LEGISLATION
| Published date | 01 April 1953 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1953.tb00985.x |
| Date | 01 April 1953 |
98
JOURNAL
OF
AFRICAN
ADMINISTRATION
(if they are professionals) or members of
the
central legislatures (if amateurs)".
Obviously this is
true
of the African professional classes
but
quite
untrue
surely
of the rural peasantry as a whole.
The
author of this report unhappily seems to have been entirely misinformed
upon the policy and progress of local government in tropical Africa. On pages 82-3
he seems to be
under
the impression
that
the highly centralized official and
bureaucratic administration of the old colonial regime is simply being carried on
as self-governing powers are devolved, the only change being
that
the white D.C.
is being replaced by the African D.C. On
the
contrary,
the
policy of developing
African local government is aimed at creating a degree of autonomy in local and
regional affairs which would allow local authorities to counter-act any tendency
to over-concentration of administrative and political'power at the centre. And
this balance, it seems to me, is vital if there is to be any hope of a working
democracy eventually in British tropical Africa. R.E.R.
OTHER
BOOKS
RECEIVED
SIR
ERNEST
BENN.
The State and the Enemy. Ernest Benn
Ltd.,
1953; 12s. 6d.;
pp. 174.
L. W.
HOLLINGSWORTH.
Zanzibar under the Foreign Office 1890-1913. Macmillan,
1953; 12s. 6d.; pp. 232.
D.
WESTERMANN
and M. A.
BRYAN.
Handbook
of
African Languages. Part
Il-
Languages
of
West Africa. Oxford University Press for International African
Institute, 1952; 21s.; pp. 215.
LEGISLATION
I.
LOCAL
GOVERNMENT.
GOLD
COAST
State
Councils (Ashanti) (Amendment) Ordinance, No. 41
of
1952.
Amends the principal ordinance
(No.4
of 1952) by the insertion of a
ｰｲｯｶｩｳｩｯｾ
that no Stool property shall be liable to be seized at the suit of any person. ThiS
provision was previously contained in the Stool Property Protection Ordinance
(No. 22 of 1940) which is now repealed.
KENYA
Native Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, No. 43
of
1952.
Provides for the official appointment by provincial commissioners of sub-chiefs
and confers upon such duly appointed sub-chiefs jurisdiction and powers under
the
principal ordinance.
Empowers aprovincial commissioner, by written order, to authorise any chief
to compel work or service in connection with an emergency. Empowers the
Governor, by proclamation, to authorise any chief in the same sense for work or
service in connection with the conservation of natural resources. Certain persons
are declared exempt from the provisions of the Governor's proclamation. Safe-
guards arc provided. With the passing of this ordinance, the Compulsory Labour
Regulation Ordinance was repealed by ordinance No. 51 of 1952.
NIGERIA
(Eastern Region) Port Harcourt Town Council (Power
of
Surcharge) Law,
No.4
of
1952.
Gives
the
auditor, who is appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor, power to
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