NO RACIAL STRIFE

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30271, 25 October 1963, Page 19

NO RACIAL STRIFE

Life In Ghana Described

Ghana was free from the strife between black and white peoples. Both worked and relaxed together, said Mrs D. A. Kidd in a talk to members of the Christchurch branch of the United Nations Association. Mrs Kidd was talking about seven years she spent in Ghana, last evening. The reason was probably the fact that whites had never settled permanently in the country and the tribes had retained ownership of their lands. Until recently Europeans had left the country during the wet season for health reasons. The normal tour of duty was from 18 to 24 months, she said. The individual white had never owned land in West Africa. The big companies had negotiated leases and were given 99-year concessions to certain areas.

Ghana at the moment had no tourist trade. Each person had to have an entry permit before being allowed into the country. A white person was not able to look for work after he arrived and had to have a definite job to go to, said Mrs Kidd. The Ghanaians were a remarkably happy people. Life was leisurely with the result that there was no real mental health problem, said Mrs Kidd. “No-one has introduced them to psychologists or told them they are liable to neuroses.” It was another story for those who were mentally deficient, however, and there w’as a great need to expand the mental hospitals, she said.