526.05 AN This issue includes the ANNUAL REPORT of the Society for 1919. PARLIAMENTARY: SOUTHERN RHODESIA; BRITISH EAST AFRICA; ... ... PAGE ... ... Price Sixpence. 2 3 8 9 11 12 Published under the sanction and at the Offices of The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Society 51 Denison House, Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, S. W.1. ABORIGINES' FRIEND. APRIL, 1920. [The Editor, whilst grateful to all correspondents who may be kind enough to furnish him with information, desires to state that he is not responsible for the views stated by them, nor for quotations which may be inserted from other journals. The object of the journal is to spread information, and articles are necessarily quoted which may contain views or statements for which their authors can alone be held responsible.] Native Trade in Quarterly Notes. Lord Henry Bentinck and other representatives of the Society waited upon Colonel Amery at the Colonial Palm Kernels, Office, on February 4th, to urge its objections to the Palm Kernels Duty in West Africa, on the ground of the injury done to the native producers. The Under-Secretary of State defended the measure, arguing that the proceeds of the tax would be devoted to native education, and so would benefit the inhabitants. He gave no hope of abolition of the Duty, but said that any injustice done to the small and native shippers by the demand from them of cash payments while bonds are accepted from the large firms, would. be looked into. The interest taken in this subject is growing rapidly; Rhodesia. religious and political organisations are sending in letters and resolutions to the Government, whilst the Labour Party is taking up a strong position upon the question. The Committee of the Society has made a further appeal to the Prime Minister upon the subject, and it is hoped that a Commission of Enquiry will be secured. The Colonial Office has issued, in the form of a White Book, the correspondence between the Society and the Government; this White Book should be read by all those interested in Native questions. The number is Cmd. 547 and it can be obtained from Government Stationers at 6d. per copy. Annual Meeting. The annual meeting of the Society will be held on Thursday afternoon, May 6th, at 3.30, in the Central Hall, Westminster (small Conference Hall). Mr. Charles Roberts, our President, who has now returned from his visit to India, will preside, and Professor Gilbert Murray will be the principal speaker on Mandates under the League of Nations. Lord Emmott will speak on Differential Duties and the Native Producer, and Sir Sydney Olivier on Native Land Rights. Labour in British East Africa. A VERY significant memorandum of policy in regard to native labour was published in the East African Standard of November 1st, last, which was described by the Governor, Sir Edward Northey, as shortly embodying (his) views as to native administration, policy and labour, with a copy of circular which Mr. Ainsworth is issuing to administration officers." POLICY. NATIVE ADMINISTRATION. "There should be a Native Affairs Department with a Chief Commissioner responsible direct to the Governor to carry out the policy of the Government. The purely native areas should be divided into provinces or districts whose administrative officers receive the orders of the Governor through the Chief Native Commissioner. The native provinces should be Nyanza, Kikuyu, Ukamba, Jubaland, and Seyidie, under which Tanaland would come in as a district. The Suk-Kamasie-Elgayo-Marakwet tribes and the Masai should each be forced into a separate native district. Those districts which are known as the European settled areas should be administered as European settlements under Resident Magistrates. The Northern Frontier district and Turkhana should be either under purely military administration, or under political officers backed by military force. NATIVE POLICY. As regards native policy we must recognise in the first place that no hard and fast rules can be laid down as applicable to each and every tribe. We can only lay down a general policy allowing for elasticity to suit the various conditions of tribes. Our ideal must be to combine the progress and prosperity of the Protectorate with the welfare of the natives. The white man must be paramount. The best possible relations must exist between the paramount and subject races. We must make the native a useful and contented citizen, playing a large part in the economic development of the country; this he will not do if left to his own resources. We must give the native reasonable education, especially technical, industrial, and agricultural. The workshops and the farms should be the schools for education; Government should encourage the assistance of the well-conducted missions. Co-operation between the Government and missions is also essential in medical matters, our policy being directed towards keeping the native population healthy. The pastoral tribes, as apart from the agricultural, must be taught to make the best use of their land, and cattle, so that their surplus stock may become not only a useful asset to themselves, but a source of revenue to the Government, instead of, as now, dying by tens of thousands from disease. NATIVE LABOUR. With regard to native labour there are two points to consider, firstly, that native labour is required for the proper development of the country, and secondly that we must educate the native to come out of his reserve and work, for his own sake, because nothing can be worse for the young native than to remain, according to his inclination, idle in the reserve. Those that do so are likely to become vicious and effete. In the old days the young man was constantly on the war path and led a healthy life of outdoor exercise; nowadays, unless he works, he has no compensation for the loss of the exciting raids and fights of those old days. For the good of the country and for his own welfare he must be brought out to work. We should firstly encourage voluntary work; this should come about by creating wants and making the native see the advantage of earning money; as he becomes more civilised, he will learn to live and clothe himself better, and seeing the power of money will want to earn it; but he learns this slowly, and must be helped. Some such legislation as was recently brought in in the Uganda Protectorate, whereby natives can be called out for urgent public work, may be found necessary in this Protectorate. From some reserves plenty of good voluntary labour has been and is forthcoming; let this go chiefly to private plantations and farms. Work on large Government enterprises such as railways and roads is less popular; for this Government should, I believe, have the power to call out the idlers. I believe there should be an increased rate of tax on young able-bodied men. Our policy, then, I believe, should be to encourage voluntary work in the first place, but to provide power by legislation to prevent idleness. Having got the native to work we must see that he is properly looked after by initial medical examination and subsequent care; by proper feeding and housing, and by the provision of reasonable comfort when travelling by rail or road, viz.:: decent accommodation on the train, rest camps along main roads, and locations in townships. There should be compensation in case of accidents while employed, general conservation of health, and prevention of employment of immature youths on work likely to be injurious to their future physical development. On the other hand we must assist and protect employers by a system of registration of natives universally, applied as early as possible. Subsequently, a central bureau should assist us in the maintenance and distribution of labour." October 21st, 1919. E. N. |