The Mandate System

Maoriland Worker, Volume 13, Issue 30, 25 July 1923, Page 11

The Mandate System

ffFero is si article, taken from Ihe "Jlapaia Chronicle, 5 ' desiliiiR 1 - with ihe iw.miini.p- syHimw„ v/faiefo as pa.ost rwaders lusov/p En n new name for the system wfeeryfey nuUw population*!, are enslaved m order to 'provide.Jfiw&e profits for watmtSK cxerc.'i.sfng control, over thft annexe^ ' territericii,-

A recent telegram about the gratitude of tbe native chiefs of .Nauru Island at rescued from German rule was incomplete aw published. It concluded with ihunhr-; to the Levuvue ,of Nations "J'or plaeJn.s: us under the protection of ihe. event British Empire."' Tbe great British Empire will doubtless pat il«elf heartily on the back over this- r : Jbnle from "all the native - chiefs"'' of a country whose total population, inc'inlin.sr; whites and many Cliine.se indentured coolies. numbers "about 1000." accord ins: to Whisker. The official or propagandist wiiO drey/ up ihe memorandum p.nd incited ''ail tbe native chiefs" to put their mark to it must be frratified that tl:c success oi bis effort is telegraphed all over the world. We are reminded of wlurt happened in another colony about a year ago. ■ Native chiefs expressed a desire to build a line for the Governor and also a road. Their people, they declared, de-.ired to do tbe work "free, gratis, and for notbin-'r.'"' The Government insisted on paying a pittance to the self-sacrificini-, toilers. Then a friend of ihe natives investigated and found ibal the whole scheme was little belter- than forced labour. Yet tbe native chiefs bad vouched for it. And "all the native chiefs" of tiny Nauru assure the world that, all iis well vmdci tbe new British rule. THIS rOtfETeOT* AT .=NJU!K-L t . -■ It is especially unfortunate to choose Nauru- r ; s a:n example ot .British freedom. liven when- it v.:!.~-Gerroan-owned, it was vc-y largely under British influence, its -store ■of phosphates beins exploited by a British concern, tbe Pacific- Pbosnb«vic Company. We nave net beard that (be Britons of this company bad any complaint to make German treatment of either the .natives or themselves. As to commercial freedom, there was far more than .now. The British company was free .to send the island's fertiliser to any part of tbe would, but. since Nauru was transferred under mandate to the combined, rale ..of 'Uritain, Australia, and New . Zealand (entirely for the benefit of. the natives, as the pious vvilscnian phrase explained), its output has been monopolised by tbe new owners, and all pretests against this policy in tbe House of Commons and elsewhere have v,one unheeded.

Mo rnernorandxiiE from "all tbe >uiiivc cbieis" of Na.tirii or any other mandated pes'session is of the least value, as long as these places are. closed to independent inspection. The weakness of the whole mandate scheme was painfully revealed in connecrjeii with the recent scandal over the shooting of the' Bond el jiotjtcntots in . Pomh-West'- Africa. AlM.iough the )catter wajf brought to the noiicc of tbe Leap,a e of Nations l>y a. petition from tbe Anti-Siavory .Society of Britain, .the- Lt;a«ue decline*!, to inhe any notice of it because the informa.tion bad not come, from the mandatory, government--that. is. frprn those responsible for. the optrase. The question was raised in tbe House of CdinmonH al.s-o; but those proi.est.JnK were informed that the matter concerned the Sooth African Governratuii. -Whether LilieVfils' in' Ke«ni.h' Africa have dealt with the shootina of the helpless Hottentots we do not know. People who are concerned in--I.be w el fere of natives are not so ■■well organised in the colonies as in bjnj;land, and so tbe eoionial -Goverrt-' ments- recently placed, in the -position of.trustees of the natives' wedfare under the pious ".mandates" can do bnicn they please. ANNEXATIONS I'tSTHOUT IAV- %- . ■ BlvrO'. One tbinK tb'c mandate device bat achieved: Ih making the conqueror's rule concern itself (on paper and by Its own profession) with the .welfare of the natives it has. provided a means of annexing the former German colonies, to Britain, France, Japan, and Bedjriwro, without a penny of payment. In former wars, when annexations were called "annexations," tbe trains-j ier of .such wider territories as Ger--1 man Africa (East, .West, and South- ! West)/ New Guinea, Nauru, and the j Caroline, and- Marshall Islands used to be accounted a consideration of. vo.iy.'«rea.t value. For instance, it v/i')l be rexoembered that-at.the close; of the Russc-'Japanese' v/ar, Japan.,;] tho"uj-h the victor,-' was content 1.0 a.c-! ec-pt the" southern end of' Saghaiien..] and ll»q reversion of "the Kwaihut'ttna'-j lease without any Indemnity v/hatd'ver. A.hi}rh German,.. Authority puts | -the value of the colonies handed:over I under mandates,, together with ~the •territories'; that Germany lost in Europe, at-100. . milliards,,., of .sold:

marks. An independent assessor would probably reduce the estimate of the credit to be allowed to half 'that amount; but in any ease it ! would go far toward meeting the le- ! gltimate claims for "reparations" (ex- : chiding 1 punitive indemnities, in ac- ! eordanee with President . Wilson's I Fourteen Points and With the arm is--[lice terms). Mr. J. M.' Keynes esj timated those, claims at £3,000,000,----000, or 60 milliards of .gold marks, at I "the extreme upper limit.".. TEE HVFOUKITUIAL ASFBCT. By maintain!up; the fiction of benevolent international trusteeship in retrard to the annexations, Britain is really sharing in the most enormous exactions. And it is impossible to brush aside, the French. argument that Britain, in gaining possession 'of large colonies in. Africa and elsewhere, made great gains herself, and is nov." willing to -abandon other terms of ihe peace treaty that are of snore importance to her ally. The obvious reply of trie . Briton is that, when the nation committed itself in 1518 to Mr. Lloyd George's policy of making Geri many pay. it. was not in its normal ! sense's, and! that, having discovered j ihe policy of revenge to be ruinous i not only to Germany, but to tbe Alj lies and to tbe warhl- at. large, the people of Britain are uxswiHlsg to sac* I rifice civilisation to a bugbear of consistency.. Yet one can at'least comprehend the French view, that the •British are hypocritical in bohling territories annexed from Germany (for tbe sake of the natives) and exploiting them for commercial gain, and at the same, time turning against- . a policy of destroying Germany's industries and commerce. | THK USK 01" BLACK 'FKQOi'3 | Another feature of this . benevolent I trusteeship, called- the-mandate sysjtem, demands attention. During the war British statesmen frequently proclaimed that Africa must be saved from tbe Germans lest . the negro peoples should be militarised and used as a menace to -Europe. General Smuts was a strong, advocate of thai policy. Mr. A. J. Balfour declared ' that Britain must keep the captured colonies, because German inlc would! mean, "the creation of large black armies in Central Africa."' As a mutter of fact, Germany before the war was very mild in her measures of militarisation, and Pi-. Soil' (now Aroba.ssador at Tof-:io) fells in his boob. on colonial policy bow he was warned by" General Botha, not to hare, tbe native force in South-West Africa reduced below 'the very low strength at which it was maintained simply as a. force for preserving order locally. It is impossible .to say Avbat Germany would have done if she bad kept tbe colonies. None of tbe, European na•lion.s can declare itself clear,..cf the practice of bringing men of alien..race into-the wars of the..{West.; But,- i\.s. it is we see Africa nyifii.ar.ised in a. man-. her-that the most" pessimistic *y.ou?rihardly have believed..possible. It is the French who have thus thrown to the-winds the ideal tba.t was held before her Allies during the war and which was embodied -as a solemn pledge in the Cjoven.ant.of the League of Nations. They have not onl;; conscripted hpge armies in "Africa, itself but are using thepi in the occupation of Germany. ff anyone .protests,', the French say that the indignation in dt»e to ra.ee.prejudice, 1 and take credit to themselves for. their cosmopolitan spirit- in admitting -the negroes to the •privilege of fighting in w-hite ■• men's wars and patronising the white women's brothels. Britons commonly hold the belief that such a policy leads the Western race to a horrible doom.

The point is that the mandates are ineffective for providing the protection that they promised, and become an instrument for exacting a great territorial and economic indemnity without acknowledgment.- Thdfmiwred labour* arid monopolies -have nothing ■to do.'witli the "lenefitins; o) the nut.Wes. -It v/oitld'he 'better to recognise the mandnted-'terr-itpvies a> , . a.nnexrttions aitd i.o write them -off against, the hill for reparationw.