FUTURE OF AFRICA

Southland Times, Issue 20012, 28 October 1926, Page 8

FUTURE OF AFRICA

EAST AND CENTRAL STATES. MANY PROBLEMS TO BE FACED. THE QUESTION OF FEDERATION. Capetown, September 10. For many months there has been a movement toward combination and co-operation of all the British colonies in East and Central Africa. There have been official and unofficial conferences at which railway schemes and frontier difficulties have been discussed and some attempt at a common policy made. This week, at the Victoria Falls in Central Africa, there began another important unofficial conference. The various British African states were represented—Kenya, Tanganyika, Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia. The only State that was unable to be represented wife Uganda, partly because distances are great, partly because the number of public men in Uganda is small, and they find it difficult to get away. Naturally this growing consciousness of unity among the East and Central African colonies is watched with particular interest by the Union of South Africa. It has always been assumed that sooner or later Southern Rhodesia, would join the Union of South Africa and thus help toward the creation of the United States of Africa with the Zambesi as its frontier which has been the dream of the South African statesman, General Smuts, for years. IMPORTANCE OF CONFERENCE. So the presence of Southern Rhodesia at this unofficial conference is regarded as important and the Union has therefore a representative at the conference in the person of their Trade Commissioner in Kenya. So far the conference has been held in camera and summaries of the discussions only issued each day to the Press. A previous conference held in Kenya was attended not only by delegates from the Union and all the South and East African Colonies, but also by representatives from the Sudan, Italian Somaliland, Portugueses East. Africa and the Congo. Apart from the ever-present problem of research, the interesting suggestion was made that a cotton map of Africa should be undertaken, and that the work involved should be carried out in the Union. The East African Colonies are going ahead fast. The £10,000,000 loan recently sanctioned by the Imperial Government will still further assist development. Nyasaland in particular will benefit by the £1,500,000 earmarked for the satisfaction of her supreme need—a bridge over the Zambesi. The remainder is to be used in the improvement of communications and harbour works, especially in Tanganyika. The chief personality at this present conference is Lord Delamere, who leads the settlers of Kenya. At the first day’s sitting he suggested the need for scientific, social and economic research, as a guide for future native policy. QUESTION OF FEDERATION.

The question of federation of all these African States was also discussed, but the general opinion of the delegates was that the time was not yet ripe for the serious consideration of any form of federation between the East African dependencies. It was felt that ideals on the main principles, such as European settlement and the native question, must be the same in all territories. Only a gradual movement toward any form of constitution federation could be made at present. Then the railway development of the various territories was discussed and in particular the changes that would come about when the bridge over the Zambesi leading to Nyasaland was constructed. The future of the conference was discussed, and it was agreed that a permanent secretariat be instituted with headquarters, for the time being, at Nairobi, and that all expenses be borne In proportion by Kenya, Northern Rhodesia, Tanganyika, Nyasaland and Uganda. The next conference is to be convened by the president, but preference was expressed for Nairobi as the meeting place. THE CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION.

Lord Delam ere made an important speech criticising the constitutional position of many of the African colonies. He argued the present position under which there was the Governor of a Crown Colony as representative of the King on the one hand, and the Prime Minister and political leader of State on the other was untenable and one which made the Crown Colonies the grave of reputations. For the immediate future, said Lord Delamere, he was in favour of greater powers being given to the Governor’s conference in order to enable more decisions to be made in Africa than at present. This extra power could only be extra-con-stitutional, as no one at present could foresee whether Northern Rhodesia would elect to cross the Zambesi and join fortunes with Southern Rhodesia, or whether Nyasaland might elect to combine with Northern Rhodesia, or whether future policy might combine all three. The African West Coast policy was condemned by Lord Delamere, who welcomed Mr Amery’s proposed settlement, in which trusteeship of the native races would be in harmony with the principle of trusteeship of their own race, so that the development of the colonies would be the more encouraged. As to the economic bar, although not yet a problem for them, he advocated eventually the setting aside of large areas where the Bantu could carry on his progress without interfering with the European, and which eventually in the far future might help to solve the South African problem by attracting the Bantus back to the original home of the race.