THE GERMAN COLONIES

Evening Star, Issue 21286, 15 December 1932, Page 14

THE GERMAN COLONIES

There is a good case for giving Germany the mandate for Tanganyika, but it is not strengthened by the plea that she needs an outlet for her redundant population, writes Theodore Morrison in the ‘ Spectator.’ Before the war the total number of German men, women, and children in her Colonial Empire was between 24,000 and 25,000 only. On the other hand, it is not true to say that the German administration in Tanganyika was, on the whole, bad. When as Senior Political Officer I inspected the conquered districts in which we were then (1917-18) trying to set up an administration, 1 used generally to ask the young English officer in charge: “What sort of a fellow was the German who preceded you here? ” The reply in most cases was: “He seems to have been rather a good fellow; he knew his district and the people appear to have liked him.” There were, I know, some flagrant exceptions, but these were survivals from the bad early days in which military non-commissioned officers were appointed to civilian posts. This system had been changed before the outbreak of the war by the Colonial Minister, Dernburg, I think, who introduced the British principle of appointing a small number of well-educated and well-paid men to the positions of command. The new system of appointments had not ■permeated the whole country when the war broke out, and the consequence was that the administration was still very “patchy”; some districts were well and humanely administered; in others much cruelty prevailed. 1 could give evidence of this from the pen of indignant Germans. But the administration was beyond doubt improving, and in some places had reached a high standard. The patchiness in the administration was made possible by a very decentralised form of government which allowed great power of initiative to tho local officer. Major Orde Browne, who was then at Lindi. was the first to call my attention to this feature of German administration; he said that for the district officer it must have been a delightful regime. When quoting particular instances of German barbarism be should bear this in mind. 1 do not remember to have heard of legalised slai'ery outside Lindi. It was certainly not universal.

1 very warmly support Major Orde Browne’s plea that Tanganyika should be administered for the benefit of the inhabitants, and I am much encouraged by learning that he with his wide experience and exacting standard is satisfied that the Mandates Commis-

siou of the League of Nations does effectively protect the interest of the ‘‘unfortunate native population.” But is there any reason why this protection should be extended only to those Africans who were once German subjects? I sometimes dream that England might set a courageous example to all European nations who possess territory in tropical Africa by inviting the Mandates Commission of the League to make a periodical inspection of Kenya and Uganda and to publish a report, exactly as if these Colonies were mandated territories. Then we should know whether the settlers of Mr Norman Leys were right. And the good of it would not stop there. If England had the greatness to submit her administration in tropical Africa to this test, neither Belgium nor Portugal would dare not to follow suit, and I am quite confident that a party in Franco would demand the same policy. We might then see an honourable emulation in the Colonial Offices of Europe to win the praise of the Mandates Commission. That would indeed be a happy sequel to the scramble for the partition of Africa, and in that emulation I should like to see Germany play her part.