A WEST AFRICAN DANGER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7726, 9 June 1903, Page 2

A WEST AFRICAN DANGER.

EXPERIMENTS^IN RULING. We are evidently going to try the experiment of governing Western Africa through its indigenous rulers. There is much to be said for that method of government besides its comparative cheapness, and this above all (says the "Spectator" in an article on the occupation of Sokoto). It enables a. governing class to grow among the people therase-lvesj and avoids the mischief of creating a veneered civilisation. Whatever the people gain, they gain as they would if they had advanced from an internal impulse. At the same time there is in this scheme a. certain avoidance of duty and responsibility, and a danger,, a considerable danger, of arming'savage power with the irresistible strength of civilisation. It is possible to have a little too> much order, and a 'bad "protected" ruler who understands his business "can make of his State, which looks so tranquil and improves "its roads bo much, a veritable he'll upon earth. It is necessary to watch- that experiment', and though we freely acknowledge it cau only be judged by experts, still watchfulness at home is the first inducement to those experts to see- withi open eyes-. That, in fact, is the one point at which we are dxiving. If the great white firm is to govern thirty or fifty millions of blacks, let the partners feel it their duty to watch their agents without intermittent fits of careless disregard. We are not quite sure that an African Office, like- the Indian Office, would not solidify our action in West and Central Africa; but we can at least see that the Colonial Office, which will not always be controlled by Mr Chamberlain, does its' work well, and on principle* dictated' by statesmanship, and not by the merest opportunism. >.