DEVELOPMENT OF GOLD COAST

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27591, 23 February 1955, Page 14

DEVELOPMENT OF GOLD COAST

MOVE TOWARDS SELF GOVERNMENT

Developments toward sett-govern-ment on the Gold Coast, were described by Mr J. N. Matson in an interview when he returned on furlough to his home in Christchurch from the position in the Colonial Service which he has held since 1940.

The new constitution of 1950 had resulted in the Gold Coast now having a complete legislature and cabinet, Mr Matson said, although the Governor still retained some powers concerning law arid order and the civil service. A local civil service would take over in July, from which date the Secretary of State in London would virtually hand over his administrative responsibilities. It was the expressed policy of the British Government to grant self-government, but it was not yet certain when this transition would be complete, Mr Matson said. To augment its own civil service, the Gold Coast had stepped up the numbers going to British universities and elsewhere for training, Mr Matson continued. The thriving new University College of the Gold Coast, affiliated with the University of London, was also doing much in this direction. The college was by no means full, as the intake from the secondary schools could not yet match the many new opportunities offered under the new constitution.

Local government also had undergone many reforms, Mr Matson said. The native pattern of rule by chief and elders had been gradually adapted, so that since 1951 there had been fully elected local bodies. The white settlers voted in these elections and were eligible as candidates. In practice the members had been elected entirely from the native races.

Industry was expanding by leaps and bounds. Mr Matson said the principal exports were cocoa (half the world’s supply), gold, strategically important manganese, timber, and diamonds. Biggest of the new proposals was a scheme to refine aluminium, instead of exporting the bauxite. This would involve the construction of a very big dam and probably the construction of a second harbour. Proposals were now under investigation by the Gold Coast Government, the British Government, and Canadian aluminium interests.