114
EUROPE AND AFRICA
taken out of their hands and kept in the hands of the Imperial
Government till a time in the future when the African native is
sufficiently advanced in intelligence and education to manage his
own affairs and rule over his own country. This is our present
judgment, and we are prepared to abide by it.
Finally in July, 1923, the British Government issued a
memorandum stating that in African territory the interests
of the natives must be paramount, and when these interests
conflict with those of immigrant races, the former must pre-
vail; that responsible self-government for the colony is out
of the question; that they cannot grant equal franchise to
the Indians, but are prepared to grant the Indians five repre-
sentatives and the Arabs one representative in the legisla-
ture (compared to eleven whites elected), to be elected upon
a communal system; that the existing practice of reserving
the highlands for European settlers must be maintained, but
that segregation in the municipalities must be abandoned.
The settlement of the immigration question is postponed; a
proposal which would maintain the principle of equality is
that the Indians of the lower classes should be excluded by
exacting a uniform and rather high fee — say £50 — from
every immigrant.
The British Government keeps full control over the gov-
ernment of the African natives. Its view is that it is more
disinterested and has a better perspective than have the
local settlers in considering the conflicting claims of whites,
Indians, Arabs, and Africans, and that it must control, since
imperial issues are involved. A Kenya Ordinance of 1920
provided that idle natives might be drafted to perform paid
labor for the Government for not more than sixty days a
year, and instructions had earlier been given to the local
officers that they should advise the chiefs that it was their
duty to urge young men to become wage-earners on the
plantations. These measures led to protests by the local