AFRICA

Hokitika Guardian, 6 February 1930, Page 2

AFRICA

A GREAT DOMINION. GENERAL .SMUTS’S VISION. ■RHODES' MEMORIAL LECTURE. LONDON, Dee. 27. In the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, General Smuts delivered the first of the Rhodes Memorial Lectures on the subject “Cecil Rhodes and Some ■Modern World Problems.” The lecture was entitled “The Settlement of Africa.” *

On broad, statesmanlike lines. General Smuts discussed the future •of the African continent. “It is not a case of natives first, or of whites first, but of Africa first,” he declared, in a powerful plea for white and native co-operation.

“The civilisation of the African continent,” he said, “will ho a vain dream apart from white employment, without the leading hand of the settler and the employer, away from the continuous living contact with the actual example and the, practice of European industry and agriculture.”

IDEALS OF RHODES. x At the outset General Smuts remarked that, like Rhodes, he was an aptive politician, and like him, he was an African whose lifework had lain in the field of African policies. “The ideas and policies of Rhodes have not grown old or stale with time,” General Smuts declnred. “On the contrary, they are to-day more alive than ever before. It is ever the hall-mark of genius to initiate points of view which are not a flash in the pan, but burn with a steady brilliance to launch ideas whose fruitfulness increases with f,ime and which thus carry their own immortality. I was a young' man fighting in the Boer War when Rhodes passed away 27 years; ago;. My wiholte working ’Jife since then has been continuously occupied with the same sort of questions which governed his thought—the Union of South Africa, the progress of 'European civilisation on the African continent, the relations between white and black in that civilisation, the promotion of world peace through better understanding between the leading nations of the world.”

General Smuts discussed the humanitarian point of view that settlements in Africa produced slavery, indentured labour, and native exploitation. “These are rot the policy, hilt the blots and excrescences on the policy,” he declared. “White settlement can proceed in * frica without, and is all the better for being without, the dubious aids of slavery or forced or indentured labour, or labour taxes, er other forms of labour compulsion. Our experiences in South Africa has definitely established that these expedients to help ont the white settler are not only unnecessary but positively harmful.”

DEFINITE POLICY NEEDED. The way to civilise the African native was- to give him decent white employment. “The civilisation of Africa calls for a definite policy,” General Smuts continued, “the policy of European settlement, the establishment of a white community inside Africa which will form the steel framework of the whole ambitious structure of African civilisation. “Without a large European population as a continuous support and of that civilisation and as an - t ever-prtesent practical example and stimulus for the natives, I fear that civilisation will not go far and will not endure for long. From the native point of view, therefore, just as .much as from the white or European point of view, nay, even more from the native point of view, the poicy of African settlement is imperatively necessary.” Granting in principle that native interests should rank first, General Smuts proceeded, white settlement under proper safeguards remained the best means to give effect to that priority. “African progress,” he said, “is one whole organic problem, and has to be viewed as such. It is not really a case of natives first or whites first, but of Africa first. Any policy which (without manifest injustice or unfairness to any particular section) promotes most effectively the progress of African development and civilisation as a whole will at the same time be most in the interests of the natives as well as of the whites. That is good political philosophy as well as sound common sense.

'Wf white settlement is suitable and available climatic areas is, as I contend, the most effective and expeditious means of pushing forward the economic, progress of this continent, it will prove to be also the best, means of promoting native interests.”

MOHAMMEDANISM IN POSSESSION.

General Smuts made a striking reference to the work of missionaries and Government Civil Servants. “Much as I admire,” he said, “the heroic spirit and the achievement of missionary enterprise, much as I respect the contribution which the various African Civil .Services are making. I have no hesitation in saying that neither separately nor together aro they competent to play the decisive part which is here assigned to white settlement. “The Christian missionary has, after a century of ceaseless effort, not yet succeeded iri making any deep impression on Africa. Compared to lhe enormous progress and still rapid

spread of Mohammedanism, his success is not very striking. These words may sound cold and unsympathetic from one who believes that the message of Christianity is, and remains the greatest inspiration of the human race. But we must face facts. Mohammedanism is already in solid and uncontested possession of Africa from the Mediterranean to the tenth, parallel of north latitude, and to the south of it, is spreading more rapidly than Christianity. As a creed Mohammedanism makes a very strong appeal to the native wind, perhaps stronger than that of the highly ethical and spiritual Unristian religion.

“For these and other reasons I should not think it fair to leave the fate of European civilisation to the missionary alone. And the missionary of the old type no longer responds to the needs of Africa. For the African even less than for the European is the teaching of the Gospel not enough. More and more the scientific and ' medical aspects of mission work are coming to the fore. 1 do not know whether you have read the ibook of Ilrollessor lSchwei(tzer, ‘'The Edge of the Forest Primeval.’ It is a most informative book, and it points the way to the future trend of missionary' work.

RULE OF THE MEDICINE MAX. “The true ruler of Africa to-day, as he has been for thousands of years in the past, is the medicine man; and the only man to fight him effectively is the scientific medicine man. It is a matter for congratulation that our Christian missions are more and more developing their medical side. Medical mission is the mission for Africa. The devils of Africa are witchcraft and disease—witchcraft the most demoralising, and disease the most widespread and terrible. “You get a true picture of African witchcraft from Paul de Chaillu’s book ‘Equatorial Africa,’ which, although written some seventy years ago, still remains one of the most illuminating documents on native African life. Christian missionaries will in future require a thorough anthropological training in addition to a general scientific medical equipment. But even so, and however well-train-ed and well-equipped they may be, the task of European civilisation in Africa will need- the weight and the numbers and the constant example of large white' communities for its progress and success.

SOUTH AFRICA’S EXAMPLE. Native land rights had been placed on a definite footing in most of the territories. All such land as the natives might need for future expans-ion-taking a liberal view of such expansion—had been definitely’ reserved. “It is unfortunately the fact,” General Smuts pointed out, “that throughout much of the African continent the native population is not increasing, and in some parts, like Angola and the Congo, it is definitely declining.

“The part of Africa in which the native population has been increasing most rapidly within the last fifty years is the Union of South Africa, and that fact is a great tribute to the blessings of a settled government, to the favourable economic conditions which render such an expansion possible and to the medical care taken and welfare work carried on among the natives.

“It. is certainly a very significant fact that in that part of Africa where a great white community.exists alongside the natives they have shown the greatest economic progress, the largest increase and the greatest advance in education and civilisation. The fact gives additional force to my argument that the existence of a white community, so far from, being contrary to native interests, is indeed a stimulus and guarantee of native progress. MISTAKES JN THE PAST. “The mistake we made in South Africa in past was our failure in not reserving sufficient land for the future needs of the rapidly increasing natives, and the land problem which we have in consequence on our hands is one of +hr> most difficrD. In all other respects the white man’s rule in South Africa, has on the whole been of immense benefit to the natives, and the economic conditions of the natives in South " Africa are far in advance of anything existing anywhere among African natives.

“There is an awakened public conscience among the whites no less than among the natives which will not tolerate injustice or abuses, and which forms an efficient safeguard for native interests. As a result we have a constant ventilation of native grievances which might mislead those not closely acquainted with conditions in South Africa. “The solid and incontrovertible fact remains that native progress in South Africa under white rule has been quite unprecedented, in spite of some regrettable legislation which has recently found or is still seeking its way to the statute book.”

EVOLVING NEW TYPES. General -Smuts also answered the objection that on health grounds no permanent European population could lx* maintained in the tropics, pointing out that tropical and sub-tropical parts of South Africa which once were thought unhealthy now carried a large white population without any harm to their health. “The settlement of the high lands of Eastern Africa,” he said, “must necessarily take generations to carry out fully, and there will be time enough to watch the effects of the

policy on the health and physical character of the population and to slow down or speed up the process in accordance with the experience gained. “It is even possible,” General Smuts suggested, “that just as in the biological world new types are evolved in a new environment, so a new human type may in time arise under the unusual climatic conditions of Eastern Africa. The Transvaal Boer already seems to be evolving into a type very different from bis Dutch Huguenot ancestors. The human laboratory of Africa may yet produce strange results, and time alone can show whether or not, the experiment was worth while in the interests of humanity.”

Concluding with “positive reasons’ lor a white settlement policy in Eastern Africa. General Smuts said: “The British Government are today in control of a vast portion of the African continent, and especially of that part which as far as evidence goes appears eminently' suitable for European colonisation. It cannotsimply sit on these vast assets and adopt a policy of drift. Is is a trustee for civilisation; it must sec that the best use is made of this huge undeveloped estate. And such a role especially befits tile greatest colonising Power the world lias ever seen. The resources of Eastern Africa must be developed and exploited in a manner worthy of the traditions of Great Britain.

“The building up of a strong white community to hold and develop the healthy high lunds which stretch from Rhodesia to Konya would he a magnificent response to this call. Now that Great Britain holds these territories from north to south in one unbroken chain, she has an opportunity greater even than Rhodes evqr dreamt of to carry out her historic mission and establish in the heart of the African continent and as a bulwark of its future civilisation an-, other white Dominion.

UNITY OF THE KM ITItE “To me it seems the next critical step in the evolution of our Commonwealth of Nations. These fragments of Crown colonies should lie put in the way of becoming in time another important self-governing unit of the Empire. There are here the makings of something very wonderful indeed and of far-reaching importance for Africa, for the Empire, and for the world. But a definite forward policy is wanted which will eventually lead to this consummation. The future only can show whether this new group will be linked with the Union and Rhodesia, in the south or whether it will follow lines of its own in a new northern constellation. What is urgently wanted is the settlement of a white population, able and competent to undertake the task of development, and finally to conquer and hold this continent for European civilisation.

NEED for. WHITE SETTLERS. “On the African continent, Great Britain and the Empire have a more unique position than in any other portion of the globe. There is land enough and to spare for all ' native requirements. There is a large surplus of high land available for white settlers, who will not merely be white planters. The occupation of these high lands by a .settled European population will in the years to come take away an appreciable number of your Home population, and will provide work for much larger number at Home. “By a vigorous policy of settlement on these high lands from south to north of Eastern Africa you will lay the foundations of a great future Dominion of the Empire. The cause of African civilisation will be advanced more securely by such a policy than by any other than 1 can conceive. And thereby will lie achieved a stable and permanent civilisation which will give the native peoples of Africa that agelong contract with a. higher order of things which the fearfully slow movement of the native specially calls for.

THE TIME TO ADVANCE. “No flash in the pan of tropical exploitation will really help the cause- of African civilisation. It will be a slow, gradual schooling of peoples who have slumbered and stagnated since the dawn of Time and only an over-pre-sent, settled, permanent European order can achieve that high end. The call of Africa for civilisation, the call of the world for tropical products, and the call of these islands for migration and employment all combine to give very real force to the case which I am making here to-day. From all these points of view the time had come for a real major advance, and I hope we shall not have long to wait for it.’

TWO SUGGESTIONS. General Smuts submitted to practical suggestions, firstly, that land settlement- in Eastern Africa should be decided upon as a major policy, and secondly, an annual conference should be instituted for the discussion of African problems, and to that conference all British African States, from Kenya to the Union of South Africa, should send delegates. “I am pleading.” he concluded, “not for temporary measures hut for the only sort of foundation which will securely bear 1 the weight of future African development and civilisation. A large white population seems to be a sine qua non; and in the long run they in concert with the natives, will settle their own political arrangements. The Hilton Young Commission recommends that the East African territories shall he grouped into two groups, in each of which a High Commissioner shall represent the Secretary

or State for the Cononies, and control and direct certain common policies of the group concerned—such as Customs, transport, defence, and research.

“To these I would add land settlement. If land settlement in Eastern Africa were decided upon as a- major policy, and men of vision and wide sympathy and energy were appointed to he High Commissioners, the picture which J have tried to sketch today will not be long in taking shape. If the instrument is adequate to the task the result may lie, very I'ar-reacli-ing. Land hott lenient should, however, l.e a common concerted policy and should not be left to local idiosyncrasies. And it should be- the most important constructive task ol the new High Commissioners.

A COMMON FORUM NEEDED “Annual conferences by the leaders throughout Eastern and South Africa will provide the necessary forum for shaping common policies. And as a result of such conferences the British Government- and the High Commissioners will have a more responsible and mature white opinion to reckon with and to guide them in their task. Nothing in the nature of a Parliament or even of a General African Advisory Council is intended or is necessary. A common forum for exchanging ideas, for clarifying, viewpoints, for self-education of the leaders, and for hammering out common policies embodied in resolutions is all that is wanted. By such means a, healthy public opinion will he formed and the pitfalls due to the narrower local outlook will he avoided in matters of farreaching significance.”