Mr. E. D. Morel has a striking article in the Nineteenth Century for March upon "Free Labour in Tropical Africa." Referring to the production of palm oil and kernels, he says:

"Since then the palm-oil and palm-kernel oil industry has increased in enormous proportions. Liverpool, which is the European import centre for palm-oil as Hamburg is for palm-kernels, imported 80,000 tons of oil last year and 23,826 tons of kernels. Hamburg imported no less than 256,618 tons of kernels. In the last two years the natives of British West Africa have produced palm-oil and kernels to the sterling value of just under ten millions, and the natives of West Africa under German and French protection have produced just under two millions sterling of these articles. In the last two years, then, European and American industries have been indebted to the West African free producer for £12,000,000 of this particular raw material alone."

The romance of British cocoa production in West Africa is known in some measure to every member of our Society, and Mr. Morel comments upon this enterprise as follows:

'In 1890 the Gold Coast Administration made up for many political errors by a most excellent economic measure. It created an agricultural and botanical station in a carefully selected spot, and distributed young plants and pods of the cocoa tree gratuitously. Four years later the native farmers produced 20,312 lb. of cocoa, valued at £547. By 1900 the plantations yielded 1,200,794 lb., valued at £27,280. By 1904 the value of the output was £200,025. In 1908 it rose to £540,821. In 1910 it reached £864,419. Last year the Gold Coast headed the list of cocoa-producing countries with an export of 88,987,324 lb., valued at £1,613,468."

Mr. Morel says of this achievement :

'Here then is a striking object-lesson of what the West African native is capable, working as a trader and a free man. Let us bear in mind that, inspired solely by his commercial instinct, he has voluntarily grafted upon his usage of, and internal trade in, the product of the oil-palm an export trade in the fruit of that tree, with no other assistance from the European than a market in which to sell, and, more recently, the creation of railways and roads."

Mr. Morel says very truly that amongst all the problems of tropical administration—

"One surpasses all the rest in fundamental significance. Is the economic future, and, consequently, the racial future, of the tropical African native to be one of dependence or independence? In other words, is he to exploit the riches of the soil and cultivate the land under his own national systems, or is the white man to become the exploiter and the African the hired labourer (or the slave) of the more mentally advanced European? Economic in its essence, the problem is, nevertheless, for the white overlords of the African tropics, a problem not of economics only but of morality and statesmanship in the true meaning of those much abused terms,"

Once more the question of "State control" of land is agitating the tribes of West Africa; reports are current that instructions have been sent to the Nigerian officials to sound native chiefs as to their attitude towards State control. The West African Land Commission is still considering its report; it would, therefore, be premature to anticipate its recommendations, but "State control" has always been the corner-stone of African social life and custom, if by those words is meant a government of the people, by the people, for the people. The African will readily acquiesce in any reasonable reform having as its object native welfare, providing it carries with it State control in this sense. Mr. Morel, writing upon another African land question, once said: "The fundamental principle of a State' is the participating of the people of the land in the government of their country." So completely is this followed in Africa that the Chief himself in many territories cannot alienate an acre of land without the formal assent of the tribe.

The State" control of land in which the African would never willingly acquiesce, is control by a form of government in which the natives only possess a representation liable under all and any circumstances to be vetoed by a temporary executive. It is an unfortunate and, unhappily, a well established fact that in almost every British Colony where the native tribes have been forced to surrender the control of their lands to the Executive, they have in the end suffered the loss of occupancy over very wide areas. It is the same story in Rhodesia, in South Africa, in British East Africa, in British Columbia and even in Nigeria itself, where to-day the natives appeal almost in vain to the administrative officers to assist them in maintaining their sacred rights to the land. Those who possess this information, and with due courtesy and respect submit it for the consideration of the authorities, are sharply censured for performing what common sense would regard as a real national service. It is this attitude which causes, and must continue to cause, grave apprehension with regard to any proposal for "State control" unless by "State" is meant a form of administration in which the natives themselves have effective representation.

Indentured Labour within the Empire.

AT a Conference arranged by the Nationalities and Subject Races Committee at Westminster on February 17, Mr. Harris was asked to give an address on this subject, to which he has devoted considerable study. The question is one in which the Society has always taken a deep interest.

Mr. Harris said that the British system of coolie labour from India is sound in principle, but so defective in administration that certain features both in India and the Crown Colonies constitute grave scandals. There is a growing demand in many quarters for the abolition of coolie emigration,

but an exhaustive study of the question in all its bearings shows that the cessation of emigration would prove very unfortunate for the Indian Empire and the Crown Colonies, no less than for the coolies themselves. It is the duty of public opinion to secure adequate reforms, a task in which the planters should co-operate, otherwise urgent reforms may be hindered and abolition thereby rendered inevitable.

Owing to the abuses of contract labour in tropical and sub-tropical regions, there is an opinion abroad that indentured labour is but a synonym for slave owning. It must not be overlooked, however, that there is nothing inherently vicious in contract labour-indeed, most of us are in some way or other serving under contract; there are, at the same time, certain features which must be observed: First, that the contracted labourer enters into the contract of his own free will, and that he understands the terms of the indenture the exercise of either fraud or force upon the labourer constitutes, in practice at least, action tantamount to slave trading. Secondly, the employer must faithfully carry out his obligations under the contract as loyally as he demands fulfilment on the part of the labourer. Finally, the administration should see that all the obligations of the contract are observed by both parties to the indenture. It cannot be denied that in each of the foregoing respects the British coolie labour system leaves much to be desired. The paper was followed by a discussion.

East Africa Protectorate.

REPORT ON NATIVE LABOUR.

THE report of the Native Labour Commission, which sat from September 1912, until April 1913, has been published, with the evidence given by 272 witnesses who represented the views of officials, missionaries, landowners, farmers, traders, etc., and natives of all classes.

The recommendations, therefore, which relate to a large number of questions such as the shortage of native labour and its causes, wages of labourers, food, and medical attendance, the recruitment and transport of natives, indentured labour, native reserves, taxation and squatting, carry considerable weight, and would if adopted undoubtedly introduce many reforms into the system. We refer to some of the most important sections.

RECRUITING.

The Commission held that the existing system of recruiting through labour agents-persons who recruit for gain-is bad; that the chiefs force the natives to go out to work either for labour agents or for the Government. The Commission recognize that the only satisfactory labour is that which is

voluntary. Recruiting by professional agents should therefore be abolished, and District Officers should be instructed to encourage natives to go out to work, labour camps properly managed by Europeans being established at suitable centres, to which employers would resort for labour. The Government would not be the recruiter of labour, but the channel of communication between employers and employed, and the native labourers would not be drafted out to work irrespective of their own wishes as to work, locality or employer. All labour obtained at the Camps should be registered.

ADMINISTRATION.

The present form of native administration shows many defects, as there is a lack of uniformity of policy among officials, some persuading natives to go out to work, others discouraging them from it. In the former case the chiefs too often employ compulsion in order to secure the desired supply. Instructions to officers should be so framed as to ensure continuity of policy. Among other recommendations, it is proposed that the duties of officers in native areas should be confined to native administration, and to jurisdiction over natives.

A Chief Native Commissioner should be appointed with an adequate staff, in order by constant travelling to keep in touch with local conditions, also Resident Magistrates, on the lines of the Union of South Africa.

TRANSPORT OF NATIVES.

It was recommended that labour routes should be improved from the point of view of hygiene; overcrowding of labour gangs in trains should be stopped, as also the locking in of these natives to third class coaches or even goods vans, where they are subjected to conditions of heat and cramped. position which" must be well nigh intolerable," while the sanitary conditions are "unspeakable." Generally, better accommodation should be provided.

INDENTURED LABOUR.

The majority of the witnesses were against imported indentured labour. The Commission, however, by a majority recommended that if indentured labour, although generally objected to, proved necessary for large works on the coast, it should be imported on condition of repatriation being insisted on, and legislation being introduced for each separate project. A minority of the Commission were in favour of indentured labour being introduced without restriction, under conditions approved by Government.

NATIVE RESERVES AND SQUATTING.

The Commission pronounced in favour of squatting being encouraged in every possible way, on certain specified conditions. They recommended the demarcation of undemarcated Reserves with a view to reserving sufficient

land for the present population only, and the prevention of encroachments on to Crown or alienated lands, the revision of the boundaries of demarcated reserves on this principle, and the appointment of a Commission for such demarcation and revision. The Commission expressed the opinion that individualism was desirable and sure to come, but did not advocate " undue pressure to hasten the issue." In regard to future individual tenure of land by natives, the main recommendations of the South African Native Affairs Commission of 1903-5 were adopted. Specially demarcated locations should be set aside for de-tribalized natives who should pay rent for their holdings. The Commission advocated the opening up of Reserves by permitting free ingress and egress, improving means of communication, and stimulating trade with the natives.

DIET AND HOUSING, ETC.

The Commission was of opinion that both these matters were insufficiently attended to, and required legislation providing for the enforcement of proper conditions.

Active ill-treatment by employers was not considered by the Commission to be by any means common, but wherever it does occur it acts as a deterrent to labour." One employer who treats his natives ill is said to give a bad name to a whole district; disputes often result from language difficulties.

TAXATION.

The Commission was unanimous in holding taxation as a means of increasing the labour supply to be unjustifiable; but a majority recommended increased taxation, believing that the natives, owing to their wealth, are well able to pay higher taxes on property, which should be based on the number of wives; a minority of the Commissioners, considering that the incidence of the tax was not a matter for them to discuss, dissociated themselves from this recommendation, and opposed the principle of a progressive tax on the property of one section only of the native community.

Other recommendations refer to the restriction of the consumption of native liquor, the fostering of technical and agricultural education, while one paragraph, which we are very glad to note, recommends the abolition of free labour on roads and public works under the Ordinances of 1910 and 1912.

"The Commission is of opinion that this form of forced labour is wasteful, that work without pay is liable to create a distaste for work altogether, and that the results are of little general practical value. It is therefore recommended that roads and other public works in Reserves should be constructed by labour paid at the market rate under the competent supervision of a Technical Department."

We have received from one of the Society's corresponding members in East Africa a letter emphasizing the value of the report, which in his opinion