SWAZILAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 May 1930, Page 9

SWAZILAND

FUTURE OF PROTECTORATE

Swaziland, says the “Times Weekly,” is one of the three South African territories —the others being Basutoland and Bechuanaland —which were excluded from absorption in the Union of South Africa at the passing of the South African Act, the instrument unifying the four colonies. Since the natives, the Swazis are tractable and law-abiding, and the whole land is habitable and fertile, Swaziland offers an admirable field for one of the most interesting experiments of the Empire —the coincident development of European and native population side by side. But there always seems to be a fly in the Swaziland ointment — some unforeseen impediment of disturbing possibility. In Swaziland, which is the f»:ze of Wales, 40 per cent, of the total surface rights are vested in the High Commissioner for South Africa for the exclusive and perpetual use of the Swazis, the balance being the property of the Crown or European ranchers, planters, or small farmers. The eastern escarpment of the Drakensberg range provides a natural frontier between the territory and the Transvaal. The Swazi tribe stands out to-day among the great Bantu families of South-east Africa as the one that never armed to resist the enroaching white man. Europeans and natives, each in their clearly-de-fined areas, live together in good understanding and fellowship. The country is under the control of the High Commissioner of South Africa and the Colonial Office. In the South Africa Act Swaziland was tabled with Basutoland and Bechuanaland as one of the territories which, on an address from the South African Houses of Parliament, might be transferred to the Government of the Union. Basutoland and Bechlanpland somehow do not appear in the picture in which Swaziland is clearly a Naboth’s vineyard coveted by its powerful neighbour. When the Great War was over Cabinet Ministers in the Union House if Assembly made remarks indicating the probability of an address being presente dto His Majesty to secure Swaziland’s incorporation. The natives and a section of the Europeans opposed it. Then two years ago, in the course of his tour of the Dominions and Colonies, Mr. Amery came to Swaziland. He learned its need and remarked its opportunities, and a few months after his visit it seemed that Swaziland was to be given encouragement to develop on its own lines.

In the two years which have passed since Mr. Amery’s visit a spirit of security and enterprise has stimulated public life. The educational system has been investigated and is being placed on a new footing. The industrial training of the natives, particularly in agriculture and hygiene, is in process of development, and numerous schemes which must require time to perfect are being devised to encourage Europeans and natives to make the best uses of their respective possessions. But again the fly. In the middle of September the following semi-official announcement appeared in the columns of a leading Johannesburg newspaper: “During his visit to England next month. . . Dr. Bodenstein, Secretary for External Affairs, will probably have some informal conversation with the Colonial Office on the question of the incorporation of Swaziland in the Union. General Hertzog s anxious to secure the inclusion of .... Swaziland in the Union during the life of the present Government.”

WHAT OF THE FUTURE? A large proportion of the Europeans and almost the whole native population do-not believe that the present relationship with the Imperial Government will be changed, at all events for a decade or more. But they hope that some definite announcement will be made which will relieve the territory of these recurring uncertain ties. Mr. F. C.- Bartlett, Director of the Cambridge Psychological Laboratory, n the course of a letter to the Times,” says: —“I have recently re Mied from a visit to Swaziland, dur

_.g which I had, and took, every opportunity of meeting and talking with opresentative people belonging to every section of its population—administrators, settlers, and natives. There is no question whatever that uncertainty with regard to the future centre of administration is having a most unsettling influence there among all these sections. Everybody admit? that Swaziland is a country, which both strategically and economically, i fc , important,'although out of proportion to its size. At present it is being administered with sympathetic insight into and knowledge of its peculiar local problems. Economically it is being developed slowly—a point of great importance—and with judgment. . . .... “Our management of this crisis m the affairs of Swaziland will have an influence far beyond the borders of that little country. It may help strongly to decide whether, when the ultimate inevitable fusion comes, we have an Africa friendly to the English people and to their interests, or an Africa sullen , unhappy, and torn by dissensions and the problems that, are the heritage of the past history of the Union of South Africa.”