3v4 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
SIR  HARRY  .JOHNSTON’S  RKl’OlIT  ON 
HKITISH  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 
Our  readers  are  already  familiar  witli  the  many 
features  of  this  report  from  the  extracts  taken 
from  the  home  press.  ]>ut  it  may  he  ■well  to 
reca))ituhate  and  notice  its  main  iieads  after  a 
systematic  fashion,  and  to  refer  to  a few  points 
connected  with  jdanting  development  that  have 
not  hitherto  received  the  attention  they  deserve. 
The  report  ojrens  with  an  analysis  of  the 
census — the  main  results  being  ‘289  Europeans, 
21)3  Indians,  23  half-ca.stes,  and  844,420  natives. 
There  seems  a very  fair  distribution  of  the 
natives  over  tlie  planting  districts,  according  to 
the  names  of  the  latter;  but  no  douht,  as  in 
India  and  Ceylon,  the  natives  are  congregated 
in  the  lowcountry  and  villages,  and  that  the 
European  planteis  are  for  the  lirst  time  culti- 
vating on  the  mountain  ranges  and  establisliing 
labourers  on  the  plantations  so  ft)rmed.  >Sir  H. 
.Johnston  next  discusses  the  dilleient  native 
tribes,  their  condition,  location  and  pi-ospects 
more  i)articularly  with  reference  to  their  taking 
up  work  on  the  plantations.  The  question  of 
Indian  settlement  is  considered  : the  splendid 
work  done  by  the  Sikhs  in  dealing  with  the 
slave  traders  is  well  knowm.  .Sir  II . Jolinston 
had  hoped  to  introduce  Indian  cultivators;  but 
so  far  the  funds  have  not  been  available.  In- 
dian traders  and  surveyors  (largely  Tamils)  are 
hard  at  work;  and  Sir  H.  .Johnston  gives  an 
invitation  to  the  Indians,  who  are  not  satisfied 
w'ith  Natal  and  the  Transvaal,  to  tiy  British 
Central  Africa.  The  section  of  “healtli”  has 
been  fully  mentioned.  There  is  nothing  to  show 
that  the  risks  are  greater  for  planting  pioneers 
than  they  were  in  the  remoter  districts  of 
Ceylon,  the  Wynaad  or  Coorg  iti  India,  in  the 
“ toi'ties,’  “fifties,”  and  even  “sixties.”  The 
Hhirc  Highlands  are  generally  as  healthy  as  our 
own  hill  country,  although  the  malaria  in  the 
valleys  and  lowlands  (“blackwater  fever”)  is 
apt  to  invade  clearings  at  the  lower  elevations. 
Here  is  a paragraph  which  shows  that  the  lirst 
great  need  of  the  country  is  .a  raihvay  from 
<iuilimane  to  Blantyre  (just  as  was  the  want 
in  Ceylon — a railway  from  Colombo  to  Kandy 
in  tbe  “ fifties,”  at  almost  any  cost,  as  the  master- 
mind of  Sir  Henry  Wai'd  cleaily  saw)  : — 
Undoubtedly  the  chief  risks  to  health  on  the  part 
of  temperate,  well-conducted  persons,  arise,  from  the 
journeys  to  and  from  the  highlands  of  Briti.sh  Cen- 
tral Africa  either  up  and  down  the  malarial  Zambezi 
Valley,  or  in  the  low-lying  regions  of  Lake  Nyasa. 
Places  such  as  Blantyre,  Zoniba,  the  Cholo  planta- 
tions, and  the  higher  Mlanje  plantations,  and  certain 
settlements  in  Angoniland,  are  like  series  of  healll  y 
islands  in  the  middle  of  an  unhealthy  sea.  Cliiude 
and  Quilimane,  our  princitial  ports,  are  by  no  means 
very  dangerous  to  the  health  of  those  who  are  resid- 
ing there.  If  there  were  means  of  quick  transit  bet- 
wixt coast  and  tbe  islands  there  would  be  no  more 
risk  about  settling  in  British  Central  Africa  for  a, 
term  of  years  than  there  is  about  going  to  Ceylon 
or  to  such  part.o  of  the  interior  highlands  of  Brazil  as 
can  be  rapidly  reached  by  railway  from  the  coast.  What 
we  want  here  is  a railway  from  (Juilimane  to  Blantyre. 
When  this  is  effected  we  .-h.oil  near  very  little  more  of 
the  unhealthiness  of  British  Central  Africa,  because 
persons  will  be  able  to  accomplish  in  one  day  the  transit 
from  the  coast  port  to  the  liighlands  of  the  Protec- 
torate without  spending  days  and  days  on  a singu- 
arly  uncomfortable  little  steamer  in  the  marshes  of 
the  Zambezi  and  Shiri',  where  tlie  system  becomes 
soaked  with  malarial  jioison. 
Sir  Harry  .lohnston  imsparintrly  comicmn.s  tlie 
iricrea-singly  large  import  and  use  of  w liiskey  as 
inimical  to  liealth.  It  i.s  still  tbe  ilay  of  small 
(Dec.  t,  1896. 
things  so  far  as  tbe  total  import  and 
exjiort  trade  is  concerned.  That  of  imports  in- 
creased in  value  from  ,T73,GG7  in  1894-95  to 
T82,7G0  in  1895-G.  The  total  value  of  exports 
in  the  latter  year  was  only  £19,GG8  : this  in- 
cludes an  increase  of  £3,200  in  coffee  on  the 
previous  year,  while  the  trade  in  rubber,  oil 
seeds,  beans  and  wax  is  increasing  ; sanqiles  of 
cotton  ha\e  been  approved  of  ; tobacco  and  tea 
are  being  tried  on  a small  scale  ; while  a good 
deal  of  attention  is  to  be  given  to  fibres  from 
jilants  of  genus  Sanseviera,  familiar  to  us  in 
Ceylon.  Next  to  coffee,  w'e  think  with  .Sir  H. 
Jolinston  that  indiarubber  yielding  plants  de- 
serve most  attention.  It  is  interesting  to  hear 
of  finds  of  limestone  in  many  parts  ; and  still 
more  of  guano  deposits  on  islands  in  Lake  Nyassa; 
and  of  brick-making  by  the  native.s.  ’ 
The  postal  service  and  the  “ general  condition 
of  the  Protectorate”  next  claim  attention;  but 
there  is  not  much  here  to  detain  u.s  ; until  we 
come  to  the  consideration  of  the  Labour  (Ques- 
tion Ijy  tbe  Commissioner  in  the  following  amont' 
other  passages  00 
The  native  labour  question  is  almost  the  most 
important  question  which  can  now  claim  the  attention 
of  those  administering  the  Protector, ite  Given  abun- 
dance of  cheap  native  labour,  and  the  financial 
security  of  the  Protectorate  is  established.  The 
European  comes  here  with  his  captial,  wdiich  he  is 
ready  to  employ  to  almost  an  unlimited  extent  if 
he  can  get  in  return  black  men  who  wdll,  for  a wa<'e 
W'ork  with  their  hands,  as  he  cannot  do  himself  'll! 
a tropical  sun.  It  only  needs  a sufficiency  of  native 
labour  to  make  this  country  relatively  healthy  and 
amazingly  rich.  The  cultivation  of  coffee  would  be 
a hundred  times  more  extensive  than  it  is  if  there 
were  an  adequate  labour  suppR-.  In  like  manner 
towms  would  be  built,  roads  w'ould  be  laid  out,  railways 
could  be  made,  marshes  could  be  drained  river  chan- 
nels could  be  straightened  and  deepened’  and  count- 
less crops  could  be  planted  and  W'eeded,  if  sufficient 
natives  came  forwad  to  w’ield  the  spade  and 
axe,  and  pickaxe  and  hoe.  All  that  needs  now'  to  be 
done  is,  for  the  Administration  to  act  as  friends  of 
both  sides,  and  introduce  the  native  labourer  to  the 
liuropean  capitalist.  A gentle  insistence  that  the 
native  should  contribute  his  fair  share  to  the  revenue 
of  the  country  by  paying  his  hut  tax  is  all  that  is 
necessary  on  our  part  to  secure  his  taking  that  share 
in  life’s  labour  w'hich  no  human  being  should 
evade.  At  the  same  time,  the  Administration  is  bound 
to  see  that  the  native  is  fairly  treated,  that  he  is 
fairly  paid,  and  that  attention  is  given  to  his  food  and 
general  w'elfare  on  the  part  of  his  European  employer 
The  system  of  registering  native  labourers  has  worked 
well,  and  undoubtedly  the  intervention  of  the  Admi- 
nistration has  secured  to  the  native  uniform  fairness 
of  treatment  which  formerly  he  did  not  receive  when 
it  w as  left  to  the  wdll  of  the  emplover,  whether  he 
was  properly  paid  or  cheated  out  'of  his  earnings 
under  various  pretexts.  In  no  part  of  tlie  world  is 
honesty  more  obviously  the  best  policy  than  in 
Africa  in  dealing  with  tlie  negro,  who  has  a very 
cleir  sense  of  justice.  'The  news  tliat  such-and-such 
a man  his  been  unfairly  treated  l>y  liis  employer,  and 
has  brought  back  no  W'ages  after  three  mouths’  work 
will  deter  a wdiole  district  from  furnishing  further 
recruits  for  the  labour  market  at  Blantyre.  Fortu- 
nately now  the  native  begins  to  understand  that  if 
his  European  employer  does  not  treat  him  fairly’ 
he  has  redress  at  the  hands  of  the  nearest  official.  ’ 
Native  wages  are  slightly  increasing,  but  are  still 
very  low'.  For  unskilled  labour,  about  3.i.  a-month 
with  or  without  food  (aec.u-ding  to  the  season  of  tlie 
year)  is  given,  and  j.roporlioiiately  less  for  the  work 
of  women  and  ehildreu,  who  ‘ are  occassionallv 
employed  to  weed  the  iil.uitations.  Skilled  labour— 
caipenters,  masons,  brickmakers,  clerks,  interpieters 
oversociv,  domestic  servants,  and  cooks— leeciva 
w.ige.s  ranking  from  Is.  a month  to  4(V.  a year. 
