408 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—E. 
We expect to find, then, the following products :— 
(1) Coastal regions : Cool.—Grass, dairy products, lamb production. 
Warmer.—Fruit: apples in cooler, plums, pears in warmer, 
grapes, peaches in still warmer conditions. 
(2) Inland drier regions : Cool season.—Wheat, barley, increasingly combined 
with sheep for wool or with tilled crops 
(potatoes, forage) for dairy farming 
where fresh (not brackish) water is 
always obtainable for the animals. 
No cool season.—Maize combined as above. 
(3) Irrigated regions.—Valuable crops, e.g. cotton, citrus, grapes for raisins ; rice, 
lucerne and dairy cattle. Human food crops only in 
crowded countries : India, Ceylon. : 
(4) Tropics.—See above. 
For most parts of the Empire the British market dominates the demand. The 
inquiries of the Empire Marketing Board and of the Ministry of Agriculture show 
approximately what this demand is ; there is great need now for a survey of the soil 
resources of the Empire, which would show how much land is immediately available 
for these various products and how much more could on present knowledge be made 
available should economic conditions justify this course. The Geographical and 
Agricultural Sections might well consider the possibility of collaborating with the 
Imperial Soil Bureau in making a preliminary survey ; the work, once started, would 
readily be developed. 
AFTERNOON. 
The Right Hon. Lorp Lucarp, P.C., G.C.M.G.—Africa in Transition. 
It is appropriate that the changes which have taken place in Africa in the last 
half-century should be considered at a joint meeting of the Geographical and 
Anthropological Sections. From the standpoint of political geography great changes 
have taken place in the temperate zones in the north and the south of the Continent. 
In the former Egypt has become independent and Italy and France have consolidated 
their possessions in Libya, and in Tunis, Algiers and Morocco ; in the latter the Union 
of South Africa has taken shape as a Dominion, and the two Rhodesias have been 
added to the Empire. Dividing the half-century into three periods we find great 
changes in Tropical Africa, viz., the regions between 17° N. and 17° S. Lat. In the 
first seventeen years it was, with the exception of Abyssinia, partitioned between the 
powers, boundaries were demarcated, and a great campaign took place against the 
slave trade. The foreign governments were engaged in establishing law and order, 
In the second era from 1898 economic development by means of railways was pushed 
forward, defence forces created, and slave trading finally suppressed. ‘Trade increased 
rapidly. The final period saw the elimination of Germany, the creation of the mandate 
system and a definite policy of trusteeship for the natives. Communications were 
improved by the advent of motor vehicles and aeroplanes. 
The new exploration of Africa lies in research regarding native institutions and 
the adaptation of methods of government. This became an international interest 
largely owing to the mandate régime. Under that system supervision is exercised by 
the Mandates Commission until the people can stand alone. The advent of Europeans 
into the interior has naturally had a great effect on African modes of life and thought. 
The abolition of tribal war and slave raiding has enabled natives to travel freely, 
and contact with white men has disintegrated native society. In particular, it has 
introduced the conception of individual as opposed to communal responsibility. 
There are two schools of thought in regard to the method of administration of 
native races, each varying in application in different regions. The first is that of 
‘ Assimilation,’ in which the object is to supersede native rulers and institutions by 
those of the Suzerain Power and to Europeanise the African. The second, known as 
‘Tndirect Rule,’ aims at building on African foundations and gradually improving 
them. ‘This involves a close study of native tradition and custom, on the one hand, 
and on the other instruction of native rulers in civic responsibility, the delegation of 
