TO-MORROW IN AFRICA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 10, 6 October 1917, Page 10

TO-MORROW IN AFRICA

FUTURE GOVERNMENT OF THE

BLACK RACES

GERMANY'S LOST COLONIES

(By "H.W.H." in the Now York "Evening Post").

Those who maintain that every war creates more problems thau it solves may have their opinion confirmed by the prosont struggle. It looks just now as though tho scopo of tho Peace' Conference will be encyclopaedic. Unfortunately, little has yet been done to preparo the way for its deliberations. The limitations on public discussion have prevented anything like ii thorough canvassing of even the principal issues involved. It was in order to explore one of these topics that the Anti-Slavery Society, with which the Aborigines Protection Society is now incorporated, called a conference recently in which several prominent men took part. Its object was to consider "the future of the inhabitants' of Germany's conquered colonies." 'The society is itself non-political, and the chairman, .Sir T. Victor Buxton, Bart, a descendant of the Buxton who co-operated with Wilberforce, urged at tho outset that the discussion should confine itself to tho interests in this specific region. As the conference proceeded, this was found to be impossible. The .Peace Congress ■ itself will have to take into account strategic safeguards and uunierons other factors, and the speakers could not ignore them. It was pointed out.furtW, that, even if the welfaro of nctive races alone were considered, any proposals for their betterment would havo to apply to the whole of Africa and not merely to tho conquered territory. Ono speaker, a coloured man, urged that tho interests of all the coloured races—not only in Africa, but also in the West Indies and in America—should be grouped, and that their grievances should be dealt with by a commission to bo established after the war. This would include a review of some very delicate questions of administration within the British Empire; as, for instance, whether tho present method of- government in South Africa could be defended. It was pointed out that tho society would lay itself open to the charge of hypocrisy if it advanced suggestions for the future of Germany's tropical and subtropical colonies, and had nothing '.o say about the application of its awn doctrines to Egypt or India. The Powers bad accepted the system of parcelling out tho less civilised parts of the world r.mong themselves, and, if that -was to bo broken down, the new methods should be applied all round, and uot to one particular European Power. On the other hand, it was urged that it would not be wise to bring the wholo of Africa now into tho ■hotch-potch. It was n counsel of perfection to try to resettle the whole world. A commission could not bo deferred i:ntil after the war. Something would have to be decided very soon, and tho society should make some definite recommendations before the settlement waa handed over to tho diplomatists, who would probably regard the native races as Tiavmg no economic interests of their own, and would simply move them about as pawns on the international ■-chess-board.

Must Not be Restored to Germany. On certain points those who took part in the conference seemed to be practically in agreement. There was a general conviction that it was not to be thought of that the conquered African territories -whatever might happen to those in. the rest of the world—should be restored to Germany. Sir Harry Johjiston empha. siscd the factor of Imperial safety. The utterances of responsible statesmen, no said, showed that it was Germany's intention to organise her African colonies in the future so ns to split, the British and French colonial Empires. Schemes were under way to transform German tropical Africa into a vast slave state, in which millions of black men should be drilled into an unconquerable army that would make Germany mistress of the resources of the Dark Continent. Sir Victor Buxton declared that the society possessed abundant evidence .that compulsory labour had already prevailed m these colonies. During the war their inhabitants had welcomed the Allied loicea as their deliverers from oppression, and there was the gravest danger that, it the colonies were returned to Germany, the natives would be exposed to terri>le reprisals. In this connection there must be remembered the possibilityoverlooked by the speakers at the con-lerence-that a League of Nations might make such arrangements as would both remove the latter danger and moke strategic considerations no longer a matter of vital importance to. any European Every one accepted the doctrine that, in any case, the wishes of the native population should be consulted in any peace settlement. This was ft practical corollary both of President Wilson's declarations of policy and of a recent statement of Lloyd George's in one of his speeches in Scotland. It was unthinkable to propose that the wishes of the ■inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine, Poland, the Balkan States, etc., should be consulted and those of the people of tropical Africa ignored. The one doubt aroso from the presumed difficulty of ascertaining the real opinion of countries in such a backward state of civilisation. Where the inhabitants socially and politically grown up sufficiently to judge for themsElves? There were some districts into which no white man had yet penetrated. How many years would it be before a commission appointed to elicit their opinions would be able to present its report? On the other hand, it was inantained that there were means of ascertaining' national sentiment on big political issues, even if a popular vote could not be taken. All existing protectorates were based on treaties witli native chiefs, usually supported by councils, and, if. the various peoples were capable of making such arrangements thirty years ago, surely they were not less able to express their opinions now. „,, John H. Harris, tho secretary of the society, who has spent several years in tropical Africa, first as a missionary and then as a traveller, gave an interesting example of the capacity of the native races to draw nice distinctions. When contingents of native labour were tucruited recently for labour in France, there was at first some anxiety because the Basutos did not volunteer in largo numbers. An explanation was for. • Then- objection was found to be due to the fact that the recruits were being raised by the Union Government of South Africa and not by the Imperial Government. The Basutos were 'afraid that, by engngjng in the service Df the Union Government they would bo committing themselves to entering tin Union of South Africa, a policy to which they were opposed. Tho demand thai the opinion of the 'natives should bt consulted was endorsed, however, bj some speakers only with tho proviso thai they should not bo left to themselves, even if they pronounced in favour ol absolute independence. Their welfare said Sir Harry Johnston, must bo considered as well as their wishes. Tlibj would have to undergo tutelage for s considerable period before they wero fil for self-government. If East Africa, foi instance, were left to its inhabitants, il would soon be seething with internecini warfare, and the slave trado would be revived.

Scheme of International Government. A suggestion that has begun to attract attention in England lately is that th« difficulty might bo solved by a scheme of international government. Noel Btwton, M.P., argued that the interests of the natives might best be secured by a system of international control, which would prohibit the exploitation of native races, discriminating tariffs, and warlike establishments of any kind, except for police purposes. The conference passed a resolution: That in any reconstruction of Africa which may result from this war. the interests of the native inhabitants, and also their wishes so far as those wishes can be clearly ascertained,' should bo recognised as among the principal factors on which a decision as to theiridestiny should bo based. Such a resolution may, perhaps, seem rather raguo, but it appe&re to be as far

as any conference of that kind could go at present without tangling itself up in the complications mentioned in the beginning of this letter. And it will be something if public opinion can bring pressure to bear upon Peace Congress to fho extent of securing -that, whatever the scheme adopted, the European colonies in Africa should not bo regarded simply as a soruce of profit to the protecting Powers.