British Territories Research Articles

Indians Overseas in British Territories, 1834-1854.

Indians Overseas in British Territories, 1834-1854.

Asian Students and Asian Studies in Australia

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ASIAN nationalism in the inter-war period was characterized by the gradual substitution of Asian for European administrators and technical experts. The Indianisation of the Indian Civil Service, for example, involved a drastic reduction in the number of European members at all levels, and was accompanied by a similar shift in proportions in technical and provincial services. Quantitatively, the change was most clearly marked in British territories. The tempo of change was tremendously accelerated in the post-war period. The recognition of the independence of India, Pakistan and Burma, the granting of dominion status to Ceylon, the achievement of Indonesian independence, the effective termination of French sovereignty in Indochina after the Geneva agreement of I954, and the emergence of Malaya as an autonomous federation in 1957: all these developments involved the assumption of Asian control and responsibility for fields of administration and economic development which had been largely directed by European experts. Apart from problems of administration, the emergence of the new Asian nations brought with it a variety of plans for rapid industrialisation and the raising of living standards. A whole series of new industrial projects was put into the blueprint stage. Heavy capital investment was an obvious requirement; the existence of a labour supply was generally assumed. But development plans required skilled and semi-skilled labour, foremen and engineers as well as top-level experts. The magnitude of the problem was aggravated by the steady rise in population-an increase of approximately ten million annually. The rapid wartime development of industries in some parts of Southern Asia (such as India and Pakistan) had widened the field of skills at the technical level, but despite this there still remained an acute shortage of labour capable of adapting itself to the requirements of rapid industrial expansion. Increasing population pressure made problems of improved agrarian techniques more acute. The rising demand for skills in predominantly agrarian countries with village industries imposed a large strain on the resources of the 3,ooo universities, technical training colleges and trade schools of Commonwealth

Nigeria's "Marginal Men"

T HE British colonial territory of Nigeria is undergoing rapid change today.2 There is a continued influx from the countryside into the urban areas; towns are springing up and cities are expanding. The means of communication, though limited, are being improved steadily, and the approach to independence has stimulated political activity to the point where it dominates the life of the country. This state of flux has had an immense influence on the people, especially in the cities where the urban masses and their leaders have come into a larger measure of control within the framework of British final authority.3 It shows itself in increased activity among political parties; in the firmly resisting attitudes of strking students at the Nation's only University College at Ibadan; in the recurring labor troubles; in a novel and daring pronouncement of a positive change for the better in the status of women by a regional premier; in the conflict over reorganization of the Eastern Regional educational structure to provide for the first time free primary education, and in the reglious conflict between Protestant and Catholic over this program; in the fight among traditional leaders over accession to traditional offices; the need for appointment of various inquiry and investigating commissions to examine all sorts of questions minorities' fears of discrimination, creation of more states, election redistricting, political corruption, political accusations and threats of party repression, and so on. All this helps to reveal in part that Nigeria is beginning to enter a phase of her history that will pick up in tempo as time passes, she experiences the impact of more and more ideas from the outside, and reaches out to find a new system to fit her to her new and expectant role as an autonomous member in the comity of nations.

Tibet in Anglo-Chinese Relations: 1767–1842

From 1764, when the British position in Bengal was established beyond challenge, until 1842, when the Treaty of Nanking gave Britain the island colony of Hong Kong, the shortest route between British and Chinese territory lay across the Himalaya mountains. Until the Gurkha War of 1814–1816, the southern slopes of the Himalayas and the states that lay along them formed a narrow buffer between British territory and Tibet. As a result of the Gurkha War, British influence was brought right up to the Tibetan border, through the annexation of Kumaon in the western Himalayas, and through the establishment of a vague protectorate over the tiny hill state of Sikkim. Tibet had been evolving into a Chinese dependency since the beginning of the eighteenth century. This process, nearly complete by 1750, reached its final stage in 1792, when Tibet became, to all intents and purposes, an integral part of the Chinese Empire. The British in India were well aware of their proximity to this outpost of the power of the Chinese Emperor. In a period when British dealings with China were confined to trade at a single port, Canton, in conditions that were far from ideal, it would have been most surprising if no attempts had been made to develop Anglo-Chinese relations across the far from impassable barrier of the Himalayas.

The Export of Electoral Systems

This lecture, I am afraid, is concerned primarily with some rather dry questions about the tactics of research in politics, and I hope therefore that you will excuse me if I begin by indicating, in a more personal way, the situation which may give these some present interest. Through the kindness of various sponsors I was able last summer to pay a brief visit to East and Central Africa. There are seven British territories there;1 in all of these, and in the Sudan too, discussion about the development of elections lies close to the centre of politics. Indeed, there exists already a surprisingly large number of separate electoral systems, because of the introduction of separate electorates for separate communities. I can reckon at least fifteen of them, and this takes no account of the ingenuity of District Commissioners in devising new systems to fit local circumstances, as they are urged to do under the policy of ‘democratising tribal institutions. These home-made electoral systems vary a good deal, and include some useful devices which are not in the textbooks.2

Family Quarrels in a North Malayan Teochiu Chinese Vegetable-Growing Community

D URING 1954-5, while a Fellow of the Social Research Unit of the University of Malaya, I had the opportunity of living in a community of Chinese vegetable farmers in North Malaya. The predominant languages spoken in the home among Malayan Chinese are Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien, Teochiu, and Hainanese; the members of each language group usually practice trades and occupations peculiar to that group. In this part of North Malaya in Province Wellesley, vegetable growing is predominantly an occupation undertaken by Teochius. The vegetables are sold to middlemen, who cater to the demand made by the large towns of Penang, Butterworth, Bukit Mertajam, and Sungei Patani. The ground which these Teochiu farmers cultivate is part of the village of Sungei Derhaka, a Malay kampong on the main road between Bukit Mertajam and Butterworth, a trunk road joining North to South Malaya. The villagers live on their own vegetable plots, well away from the main road, in attap houses built on the ground. In this the houses differ from Malay houses, which are built on stakes. The Chinese village consists of 93 houses with a total population of 488; 152 males and 121 females, twelve years of age or older, and 112 boys and 103 girls. Included within these 93 houses are 11 houses of shopkeepers, who cater to the needs of the Malay and Chinese farmers. At least 75 of the 93 family heads were born in China, but the majority of the population of the village was born in Malaya. Since a number of the young men have been born in the British territory of Province Wellesley and are therefore British subjects, they have been allowed to return to China and to come back to this village with their wives, whom they married in China. This is a privilege denied to the Chinese-born who reside in the Malay states. This part of the Malay village was first occupied by Chinese about thirty years ago. Although the land was part of the village, the Malay villagers had little use for it as it was swampy and unsuitable for growing rice and coconuts, the main crops which they cultivated. As a consequence, the Malay owners rented the land to the Teochius at a low rate. Although arrangements vary between different farmers and landlords, the average rent is from M$10 to M$30 ($3.20-9.60) an acre per annum, a low figure when compared with equivalent areas of rice land. In developing a farm, the main capital is that required to buy the rights of the previous tenant and to maintain oneself while the first crop is growing. The amount paid to previous occupiers in recent sales was from M$200 to M$900 an acre depending on the amount of the crop

Reason and Unreason in African Law

Opening ParagraphIn this essay I propose to discuss three recent studies of African legal systems—Anderson's survey of Mohammedan law in British African territories, Gluckman's book on the Barotse (or Lozi, to mention the tribe mainly considered), and Howell's book on Nuer law. To begin with, this seemed merely a convenient way of combining three reviews; nor did the three books seem to have very much more in common than the date of their publication and the fact that they are all concerned with Africa. The types of law described and the scope of the descriptions differ widely. So does even the background of the authors; for Professor Anderson is a jurist, Professor Gluckman an anthropologist with legal training and interests, and Dr. Howell an administrator-cum-magistrate with anthropological training and interests.

Recent Contributions to the Geography of the Sudan

T HE decade since the end of the Second World War has seen notable activity in the Sudan in preparation for, and execution of, projects of economic and social development inspired by the example of British colonial territories and the aspirations of emergent Sudanese nationalism. During the last five years a substantial number of works have been published by the Sudan government' and by the Philosophical Society of the Sudan, Khartoum. Sudan Notes and Records, founded in 1918, and well known for its valuable original articles and notes on historical and anthropological subjects, enlarged its scope in 1948, and as a result several papers on geography and kindred studies have recently appeared in it.

The Fenian Raid on New Brunswick

can branch of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, divided into two bitterly hostile œactions? For months Fenians had been considering an invasion oœ Canada, and now leaders oœ the two groups, in their bids ]{or support, became aggressive. The faction led by John O'Mahony, with headquarters in New York, was the first to move? O'Mahony himself was reluctant, but his hand was forced by a vigorous lieutenant, Bernard Doran Killian, oœ St. Louis, his oœ the Treasury? O'Mahony was President oœ the FenJan Brotherhood, though in December, 1865, he, along with Killian, had been deposed by the Senate which set up a rival faction under William R. Roberts? Early in 1866 Killian was said to have asked President Andrew Johnson and Secretary oœ State Seward about the position which the United States would take in case a Fenian army should seize British territory north oœ Maine simultaneously with an uprising oœ the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland? These developments were to be ]{oHowed, according to Killian, by the proclamation oœ an Irish Republic and the establishment oœ the St. Lawrence River as the northern boundary oœ the United States. The President and the Secretary were said to have intimated vaguely that in such a case the United States government would acknowledge accomplished œacts. 6 Whether or not this was true XFor a definitive account see William D'Arcy, The FenJan Movement in the United $tates:1858-1886 (Washington, D.C., 1947).

Certain Aspects Of Chinese Customary Law In The Light Of Japanese Scholarship

IN October 1948, the Governor of Hong Kong appointed a committee to consider the position of Chinese law and custom in that colony. The report of this committee, which was published in February 1953,1 will have drawn attention to the fact that the old family law of China, quite apart from the limited recognition given to it by the courts, continues to exercise considerable influence on the lives of millions of Chinese, not only in Hong Kong, but in the other British territories of South-East Asia. In China itself, as regards matters of the family, the Civil Code of the former National Government had never, over most of the country and for the mass of the people, any very eifectual force, and the customary law continued to exist in almost undiminished vigour until the establishment of the People's Government in 1949.2 Since then the situation has changed completely. New laws regarding marriage and property are effectively enforced, and have everywhere replaced the old customs and, what is still more important, an extremely efficient system of mass-education in the principles of Communism will before long have expelled from people's minds those beliefs on which the old Chinese law was based. From now on, apart from Formosa, it is only in Hong Kong and among the communities of overseas Chinese throughout South-East Asia that Chinese customary family law will continue to exist, but even with such limitations it is still of sufficient importance to make its study of practical significance.

ERADICATION OF LEPROSY IN BRITISH TERRITORIES: RÔLE OF REPEATED SURVEYS OF CONTACTS

ERADICATION OF LEPROSY IN BRITISH TERRITORIES: RÔLE OF REPEATED SURVEYS OF CONTACTS

Ecology in the service of man in British territories in Africa: Selected aspects and examples

As a member of the Clementsian school I appreciate writing in honour of the distinguished leader of another school: Professor BRAUN-BLANQUET. So great have been the gifts of this doyen of ecologists in Europe that I regret that distance should have ruled against his being associated with those who have striven to unravel some of the twisted skeins of biotic relations in British Africa. Despite the lack of his personal aid and guidance, however, we have learned from his work and his spirit and thereby have been encouraged; we salute him. It might be useful to sketch on a limited canvas that of ecological studies in British territories in Africa selected aspects of the contributions that the concepts and methods of Ecology have made. That Ecology has indeed aided in some measure during the past forty years in portions of this undeveloped continent supports the verbal comment to me many years ago by that ecologicallv minded statesman Field Marshall SMUTS, and quoted by CLEMENTS (1935): ,,Ecology must have its way; ecological methods and outlook must find a place in human goverment as much as in the study of man, other animals and plants. Ecology is for mankind."

Customary law: the limits of its validity in colonial law

SYNOPSIS This essay aims to delimit the scope of the operation of customary law in English colonial law. Customary law has in varying degrees been recognized as forming part of the local law of almost every British territory : the one touchstone of the validity of any alleged rule of customary law is that it must neither infringe an established statutory or common law principle nor must it be contrary to the principles of “natural justice, equity and good conscience”. In practice, however, this apparently simple provision not infrequently gives rise to controversy, especially when applied to unusual circumstances by English or English‐trained colonial judges whose conception of public policy is sometimes at variance with indigenous ideas. Clearly barbarous customs, such as witchcraft practices and trial by ordeal, are easily ruled out of court but not so borderline cases that neither pique the judges' enlightened sense of morality and fairness nor affront the indigenous code of ethics. It is with the delicate and often nice questions of establishing acceptable criteria of legal validity for particular rules of customary lam in the very diverse conditions of British colonial territories that the analysis that follows attempts to deal. Customary law is still an integral part of modern colonial law and a close examination of the limits of its operation within the latter is certainly overdue.

Some Problems in the Development of Air Transport in West Africa

West Africa, particularly British West Africa, has been one of the last areas to be opened up to Air Transport and because of physical and financial difficulties, progress has been slower than in most other parts of the Empire.As West Africa, even today, is not very well known in other parts of the Empire, it will be useful to give a brief description of the territory and the early history of aviation there before dealing with the special problems encountered in the development of air transport. While the particular territories dealt with in this lecture are the four British West African Colonies and Protectorates of the Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast and Nigeria, it will be necessary, from time to time, to make passing reference to the adjacent French territories and even to the Anglo–Egyptian Sudan. The four British territories, unlike those in East Africa, are not contiguous but each is surrounded on the land side by the intervening French territories of Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Volta, Niger, Chad and the Cameroons.

Uganda's National Parks

The Uganda Government has long been subject to much adverse criticism for its apparent reluctance to fulfil its share of the obligations towards wild life which were agreed upon by Great Britain in 1933, at the international conference held in London for the better protection of the African fauna. The world however was then in the throes of a disastrous financial depression, from which recovery was slow, and it was scarcely the time for the small Uganda Protectorate, with its limited resources, to embark on a costly scheme for creating national parks. Moreover, ever since the proclamation of the Protectorate in 1894 Uganda has suffered more severely from rinderpest, that terrible scourge of cattle, than any other British territory in Africa. The direct loss in livestock has been appalling, but the indirect loss, which can be assessed as the measure of the preventive effort on the part of the Veterinary Department, has been positively staggering. Rinderpest has for long been endemic in the regions of Ethiopia to the north-east and never a year has passed without the dread disease appearing on Uganda's northern and eastern frontiers. The wild ungulates introduced, harboured and transmitted the disease—the cattle could be controlled, not so the wild animals except possibly by the repugnant method of destruction. Outside the limits of Uganda few have realized the grim and costly struggle which continued relentlessly year by year, and still fewer have ever appreciated that little Uganda with its gallant band of veterinary workers has again and again staved off disaster from reaching the territories lying to the south and south-west. Rinderpest was no respecter of game reserves in which the disease-stricken ungulates suffered as heavily as anywhere else and therefore there were economic factors of considerable gravity involved in the question of alienation of relatively large areas as national parks. It seemed preferable and wiser to endeavour to free Uganda from the ravages of rinderpest, before setting aside as national parks areas which could function as reservoirs of the disease.

Native Administration in the British Territories in Africa. By Lord Hailey. 4 vols. London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1951. Pp. 358, 168, 350, 61. £2. 10s. 6d.

Native Administration in the British Territories in Africa. By Lord Hailey. 4 vols. London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1951. Pp. 358, 168, 350, 61. £2. 10<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>.

The British Territories in East and Central Africa, 1945-1950. Published by the Colonial Office. (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1950. Pp. 166.)

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The British Territories in East and Central Africa 1945–50

The British Territories in East and Central Africa 1945–50

Emigration to British East and Central Africa

for more people, their climates for the most part are suitable for Europeans, and they have administrations and social services which could be expanded rapidly to meet the needs of larger populations. So clamorous are some of the D:ominions in their demands for immigrants that the opportunities for White settlement in other parts of the Commonwealth are easily overlooked. In Africa there are large areas of British colonial territory apparently suitable for permanent White settlement, and while these areas present the immigrant with difficulties of economic, social, and physical adaptation not encountered in higher latitudes, there are political, economic, and strategic reasons why they should be discussed in connection with emigration policies. The object of this paper is to examine some of the geographical considerations concerning economic development by White settlement in the British African colonies.*

Southern Rhodesia—The Tsetse Fly Question

The Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire is taking stock of the faunal conditions of Africa in the light of recent developments, with special reference to investigations that have taken place and are in progress, of the incidence of flyborne diseases and of methods of control of such diseases by direct attack on the fly through the use of insecticides and otherwise, and by treatment of cattle with prophylactics such as antryeide. We have been encouraged to hope that Governments in British territories, including Southern Rhodesia, where controlled killing had been undertaken with a view to eradicating tsetse fly were now disposed to suspend this method of attack for a period pending examination of the results of experiments in progress.