THE TWO RHODESIAS

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 September 1938, Page 12

THE TWO RHODESIAS

NATIVE RIGHTS IN PERIL. No appreciation of Britain’s task south of the Equator is possible without a clear perception of the titanic human struggle which is developing in all its intensity from “Cape Colony” to the copper fields of the Congo, writes Sir John Harris from Bulawayo, Rhodesia, to the “Manchester Guardian.” The African is asking simply for the rights and privileges of a man. He believes (and, indeed, he thought his treaties and commitments with Britain accepted) the doctrine that “all men are created free and equal and are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The first blow to his equanimity was struck when in 1913 the principle of segregation was started in South Africa by dividing the land into black and white squares. Since then, like a prairie fire, segregation has spread to the Zambesi and now threatens the African right up to the Equator—segregation not merely of land but of all activities of life.

It is true that here in Rhodesia the bold demand of its founder, “Equal rights for all civilised men,” is still heard. Bu,t southwards the pledges given by Sir Charles Warren to Khama are imperilled, whilst away on the banks of the Caledon the Basutos and the Swazis northwards live in daily dread lest they too will be dragged into the vortex of racial discrimination and conflict. Lord Bledisloe and his Royal Commission are hero, and it may well be that even their restricted reference will yet lead the way out not only for the Rhodesians but for other territories in tire south At least Lord Bledisloe’s intimate knowledge of and affection for the Maoris should augur well for the Barotse, Matabele, and Mashona people. The Bledisloe Royal Commission has been sent out in response .to the demand' of Southern Rhodesia for an amalgamation with Northern Rhodesia. The terms of reference, however, are restricted to “co-operation. Admittedly the real issue is amalgamation, and the condition upon which it should take place. The combined territories of Rhodesia, North and South, exceed 440,000 square miles, and are occupied by more than 2,500,000 people, including the Barotse kingdom ruled by Yeta 111 under treaty. The white settler population is about 60,000, and apparently is not increasing.

A LARGE ORDER. It would' be a large order for the Colonial and Dominions Offices to agree to amalgamation and then to give Dominion status to a territory more -than twice the size of France and confer the government of 2,500,000 people to a fluctuating settler population of less than 60,000 persons, yet. many of the settlers are saying that amalgamation without Dominion status is not worth having. The whites in Southern Rhodesia do not. in fact, expect Dominion status yet. They think they may be offered (a) amalgamation or (b) Dominion status for Southern Rhodesia con,pled with .an “option” on Northern Rhodesia.

For the natives the issues are very < much those of every other African

territory—namely, what is to be their status. To-day they have two safeguards. Under the Churchill Constitution all'purely racial legislation is reserved for the final sanction of the Crown. Secondly, they possess in law the franchise, although only 43 havo reached the electoral roll. These safeguards are appreciated chiefly because they are the symbols of interest still felt in the Mother Country for natives and as a barrier against the inroad of racial segregation.

To land segregation if justly applied’ there seems to be little opposition amongst the natives. Indeed, during a road journey of 120 miles through one reserve I found the natives happy in the fact that they were miles from “civilisation,” and a sentence quoted from Chief Mpesemi, in Northern Rhodesia, in Sir Alan Pirn’s report leapt to my mind with new force: “It is good that we should have our own land where the white man cannot come’ —a striking, if pathetic, commentary.

South Rhodesia’s native policy, or, more correctly, the policy of the Premier, is still in embryo. Mr Huggins claims that it avoids the colour bar whilst satisfying the mutually destructive objective of the settlers — namely, a segregation which will provide the white community with the labour of the African without any inconvenient association with his person! The basis of this policy is land segregation, and the share of the Matabele and Mashona is to-day some 25 acres per head, rising possibly to something over 30 acres. In those areas no white man will be allowed to compete with the native farmer or industrialist. In the white areas the white worker is to have an unassailed monopoly. How this will work out nobody seems to have any clear idea.

A PRACTICAL EXPERIMENT. The racial control of maize, with its fixed racial quotas and fixed racial prices, was perhaps the most interest iug practical experiment in this policy, and I can best describe what has happened by quoting an admitted authority: “We did it for the best; we hoped it would satisfy everybody, but all those who pressed most vigorously for racial control are now the most violent in them condemnation because once again the native grower has dished the white farmer.”

The brightest feature in Rhodesia is to be found in the steady adherence of a strong body of public opinion to the doctrine of Rhodes, “Equal rights for all civilised men.” Included in this body of opinion is Mr Huggins, the Prime Minister, and the devoted men of the Native Affairs Department. Happily, too, these official quarters are supported by most of the big business men of Southern Rhodesia Whether they can withstand the steadily advancing tide of racial discrimination is. another matter, for there are unfortunately some, even in Rhodesia, who support the other doctrine—namely, that the Bantu natives are not merely a race on a lower social scale but are a creation with a biology entirely different from that of the white races.

Which of the two conflicting policies will ultimately triumph depends largely on the terms of settlement of the protectorates question by the Government and Parliament in Westminster.