.348 THE LAND OF THE LION 



and the captain of the steamer who was with good reason 

 proud of his "gang of boys," told me it was a common sight. 

 But then he was a scrupulously fair and also a firm master 

 and there was competition among the natives to get a place 

 in that "gang." I might multiply such evidence of the 

 East African's capacity for work, but any observant travel- 

 ler will admit the truth of what I say. 



The native shows every promise that a child can show 

 of capacity for a sound industrial education, but as yet in 

 German territory alone is any effort being made to pro- 

 vide him with it. In British East Africa the native trades- 

 man were he competent, would be a godsend. The only 

 artificers at present to be had there are Hindi, and very 

 unsatisfactory workmen they prove. But the native 

 must be controlled before he can be taught. 



The Germans have already in this direction accomplished 

 good results. The order and method obtained in their ports 

 is in striking contrast to the wild confusion and inefficiency 

 so painfully obvious among the natives of the English 

 coast line. The German natives, too, are at least as well 

 paid and both they and the travelling public gain by their 

 discipline. At Tanga there are admirable industrial schools 

 where native boys are indentured and kept at their work 

 till they know it. But then Germany is quicker to under- 

 stand the educational needs of a people than any other 

 European nation. 



From all this it follows that the programme of the 

 well-intentioned, but very ignorant home-staying phil- 

 anthropist, who insists on laying down the law for a people 

 of whose actual condition he knows very little, is a mistaken 

 and most hurtful policy. He hears of the gross evils attend- 

 ing forced labour in the Congo or in Portuguese Africa, 

 and at once jumps to the conclusion that the cure for the 

 evil is to abolish forced labour in any form. 



There is very little labour yielded anywhere in the 



