120 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



How rapid this development is few people have yet realised. In 1921 

 tlie domestic exports of Nigeria were valued at 8j millions sterling, in 

 1925 at 17 millions. Those of the Gold Coast in 1921 were £6,000,000, 

 in 1925 £10,500,000. 



Such examples of expansion are sufficiently sensational, but the rate 

 of development in West Africa is completely eclipsed by the rate of 

 progress in East Africa. The domestic exports of Kenya and Uganda 

 in 1921 were £2,250,000, and in 1925 £7,820,000. The corresponding 

 figures for Tanganyika Territory are £1,000,000 in 1921 and £2,900,000 

 in 1925. 



These figures are illustrative of the sudden acquisition of money 

 wealth among peoples to whom in a very large measure such an experience 

 is entirely novel, and there are not a few students of the problem who are 

 inclined to think that the rate of progress is almost too fast. 



However this may be, I doubt if we can stop it or should be justified 

 in doing so. Practically the whole of this rapid increase in production is 

 represented by agricultural products and only a fraction by minerals. 

 The two most sensational examples of the expansion have been cocoa in 

 the Gold Coast and cotton in Uganda. The exportation of cocoa from the 

 Gold Coast rose from 7,000 tons in 1905 to 78,000 tons in 1915 and 

 220,000 tons (nearly half the world's total supply) in 1925. 



Uganda exported 93,000 bales of cotton lint in the season 1923-24, 

 and the past season's crop has exceeded 200,000 bales. 



In both these cases the crops have been produced entirely by 

 what is termed ' native production,' i.e. by the native working for him- 

 self on his own holding, or for native chiefs or other native employers 

 of labour. 



Apart from the great accretion of wealth to the native producers, the 

 development of a permanent crop like cocoa has an important bearing 

 upon the development of native ideas in regard to land tenure. In parts 

 of Uganda where the chiefs are large landowners, a new relation between 

 landlord and tenant and landlord and labourer is developing. 



I should say that the main efEect of this economic development due to 

 the native production of money crops is the enhancement of the individual 

 vis-a-vis his society. In the old Africa society was largely communal, the 

 rights and functions of the individual being entirely subordinate to those 

 of the tribe or the village. With personal wealth an individual becomes 

 emancipated from the former limitations and controls, and his first 

 instincts are to better himself and his family not only in the economic 

 but also by using his wealth to better himself in the social and political 

 spheres. 



The nature and sanctions of tribal authority are undergoing rapid 

 changes, due in part to these economic causes and in part to a more pro- 

 found spiritual and moral change. In many parts of Africa the two 

 principal sanctions behind the chief's authority were formerly military 

 and religious. The chief was not only the tribal or national leader for 

 purposes of defence and offence, but also the guardian of the national 

 fetishes and the chief executive of native law and custom, which are bound 

 up ultimately with religious sanction. Consequently the missionary in 

 converting the individual native to an individualist religion such as 



