DEVELOPMENT OF TANGANYIKA

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26874, 29 October 1952, Page 6

DEVELOPMENT OF TANGANYIKA

COLONIAL SERVICE’S PROBLEMS

Some of the problems with which the Colonial Service had to deal in the administration and development of Tanganyika were described by Mr C. S. Kernahan in an address to the annual meeting of the Canterbury Employers’ Association yesterday afternoon. Mr Kernahan, who is the son of Mr L. C. Kernahan. assistant secretary of the association, is a district officer in the Colonial Service in Tanganyika. Mr Kernahan said that the aim of the administration in Tanganyika was to ensure that the inhabitants had an increasing and effective part in governing the territory. But the inhabitants were slow to accept changes even when it had been painstakingly explained to them that such changes would benefit them.

To instil into the people a sense of civic responsibility, the administration was trying to organise younger people, who were less averse to progressive change, into councils to assist the chiefs. Mr Kernahan said. By educating the people in local government, it was honed to bring them eventually to self-government, and to make them a useful part of the Commonwealth.

One of the main problems of the administration was the development of natural resources, said Mr Kernahan. The main product of Tanganyika was sisal, which was quite a big dollar earner. Tanganyika was the biggest exporter of sisal in the world. The native people were on a subsistence economy, and grew only enough food for themselves. The great problem was to persuade them to grow enough food for all the year, and enough to supply the labour population. Mr Kernahan said that a 10-year economic development plan had been drawn up for Tanganyika. Nearly half the cost would be met by Britain. It was planned to develop all communications, housing, agriculture, and the water supply. Over-population was a problem in some areas.