EDITOR'S NOTES
| Published date | 01 July 1955 |
| Date | 01 July 1955 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1955.tb00095.x |
JOURNAL OF
AFRICAN
ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME
VII
NUMBER 3
EDITOR'S
NOTES
JULY,
1955
Many of our readers will have been stimulated by
the
Southern Rhodesia
approach to agrarian problems as described in
the
articles by Mr. Powys-jones
and
by Mr. Winnington-Ingram published in
our
January
and
April issues
respectively. We therefore open this issue with a further article on
the
same
topic, this time by Mr. A. Pendered
and
Mr. W. von Memerty of
the
Department
of Native Affairs, Southern Rhodesia, in which
they
explain
the
objects of
the
Southern Rhodesia Native
Land
Husbandry Act
and
tell us how it
and
the
policy it represents are working
out
in practice to-day.
It
is
the
administrative
and
land tenure aspects of this problem which mainly concern this Journal,
and
these aspects are authoritatively discussed by
the
authors. In a
later
issue
We
shall publish
yet
another article in
the
series, which will be devoted entirely
to
the
more technical side of land tenure, asubject which is assuming increasing
importance in Africa
at
atime when economic development is increasing
the
demand and need for individual security in land.
With
individual
land
rights
will inevitably come
the
need for more control
and
guidance then have hitherto
been found necessary in Africa south of the Sahara. Acomparison of
what
is being done in Southern Rhodesia with
what
is now being recommended
?y
the
East
Africa Royal Commission on
Land
and
Population is of topical
interest.
Although the backgrounds
and
conditions
vary
very considerably
from those obtaining in Southern Rhodesia it is often possible to
adapt
tech-
niques which have been applied successfully in one set of circumstances to
those obtaining elsewhere.
The
next
three articles in this issue tell of
the
progress of local government
in the
Eastern
Region of Nigeria, in
the
Gold Coast
and
in Kenya. Mr. Akpan,
Who
discusses the position of traditional authorities in relation to modern
local government systems, is an assistant district officer who has served in
the
Ibo country
and
he contributes athoughtful review of
the
different methods
of local administration which have been tried in
that
Region
at
different stages
of development, from
the
indirect rule method to
the
highly sophisticated
local government method which has been introduced during
the
past
few years.
The story he tells
and
the lessons he draws from it certainly have wider applica-
tion. His account of " Sole Native
Authorities"
and"
Warrant
Chiefs"
will
ring a bell in many territories. He emphasizes
the
importance of finding
out
Who
the
real leaders of the people are and exactly
what
their
status
and
authority amount to and, having done so, of incorporating
them
in
the
local
government system. Unless this is done there will be two sets of authorities
deriving their powers from different sources
and
pulling in different directions.
This applies
not
only to local government
but
also very much to law
and
order
and to land control. More
than
one Governor has recently stressed
the
impor-
tance of
the
chief in maintaining stability. The chiefs
they
were referring
to
are in fact
the
traditional authorities, call them
what
you will. In future issues
of the
Journal
we will publish other articles on
the
role of traditional authorities
in local administration to-day, asubject which will be discussed
at
the
forth-
Coming
Royal
Institute
of Public Administration Conference on local govern-
ment.
From these thoughts we
turn
to Mr. Hanningan's account of
the
working
of
the
Gold Coast local government system. He writes of some of
the
difficulties
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