African Studies and the War

Abstract

NOTWITHSTANDING the War, native administration in Africa must be carried on; and the problems incidental thereto are likely to become more, rather than less, insistent in the world turmoil which now prevails. For the moment, indeed, paradoxical as it may seem, circumstances probably are more favourable to African studies directed to possibilities of future development than if the end of hostilities were within measurable distance. Such, at least, would appear to be the judgment of H.M. Secretary of State for the Colonies, at whose request Lord Hailey will shortly pay a visit to a number of the British dependencies in West, East, and Central Africa to undertake an informal study of certain aspects of native administration. This investigation will carry further the work on such questions which Lord Hailey has already done during his earlier visits, when collecting material for his "African Survey". His inquiries on this occasion, which are expected to take about six months, will be directed in the main to the comparative study of forms of native administration, with special reference to their technical working and their future development. It will be of more than passing interest to see how in the judgment of so experienced an observer as Lord Hailey the diversity of conditions which will be brought under notice justify, or the reverse, the standardization of administrative methods in the interests of native advancement, and how far a more intensive study of native institutions in relation to administration than they have yet received, is demanded.