Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1950. PROGRESS IN AFRICA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 106, 17 February 1950, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1950. PROGRESS IN AFRICA

Although there is a fair amount of unrest in parts of Africa, particular!)' in the Union, there is ample evidence of overall progress in recent years. There was a time when Africa was regarded as the dark continent, but the greater part of it has undergone an evolution which has completely transformed it. . One of the chief factors in the change has been European enterprise, especially mining and agriculture, which has brought great numbers of African people into closer touch with the outside world. The war of 1914-18 proved of benefit to Egypt, but the last war, which affected a very much wider area, brought much greater benefits through association with the troops of so many different nations. Political progress has always been slow, but of late years there has been a big improvement in this sphere also, and Britain and the United States have done their best to guide the various African Legislatures along a path which would lead to membership in the family of democratic nations. A measure of the world’s interest in Africa is the attempt lately made in the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations to assume supervisory authority over the internal affairs of colonial territories. This move, originated apparently in the United States, was strongly and properly opposed by Britain and France as an unwarranted extension of the council’s functions under the Charter: A justifiable and beneficial development, however, has takeh place in the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation. The United States realises that in giving aid to European countries it must take account of their colonial territories. Development schemes there are being investigated, in order to see what American help is justified, more particularly in the way of providing plant and supplies which cannot be obtained except from the dollar area. Since most of the colonial possessions of Britain, Belgium and Portugal are situated in Africa, the investigation mainly concerns that continent. These countries have much to gain by assisting development within the continent, but it must be along sound lines. Many of the native peoples are looking forward to self-govern-ment, and if they can show that they are capable of conducting their own affairs, then it would be in the interests of all concerned to see that day hastened.