. 
 
 Tenure of ofiace, 159. 
 
 Terms of land leases, 304. 
 
 The use of force, 579. 
 
 Trustees for civilisation, 60, 615. 
 
 Views re African Council, 174. 
 
 Views re flogging of natives, 560. 
 
 Views re liquor traiEc, 600. 
 
 Views re slavery, 369-70. 
 
 Visits South Africa, 169. 
 Chambers of Commerce- 
 French and British, 493-4. {See Liver- 
 pool, Manchester, &c.) 
 
 Character — 
 
 Effect of responsibility on national, 
 612. 
 
 Of Europeans in Africa, 58-9. 
 
 Of the African, 69-72, 77, 103. 
 
 The training of, 427-35, 440, 460. 
 Chartered Companies- 
 Achievements of, 23. 
 
 Bad form of government, 4, 19, 23 
 
 Contrast ancient and modem, 27-8. 
 
 East Indian, 27-S. 
 
 Formation and status of, 14, 18, 23. 
 
 Lessons from, 23-6, 
 
 The three African, 19, 23. {See under 
 each. ) 
 Chelmsford (Viscount): Indians in 
 
 Kenya, 318. 
 China — 
 
 Land law, 347. 
 
 Slavery in, 354. 
 Chinese labour, 415-7. 
 Chirol(SirV.)— 
 
 Indian education, 426, 433-4, 439. 
 
 Indians in Kenya, 319. 
 
 Industrial progress, India, 510. 
 
 The Indian reforms, 88, 115, 195. 
 
 Village heads in Egypt, 202. 
 Christianity, effects of in Africa, 78, 437, 
 
 589. 
 Churchill (Rt. Hon. W.)— 
 
 Colonial OfHce attitude to Governors, 
 110, 163. 
 To commerce, 188. 
 
 Development of colonies, 179, 182, 500. 
 
 Indians in Kenya, 319, 322. 
 
 No barrier of race, 85. 
 
 Qualities of British staff, 132. 
 
 Kecruitment of labour, 412. 
 
 Visits East Africa, 169. 
 
 West African railways, 467. 
 Civilisation — 
 
 Benefits and pains of, 91-2, 153. 
 
 Disruptive effects, 216-7, 418, 426-7, 
 460. 
 Clarke (Rev. J. ) {see Lavigerie) — 
 
 Anti-slavery crusade, 359. 
 
 Description, slavery and slave raids, 
 355-6. 
 
 Slaves do not breed freely, 367. 
 
 Tribal slavery, 366. 
 Clifford (Sir H.)— 
 
 Condemns " National Conference," 84. 
 
 Divergent types in Africa, 67. 
 
 East India Company's trade, 27. 
 
 Flogging of women, 563. 
 
 Gold Coast cocoa industry, 399. 
 
 "House-rule," 372. 
 
 Native courts, 654-5. 
 Climate, 65, 298. {See Tropics.) 
 Coal- 
 Labour in Nigerian coal-mine, 402, 
 421, 463. 
 
 Monopoly by Government, 352-3. 
 
 Objective for railway, 463. 
 
624 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 Cocoa — 
 
 Industry on Gold Coast, 399-400, 607, 
 526. 
 
 Preparation of, 487, 525-6. 
 Collective punishment, 547, 582-4. 
 Colonial Office — 
 
 Ability of ofScials, 161, 164, 167. 
 
 Absence of control in Malaya, 130-1. 
 
 African administration in 1898, 14, 607. 
 
 Attitude to Governors, 108-9, 
 
 Averse to expansion, 13-14. 
 
 Causes of discontent in Colonies, 169- 
 165. 
 
 Cost, how met, 189-90. 
 
 Demand for reform, 155-6. 
 
 Enlarged library, 188-9. 
 
 Increase of work, 167-8. 
 
 Intervention, 162-4. 
 
 Journal, 189. 
 
 Lord Elgin's reforms, 158. 
 
 Not its function to administer, 163, 
 167, 170. 
 
 Officials resent continuous administra- 
 tion scheme, 108-110. 
 
 Organisation of, 155-8. 
 
 Suggestions regarding, 165-186. 
 
 The office view, 162. 
 
 The system, 97, 109. 
 Colonial Government {see Government). 
 Colonial Institute, 189. 
 Colonies (Crown) — 
 
 Constitution of, 95, 114. 
 
 Contrast with Dominions, 40-43, 112. 
 
 Definition of, 36-7. 
 
 Lack of means of expression, 190. 
 
 On tropical plateaux, 41. 
 
 Should bear share of Imperial burden, 
 189-90. 
 
 Title a misnomer, 38-40, 118. 
 Colonisation in the tropics — 
 
 By Asiatics, 95, 114. 
 
 By Europeans, 9, 40, 42, 152. 
 Colour problem, 86-87. 
 Colquhoun (A.): French system of inspec- 
 tion, 169. 
 Commercial intelligence, 188-9, 491-4, 504. 
 
 Agencies at home, 188, 494. 
 Conmiissions, Royal, 499. 
 Committees — 
 
 Educational (Nigeria), 430. 
 
 Method of utilising, 176-7. 
 
 Use and nature of: at home, 170-1 ; 
 abroad, 121-2. 
 Communal (land) tenur* {see Land) — 
 
 Plantations, 316, 
 Compensation — 
 
 For land, 340. 
 
 For slaves, 367, 372. 
 " Combines " {see Monopoly). 
 Competition (see Monopoly). 
 Concessionaire — 
 
 Excluded by chartered companies, 
 19, 21. 
 
 Rights of, 487. 
 
 Concessions — 
 
 For oil-mills, 485-6. 
 
 In British Africa, 329, 485. 
 
 In Congo andFrenoh Equatorial Africa, 
 315, 485. 
 
 Objections to, 298, 307, 486. 
 Concubinage ceases on abolition of 
 
 slavery, 378-9. 
 Concubines — 
 
 Excluded in Zanzibar decree, 370. 
 
 Under Moslem law, 377-80. 
 Condensers for water, 148. 
 Conference (Imperial), 159, 191. 
 
 "National" (W. Africa), 84, 90, 115. 
 Confucius on nobility, 212. 
 Congo State — 
 
 Administration of justice, 540. 
 
 Decrease of population, 163. 
 
 Defects in, 19, 49, 408. 
 
 Domain privee, 273, 315, 346, 385. 
 
 European tax, 260. 
 
 Export duties, 263. 
 
 Formation of, 11-12, 49. 
 
 Liquor, 604. 
 
 Native tax, 257. 
 
 Tippoo Tib, 359-60. 
 
 Trade with U.K., 278. 
 Congress, Pan-African, 83-84. 
 Congreve re slavery, 365. 
 Conquest (rights of) {see Land). 
 Conscription, 575-6. 
 Consuls in Africa, 29, 357-8. 
 Consulting engineers, 466-8. 
 Continuity — 
 
 A vital principle, 96, 102, 113. 
 
 By Acting Governor and local Gover- 
 nors, 125. 
 
 By Colonial Ofiice staff, 110, 164. 
 
 By grouping colonies, 185. 
 
 By Residents' reports, 129. 
 
 Of Governor at post, 105-9 ; and at 
 home, 110. 
 
 Of records and policy, 103-4. 
 
 Necessary to gain confidence of natives, 
 72, 103, 136. 
 
 Sacrificed by inadequate staff, 144. 
 Contract (see Indenture and Labour) — 
 
 For local labour, 407, 422. 
 
 System, railway construction, 466-6. 
 Conventions — 
 
 By Allies (September 1919), 48, 60, 278. 
 Do. re liquor, 50, 599. 
 
 With France, 1898, 4, 49, 59, 278, 600. 
 
 Me wild animals, 35. 
 Cookery, need of improved, 150-1. 
 Co-operation — 
 
 A principle of progress, 193. 
 
 In education (with Missions), 430-1. 
 439-40. 
 
 In material development, 600, 530. 
 Coryndon (Sir R.) (see Uganda). 
 
 Cotton-growing, 525. 
 
 Indians, 320. 
 
 Labour question, 414. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 625 
 
 Coryndon (Sir E.) Icontd. )— 
 
 Minerals, 347. 
 
 Uganda, decreasing population, 153. 
 Cotton — 
 
 Empire Cotton-Growing Corporation 
 
 271-2, 274, SOS, 523. 
 Cultivation in Nigeria, 524 
 
 In Uganda, 524-5. 
 Indian tariif, 513. 
 Preparation of, 487, 511. 
 Restriction of market, 271-2. 
 Specialisation in, 508. 
 Suggestions re cultivation, 472, 523-4. 
 Value of trade, 525. 
 Council [see Legislative and Executive) — 
 Colonial Office Departmental, 168, 
 
 178. 
 India, 171-3. 
 
 Method of doing business, 176-7. 
 Nigerian, 122-24. 
 N. Rhodesia, 121. 
 Of army and navy, 171. - 
 Of Governors-General, 181. 
 Proposed African, 174-7, 188. 
 Sudan, 121. 
 Zanzibar, 34, 121. 
 Courts — 
 General — 
 
 Civil offences by soldiers, 565. 
 
 Land cases, 306, 308, 541, 545. 
 
 Of appeal, 181-2, 538. 
 
 Officials and chiefs amenable to, 55- 
 56, 203, 224. 
 
 Procedure of, 546-7. 
 
 Bye-laws, 202, 206, 549-50, 557-8, 
 
 '566. 
 Clerks of, 555-6. 
 Pines and fees of, 206-9. 
 Judicial councils, 202, 556. 
 Law administered by, 202, 206, 369, 
 
 371, 536-7, 549-50. 
 Object, value, and nature ofprimitive 
 
 courts, 547-9, 553-55. 
 Offences dealt with, 550, 564. 
 Powers and funotions of, 202, 206, 
 
 550-2, 556-7. 
 Powers of old courts, 543, 551. 
 Punishments by, 558-63. (<S«e Pun- 
 ishments.) 
 Slavery questions in, 371 -2, 558. 
 Work of, 376, 565-6. 
 Provincial — 
 Exclusion of legal practitioners, 
 
 544-5. (See Legal.) 
 The system, 641-5. 
 Transfers from native courts, 564. 
 Supreme — 
 Constitution of, 538-9. 
 Disabilities of, 640-41. 
 Vacation, 666. 
 Credits — 
 To natives, 296, 647. 
 Trade, 481. 
 
 2 
 
 Crewe (Marquis of) — 
 Appoints Committees on — 
 Crown Agents, 494. 
 Interchange of officers, 187-8. 
 Liquor traffic, 600. 
 N. Nigerian lands, 282. 
 Restricts powers India Council, 172. 
 Croft (Sir Alfred)— 
 Education in India, 426. 
 Moral instruction, 437. 
 Cromer (Earl of)— 
 Annual vacation, 106. 
 Attitude to native rulers, 227. 
 Forced labour, 410. 
 Freed slaves' home, 386. 
 Justifies the official majority, 119. 
 Principles of taxation, 240. 
 Value of expert knowledge, 177. 
 Crown Agents — 
 Criticisms of, 494-7. 
 Expansion of, 158, 167. 
 Proposed supersession of, 168, 181. 
 Railway construction by, 466-8. 
 Crown lands, 290-1, 316. 
 Cuba — 
 Miscegenation in, 321. 
 Slavery, 356. 
 Cultivation — 
 Communal, 316. 
 Shifting, 298-9. 
 Currency — 
 Assisted by direct tax, 233. 
 Assists abolition slavery 376-6. 
 Board, 491. 
 Hoarding of, 264-6. 
 Notes, 491. 
 
 Promotes trade, 490-1. 
 Profit on by Mint, 190, 491, 609. 
 Versus barter, 251, 490. {See Barter.) 
 Currie (Sir Jas. ) : Crown Colony educa- 
 tion, 428. 
 Curtis (L.)— 
 Education in self-government, 88. 
 Indian reforms, 115. 
 Curzon (Marquis) — 
 Defines legal status slavery, 370. 
 Education in India, 428. 
 New frontier province, 567. 
 Reply re concubines, 370. 
 Secretarial government, 126. 
 Customs (see Import, Export, Tariffs) — 
 Advantages and disadvantages of, 236. 
 Export and import duties, 268. 
 Internal fiscal frontiers, 98. 
 Paid by natives only in Africa, 258. 
 Proportion of revenue raised by, 262, 
 
 236-6. 
 Rebates for distant regions, 266-7. 
 Variation in incidence of, 266. 
 
 Da Gama (Vasco): Influence of dis- 
 coveries of, 2, 3, 79. 
 
 Darley (Major H.) : Slavery in Abyssinia, 
 389. 
 B 
 
626 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Death sentences, 543, 561-2. 
 Decentralisation — 
 
 A vital principle, 96. 
 
 By native rulers, 201, 220, 243, 253. 
 
 By Secretary of State, 168. 
 
 Methods of, 97, 101-2, 570. 
 
 Of departments, 100-2. 
 
 Promoted by direct tax, 253. 
 
 To Governors-General, 179-182. 
 
 To native rulers (see Native rule). 
 De Courcel (Baron) : Berlin Conference, 
 
 11. 
 Defence — 
 
 Colonies to bear share of, 190, 274-5. 
 
 Modern burden of, 274. 
 
 Of colonies in the war, 610. 
 Delafosse (Maurice) — 
 
 African land tenure, 281, 284, 345. 
 
 Meaning of terms, 316. 
 Delegation (vide Decentralisation). 
 Democracy — 
 
 Advantage of Empire to, 61, 609-10. 
 
 Concern for welfare of subject races, 
 613. 
 
 Demands expansion, 10, 21, 616. 
 
 Misled by Labour leaders, 608. 
 
 Needs reliable information, 7. 
 Dennett (R. E.)— 
 
 Evil of alien land-owners, 313. 
 
 Individual land tenure, 286. 
 Departmental — 
 
 System in Whitehall, 47. (See 
 Colonial Office.) 
 Treasury control, 99. 
 
 Officers, relation with native adminis- 
 tration, 225-6. 
 
 System of raUway construction, 466-8. 
 Departments — 
 
 Decentralisation of, 100-2. 
 
 Functions of, 94-6. 
 
 Staff of, 137-8. 
 Dernburg (Herr) — 
 
 Cost of Algeria, 609. 
 
 Re " Combines," 479. 
 
 Visits Africa, 50. 
 Desiccation of Africa, 520. 
 Diagne (French native Deputy) : African 
 
 Congress, 83-4. 
 Differential duties {see Imports, Exports, 
 
 Tariffs, Imperial preference, &c. ) 
 Dillte (Sir C.) : Unofficial majorities, 116. 
 Diseases of the tropics, 92, 144, 152-4. 
 Distilleries, 604-5. 
 District headman (native) — 
 
 Duties re Tax, 242-3, 247-8. 
 
 Education of, 
 
 Functions of, 200-1, 205, 242. 
 
 Resides in district, 242. 
 District Officer — 
 
 Character and success of, 132, 578, 
 585. 
 
 Continuity at post, 102-3, 136. 
 
 Duties of— 
 General, 134. 
 
 He land, 301, 308, 342. 
 He Native courts, 552. 
 Re Native labour, 407, 415. 
 Re Prisons, 560. 
 
 Re Economic resources, 135, 502. 
 Judicial work of, 134, 539, 544. 
 Judicial Powers of, 542-3. 
 Need for travelling in district, 134-5, 
 
 566. 
 Records and returns re taxation, 134-5, 
 
 207, 247. 
 Relations with native administration. 
 
 201, 218, 220, 225-6, 249. 
 Selection of, 140, 142. 
 Training of, 133, 138, 543. 
 Dominions, status of, 40-1, 607. 
 Dowry, 377 et seq. {See Slavery.) 
 Dubois (Dr W. E. B.) : Causes of discon- 
 tent of negroes, 82. 
 Duff (B. C, Resident, Cameruns) : 
 
 German policy, 397-8. 
 Dutch- 
 Abolition slavery, 356. 
 Charters and trade, 27. 
 Economic policy, 59. 
 Liquor trade, 597, 601. 
 Methods of colonisation, 59. 
 Methods of selecting staff, 140. 
 Dyarchy in India, 115, 195, 204. 
 
 Eaglesome (Sir J.) — 
 Preface, ix. 
 
 Railway construction , Nigeria, 465,468. 
 East African (Imp. British) Chartered 
 
 Company — 
 History of charter, 14, 20-21. 
 Treaties with natives, 15. 
 East African Syndicate's land, 329. 
 Economic (chapters xxv. and xxvi.) — 
 Commission (East Africa), of 1912 — 
 
 Re labour, 394-5. 
 Commission (East Africa) of 1919— 
 
 Constitution of, 320, 492. 
 
 Demands of, 179, 325, 484, 500. 
 Development boards, 121, 492-4. 
 Doctrine of land rents, 290-1, 344. 
 Effects of the war, 267-8. 
 Investigations by other Powers, 498-9. 
 Policy {see Free-trade). 
 Products of Africa, 43-4, 135. 
 Progress, 5, 153-4, 498. 
 Pressure compelled development 
 
 Africa, 3, 92, 613. 
 Resolutions at Paris, 268-9, 279. 
 Resources, development of, 501 et seq. 
 Waste, 520-1. 
 Educated (Europeanised) native- 
 Attitude to native administrations, 86, 
 
 195, 223, 426, 429. 
 Cadet class for, 88-9, 447. 
 Claims for self-government, 83-84. 
 Debt to, 90, 443, 458. 
 Description and criticisms, 72, 79-81, 
 
 428-9, 544, 589. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 627 
 
 Educated (Europeanisedjnative (contd.)— 
 Dislikes Provmoial Courts, 644-5 
 French opinion of British policy, 89. 
 Fath to self-government for, 225. 
 Representation on Legislative Council, 
 
 o7, 115-6. 
 Scope for, 85-89, 196, 443, 458, 514. 
 Share of taxation, 263. 
 The demand for educated African 
 clerks, &c., 87, 442-3, 458. 
 iiducation {see Schools) — 
 Boards of, 430, 440. 
 Character-training, 432-7. 
 Co-operation in, 430 
 Cost of, 443-4, 457-8. 
 -Effects and results of, 80, 83, 85-6, 
 426-9, 443. > . . . 
 
 Elementary and industrial, 444-6. 
 For girls, 457. 
 For Moslems, 453-4. 
 Grants-in-aid, 435, 439-41. 
 Higher (University, &o.), 455-6. 
 Ideals of, 425-6, 459. 
 In Arabic, 77. 
 Literary, 443-4, 447. 
 Proposed changes, 427, 431, 460. 
 Eeligious and moral, 435-7, 439, 460. 
 Specialised, 450, 456-7. 
 Technical, 448-60. {See Labour.) 
 Types of, required, 442. 
 Vernacular and English, 454-5. 
 Edwards (H. S. W., District Officer, 
 Nigeria) : Reclamation, Sokoto, 519- 
 20. 
 "Effective occupation," 11, 13. {See 
 
 Berlin Act. ) 
 Egba (Nigeria)— 
 Cause of unrest, 409. 
 Independence of, 35, 197. 
 Native treasury, 310. 
 Progress, 78. 
 Treaty denounced, 35. 
 Egypt- 
 Early civilisation of, 2. 
 Prosperity and unrest, 117. 
 Responsibilities in, 4. 
 System of rule in, 227. 
 Elephant — 
 Habitat, 65. 
 
 Preservation and use of, 532, 534. 
 Elgin (Earl of)— 
 
 "Economic rent," 291. 
 Land grants to Indians, 321. 
 Land policy, E. Africa, 329, 337. 
 Reforms at Colonial Office, 158. 
 Eliot (Sir Chas.) (aee Uganda)— 
 African character. 69-70. 
 Age-classes, Masai, 220. 
 Greater latitude to local Government, 
 
 178. 
 Islam not popular, 78. 
 Land syndicates, 328-9. 
 Native reserves, 324-5. 
 Punitive expeditions, 578. 
 
 Elliott (C. B., Judge, U.S.A.) {see 
 Philippines) — 
 Condensed water, 148. 
 Dutch colonisation, 59. 
 Laud and minerals, Philippines, 346, 
 348. 
 Emiu Pasha — 
 Expedition to Uganda, 20. 
 Opposes slave-raiders, 359. 
 Emmott (Lord)— 
 Imperial preference, 277. 
 Labour, Kenya, 394. 
 Reform of Colonial Office, 155. 
 Empire (British)— 
 Benefits to democracy, 61, 609-10. 
 Expansion under Elizabeth, 614. 
 Meaning of, 94. 
 Obligations to, 275. 
 Empire Cotton - growing Corporation, 
 
 272-3, 603. 
 Empire Resources Development Com- 
 mittee, 268, 273, 480. 
 England {see Britain). 
 English language, 118, 123, 134, 444, 
 
 451, 464. 
 Equatorial belt, characteristics of, 65, 73, 
 
 298. 
 Ethiopian Church, 117. 
 Europe ; Increase of population, 3, 614. 
 European — 
 Estates in tropics, 296, 486-7, 419-20, 
 
 504, 507-8. 
 Influence in Africa, 5, 79, 91-92, 
 
 215-17. 
 Life in tropics, 58-9. 
 Reasons lor advent of, in Africa, P, 10, 
 
 92 
 Taxation of, 260-3. 
 Evolution of Africans, 72. 
 Based on customs, 82, 211, 219. 
 Must be gradual, 194, 224, 252. 
 Evolution of land tenure, 307. 
 Executive Council^ 
 Constitution, duties, and procedure, 
 
 115, 119-22, 637. 
 Value of, 121-2, 538. 
 Expansion in Africa — 
 Government opposed to, 10, 13. 
 Unavoidable, 10, 614-15. 
 Exploitation, charges of, 325, 612-13. 
 Export duties {see Imports, Customs) : 
 The case for, 264-7, 489. ii-,_J 
 
 Exportable produce of British tropical 
 Africa, 45. 
 
 Farquharson (C. 0.) — 
 
 Absentee landlords, 296. 
 
 Commends European estates, 507. 
 
 Native agricultural methods, 486. 
 
 Quality of produce, 489. 
 Federation v. Amalgamation, 97-8, 179. 
 {See Grouping of colonies. ) 
 
 Advantages of, 179-81 
 
 In Malaya, 130. 
 
628 
 
 mDEX. 
 
 Felkin (Dr R. W.) (see Uganda)— 
 
 Birth of twins, 75. 
 
 Residence of chiefs at capital, 242. 
 
 Slavery in Uganda, 363. 
 Fibres, 512, 530. 
 
 Fiddes (Sir Q.): Currency Board, 491. 
 Fiji- 
 
 Cannibalism, 73. 
 
 Indian immigration, 415-16, 418. 
 
 Land law, 345. 
 Fiscal frontiers, inland, 98. {See Cus- 
 toms.) 
 Fisher (Rt. Hon. H. A. L.) : "Venture 
 
 schools," 438. 
 Fishes, utilisation of, 532. 
 Flax, 505-6. 
 
 Flogging (see Punishment). 
 Fodder-grasses, 530. 
 Food in tropics, 150-3. 
 Force (see Military, Troops, Soldier, 
 &o.)— 
 
 African only recognises, 579-80. 
 
 Control of, 205. 
 
 Use of, 203, 361, 578-81. 
 Foreign OfBce — 
 
 Control in Africa, 29-31, 163, 607. 
 
 Interchange of officials, 187. 
 
 Officers in England, 108. 
 
 Prefers export duties, 263. 
 Forestry, training in, 450, 503-4. 
 Forests — 
 
 Conservation of, 315, 351, 527-9. 
 
 Department, 501. 
 
 Destruction of, 299, 520, 527. 
 
 Licences, 335. 
 
 Ordinances, Gold Coast and Nigeria, 
 315. 
 
 Value of, 299, 315. 
 Foundations, laying of, in Africa, 105. 
 France, population of, 66, 614. 
 Frazer (Sir A.) : Working of Committees, 
 
 177. 
 Freed slaves — 
 
 Disposal of, 385-6. 
 
 Homes for, 386. 
 Free trade — 
 
 Alleged infringements, 61. 
 
 British policy of, 11, 60. 
 
 Enjoined by Berlin Act and League, 
 48, 54. 
 
 Former Congo policy, 49. (See Congo.) 
 
 French policy, 11, 49, 59, 91, 278-9, 
 499. 
 "Free-traders," 27. 
 French — 
 
 Abolition of slavery by, 356. 
 
 Aggression, 11, 29-30. 
 
 Aims in Africa, 3, 9-10, 40, 59, 279, 
 360, 614. 
 
 Convention, 1898 (see Convention). 
 
 Co-operation with, 30, 181, 223, 279. 
 
 Economic policy, 11, 49, 59, 91, 278-9. 
 499. 
 
 Pledges to, re raw materials, 273. 
 
 Views re land tenure, 295, 345. 
 Me Mandates, 52. 
 He native press, 80. 
 Jte native treaties, 16. 
 
 West African Council, 122, 183-4. 
 French Africa — 
 
 Area and population, 46, 183. 
 
 Chambers of Commerce, 493. 
 
 Claims to minerals, 348. 
 
 Conscription, 677. 
 
 Grouping of colonies, 98, 182-4. 
 
 Inspectors of colonies, 169. 
 
 Irrigation scheme, 519. 
 
 Judicial system, 568-9. 
 
 Liquor traffic, 598-600. 
 
 Railway construction, 464. 
 
 Selection of staff, 140. 
 
 Status of indigenes, 40. 
 
 Taxes, 244, 257. 
 
 Trade and progress, 182. 
 
 Treatment of native chiefs, 228. 
 Fulani — 
 
 Capacity for rule, 198, 209-10, 220. 
 
 Decadence and misrule, 198-9, 232. 
 
 Manhood tests, 74. 
 
 Origin of, 67. 
 
 Relations to settled tribes, 92, 287. 
 
 Slave-children, 384. 
 Fuller (Sir F.) {see Ashanti)— 
 
 Administration of justice, Ashanti, 
 539-40, 545. 
 
 Character of Ashantis, 70. 
 
 Christian intolerance, 78. 
 
 Concession to Gold Fields Company, 
 352. 
 
 Education in Ashanti, 429. 
 
 Islam not popular, 78. 
 
 Legal practitioners excluded, 645. 
 Fumban, Njoya of, 75. 
 
 Gall (F. B., late Resident, Nigeria), 222. 
 Gallas — 
 
 As labourers, 399. 
 
 Origin of, 67. 
 Gambia — 
 
 Area, population, and trade, 45. 
 
 Legislative Council of, 38. 
 
 Proposed exchange of, 54. 
 Game, preservation of, 535. 
 Geary (Sir Wm.)— 
 
 Criticism of N. Nigeria land law, 292. 
 
 Praise of district officers, 132. 
 Germany — 
 
 Area and trade of African colonies, 54. 
 
 Attitude to Islam, 210. 
 
 Bid for Uganda, 20. 
 
 Coal-flelds, 363. 
 
 Compulsory labour, Samoa, 418. 
 
 Exclusion from Mandate colonies, 54. 
 
 German-owned estates, 607. 
 
 Increase of population of, 66, 614. 
 
 Labour difficulties, 397-8. 
 
 Liquor traffic, 698, 601. 
 
 Merchants' Council, 176. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 629 
 
 Germany (contd. ) — 
 
 Methods in Africa, 4, 50-1, 391, 426, 
 481, 
 
 Monopoly of palm-kernels, 268-9, 270, 
 601, 611. 
 
 Profit-sharing with natives, 420. 
 
 Keasons for entering Africa, 3-4, 9-10, 
 40, 614. . > . 
 
 State-aided inquiries, 499. 
 
 Verdict on N. Nigeria administration, 
 223. 
 
 "War with Arabs, 358, 360. 
 Gilmour (T. L. ) on N. Nigeria admin- 
 istration, 228. 
 Girls, education of, 457. (See Education.) 
 Girouard (Sir E. P.)— 
 
 Approves nationalisation of land, 190-1. 
 
 Break-up of tribal life, 216, 403. 
 
 Burmese land-law, 344. 
 
 Masai reserves, 324-5. 
 
 Must rule through chiefs, 216. 
 
 Opposes independent native states, 
 198. 
 
 Railway construction, 465, 468. 
 Giryama, drunkenness among, 603. 
 Gladstone: Retention of Uganda, 21. 
 Glen-Grey Act, 234, 326-7, 414. 
 Gold Coast — 
 
 Area, population, and trade, 45, 153, 
 332. 
 
 Acquisition of, 357. 
 
 Cocoa industry of, 399-400. {See 
 Cocoa.) 
 
 Concessions in, 485. 
 
 Disposal of land rents, 309-10. 
 
 Education, 433, 457-8. 
 
 Forest Bill, 284, 315. 
 
 Land Bill, 1897, 304-5. 
 
 Land tenure, 283, 286. 
 
 Liquor, 598. 
 
 Native jurisdiction law, 553. 
 
 Palm-kernel export duty, 269-70. 
 
 Rates and taxes, 85, 234. 
 
 Rule through chiefs, 86, 199. 
 
 Slaves in, 37, 377. 
 
 Status of, 36. 
 Goldie (Sir G.) : Niger charter, 14. ■ 
 Goldsmith (H. S., late Lt. -Governor, 
 
 Nigeria), 222. 
 Gordon College, Sudan, 151, 433. {See 
 
 Sudan.) 
 Gorgas (Surgeon - General) : Mosquito 
 
 campaign, 534. 
 Government (Colonial) — 
 
 Constitution of, 95. 
 
 Participation in industry, 499-500. 
 
 Public works, 500. 
 Government — 
 
 By chartered companies, 18-28. 
 
 By committees, 171. 
 
 By home departments, 164-5. 
 Governor — 
 
 Continuity of, 97, 105-6, 111-12. 
 
 Financial powers, 127, 162, 179. 
 
 Home employment of, 108, 110-11, 
 166, 175. 
 
 Latitude allowed to, 178-9. 
 
 Powers and functions, 95, 101, 124, 
 538, 606-7. 
 
 Scheme of continuous responsibility, 
 107-9. 
 
 Selection of, 111, 126, 186. 
 
 Touch with Secretary of State, 162, 
 185-6. 
 Governor (Acting), 106, 108-9, 125. 
 
 Limitation of powers, 110-11. 
 
 Selection of, 125-6. 
 Governor (Lieut.-) — 
 
 Duties of, 102, 126-8. 
 
 Selection of, 126. 
 Governor-General — 
 
 Absence from poet, 181. 
 
 Of grouped colonies, 179-80, 182. 
 
 Of S. Africa, 116, 180. 
 Gowers(W., Lt. -Governor, Nigeria), 222. 
 
 Communal tenure, 285. 
 
 Forced labour, 412. 
 
 Slavery dead in Nigeria, 377. 
 Graham (S.) : American negro, 80, 82. 
 Grant (Madison) on miscegenation, 320. 
 Grants — 
 
 To Colonies, 98, 141, 462, 609. {See 
 Loans.) 
 
 To schools, 435, 439-41. 
 Grasses (fodder), 530. 
 Grazing leases {see Ranching). 
 Green ( J. R. ) : Anglo-Saxon slavery, 355. 
 Grey (Lord) : Compensation to slave- 
 owners, 367. 
 Grey (Major-General W. H.): Produce 
 
 inspection, 489. 
 Grogan (W. E.)— 
 
 Labour, Kenya, 393. 
 
 Peasant settlers, 397. 
 Grouping of colonies, 110, 179. 
 Guggisberg (Brig. -General F. G.) {see 
 Gold Coast)— 
 
 Education, 86, 429, 433. 
 
 Labour, 400. 
 Guiana (British) — 
 
 Indian colonists, 415. 
 
 Minerals, 348. 
 
 Population, 321. 
 
 Hadow (Sir H.) ; The teaching of history, 
 
 452. 
 Hall (W. B.)— 
 
 Protectorates, 34-36. 
 
 Registration, British subjects, 39. 
 
 Spheres of influence, 32. 
 
 Treaties, 15. 
 Hamites — 
 
 Description of, 67-68. {See Asiatics.) 
 
 Introduce domestic animals, 474. 
 Harcourt (Viscount)— 
 
 Adopts continuous administration 
 scheme, 107. 
 
 Amalgamation, Nigeria, 100. 
 
630 
 
 DSTDEX. 
 
 Harcourt (Viscount) [contd.) — 
 
 Condemns results, education, 428. 
 
 E. African land policy, 329, 337. 
 
 House-rule scheme, 373. 
 
 Rhodesian Reserves Committee, 328. 
 
 W. African Lands Committee, 282. 
 Harris (J. H.)^ 
 
 Labour, Kenya, 392. 
 
 Portuguese land-law, 346, 
 Harward (F. H.): Text-books, moral 
 
 instruction, 436. 
 Haasa — 
 
 Language, 134. 
 
 Teaching of, 138. 
 Hawaii, alien immigration in, 321. 
 Hayford (C.) : British rule in Gold Coast, 
 
 84. 
 Hayti : Conditions of negro government, 
 
 84-5, 198. 
 Headman {see District, Village, &c.) 
 Health, hints for, 152-3. 
 Heerens : Trade of Carthage, 2. 
 Hemming (Sir A.) — 
 
 Condemns Colonial Office system, 160. 
 
 Supports continuous administration 
 scheme, 107. 
 Herslett : African treaties, 15. 
 Hewitt (Consul) makes treaties, 15. 
 Hides and skins, 44. 
 
 Preparation of, 487, 511, 526. 
 Hinterland theory, 12, 29. 
 Hollis(A. C.)— 
 
 Labour, 412. 
 
 Native reserves, 328. 
 Honduras, British — 
 
 Minerals, 347. 
 
 Population, 321. 
 Hong-Kong — 
 
 Density, population, 331. 
 
 Land settlement, 215, 345. 
 
 Religious teaching, 437. 
 
 University hostels, 433, 456. 
 House-rule in S. Nigeria, 372-3. 
 Housing in tropics, 143, 145-7. 
 Hudson's Bay Company — 
 
 "Freetraders," 27. 
 
 Land rights, 25. 
 
 "Igba" in Benin, 387. 
 Ilbert (Sir C. P.)— 
 
 African treaties, 15. 
 
 E. India charter, 27-28. 
 
 Functions of Government, 95. 
 
 History of India Council, 172. 
 
 Protectorates, 32-37. 
 
 Rule in native states, 226. 
 
 Viceroy's powers in native states, 
 116. 
 Imperial — 
 
 British East Africa Company, 20-21. 
 
 Conferences, 159. 
 
 Institute courses of instruction, 138-9. 
 Samples sent to, 188. 
 Value to colonies, 188, 506. 
 
 Preference, 61, 55, 275-9. 
 Accepted policy, 268, 278. 
 Meaning of, to natives, 55. 
 Other than tariffs, 272, 278. 
 To Mandates, 55. 
 Import duties, 264-7. 
 
 Differential, 513. 
 
 Incidence of, 258-9, 267-8. (.See 
 Imperial Preference.) 
 Imports of British tropics, 45. 
 Imprisonment, 658-60. {See Punish- 
 ment. ) 
 Improvements, 297, 316, 334, 339-40. 
 
 {See Land.) 
 im Thuru (Sir E.) : Labour in Fiji, 418. 
 Income or profits, tax on, 261, &o. {See 
 
 Tax.) 
 Indentured labour — 
 
 Classes of, 415. 
 
 For Kenya, 398, 416. 
 
 Nature of repatriation contracts, 417, 
 424. 
 Independent native rule — 
 
 Limitations to, 205-7. 
 
 In Malaya, 130-1. 
 
 In Egba, 35, 196-7. 
 India — Indian — 
 
 Agriculture, 504, 516, 518. 
 
 Area, population, and trade, 45-6, 331 
 515. 
 
 Civil Service, 132, 137-8. 
 
 Company, 27-8. 
 
 Cottage industries, 446, 
 
 Cotton," 271, 513. 
 
 Council of, 171-2. 
 
 Economic policy, 509-11. 
 
 Economic Reports, 530. 
 
 Education, 426-8, 437. 
 
 Example for Africa, 46-7. 
 
 Industrialism, 47, 508-10. 
 
 Industrial report, 448, 509. 
 
 Interchange of officers, 187-8. 
 
 Labour, 4U5. 
 
 Land law, 284, 299, 344. 
 
 Married life, 142. 
 
 Native rulers and new scheme, 46, 
 195-6, 226. 
 
 New province, 126, 567. 
 
 Ordering of stores, 497. 
 
 Pleaders in courts, 567-8. 
 
 Produce inspection, 488. 
 
 Progressives, 81, 84. 
 
 Protected states, 33. 
 
 Railways, 99, 463-4. 
 
 Salt, 266. 
 
 Slavery, 368. 
 
 Taxation, 245-6, 257. 
 
 Traders, 32u, 482. 
 
 Unrest, 117, 321, 426-8. 
 
 Village panchayet, 202, 248. 
 India Office — 
 
 Control in Somaliland, 30. 
 
 Relations with Indian Government, 
 163. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 631 
 
 Indians — 
 
 la E. Africa, 42, 318-23. 
 
 In Zanzibar, 403. 
 Individual — 
 
 Initiative, 211, 228, 315, 388 et passim. 
 
 Land ownership, 285, 306, 316, 327. 
 Industrialism — 
 
 Evolution of, 43, 509. 
 
 Not opposed to British trade, 512, 
 515. 
 
 Of Europe, 3, 614. 
 Industries — 
 
 Native, 73, 445-6, 517. 
 
 Suggested new local, 512-14. 
 Infant — 
 
 Mortality, 66, 151, 153. 
 
 Weaning of, 66. 
 Infanticide (twins), 75. 
 Ingram (Dr J. K.) on slavery, 354-5. 
 Inspectors — 
 
 Of protectorates, 169-70. 
 
 Of schools, 435, 441, 452. 
 International — 
 
 Control in Africa, 56, 608. 
 
 Court, 53. 
 Interpenetration scheme for labour, 325-6. 
 
 (iSi«« Reserves.) 
 Ireland (AUeyne) — 
 
 Elected majorities, 115. 
 
 Javanese land law, 346. 
 
 Selection of staff by Dutch, 140. 
 
 Tour in East, 499. 
 Irrigation — 
 
 Absence of, in Africa, 295, 518-20. 
 
 For cotton, 523-4. 
 
 French scheme on Niger, 519. 
 Islam {see Mahomedanism). 
 Islington (Lord) — 
 
 Federation, E. Africa, 182. 
 
 Labour in Kenya, 394. 
 Ivory, export of, 534. 
 
 Jackson (Sir F.) : Land in Uganda, 330. 
 Jamaica — 
 
 Government action re industries, 499. 
 
 Misuse official majority, 115. 
 Japan — 
 
 Absorbs Indian cotton, 272. 
 
 Population, 66. 
 
 Trade of, 46. 
 
 Trade with United Kingdom, 515. 
 Java — 
 
 Labour, 418. 
 
 Land law, 346. 
 Johnston (Sir H. H.)— 
 
 Land settlement, Uganda, 330. 
 
 Do. in Nyasaland, 330. 
 
 Re Grown agents, 181, 494. 
 Jordan (Sir J.), 177. 
 Journalism (native), 80. {See Press.) 
 Judges — 
 
 Salaried native, 233. {See Supreme 
 Court.) 
 
 Vacation of, 106, 566. 
 
 Judicial — 
 
 Council of chiefs, 202. 
 
 Merger with executive, 539. 
 
 Powers of district ofiicer, 542-3. 
 
 Ultimate sanction of powers, 579. 
 
 Work of district officers, 134, 639. 
 Jute — 
 
 Cultivation of, 531. 
 
 Differential duty, 269, 271. 
 
 Kalahari — 
 
 Desiccation of, 520. 
 
 Reclamation of, 519. 
 Kano — 
 
 Dungeon, 199. 
 
 Industrial school, 447. 
 
 Trade of, 480-1, 609. 
 
 Water-supply, 208, 519. 
 Karongas fighting against slavers, 30, 
 
 359. 
 Kasson (J. A.): U.S.A. views at Berlin 
 
 Conference, 11. 
 Keable (Rev. R. ) : Intolerance of native 
 
 priests, 81. 
 Keith (Professors.)— 
 
 Berlin Act, 48. 
 
 Evolution, land tenure, 281, 285. 
 
 Indians in Kenya, 319. 
 
 International control, 66. 
 
 Ownership, minerals, 348. 
 
 Terms of British recognition of transfer 
 of Congo, 273. 
 Keltie (Sir J. ) : Colonisation in Sierra 
 
 Leone, 40. 
 Kenya — 
 
 Area, population, and trade of colony, 
 45, 610-11. 
 Of highlands, 317, 324. 
 
 British settlers, 321, 323, 393-4, 397-8. 
 
 Economic Commission (see Economic). 
 
 Education, 458. 
 
 Indians in, 318-23. 
 
 Labour, 323, 391-8, 405, 416. 
 
 Land tenure, 328-9. 
 
 Legislative and executive councils, 
 114, 121. 
 
 Minerals, 347. 
 
 Native administration, 205, 216. 
 
 Native diseases, 153. 
 
 Railways, 470. 
 
 Reserves, 323-6. 
 
 Status of, 37. 
 
 Taxes, 257, 262. 
 Kew gardens, 188. 
 Khama, 205. 
 
 Re cash trade, 251. 
 Kidd (Dr B.)— 
 
 Africa not ripe for independence, 198. 
 
 Cannot be developed by natives, 507. 
 
 French aims, 40. 
 
 No recognised policy in tropics, 6, 506. 
 
 Re chartered companies, 23. 
 
 Test of racial superiority, 76. 
 
 Value of tropics, 44. 
 
632 
 
 mDEX. 
 
 Kimberley (E&rl of)— 
 
 Natire languages, 465. 
 
 Residents in Malaya, 130. 
 Kingsley (Miss M.) — 
 
 Colonial Office opposed expansion, 13. 
 
 Hut tax, 252. 
 
 Merchants should legislate, 116, 176. 
 
 Punitive expeditions, 577-8. 
 Kirk (Sir John)— 
 
 Chartered Company's claims, 21. 
 
 Niger Company's monopoly, 20. 
 
 Plenipotentiary, Brussels, 20, 177, 
 357-8. 
 
 Share in Brussels Act, 361. 
 
 Slavery in Zanzibar, debates, &o., 357, 
 369-70. 
 
 Suggests abolition legal status, 368. 
 
 Labour — 
 African as worker, 235, 401-5. 
 
 As vfage-earner, 296, 401-5. 
 British policy, 391. 
 Compulsion when justified, 410-11, 420- 
 
 21. 
 Conditions for, 405-8. 
 Contracts, 407, 422. 
 Contrast E. and W. Africa, 396-7, 
 
 399. 
 Duties of District Officer re, 134, 415. 
 Educative for advancement, 234-5, 
 
 410-11, 417-19, 421. 
 Free labour and slavery, 390. 
 Incentive of ownership, 295, 507. 
 Indentured, 398, 415, 424. (See Inden- 
 ture. ) 
 In Kenya, 42, 325, 391-9. 
 Lord Milner's proposals, 391-3, 395-6. 
 Methods employed, 234-5, 412-14, 420- 
 
 21. 
 Policy in S. Africa, 393. 
 Saving of, 314, 516-23. 
 Skilled, 404, 421, 448-50. 
 Substitution for tax, 251, 411. 
 Transfer from a distance, 396-6, 414-5. 
 Unpaid labour, 408-9. 
 Wage rate (see Wages). 
 Wasted as carriers, 422-3. 
 Labour Party — 
 
 African policy, 166, 608. 
 Anti-Empire propaganda, 608, 616-17. 
 Approves tribal forced labour, 408. 
 Condemns Kenya policy, 394. 
 Views re Mandates, 58. 
 Labourer (British) : Standard of life, 3, 
 
 43, 614-15. 
 Lagos (Nigeria) — 
 Acquisition of, 357. 
 Town Council, 87. 
 Water-rate riots, 85, 283. 
 Lamb (P. H.) : Use of plough, &c., 517. 
 Landlord — 
 Absentee, 241-2, 296, 507-8. 
 Government as, of aliens, 206, 297, 
 
 300, 311. 
 
 Lands — 
 Absence of tenure, 287. 
 Acquisition by Government, 206, .297, 
 
 300-1, 311, 342. 
 Alien owners, 295-6, 419, 507. 
 Committee of 1912-15, 282. 
 Compensation, 297, 301, 316. 
 Crown lands, 290-1, 316. 
 Disposal of, by chartered companies, 
 
 20, 24-26, 292. 
 Disposal of rents, 309-10. 
 "Economic rents," 237, 290, 293, 302. 
 Evolution of tenure, 73, 280-1. 
 Executive to deal with, 308-9, 541. 
 Grants of, 333, &c. (See Leases, Bents, 
 
 Premiums, &c.) 
 Individual ownership, 281, 286-6, 295, 
 
 305-6, 327. 
 Influence of English ideas, 285-6, 
 
 304-6. 
 In relation to population, 331-2. 
 Land rents, 246, 289-91, 299-300. 
 Meaning of terms, 316-7. 
 Moslem law, 288. 
 N. Nigeria Committee, 239, 287, 
 
 290-4. 
 Peasant occupiers, 294-5, 325-6, 391, 
 
 419. 
 Policy in Kenya, 317, 328-9. 
 
 Rhodesia, 343-4. 
 
 Uganda and Nyasaland, 329-30. 
 Policy in other countries (see India, 
 
 Burma, &c. ). 
 Practice in Nigeria, 206, 289, 293-4. 
 Registration, 306-8, 313, 343. 
 Eights of conquest, 281, 287-90, 292, 
 
 300. 
 "Strangers," 305, 312-14. 
 Tenure in West Africa, 283-7, 305, 
 
 312. 
 Transfers, 206, 296-7, 305-9. 
 Waste lands, 283-5, 293. 
 Languages, native — 
 Diversity, 75. 
 Study of, 133. 
 Laurier (Right Hon. W.): Ministerial 
 
 responsibility, 178. 
 Lavigerie (Cardinal) — 
 Crusade v. slavery, 359. 
 Temporal power Uganda, 587. 
 Law (Right Hon. A. Bonar) — 
 Mandates, 51. 
 On committees, 122, 171. 
 Palm-kernel committee, 268. 
 Lawrence (Sir H.): Work of district 
 
 officer, 134. 
 Laws (Dr), 430, 587. 
 
 Tribal slavery, Nyasaland, 363. 
 Laws (see Ordinances)— 
 Defiance of, 579. 
 How enacted, 115, 118. 
 In British Africa, 536-7. 
 Native customary (see Native). 
 Translation of, 557. 
 
mDBX. 
 
 633 
 
 Leases — 
 
 By natives to aliens, 307-10, 333. 
 
 General conditions, 333. 
 
 Grazing, 335-6, 533-4. 
 
 Mining, 336, 350-2. 
 
 Residential and agricultural, 314, 
 334-5. 
 
 To natives, 316. 
 
 Types of, 298. 
 Lebon (Mons. ) — 
 
 British methods of education, 89. 
 
 British treatment of labour, 418. 
 
 Progress to be on racial lines, 82. 
 Leeds University : Assistance in research, 
 
 502. 
 Legal practitioners — 
 
 Exclusion of, in courts, 309, 544-5. 
 
 In India, 567-8. 
 
 In Ashanti, 645. 
 Leggett (Sir H.): Purchase of cotton, 
 
 524. 
 Legislation — 
 
 Function of Suzerain, 206. 
 
 In grouped colonies, 99, 180. 
 
 Method of, 115, 537. 
 Legislative Councils — 
 
 Constitution, procedure, and powers, 
 114, 119, 637-8. 
 
 Not representative of opinion, 122. 
 
 Relation to protectorates, 38, 537. 
 
 Unofficial representation on, 114-19, 
 262. 
 Lepers, settlements for, 164, 618. 
 Leprosy, treatment of, 92, 154. 
 Leverhulme (Lord) — 
 
 Machinery v. labour, 517. 
 
 Number of shareholders, 615. 
 
 Obligation to develop Africa, 486. 
 Liberia — 
 
 Conditions of Government, 86. 
 
 Distilleries, 604. 
 
 Trade of, 46. 
 Licences, 255. 
 
 Canoes, 254-5. 
 
 Prospecting, 351. 
 
 Timber, 314. 
 Liquor (see French, German, Dutch, 
 Distilleries, &c.) — 
 
 Attitude of Moslems to, 78, 696, 603-4. 
 
 Consumption by Europeans, 161, 603. 
 
 Definition, trade spirits, 601-2. 
 
 Effects of, 235, 600-1. 
 
 German profit from, 490, 601. 
 
 Native fermented, 603-4. 
 
 Niger Company's action, 19. 
 
 Present policy, 602-4. 
 
 Revenue from, 236, 266, 598. 
 
 Safeguards, 406. 
 
 Traffic in W. Africa, 697. 
 
 Treaties re, 49-60, 597-9. 
 Liverpool merchants {see Merchants) — 
 
 Conference with French, 499. 
 
 Favour amalgamation, 98. 
 
 Favour West African Council, 174. 
 
 Nature of African trade, 494. 
 
 Oppose liquor trade, 699, 602. 
 
 Oppose Niger Company, 19. 
 
 Retain control at home, 115-6, 142, 
 493, 613-4. 
 
 Support continuous administration 
 scheme, 108. 
 
 Views re land leases, 341-2. 
 Re Mandates, 52. 
 Me Nigerian Council, 123. 
 Live-stock, improvement of, 632. (5ee 
 
 Ranching. ) 
 Livingstone — 
 
 As Consul, 29. 
 
 Discoveries of, 2. 
 Lloyd George (Right Hon. D.)— 
 
 Uganda railway, 462-3. 
 Loans — 
 
 Ability to raise, 274. 
 
 Imperial grants and guarantees, 277, 
 499-600. 
 
 Issue by Crown agents, 497. 
 
 Need of, 141, 144, 462. 
 
 Not allowed to a protectorate, 37, 99. 
 Locke : Education of children, 82. 
 Long (Lord) consults colonies, 190. 
 Low (Sir H. ) : Rule through chiefs, 200. 
 Lucas (Sir C.) — 
 
 Control of Europeans, 92. 
 
 Empire and democracy, 608-9. 
 
 England's example, 618. 
 
 Unrest means progress, 426. 
 Lugard (Lady) — 
 
 Advent of Islam, 76. 
 
 History of Songhay, 66. 
 
 "Interlopers," 27. 
 
 Progress in N. Nigeria, 252. 
 
 Rules for health, 152. 
 
 The tropics in twentieth century, 
 191. 
 Lyautey (General) : Rule through chiefs, 
 
 228. 
 Lyttelton (Right Hon. Alfred)— 
 
 Adopts continuous administration 
 scheme, 107. 
 
 Touch with Governors, 186. 
 
 Verdict re Crown agents, 495. 
 
 Macdonnell (Lord) — 
 
 British staff of schools, 434. 
 
 Disruptive effects of education, 426. 
 
 Grants for tone of schools, 435. 
 Macgregor (Sir W. ) — 
 
 Crown agents, 494. 
 
 Native tribute, 232. 
 
 Views re educated natives, 428, 
 Mackinnon (SirW.): East African char- 
 ter, 14, 20. 
 Magistrates — 
 
 Police, 666. 
 
 Station, 129, 566, 673. 
 Mahdi— 
 
 Recrudescence, 210, 565. 
 
 Rule of, 361. 
 
634 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mahomedanism, Mahomedan — 
 
 Attitude to anti-slavery policy, 357, 
 365. 
 
 Attitude to, of British, 210, 220, 445, 
 593-4. 
 
 Attitude to, of Germans, 210. 
 
 Attitude to education, 449-50. 
 
 Attitude to liquor, 395, 603-4. 
 
 Attitude to witchcraft, 663. 
 
 Bid for empire in Africa, 357, 362, 687. 
 
 Creditable standards, 595. 
 
 Dangers of, 77, 210. 
 
 Effect in Africa, 76-8, 365. 
 
 Law of succession, 213. 
 Of land, 288. 
 Of slavery, 364, 377. 
 
 Missions to, 224, 591-4. 
 
 Social organisation, 77, 204. 
 
 System of taxation, 232, 237, 240. 
 Maine (Sir H.)— 
 
 Origin, land tenure, 281. 
 
 Waste lands, 284. 
 Maize, inspection and export of, 488, 
 
 531. 
 Malaya {see also Swettenham) — 
 
 Alien labour, 415, 4i7. 
 
 Debt-slavery, 385. 
 
 Decadence of Malays, 417-18. 
 
 Land law, 345. 
 
 Land rents in Penang, 338. 
 
 Minerals, 347. 
 
 Eailways, 467-9. 
 
 "ResideAts," 129-31. 
 
 Taxation of Europeans, 260. 
 
 Tin, 270. 
 
 Unaided schools, 439. 
 Mance (Col. H. 0.) : Value, native cloth, 
 
 446. 
 Manchester Chamber of Commerce- 
 Export duties, 264. 
 
 Liquor traffic, 599. 
 
 Segregation, 149. 
 Mandates — 
 
 Duties under, 17-18. 
 
 French views of, 52. 
 
 Review of, and suggestions, 50-57, 92. 
 
 Supersede treaty-making, 17-18. 
 
 The dual mandate, 617-18. 
 
 To Congo State, 51. 
 " Man on the spot," 110, 163, 181, 607. 
 Manufactures, encouragement of, 314. 
 
 {See Industries.) 
 Markets — 
 
 Dues, 255. 
 
 Eor cotton, 270-2. 
 
 Restriction of, 269-70. 
 Marshall (Sir J.) : Slavery on Niger, 366. 
 Martiueau (Miss) — 
 
 Flogging in England, 660. 
 
 New Under-Secretary in 1825, 185. 
 
 Standard of comfort, 615. 
 Masai — 
 
 Absence of land tenure, 286-7. 
 
 Age-classes, 220. 
 
 Origin of, 67. 
 
 Reduced by disease, &c., 324. 
 
 Reserves, 324, 328. 
 Material progress {see Economic). 
 Maugham (R. C.) : Tribal discipline, 433. 
 M'Clure (S. S.) : Racial antipathies, 320. 
 M'Connell (J.) on cotton, 523. 
 M'Dermott (P.)— 
 
 LB.E.A., 2L 
 
 Uganda, 687. 
 Meath (Earl of): Duty and discipline, 
 
 436. 
 Mechanical appliances, 517-18. 
 Medical staif — 
 
 Deficiency of, 141, 153. 
 
 Efficiency of, 144, 151-4. 
 
 Need of research, 151, 
 
 Passing of candidates, 142. 
 
 Private practice, 152. 
 
 Training of natives, 450. 
 
 Treatment of natives, 93, 152-4. 
 
 Triumphs of science, 40, 152-4. 
 Melville- Jones (Bishop P.)— 
 
 Deficiency, Mission staff, 690. 
 
 Schools at Oyo, 430. 
 Merchants {see Liverpool, Manchester) — 
 
 Conferences at Colonial Office, 176. 
 
 Functions and value of, 263-4, 477-9. 
 
 Prefer import to export duties, 263. 
 
 Principals non-resident in Africa, 115- 
 16, 142, 493, 513. 
 
 Relations with native traders, 482. 
 
 Relations with producers, 268-9, 477-9. 
 
 Representation on Legislative Council, 
 116, 262. 
 
 Research work, 601. 
 
 Seats on African Council, 176, 184. 
 
 Specialisation by, 508. 
 
 Taxation of, 268-9, 337-8. 
 MStayage, 245. 
 Middleman, 480. 
 Migeod (P. W.)— 
 
 Separation, judicial and executive, in 
 Congo, 540. 
 
 Taxation, French and Belgian Congo, 
 257. 
 Military — 
 
 Causes of disaffection of, 577. 
 
 Contribution in Eastern colonies, 275. 
 {See Defence.) 
 
 Co-operation with civil administration, 
 576. 
 
 Officers, character of, 132, 677-8. 
 
 Operations, how conducted, 582-4. 
 
 Suggestions regarding, 575-7. 
 Mill (J. S. ) : Relations of Home and 
 
 Indian Government, 163. 
 Miller (R.) : Quality of produce, 487. 
 Milner (Lord)— 
 
 Development, 498, 520. 
 
 Justifies official maiority, 119. 
 
 Labour, 235, 391-3." 
 
 Progressive policy of, 178, 190. 
 
 JRe Mandates, 51-2. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 635 
 
 Milner (Lord) {contd.)— 
 
 Eeseaxoh, 501-2. 
 
 Rhodesia, 24. 
 
 Rule through chiefs, 194, 227 
 
 Segregation, 149. 
 
 Trustee must promote self-help, 88. 
 
 West Africa not ripe for elected 
 councils, 116. 
 Minerals {see Royalties, Mining, feel- 
 Development of, 521. 
 
 Functions of Government re, 349-51. 
 
 Leases, &c. {see Mining). 
 
 Niger Company's share of, 24-6, 349. 
 
 Non-renewable assets, 259, 349. 
 
 Ownership of, 347-60. 
 
 iniug {see Royalties, Leases, Coal)— 
 
 Development of, 419, 521. 
 
 Labour for, 402, 419, 422. 
 
 1-aw and department of, 351. 
 
 Leases, rights, licences, 329, 335, 349- 
 
 Profi'ts from, 259-60, 360. 
 
 Surface rents, 338. 
 Missionaries, life of, 689. 
 Missions {see Christianity) — 
 
 Acquisition of land, 342-3. 
 
 As pioneers, 10, 586. 
 
 Attitude to politics, 587-8. 
 
 Co-operation with, 430, 439-40. 
 
 Criticise labour policy, Kenya, 393. 
 
 Education, 429-30, 438, 441, 458. 
 
 Government responsibility for, 590, 
 613. 
 
 Inadequate staff, 78, 590. 
 
 Receive freed slaves, 385. 
 
 Results of, 204-5, 429-30, 443, 586, 589. 
 
 Spheres of rivalry, 445, 688, 596. 
 
 To Moslems, 691-5. 
 
 To pagans, 590. 
 Model farms, 503-4. {See Agriculture.) 
 Molesworth (Sir G.) : Railway construc- 
 tion, 464. 
 Monopoly — 
 
 Adverse to native interests, 54, 269, 
 479. 
 
 Arguments for, 479-80. 
 
 By E.R.D.C., 273, 480. 
 
 By the State, 276, 480, 485. 
 
 Charters and mandates should pre- 
 clude, 26, 54. 
 
 Elizahethan, 27-8. 
 
 Hard to maintain, 479-80. 
 
 Niger Company's, 19-20, 479-80. 
 
 Opposed to British policy, 615. 
 
 Opposed to progress, 259, 479. 
 
 Varieties of, 479. 
 Monson (Consul W. J. ) — 
 
 Labour in Zanzibar, 403, 399, 414. 
 
 Slavery in East Africa, 363-4, 369, 390, 
 414. 
 Moral — 
 
 Instruction in schools, 432, 435-6. 
 
 Obligations, 68. 
 
 Right to intervene n Africa, 17-18. 
 
 Morel (E. D.)— 
 
 Crown agents, 494. 
 
 French colonial system, 184. 
 
 House-rule, 373. 
 
 Native policy, Nigeria, 228. 
 Morison(Sii-T.)— 
 
 African bureau, 6. 
 
 Amalgamation, East Africa, 182. 
 
 " Economic rent," 290, 
 
 Indian land law, 344, 
 Morley (Lord) — 
 
 India Council, 172, 
 
 Indian reforms, 116, 
 
 Lieut,-Govemor's Council, 128, 
 
 Railways, 463, 469, 
 
 Tendency to centralisation, 96, 
 Mosquito, 146, 147-50, 153, 
 Moton (Dr R. R.)— 
 
 Example of, 82-3, 85, 
 
 Negro education, 442. 
 Municipal, Municipality {see Town- 
 ship) — 
 
 Classes of, and powers, 672-3, 
 
 Must be financially independent, 86, 
 
 Outside jurisdiction of native courts, 
 207, 574, 
 
 Scope for educated native in, 85, 570-1, 
 
 Selection of councillors, 571. 
 Music, attraction of, for Africans, 69, 
 78. 
 
 Natal- 
 Indians in, 321, 417. 
 Produce inspection, 488. 
 Natalite, 474. 
 National — 
 Character moulded by responsibility, 
 
 58. 
 " Conference " {see Conference). 
 Native administration (chapters x., 
 xi.)— 
 Abolishes forced labour, 408-9. 
 Alien rulers, 209-10, 
 Appointment and education of rulers, 
 
 210-11, 213,215,220, 426, 
 Appreciation by Yola, 220, 
 Assess and collect tax, 207, {See Tax, ) 
 Criticisms of system, 203-5, 
 Description of, 200-5. 
 "Direct rule," 214-15, 219, 226. 
 Disintegration of tribal authority, 215- 
 
 17, 418, 460, 
 Financial control, 131, 208-9, 244, 
 In "advanced communities," 154, 200- 
 
 6, 212-13. 
 Interest in education and technical 
 progress, 211, 221, 444, 504, 521, 
 527-8, 618, 
 Limitations to independence, 205-7, 
 Methods of, 104, 194-6, 214-15, 
 Primitive communiti(;s, 214-19. 
 Prisons, 222 q.v. 
 
 Progress in Northern Nigeria, 201-3, 
 208, 249. 
 
636 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Native administration {contd.) — 
 
 Police, 203, 205 q.v. 
 
 Powers of chiefs, 206, 215, 284, 301. 
 
 Relation of British staff to, 128, 225-6. 
 
 Relation to native courts, 202, 548-9. 
 
 Revenues of, 207-8, 230, 253. 
 
 Rule through chiefs, 86, 94, 141, 204, 
 227-9, 
 
 Salaries, 219, 231, 243-4. 
 
 System in Kenya, 205, 216. 
 In India, Egypt, and French West 
 Africa, 226-8. 
 Natives — native — 
 
 Aliens under Suzerain only, 207. 
 
 As peasant occupiers, 153, 419. (See 
 Land.) 
 
 Control of, 41. 
 
 Description of, 66-73, &c. {See also 
 Educated native. ) 
 
 Industries, 73, 445-6. 
 
 In Government service, 87. 
 
 Law and custom, 39, 202, 206, 301, 
 312, 544, 549-50, 556, 558, 563. 
 
 Medical treatment of, 153-4. 
 
 Must be the producers in tropics, 397 
 507. 
 
 Reciprocity for benefits, 60, 274-6. 
 
 Representation of people, 118. 
 
 Reserves {see Reserves). 
 
 Responsibilities regarding, 57-8, 224. 
 
 Restriction of marliets, 54, 61, 269-73. 
 
 Rights, 270-1, 342, 486. 
 
 Status of, 39. 
 
 Under charters, 19, 21. 
 Nauru Island, mandate for, 55. 
 Navy, contribution to, 275. {See 
 
 Defence.) 
 Negroes and Negroids {see Africa 
 and Natives) — 
 
 Aboriginals driven to swamps, &c., 74. 
 
 Description of, 68-71. 
 
 Despotisms, 69, 75-6. 
 Neville (G.): Barter-trade, 490. 
 Niger Company (Royal) — 
 
 Annual leave, 106. 
 
 Charter, 14, 19. 
 
 Half royalties, 24, 349-50. 
 
 Monopoly by, 19, 479. 
 Niger river — 
 
 Irrigation, 519. 
 
 Navigation, 19, 519. 
 Nigeria. Not indexed in full. {Vide 
 passim) — 
 
 Accepts palm-kernel ordinance, 270. 
 
 Amalgamation, 100-2. 
 
 Area, population, and trade, 45, 66, 
 100, 154, 332, 610. 
 
 Committees on lands {see Lands). 
 
 Cost of, 609. 
 
 Cotton-growing, 624. 
 
 Council, 122-4. 
 
 Early conditions, 131, 140, 143-4, 198-9, 
 224-5, 618. 
 
 Education, 431, 452, 454. 
 
 Fulani rule, 232, 261. 
 
 Labour, 402, 405, 421. 
 
 Lands, 284-6, 289. 
 
 Minerals, 347-9. 
 
 Native administration, 221-3, &c. 
 
 (Northern) British rule established in, 
 129. 
 
 Railways, 463, 468-9. 
 
 Slavery, 368, 376. 
 
 Taxation, 236-7, 248, 253. 
 Nile- 
 Course of, 65, 619. 
 
 Sources in Uganda retained, 20-1. 
 Nomads, 73-4, 238, 532-3. 
 
 Absence of land tenure, 287. 
 
 Relations to settled tribes, 287. 
 Non-native {see European). 
 Nurses, 144, 151. 
 
 Training of, 457. 
 Nyasa, lake, 65. 
 Nyasaland — 
 
 Area, population, and trade, 45. 
 
 Acquisition of, 360. 
 
 Cotton, 525. 
 
 Early conditions, 29-30. 
 
 Education, 429, 458. 
 
 Labour, 394, 403, 405, 414, 422. 
 
 Land, 330. 
 
 Legislative Council, 38. 
 
 Minerals, 348. 
 
 Missions, 587. 
 
 Non-native settlement, 317, 323. 
 
 Outrage on Consul, 29-30, 357. 
 
 Railways, 501. 
 
 Slavery, 29, 359, 587. 
 
 Tax, 256. 
 
 Treaties, 15. 
 
 Official vote, 119. 
 
 Ofori Atta, Gold Coast chief : Claims of 
 the " National Conference." 85, 195, 
 429. 
 Oil-palm {see Palm). 
 Oils- 
 Concessions for mills, 485. 
 Mineral oils, 353. 
 Preparation of, 487, 511, 521-2. 
 Value and use of, 43. 
 Olivier (Sir S. ) {see Aborigines' Protec- 
 tion) — 
 European settlements, Africa, 41. 
 Forced labour, when justified, 411. 
 Native land titles, 293. 
 Native rights, 393. 
 Rights of Suzerain, 34. 
 Omdehs (village heads) in Sudan, 202. 
 O'Neill (Consul H. E.): Slave-trade, 
 
 358. 
 Onslow (Earl of) as Under-Secretary, 
 
 163. 
 "Open door." {See Free- trade and Im- 
 perial preference. ) 
 Ordinances, 38. 
 How enacted, 118, 637. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 637 
 
 Orr (Major C. J.)— 
 
 Conditions in N. Nigeria 144. 
 
 Labour, 404. 
 
 Policy in Nigeria, 228. 
 Osborne (W., Chief Justice, S. Nigeria)— 
 
 Disabilities of Supreme Court, 540. 
 
 Merger executive and judicial func- 
 tions, 539. 
 
 Practitioners in provincial courts, 544-5. 
 Ostrich-farming, 532. 
 Oxen — 
 
 In agriculture, 401, 516. 
 
 In transport, 474-5. 
 
 Pagans — 
 
 Description of, 681. (See Primitive 
 tribes.) 
 
 " HiU-top," 74, 222, 581. 
 Palm products — 
 
 Concessions for, 314. 
 
 Kernels Committee and ordinance, 
 268-70. 
 
 Preparation of, 43, 487, 511, 522, 
 
 Wine, 522, 603. 
 Palmer (H. R., Resident, Nigeria), 222. 
 Paper, manufacture of, 513. 
 Paris resolutions (see Economic). 
 Pastoral tribes (see Nomads). 
 Pawning of persons ("debt-slavery") — 
 
 In Africa, 384. 
 
 In Malaya, 385. 
 Pearson (Dr C. H.): Expansion unavoid- 
 able, 10. 
 Pease (J. A,, Lord Gainford): Slavery 
 
 debates, 1895, 369. 
 Ped-rail, 473. 
 Permanent ofBcials (see Colonial Office) — 
 
 Ability and high standards, 164. 
 
 Oppose continuous administration 
 scheme, 107-9. 
 
 Preserve continuity, 110. 
 
 Relations, local governments, 158-63. 
 Personation, 135, 252, 566. 
 Peters (DrK.)— 
 
 Expedition to Uganda, 20. 
 
 Forced labour scheme, 356. 
 Philippines (see Elliott, C, B.)— 
 
 Lands, 346. 
 
 Minerals, 348. 
 
 Policy in, 61. 
 Pioneers — 
 
 Government as, in Indian industries, 
 499. 
 
 Task of, 607-8. 
 Ploughs, use of, in Africa, 517. 
 Police — 
 
 Government, 205-6, 576. 
 
 Native, 203, 205. 
 Policy — 
 
 Continuity of, 103-4. (See Continuity. ) 
 
 Need for a definite, 6, 7, 99, 506. 
 
 Of British in Africa, 5, 116, 194, 509, 
 616-19. 
 
 Of Mandatories, 57-8. (&e Trustee.) 
 
 Political oflScers (see Resident, District 
 
 Officer) : Memoranda, 104. 
 Population — 
 Causes of restriction of, in Africa, 66-7, 
 
 589. 
 Increase of, in Europe, 3, 614. 
 Of British African tropics, 45-6, 80, 
 331-2. ' ' 
 
 Of French W. Africa, 46. 
 Of Germany, France, and others 
 (density), 66. 
 Polygamy, 67, 77, 588. 
 Portugal — 
 African colonisation by, 40, 60 
 Distilleries, 604. 
 Land decrees, 346. 
 Slavery, 356-7, 368. 
 Prain (Sir D.) re Gold Coast cocoa, 
 
 400. 
 Preferential duties (see Imperial pre- 
 ference. Free-trade) — 
 By Crown agents' system, 495. 
 On kernels and jute, 267-70. 
 Voluntary by natives, 272-4. 
 Premium, 269, 337. 
 Press (native), 80, 428, 439. 
 Price — 
 Conditions governing, in Africa, 261, 
 
 298, 478-80. 
 Not to be fixed for tax, 246. 
 Should vary with quality, 488. 
 Primitive tribes, characteristics, 73-5, 
 
 91, 221, 581. 
 Prisons — 
 Former conditions of, 199. 
 Labour, 423, 559. 
 
 Present conditions, 222, 560, 662, 565, 
 618. 
 Private — 
 Enterprise, 495, 499-500. 
 Plantations, ranches, &c., 504. (See 
 
 European.) 
 Practice, medical, 152. (See Medical.) 
 Practitioners, legal, 309, 544-5, 567-8. 
 Privy Council appeals, 538. 
 Produce for export — 
 Adulteration, 488. 
 Conditions re quality and quantity, 
 
 477-8. 
 Improvement of, 510-11, 621-26. 
 Inspection, 487-9. 
 Preparation of, 487, 510-11. 
 Specialisation in, 508. 
 Producer gas, 474. 
 Profit-sharing, 420, 525. 
 Profits- 
 Contrast merchant and miner, 258-60. 
 Nature and definition of, 238-9. (See 
 
 Tax.) 
 Of African trade shared by the public, 
 615. 
 Protectorates — 
 Definition, 35-37. 
 Jurisdiction in, 33-34. 
 
638 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Protectorates (contd.) — 
 
 Status of natives of, 36, 40. 
 
 Suggested abolition of, 38, 118. 
 
 Types of, 33-35. 
 Province, description of, 128, 131, 200. 
 Pruen (Dr S. T.) : Number of slaves ex- 
 ported, 355. 
 Punisbments — 
 
 By native despots, 69, 199, 558. 
 
 Capital sentences, 561-2. 
 
 Pines, 661. 
 
 Flogging, 560-1. 
 
 Imprisonment, 558-60. 
 
 Of women, 562. 
 Punitive expeditions, 135, 577-81. (See 
 Force.) 
 
 Racial equality, 86-87. (<Siee Colour. ) 
 
 Test of superiority, 76. 
 
 Types, 67-68. 
 Railway — 
 
 Acquisition of land for, 311. 
 
 Benefit of, 462-3, 472, 501. 
 
 Cape to Cairo, 464. 
 
 Cost of, 472, 467. 
 
 Dahomey, 466. 
 
 Disposal of revenue of, 470. 
 
 Freights, 611, 601. 
 
 In India, 99, 463-4, 469. 
 
 Malayan, 467-9. 
 
 Methods of construction, 464-9. 
 
 Narrow-gauge lines, 471-2. 
 
 Nigerian, 644. 
 
 Objectives of, 463-4. 
 
 Policy, 99, 464. 
 
 Reciprocity with French, 279, 464. 
 
 Standardisation of material, 470-1. 
 
 State ownership of, 469. 
 
 Suakim, 466. 
 
 Uganda, 462-3. 
 
 Workshops, site of, 470. 
 Rainfall, 65, 298-9, 528. 
 Ranching, 335, 532-3. 
 Ransom and self-redemption of slaves — 
 
 By native courts, 371-2. 
 
 Method of, 383-4. 
 Reciprocity — 
 
 By foreigners (see Free Trade). 
 
 By natives, 62. 
 Recreation, need of, 145. 
 Rees (Sir J. D.): Collective penalties in 
 
 India, 547. 
 Regulations — 
 
 Colonial, not a contract, 120. 
 
 How enacted, 118, 537-8. 
 
 Use of, 637. 
 Religion — 
 
 Influence of alien creeds, 76. 
 
 Ministration of, 596. 
 
 Natural, 69-70. 
 
 Teaching of, in schools, 435-7, 460. 
 Rents- 
 Disposal of, by chiefs, 310. 
 
 Effect on trade, 259. 
 
 How fixed, 318. 
 
 On land opposed to native law, 291, 
 
 289, 301. 
 Revision of, 293, 298, 336-7, 341. 
 Representative — 
 Government, 115. 
 
 Institutions not adapted to Africa, 194, 
 219-20. 
 Research — 
 Experimental, 503. 
 Laboratory, 502-3. 
 Object of, 501-2, 605-6. 
 Staff for, 503. 
 Reserve troops, 575. (See Troops. ) 
 Reserves (forest) (see Forests). 
 Reserves (native), 234 (see Interpeuetra- 
 tion) — 
 In Kenya, 323-6. 
 In S. Africa, 324, 326-8. 
 Resident — 
 Contrast Malaya and Nigeria, 129-31. 
 Duties of, 128-9, 201. 
 Judicial powers of, 539-44. 
 Retaliation (by tariffs), 278-9. 
 Revenue (Colonial) — 
 Belongs wholly to the colony, 54-6. 
 Realisation of, 462. 
 
 Sources of, in lands and minerals, 
 348. 
 Rhodes (Right Hon. Cecil) — 
 Dying words, 606. 
 Glen-Grey Act, 234, 326-7. 
 Mission education, 430. 
 Native freeholds and reserves, 294, 
 
 326-7. 
 Native progress, 85. 
 Obtains charter, 14, 22. 
 Supports scheme suppression of slave- 
 trade, Nyasa, 360. 
 Rhodesia — 
 Northern- 
 Advisory Council, 121. 
 Area, population, and trade, 45. 
 Control of schools, 439. 
 European tax, 260-1. 
 Future of, 22-3. 
 Labour, 405. 
 Land, 343. 
 Native tax, 257. 
 Southern — 
 Land case, 24, 262, 343-4. 
 Native problems, 65. 
 Ranches, 533. 
 Reserves, 328. 
 Eift Valley, 65. 
 Roads — 
 Comparative cost, 472-3. 
 Construction of, 463, 475-6. (See 
 
 Transport.) 
 Labour for, 408-9. 
 Nature of, 473. 
 Use of, 475, 501. 
 Romilly (Sir S.) : Flogging^, in England, 
 560. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 639 
 
 Roaebery (Earl of) revokes I.B.E.A. 
 
 Charter, 21. 
 Royalties — 
 
 How fixed, 260, 348, 352. 
 
 Hypothecated in Nigeria, 349-50. 
 
 Nature of, 348. [See Mining. ) 
 Rubber — 
 
 French inspection of, 488. 
 
 Preparation of, 487, 529. 
 
 Value and uses of, 44. 
 Ruxton (Capt. U. F. H.)— 
 
 Maliki land law, 288. 
 
 Slave law, 377, 383. 
 Ruxton (Mrs) on cookery, 151. 
 
 Salisbury (late Marquis of)— 
 Home Government does not help pio- 
 neers, 161. 
 Indian slave law, 368 
 Missionaries must be avenged, 590. 
 Recognises "effective occupation" 
 
 theory, 13, 34. 
 Supports Anti-Liquor Committee, 597. 
 Tribute to pioneers, 612. 
 Views on missions to Moslems, 591-2 
 Salt- 
 Price of, 266. 
 Sources of supply, 266. 
 Tax on, 264, 266. 
 Sambon (Dr L. W.)— 
 Health statistics, W. Africa, 151 . 
 Larger medical staff needed, 153. 
 Sanataria, need of, 142, 1 44-6. 
 Sanitation, progress by native adminis- 
 tration, 154, 222. 
 Sarraut (Mons. ) re Mandates, 52-3. 
 Schools — 
 Central industrial, 446. 
 Classes of, 438, 443-4, 450-1. 
 Control of "Venture," 430, 438-9. 
 Discipline and character-training, 430 
 
 et seq. 
 Fees, 458. 
 Gardens, 447. 
 
 Grants to "aided," 435, 439-41. 
 Inspection of, 435, 441, 452. 
 Monitors, 434-5. 
 Moslem, 438. 
 Religious and moral instruction in, 
 
 435-7. 
 Residential, 433, 440, 444, 455. 
 Staff of, 433-4, 440, 451-3. 
 Standards, 444, 461. 
 Sports, 435. 
 
 Syllabus of, 441, 461-2, 456. 
 Village, 444-6. 
 Secretary of State for Colonies, 156. 
 Anonymity of, 109, 168. 
 Autocracy and ministerial responsibil- 
 ity, 124, 168, 172» 
 Delegation of powers to Colonial Office 
 officials, 168, 185. 
 To Governors, 178-9, 185. 
 Touch with Governors, 111, 185. 
 
 Secretary (Under) of State for Colonies- 
 Parliamentary, 156. 
 Visits Africa, 169. 
 Permanent, 156-8, 166. 
 Duplication of, 165-8, 185. 
 Personal responsibility, 168. 
 Touch with overseas officials, 186. 
 Secretary (to Colonial Government)- 
 As Acting-Governor, 126-7. 
 Political, or for native affairs, 118, 
 187. 
 Segregation, 148-50. 
 In S. Africa, 327. 
 Of Indians in Kenya, 149, 322. 
 Selborne (Earl ot)— 
 Delay in Uganda railway, 462. 
 Reform at Colonial Office, 165. 
 Self-government — 
 Demand for, 53-4, 117, 184. 
 Methods of, 194-8. 
 The path to, 86. 
 Seychelles : Export duties, 263. 
 Sharpe (Sir A.l : African Council, 174. 
 Shuwa Arabs (Nigeria), 287, 524. 
 Sierra Leone — 
 Anti-Syrian riots, 90. 
 Area, population, and trade, 45, 80. 
 Education, 445, 453, 455, 458. 
 European colonisation, 40. 
 Freed slave settlement, 80, 588. 
 Hut tax, 85, 256. 
 Irrigation, 518. 
 Land, 304, 313. 
 Legislative Council, 38. 
 Native courts, 543. 
 Native rule, 199. 
 Secret societies, 221. 
 Slavery {see House-rule, Concubinage) — 
 Abolition must be gradual, 367, 369, 
 
 372, 374-5. 
 Abolition of the legal status of, 368-9, 
 
 390. 
 Apprenticeship and compensation, 
 
 367, 372. 
 Brussels Act, 368, 360-1. 
 Dealing in slaves, 384. 
 Effect of tax, 231, 233. 
 Efforts in Zanzibar, 357-8, 369-70. 
 Emancipation of thought, 294-6, 388. 
 In Moslem states, 367-8. 
 Methods of abolition of, 231, 367-9, 
 
 373-5. 
 Moral results of, 364-5, 355. 
 Moslem law re, 365, 364, 369, 377, 383. 
 Native courts, &c., 371-2, 383-4. 
 Nature of, 362-5. 
 Origin of, 354. 
 
 Prevalence in interior, 6, 366. 
 Prohibited in a colony, 37, 377. 
 Ransom and self-redemption, 364, 372, 
 
 376, 378, 383-4. 
 Results in Nigeria, 376-7. 
 Results of sudden abolition, 367-9. 
 Task of the past and future, 388. 
 
640 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Slavery (contd. ) — 
 
 Tribal, 363, 366. 
 
 Women, 364, 377-80, 885. 
 Sir vfi^^-^ 
 
 As chiefs, 213, 387-8. 
 
 Disposal of freed adults, 385. 
 
 Disposal of freed children, 385-6. 
 
 Domestic, 363-4, 373. 
 
 Employment of, 380-1. 
 
 Freed slave homes, 386. 
 
 Inheritance of, 386-7. 
 
 Predial, 363-4, 374. 
 Slave-raiding — 
 
 Description of, 5, 356, 358-9, 361, 618. 
 
 Gratitude of pagans at cessation of, 
 219. 
 Slave trade- 
 In children, 366, 384. 
 
 In Zanzibar, 357-60. 
 
 Promoted by salt trade, 266. 
 
 Suppression of, 4, 366-62, 613. 
 Sleeping-sickness, 92, 152-3, 534. 
 Smallpox, 92. 
 
 Smart (L.) : Oil-palm plantations, 486. 
 Smith (Adam) — 
 
 Chartered companies, 14, J3, 27, 28. 
 
 Defence v. opulence, 270. 
 
 Desire for profits, 238, 479. 
 
 Evolution of serfs, 354. 
 
 Exploitation, 60. 
 
 Pioneers of Empire, 23, 612. 
 Smith (Dr G. Elliot) : Need of interest in 
 
 life, 209. 
 Smuts (Right Hon. General) — 
 
 Education, 428. 
 
 Indians in Kenya, 321. 
 
 Mission of the Empire, 94. 
 Soap, manufacture of, 512, 
 Societies — 
 
 Philanthropic, 578. 
 
 Secret, 76, 221. 
 Soldiers — 
 
 Africans as, 574. (See Troops.) 
 
 Slaves as, or in employ of, 382. 
 Solf (Dr)— 
 
 View of Nigerian administration, 223. 
 
 Viiits W. Africa, 50. 
 Somaliland — 
 
 Area, population, and trade, 45. 
 
 Export tax, 263. 
 
 Labour capacity, 399, 404. 
 
 Origin of people, 67. 
 
 Status of people and country, 30, 34, 
 36. 
 South Africa (see Rhodes, Rhodesia) — 
 
 Company get charter, 21, 23. 
 
 Education, 428. 
 
 Labour, 393, 405. 
 
 Land, 24, 343-4. 
 
 Native reserves, 324, 
 
 Native tax, 257. , 
 Sovereignty in Africa — 
 
 Basis of, 11, 12, 16. 
 
 British theory of, 33-4. 
 
 Speed (Sir E. A., Chief- Justice, Nigeria), 
 Preface, ix. 
 Land cases in courts, 307. 
 Merger of judicial and executive, 539. 
 Practitioners in court, 544-5. 
 Re educated native, 81. 
 Supreme and Provincial Courts, 540, 
 544. 
 "Spheres of influence," 12, 32. 
 
 Evanescence of, 13-4. 
 Sports [see Recreation). 
 Spirits (see Liquor). 
 Staff— 
 (British)— 
 Adequacy of, 140, 143, 215, 224-5, 
 
 585. 
 Classification, 95, 137-8. 
 Duties, 95-6, 301, 308. 
 Interchange of, 186-7. 
 Leave conditions, 141. 
 Selection and training of, 138-9, 144, 
 
 186. 
 Wives, 141-2. 
 (Native) — 
 Agricultural, 504-5. 
 State (see Government). 
 Stobart (Captain S. E. M. ) : Account of 
 
 Fumban, 75. 
 Stock-breeding (see Ranching). 
 Stoddard (Dr Lothrop) — 
 Africa not fit for self-government, 82, 
 
 198. 
 American negro, 82. 
 Asiatic colonisation, 321. 
 Evils of miscegenation, 320. 
 Hayti, 85. 
 
 Increase, population in Europe, 3. 
 Straits Settlements (see Malaya). 
 " Strangers," 312-14. (See Land.) 
 Sturge : Apprenticeship of slaves, 367. 
 Sudan — 
 Agency, 494. 
 
 Area, population, and trade, 45, 66, 33'2. 
 British claim to, 30, 38. 
 Cotton, 420, 525. 
 Customs, 263. 
 Devastation by Mahdi, 356. 
 Economic Board, 492, 
 Education, 437, 439, 444-5, 454, 458. 
 Gordon College, 433, 449, 455-6, 458. 
 Governor - General and Council, 30, 
 
 106, 121. 
 Labour, 396. 405. 
 "Mahdis,"210. 
 Missions, 591-4, 596. 
 Railways, 465, 470. 
 Staff, 102, 188, 228. 
 Under Foreign OfBce, 30, 164. 
 Use of Nile water, 519. 
 Sugar, manufacture of, 512, 604. 
 Superstition (see Witchcraft). 
 Survey — 
 Geological, 502. 
 Training in, 450. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 641 
 
 Swaheli — 
 
 Language, 134. 
 
 People, 358. 
 Swettenham (Sir F. ) (see Malaya) — 
 
 Ability of Colonial Office officials, 161. 
 
 Colonial defence, 190. 
 
 Inspectors of colonies, 169. 
 
 Laud law, 345. 
 
 Latitude to Goyernors, 178-9. 
 
 Rail construction, 467-8. 
 
 "Residents," 130-1. 
 
 Rule through chiefs, 200. 
 
 Selection of staff, 138. 
 Sydenham (Lord) — 
 
 Indians, Kenya, 318. 
 
 New Indian reforms, 195. 
 
 The village panchayat, 202. 
 
 Value of District Officer, 132. 
 Syrians in Africa, 90. 
 
 Tanganyika territory — 
 Area, population, and trade, 45. 
 Indian settlement, 823. " 
 
 The lake, 65. 
 Tanneries, 511, 526. 
 
 Tariffs, preferential, 11, 610. [See Free- 
 trade, &c.) 
 Taring — 
 Colonial Regulations, 120. 
 Legislative Councils, 114. 
 On Crown colonies, 36, 38, 536. 
 Taxation (direct tax), chap. xii. — 
 Amount and rate, 207, 218, 234, 240, 
 
 251. 
 Assessment, 207, 239-49. 
 Cattle tax, 239, 247, 251. 
 Classes liable to, 251-2. 
 Collateral advantages of direct tax, 
 134-5, 201, 218, 230-3, 250-1, 253-4, 
 293. 
 Collection and disposal of, 201, 208, 
 
 231, 241-3, 250-2. 
 Contrast with indirect taxes, 235-6. 
 Former tax-gatherers, 232, 241. 
 History of and results, N. Nigeria, 232, 
 
 236-7. 240-1. 
 Hut tax, 237, 252, 256-7. 
 Incidence of, 266, 258 et seq. 
 Indirect (see Imports, Exports, 
 
 Customs, &c.) 
 Koranic law, 232. 
 Labour as substitute, 251, 411. 
 Land tax, 237, 246, 289, 293. 
 On Europeans and alien companies, 
 
 258-63. (See European.) 
 On income, 234, 237-40, 245, 262. 
 On primitive communities, 218-9, 231-4, 
 
 249-50. 
 Paid in cash, 99, 251. 
 Poll-tax, 234, 237, 249-50. 
 The right to impose, 206, 245. 
 To compel wage labour, 234, 327. 
 Tribute recognised by native custom, 
 218, 231-2, 250. 
 
 2 
 
 Temple (C. L., late Lieut.-Govcrnor North 
 Nigeria), 222. 
 Drunkenness among pagans, 604. 
 Territorial (extra) allegiance, 213, 241-2, 
 
 565. 
 Tew (Mrs) on cookery, 151. 
 Textiles, local manufacture, 513. 
 Thompson (H. N.) on forestry, 299, 316, 
 
 527-9. (&e Forests.) 
 Tile-making, 146, 612. 
 Timber, preparation of, 512, 529. (See 
 
 Forests.) 
 Tin, preferential duty, 270. 
 Tingey (Paul) re palm produce, 622. 
 Tobacco, cultivation of, !;31. 
 Togoland (British)— 
 Area and population. 45. 
 Mandate for, 52. 
 Tax in, 257. 
 Toutee (General) on treaty-making, 16. 
 Townsend (Meredith) : Lack of achieve- 
 ment of negroes, 82, 198. 
 Townships (see Municipality). 
 Trade, chap. xxiv. (see also Mercha 
 Middleman, Price, &c.)— 
 African and Indian traders, 481-2, 
 
 489. 
 Commissioners, 494. (See Commercial 
 
 Intelligence.) 
 Company registration, 260, 482. 
 Credits, 481. 
 Economic Boards, 492-4. 
 Effect of war, 267-8, 611. 
 Journal and reports, 492. 
 Local department of, 91-2, 506. 
 Nature of, 264, 477, 494, 511-12, 610-11. 
 Progress of, 498, 609-12. 
 Relations of Government to, 483-4, 
 
 499-600. 
 Statistics, British African tropics, 44-5. 
 Taxation of, 233. 
 Transport, chap, xxiii. (see Railways, 
 Roads) — 
 Carriers, 402, 422-3, 461-2, 474. 
 Carts, 475. 
 
 Draught animals, 461, 474-5. 
 Importance of, and cost, 5, 461-2. 
 Mechanical road, 472-3. 
 Saving of, 511. 
 Travelling by staff, need for, 134-6, 566. 
 Treasury — 
 Imperial — 
 Cimtrol, 98, 140, 144, 162-3. 
 Lord Salisbury on, 161. 
 Native — 
 In advanced communities, 200-1, 209. 
 In primitive tribes, 219, 250. (See 
 Native Administration. ) 
 Treaties — 
 As valid claims to sovereignty, 11, 15. 
 Nature of (native), 11-12, 16-18, 54, 
 
 57. 
 Of Versailles, 48-60, 57, 62-3, 599. 
 With Zanzibar (slave-trade), 357. 
 
 S 
 
642 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Tribal- 
 Breakdown of authority, 215-17, 418, 
 460. 
 
 Evolution, 61-79. 
 
 Political frontiers, 53, 99. 
 Trigge (J. E.) : Produce inspection, 489. 
 Trinidad — 
 
 Indian colonisation in, 321, 415. 
 
 Labour, 403. 
 
 Minerals, 349. 
 
 Taxation of Europeans, 261. 
 Trooj)S — 
 
 Eagerness in tbe war, 575, 610. 
 
 Suggestions regarding, 575-7. {See 
 Military. ) 
 
 Use of, 205-6, 582-4. (>Sce Force.) 
 Tropical Schools of Medicine, 151. 
 Tropics — 
 
 Area, population, and trade of British 
 African, 44-45, 182, 331. 
 
 British policy in, 616-19. 
 
 Contrast temperate zones, 43. 
 
 Cost of, 609-10. 
 
 Description, country and people, chap, 
 iv., 65-6, 138. 
 
 Exchanges of, 54. 
 
 Not colonisable, 40, 152. 
 
 Products of, 43-4, 615. 
 
 Progress of, 498, 606. 
 
 Value of, 3, 7, 10, 43-4, 61, 609-15. 
 Trustee — 
 
 Best judge of what is best, 119. 
 
 Claim for reciprocity, 275. 
 
 Dual obligations of, 17-18, 60. 
 
 For material development, 42, 54-5, 
 60-1, 416, 486, 509. 
 
 For moral welfare, 50, 57-8, 210, 224, 
 250. 
 
 For native rights, 270-1. 
 
 Principles of, 88, 91-2, 270-1, 273. 
 
 Task, how discharged, 606. 
 
 With indolent ward, 400, 418. 
 Tsetse-flv, 461, 534. 
 
 Tugwell(H., Bi.shop of West Equatorial 
 Africa) : Criticisms of native rule, 
 Nigeria, 223-4. 
 
 Uganda — 
 Acquisition of, 10, 20-21, 360. 
 Area, population, and trade, 45, 153, 
 
 610-11. 
 Changes of Governor, 105. 
 Concessions, 485. 
 Cotton, 490, 525, 617. 
 Early condition of, 17, 69, 76, 205, 
 
 617. 
 Education, 429, 458. 
 European tax, 260. 
 Evolution of people, 70, 72, 204, 211, 
 
 231. 
 Fidelity of chiefs, 71. 
 Indians in, 320-1. 
 Labour, 404-5, 413-14. 
 Lands, 329-30. 
 
 Minerals. 347. 
 
 Missions^ 587, 342. 
 
 Modern progress, 78. 
 
 Native courts, 199-200. 
 
 Native tax, 235, 251, 256, 411. 
 
 Ploughs, 517. 
 
 Railway, 462-3. 
 
 Rule through chiefs, 119. 
 
 Slavery, 363. 
 Uniformity in details of policy undesir- 
 able, 104, 193-4, 211, 219. 
 Union Coloniale views re liquor traffic, 
 
 600. 
 United States {vide America). 
 UnolBcials — 
 
 Of Legislative Council, 114-19. 
 
 Of the Executive Council, 120. 
 Unrest — 
 
 A sign of progress, 618. 
 
 Caused by lack of touring, 135. 
 
 Increased by prosperity, 117. 
 By inadequate staff, 585. 
 Unwin (Dr A. H., Forest Oflicer)— 
 
 Cocoa on Gold Coast, 400, 525-6. 
 
 Forestry in Nigeria, 529. 
 
 Taxes in Togoland, 257. 
 
 Vaccination, 92, 153-4. 
 
 Vegetables, 150, 153, 531. 
 
 Vehicle licences, 255. 
 
 Venereal disease, 66, 92, 153-4, 482, 524,, 
 
 600. 
 Versailles Treaty, 48-50. 
 
 Achievement of, 57. 
 
 Article 22, 62-3, 197. 
 Veterinary research and training, 450, 
 
 501-5. 
 Victoria, lake, 66. 
 Village — 
 
 Area of lands, 299-300. 
 
 Councils, 202, 248. 
 
 Headmen, 239, 243, 245, 247, 249-50. 
 
 Schools, 244-6. {See Schools. ) 
 
 The unit of administration and taxa- 
 tion, 202, 244-5. 
 
 Wages {see Labour) — 
 
 Advantages of, 419. 
 
 Method of payment of, 405. 
 
 Of apprentices, 448-9. 
 
 Rate of, 394, 396, 404-5, 443. 
 
 Wage-labour not unpopular, 402-3. 
 Waghorn (Colonel W. ) : Report on Lagos 
 
 railway, 467. 
 Wahima — 
 
 Found dynasties, 74. 
 
 Origin, 67. 
 Wakf lands, 288. 
 Waller (Rev. H.)— 
 
 Anti-liquor crusade, 597. 
 
 Losses of Navy in suppression slave- 
 trade, 358. 
 
 Re scheme for suppression slave-trade, 
 359-60. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 643 
 
 Wallis (Secretary, Uganda)— 
 
 Excess of troops, 275. 
 
 Indians in Uganda, 322. 
 War, eflfects of, 225, 267-8, 611. 
 
 Assistance of colonies, 610. 
 
 Attitude of chiefs in Nigeria, 222-3 
 Washington (Booker) — 
 
 Education, 442, 
 
 Example of, 82, 86. 
 
 Work of educated negro, 85. 
 Waterways — 
 
 Development of, 462. 
 
 For agriculture, 518-20. 
 
 Supply for consumption, 147-8, 153, 
 208. 
 Watson (J. B. ) : Formation of character, 
 
 436. 
 Welch (T.) r« liquor traffic, 601-2. 
 Wells and well-boring, 518. 
 West African — 
 
 Area, population, and trade, 45, 282. 
 
 Chartered Companies, 19-24. 
 
 Colonies threatened by France {see 
 French aggression). 
 West Indies — 
 
 Labour, 403, 415. 
 
 Land, 345. 
 
 Slavery, 367. 
 Whittaker: Ownership of land, 281, 290. 
 Wild Animals Convention, 35. 
 Wilkinson (K. J., Governor, Sierra 
 Leone) — 
 
 Education, 445, 453. 
 
 Irrigation, 518. 
 Williams (Basil) : Policy of Mr Rhodes. 
 
 234, 327. 
 Williams (Sapara, Lagos Council) : True 
 
 path for educated native, 89. 
 Wilson (Rev. Chas. ) : Slavery in Uganda, 
 
 363. 
 Wilson (G. H., Nyasaland) — 
 
 African as a worker, 401. 
 
 Break-up of tribal control, 216, 403. 
 Wingate (General Sir F. R.)— 
 
 Annual leave of, 106. 
 
 Missions in Sudan, 393. 
 
 Witchcraft- 
 Bast and West Africa, 69, 75. 
 
 Punishment of, 563-4. 
 Witnesses, detention of, 541. 
 Wives in tropics, 141-2. 
 Women — 
 
 As husbands, 387. 
 
 As labourers, 238, 369, 401, 517. 
 
 As producers, 251. 
 
 As slaves and concubines, 377-80. 
 
 Conditions of life of, 91, 588. 
 
 Education of, 457. 
 
 Punishment of, 462. 
 
 Under Moslem law, 562. 
 Woolf(L.)- 
 
 Fighting in Africa, 362. 
 
 International control in Africa, 56. 
 
 Labour in Kenya, 394. 
 
 Yorubas — 
 As "advanced" pagans, 70, 204, 211, 
 
 231, 241. 
 As labourers, 401. 
 Cloth work, 70. 
 Land tenure, 283. 
 Language of, 134. 
 Superstitious rites, 76. 
 Taxes, 232. 
 
 Zanzibar — 
 
 Area, population, and trade, 45. 
 
 History and power of, 76, 357-9. 
 
 Labour, 367, 403. 
 
 Land law, 288-9. 
 
 Liquor law, 604. 
 
 Residents' Council, 34, 121. 
 
 Slavery and slave-trade, 357-9, 361, 
 367, 370. 
 
 Under Colonial Office, 34, 
 Zebehr Pasha on slavery, 355, 365. 
 Zebra, domestication of, 532. 
 Zimmermann (Emil) — 
 
 Africa colonisable, 40. 
 
 England's ''open door," 11. 
 
 Use of Africans, 356. 
 Zulus, dynasty of, 74. 
 
Printed in Great Britain hy 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS. 
 
-fcnm