122
EUROPE AND AFRICA
post-war commercial crisis have put the clock of Tanganyika
back for a number of years, but those who are most familiar
with the situation are most optimistic for the future.! The
British have turned back some of the estates to the natives;
they have curbed the powers of the Akidas and are super-
vising them more closely; they are maintaining the tribal
organizations and ruling through the tribal chiefs instead
of through Swahilis from the coast; they have abolished
slavery; and they are emphasizing the policy of developing
the country by encouraging the natives to grow exportable
crops on their own account.? “Regular traveling by district
officers, often into parts previously unvisited by the British,
sympathetic consideration of grievances, and a patient hear-
ing of tribal cases have evoked a spirit of confidence and
friendliness on the part of the native. The increasing tend-
ency to build better villages and to choose for_ these ac-
cessible sites near the roads is proof that greater security is
generally recognized.”
A census of April, 1921, showed 4,107,000 natives, 10,200
Indians, 4800 Arabs, and 2450 whites. Comparison with
the German figures for 1913 shows considerable decreases in
the coastal districts, and increases which almost offset them
in the interior. The East African Indian Congress of 1920
passed a resolution to the effect that Tanganyika should be
reserved for the Indians; but upon advice from India that
the asking of a preferential position in one area might be
construed as an admission of the justice of preferential
treatment for Europeans in other areas. the Indian leaders
1 For instance, J. P. Tolland, Deputy Director of the Land Survey and
Mines Department, United Empire, July, 1923.
2 See the admirable Report on Tanganyika Territory, covering the period
from the conclusion of the Armistice to the end of 1920, and Report on
Tanganyika Territory for the year 1921. Brit. Parl. Papers, 1921, Tan-
ganyika Territory, cmd. 1428 (109 pages), and 1922, Tanganyika Territory,
cmd. 1732 (32 pages).