AFRICAN PROBLEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 96, 24 April 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

AFRICAN PROBLEMS.

A SCIENTIST'S VIEW.

WHITE AND BLACK INTERESTS

(By H.T.C.)

It was a wise thing on the part of the British Government ■ to send Mr. Julian Huxley to East Africa to report on the education systems there, if only because this book* is the outcome. Mr. Huxley spent some four months in the British Protectorates of Kenya and Uganda and in the British Mandate of Tanganyika, and he has written a book which will interest a very great variety of readers. The scientist, lawyer, politician and religious-minded person will each find something in the book which will arouse his interest. It is a curious case of a man of scientific training in one branch of science (Mr. Huxley was a professor of biology) using that training in the examination of questions quite different from his own especial line. The result is a most valuable contribution to African literature. East African Divisions. East Africa is one. of the most remarkable regions of the globe, and investigations into its natural features alone are only begun. It has three very high mountains, lakes large and small, some most remarkable volcanic systems, rolling plains and plateaux, and, most wonderful of all, the extraordinary rift valleys which bisect the country east and west of Victoria Nyanza. This country contains a wealth of animal and vegetable . life of infinite variety, and is inhabited by equally diverse tribes of natives. , To make the book more fascinating, Mr. Huxley has mixed up descriptions of his journeys with a discussion of the problems which came under his notice as he went along. Each division of the country has its own particular difficulties. Uganda is a protectorate over two or three kingdoms, which were well organised before ever the English took a hand in matters at all. On the whole, things run more smoothly here than in either Kenya or Tanganyika. Though the Administration acts more directly than formerly, it encourages the native kingdoms to do their own governing as much as possible. Here are to be seen the best results of the missionary societies in their religious education and medical work, ~vnd there are few white settlers. Varying Difficulties. Kenya is, on the other hand, a Crown colony, with a large number of white settlers in the highlands round Nairobi, the capital, and from their presence there arises most of the potential difficulties which beset the future in East ■ Africa. The Government is direct, and it is the difficulty of doing justice to the blacks and at the same time satisfy the demands of the whites that consti-i tutes the danger. Mr. Huxley deals

with these matters very fully. Tanganyika is the old German East Africa, held under, mandate from the League of Nations. Here the difficulties are fewer. The idea of governing in the interests of the natives is paramount, and there are few white settlers. The government is "fatherly," but "indirect" rather than "direct" methods are followed. The natives are encouraged to govern themselves, subject to British control. This has some strange results to European ideas. We find in the book some quaint instances of white administrators gravely confirming decisions of native judges which would seem to us ridiculous. To attempt to deal seriatim with all the matters in Mr. Huxley's pages would be impossible in a short compass, so many and varied are they. Some, however, are particularly interesting and important in view of the future of the country. Most interesting is his account of the iand holding system of the Kikuyu tribe, and he shows that though, to understand it, it is necessary for an Englishman to "stand on his head," it is very sensible in its working and well suited to tne requirements of the natives, and he deprecates any attempt to bring it in conformity with our ideas. He also deals with the methods adopted in East Africa, and especially in Tanganyika, to deal with the tsetse fly, and the way in which the natives are beginning ,to assist the authorities. The chapter on missions will be unpalatable to some, but it contains much sound sense. Mr. Huxley, though "heterodox," is not against Christian missions, and gives them all praise for the way in which they paved the way for future development, the self-sacrificing lives of most missioners, and the magnificent work they have done in connection with medical and educational directions, but he sees much for criticism, especially the divided nature of the work owinj to the prejudices of the various religious bodies. This, however, he says is improving, as there is a strong attempt at co-ordina-tion among the Protestant bodies. The question of religion is closely allied to that of education, the particular department which Mr. Huxley went out to study. Here he emphasises the necessity for some coherent system in the different administrations. He found in different parts of East Africa, schools of all sorts, with different aims and scope, and he thinks something should be done to bring them more into line with a settled purpose. He sees in the college under the C.M.S. in Uganda, the beginning of a university for East Africa. The Dominant Question. But overshadowing every question m East Africa is the age-long one of the relations between white and black. At one-extreme is the white settler, who is convinced of the superiority of his race, and regards the black merely , as means of obtaining cheap labour to work his land. Such a one is opposed to all attempts at raising the native by education or missionary zeal, and is equally against encouraging him to produce articles to export. In other words, he believes firmly in keeping the black man "in his place," which means the bottom.

This class of person is to be found mainly in Kenya, where his presence is a serious problem. The action of the Government in' not "precisely defining the boundaries of native reserves and of the land held by the white settlers who have, in many cases, encroached on the native reserves, has caused widespread unrest and distrust of the Administration among the native tribes. In Tanganyika white settlers are not encouraged, and their influence is negligible, but in Kenya they are numerous enough to tlaim a predominating voice in the Government, which they would use in their own interests. For this reason Mr. Huxley is strongly in favour of keeping East Africa under the control of the Colonial Office, and retaining the Colonial Secretary's right of veto. He points out the effect of the representative Government in Rhodesia, where the right of veto, though in force, will become obsolete through desuetude, a bad thing for the native inhabitants. White Superiority. Mr. Huxley asks: "Is the white man superior to the black?" and he answers the question "Yes—perhaps." Ho says that after all no really exhaustive test of the relative intelligence of various races has been taken. The white man's superiority has so far been so taken for granted that no inquiry into the question has been thought necessary. But Mr. Huxley is very definitely of opinion that it will be necessary—very necessary—in the near future. From his observations he thinks that the educated white does show on the whole a superiority to the native, but that there are a very large proportion of whites who are no more intelligent—often less so—than the black, and the black is waking up to the fact slowly but surely. It is no good, Mr. Huxley thinks, for the white man to go on as he has been doing. He must accept the fact that the black will learn the arts and civilisation of the white whether the latter will or no, and "the best thing is for the white, especially the Administration, to turn the black man's longing for improvement into the wisest and best channels and above all to give him a predominant voice (subject to proper safeguards) in his own government. It is no use any longer to go on treating him as a child. By this means, perhaps, in the future will arise a new Africa, with a civilisation of its own, suited to the needs of its people, and vet not antagonistic to, but rather collateral, with that of older lands. * "Africa View," by Julian . Huxley (Chatto and Windus).