LEGISLATION
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1956.tb00516.x |
| Date | 01 January 1956 |
| Published date | 01 January 1956 |
BOOK
REVIEWS
53
them into practice.
That
would no
doubt
be Dr. Oldham's answer to
any
readers who
may
be disappointed
that
the
discussion in this book of, for
instance,
the
problem of the franchise does
not
probe into greater detail.
What
Dr. Oldham has done in this book is
not
to find all
the
detailed answers
but
to
help us to believe, by
the
honesty of purpose
and
the
mature
human
wisdom
which shine through his writing,
that
the
answers can be found
and
that
there
are in Africa those who are genuinely trying to find them.
Some commentators on
the
Report of
the
Royal Commission have suggested
that,
because their terms of reference confined them to economic matters,
the
Commission were able to design only half a building. Is it possible
that
Dr.
Oldham, acting so to speak as midwife to the Capricorn Africa Society,
may
have
produced in this book a design for
the
missing half of
the
building? Dr. Oldham
himself would probably say
that
all he
had
produced was a rough sketch and
that
the
answer depends on
the
spirit in which members of
the
Society,
and
others in Africa of all races who accept
the
Society's views as
interpretated
by
him,
set
about
the
tremendous work of turning the sketch into aplan
and
the
plan into detailed drawings.
But
it is because he is a convinced opponent of
those defeatist philosophies which have
had
such a vogue in recent times
and
believes
that
faith
and
endeavour are capable of moving, if
not
mountains,
at
any
rate
the
ponderous mass of '
climates'
of opinion,
that
he sees in
the
ideas
with which this book is concerned cause for new hope in Africa.
W. L. G. B.
LEGISLATION
1.
GENERAL
NIGERIA
(WESTEHN
REGION)
Appointment
and Deposition
of
Chiefs (Amendment)
Law.
No. 15
of
1955.
Amends
the
principal ordinance, Cap. 12 of
the
Laws,
and
makes it all
offence to instal as a chief
any
person who has
not
been approved by
the
Governor under
the
Appointment
and
Deposition of Chiefs Ordinance. Imposes
penalties upon
any
person who permits himself to be installed, who wrongfully
exercises chiefly functions or who wrongfully conducts installation ceremonies.
II.
LAND
GOLD
COAST
Housing Schemes (Acquisition
of
Land)
(Amendment) Ordinance,
No. 22
of
1955.
Amends
the
principal ordinance, Cap. 85 of the Laws, by vesting in
the
Minister responsible for housing the lands previously vestedin the ChiefSecretary
under the principal ordinance. At
the
same time the new legislation transfers
to the Minister the powers
and
responsibilities to deal with land acquired
under
the
original ordinance which have previously been exercised by
the
Chief Secretary.
NORTHERN
RHODESIA
Public
Lands
Acquisition (Amendment) Ordinance,
No. 2q
of
1955.
Extends
the definition of ' public
purposes'
which is given in
the
principal
ordinance, Cap. 87 of the Laws, so as to include purposes of
the
Federal
Government of Rhodesia and Nyasalancl.
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