THE FUTUKE OF THE NATIVE EACES OF SOUTHERN 



EHODESIA. 



By X. H. Wilson, 



Naiivc Affair.^ Dcpartmcni , Sonthcin Eliodcsia. 



{Read J nhj 1-3, 1020.) 



There appear to be three possible attitudes tor a reasoning man 

 to take toM^ards the native question, and our thoughts on the 

 future of the native races of Southern lihodesia Avill be governed 

 by our adopting one or other of these attitudes. 



Firstl}', we may accept the saying that everybody, white or 

 black, has the right to rise to the highest point to which he is 

 capable of rising. This was a saying endorsed a few days ago 

 in the Legislative Council by one of our Labour menabers. As to 

 the qualification of " capability of rising," 1 shall have something 

 to say later. At present I only wish to point out that, if we 

 believe that the Western European civilisation (for which we 

 stand, and by reason of the superior claims of which we are here 

 to-day in this territory) is in any degree worthy of our claims 

 on its behalf, then by accepting this saying of the right to rise 

 to the highest possible point, we must, unless we are hypocrites, 

 imply that the native has a right to rise to the standard of that 

 civilisation : and we must likewise accept as a desirable outcome 

 of native development the gradual elevation of the native to the 

 conditions of existence of the European. 



Secondly, we may believe that the native in his kraal probably 

 has a more equable and contented life than modern conditions 

 allow most Europeans, and we may consider the ideal policy on 

 his behalf would be to 4eave him untouched, to segregate him 

 completely (not mere land ownership segregation) and leave him 

 to work out his own salvation in peace, with a modicum 

 of guidance from a paternal government. 



Thirdly, we may honestly look \\\)on the native as an inferior 

 race, to be exploited to the full in the interests of the superior 

 European race. 



All three attitudes may be sup])0i'ted l)y a mass of arguments, 

 the truth of which it is ditficult to deny, but it is essential to 

 choose between the conflicting claims, and to adopt one definitely 

 for our guidance, the fixed point about which we must manoeuvre. 



The third line of reasoning (the Exploitation Theory) is not 

 incompatible with a feeling of kindliness towards the inferior race, 

 and an unshakable determination to see fair treatment meted out 

 to the native. So a decent-minded man regards his horse, his 

 dog, his ox. It appeals to many from its apparent consistency 

 with the evolutionary theory of life as a ])erpetua.l struggle, in 

 which biological necessity compels the strong to prey upon the 

 weak under pain of extinction. But, as Ave recede from the days 

 when the Evolution Theory was first launched upon the world, 



