The Dominion. THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1918. THE PART OF THE COLOURED MAN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 85, 3 January 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1918. THE PART OF THE COLOURED MAN

It is a fact in which Britain ancl other Allied nations are entitled to take infinite pride that tbey have been given active and whole-hearted support in the world-war not only by coloured races over whom they rule or, have established piotcctorates, but by others with whom they are united in no other bonds.than those of sympathy and friendly feeling. Most people know in a general way that coloured men—black and brown and yellow—constitute an important section of the manpower mobilised by the Allies tor war, but the real magnitude of the, part played by coloured men as soldiers and military labourers is probably not as commonly realised as it should be. The truth is that a policy in the main and ultimately altruistic towards African and other coloured races has given the Allies in this war not only an important tesorve of fighting power, but a practically illimitable reservoir of labour. Indian and African soldiers, and troops raised in the Pacifio islands, have rendered gallant service under a number of Allied flags and in several theatres of war, and coloured labour battalions have been raised in various parts of the world, including China, in an aggregate strength which is already very great, and is rapidly increasing. The immediato importance of this contribution to tho labour force at the disposal of the Allies is measured by the fact that in this war, for every man actively engaged in fighting- at a given moment, twenty-four men are harcl at work in war industries or in some form of labour service directly connected with the war. What a great and expanding supply of labour behind tho lines means to the Allies was indicated in a statement inad'j in October last by General Maukicj; (British Director of Military Operations) regarding the development of the vast machinery of transport and supply behind the British armies in the Western theatre. _ General instanced in the lirst place, as showing the failure of the enemy submarine campaign, that during tho first week in October, 1917, equipment and provisions for the British armies in Franco were unshipped at tbe rate oE 1.5 tons per hour as against 11.'} per hour in the preceding January. He added: We have constructed sotne hundreds of miles of railway track and have laid down improved canals and roads. In ihe early nays of March an average number of 179 trains circulated over our

bro;ul-gauge lines. Tho exact average at t.'rto present moment is 25!) trains. Over tho canal routes wo dispatched Inst 11 arch a weekly average of 31,500 tons. The average number to-day is (il,Goft tons. Over a narrow-gauge railway which is used for conveying goods for immediate use a weekly average was carried in March of 25,300 tuns. Lust week the same line carried 173,101) tons.

Tho development of this all-imporfc-ant branch of war activity demands first and foremost an ever-increasing supply of labour, and it adds immensely to Britain's strength as a belligerent that she is able to call upon the enormous reserves of coloured labour in the Empire to supply voluntary workers. Some of her partners in the war are drawing freely upon similar sources of supply, and as a whole the Allies are infinitely better placed in this matter than the Germans, who have endeavoured to supplement their native labour by deporting and enslaving the people of occupied territories under conditions which add a black chapter to their record of infamy.

Tho cheerful and spontaneous assistance which the coloured races of tlio world have given and are giving the Allies in the struggle for liberty is in its way as notable a vindication of the Allied cause as the intervention of the United States. At the same time it emphasises the responsibility which will rest upon the Allies when the time comes to determine the future fate of somo of these races at £fre end of the war. So far as the British nation is concerned these observations nowhere hold greater force than as they apply to the negro races, both of our own African colonies and of those which were formerly under German rule. Tho immoral demand of the Russian Bolsheviki that the Germans should be re-established in their former colonies, and so enabled to resume their policy of massacring and maltreating the native races, is happily unlikely to obtain general support, but in Britain and other Allied countries the view obtains in somo quarters, and is perhaps gaining ground, that wo shall only keep pace with the times by establishing international control over the former German colonies in Africa and even over some of our own., Such an attitude, though it is connected with a desire to_ disown any_ sympathy with a policy of Imperialistic conquest and oxpansion, is inconsistent with common gratitude to tho negro arid with due regard for the welfare of races which have come definitely or tentatively under British guardianship. As is shown by Sir Harry Johnston, a _ leading authority 'on all questions affecting the ' native races of Africa, in a book lately published in London, the fifty-one million negroes living under British rule have given splendid proofs of their loyalty as citizcns of the Empire and of their appreciation of the benefits of British rule. Negro troops have established a fine record in all the African campaigns, including the longest and most arduous of all—the . conquest of German East Africa. All these troops, it should bo noted, are volunteers, and tho labour battalions which are taking an increasingly important'place-in the British military establishment aro also recruited on a purely voluntary basis. Sir Harry Johnston bears witness not only to the eager loyalty of the negroes resident in British' colonies, but to the joy with which tho people of the territories formerly under German rule have celebrated their liberation. "The (of German East Africa)," he observes, "would regard with 'terror any possibility of the return of tho Germans. _ In one district where a small British column temporarily occupied the country and were welcomed by tho natives,, tho latter were massacrpd when the Germans returned." It is possible that international considerations may oppose tho incorporation of some of the conquered enemy colonies.in tho British Empire, but common /humanity demands that there should be no restoration of German rule. As to the colonies already British, the loyalty and devotion of their people .and their contentment and prosperity under British rule should bo enough to silence any proposal to treat these territories as pawns, to be lightly surrendered or bartered away. It is undoubtedly our duty, as Sir ICarry Johnston maintains, 'to persevere with the work in which we have made a good beginning and to promote in every way the _ wellbeing of our loyal negro subjects.