(4) Representation of the natives at the sessions of the Government Council;

(5) Introduction of a general code of laws for the country;

Three questions are agitating the natives of British West Africa. These are Land Tenure, the Administration of Justice and the Elimination of the Native in the Civil Service. It is in Southern Nigeria that the Land Tenure question is acute. A commission was appointed by the British Government to look into the question and make recommendations. This commission held sessions both in Africa and in England. A deputation of natives from Southern Nigeria visited England during the year to present their side of the question. Under the changing conditions in West Africa there is a desire on the part of the friends of the natives to preserve to them their present interests and property rights in the soil; at the same time there is said to be the desire on the part of commercial companies to get possession of the soil for exploitation. The purpose of the commission appears to be to devise a method of preventing the lands from being alienated. It has been proposed that the Land Tenure laws of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, with due modifications, be extended to the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, The substance of these laws are:

That the whole of the land, whether occupied or unoccupied at the moment, is native land; that is, land held by the heads of the community in trust for that community. That the whole of the land is controlled by the Governor, who, through conquest, has become the paramount chief, to be administered by him for the use and common benefit of the people of Northern Nigeria. That the Governor's power shall be exercised in accordance with native law and custom.

Those of the natives who are objecting to the proposed Land Tenure laws for Southern Nigeria are raising the question whether the methods proposed will preserve to them their rights in the soil.

District Commissioners and Native

Clerks are Objects of Complaints

The chief complaints of the natives with reference to the Administration of Justice come from Northern Nigeria. These com

plaints are that it is sometimes difficult for natives to secure fair trials in government courts; that native clerks have been unlawfully sentenced and too severe punishments have, in some instances, been inflicted.

Too much power, it is claimed by some, is in the hands of the District Commissioners. Formerly in cases of murder, etc., they had to take depositions and send the case to a judge for trial. Recently the District Commissioners were given the power to try all cases and pass sentences themselves. In justification of this it is urged that they are the only men the natives know and with whom they are constantly coming in contact.

In reply to the complaints of the natives concerning the Administration of Justice, it is urged that a good part of the trouble in Northern Nigeria is caused by irresponsible native clerks brought up from the coast. There should be greater care, it is urged, in the selection of these clerks and stricter supervision of their conduct on the part of the European firms employing them, and especially should they be prevented from indulging too much in strong drink.

According to reports there is less and less disposition to employ natives in the civil service of West Africa. Under the heading, "Natives Need Not Apply," the Colonial and Provincial Reporter, Freetown, Sierra Leone, says:

One noticeable feature of the estimates for the ensuing year is the elimination of natives from posts of responsibility and trust in the civil service of the colony. Time was in the history of this colony, and that of comparative recent date, when the responsible posts of heads of departments were, at one time or other, filled by natives. Such posts as Acting Chief Justice, Assistant Colonial, Secretary, Queen's Advocate (now Attorney General), Postmaster, Manager or Commandant of a district (now District Commissioner), Harbor Master, Colonial Surgeon, Inspector of Schools, Acting Police Magistrate, etc., were once filled with credit by natives of this colony. At the present time, natives are not only reported disqualified and barred from holding such appointments, but the door is also being banged in their faces in the comparatively few instances in which they fill the second post of assistants to heads of departments.

The Native's View of the Native

Land Policy in South Africa

The tenth annual Conference of the African Political Organization was opened at Kimberly, September 29. This organization represents the Coloured people, that is, those of mixed blood. The

president of the conference, Dr.A.Abdurahman, of Cape Town, in his presidential address took a very pessimistic view of the situation as it concerns the black and coloured people in South Africa. After reviewing the favorable conditions under which they lived before the union of the colonies, he said:

The Natives' Land Act, creates conditions, if not amounting to extermination, yet designed to enslave the natives of this country. That tyrannical mandate is scattering multitudes of natives from their homes. Mother earth is to them now only a step-dame. They may either enter into perpetual bondage on the farm, or spend "a sunless life in the unwholesome mine."

In the Free State, the old laws of the dark days are being en-
forced with relentless rigour. The sanctity of homes is violated.
wives are compelled to carry passes. Mothers driven to abandon
their offspring of tender years and seek employment. Daughters
are wrenched from parental care and control, and forced into
service. Husbands are not allowed to work at their trades for
themselves without paying 5s. per month for the privilege. More-
over, in the Cape Colony the Free State laws are gradually being
introduced. The Curfew Laws are enforced. A distinct colour
line is being drawn in every phase of life, more distinctly since
General Smuts declared that colour and colour only is to be the
dividing line.

Instead of aiming at our upliftment they seek to degrade us. In-
stead of lending a helping hand to those struggling to improve
themselves they thrust them back remorselessly and rigorously.
They refuse them the right to live, unless they are content to
slave for farmers or descend into the bowels of the earth to delve
the gold. In short, the object of the white man's rule today is not
to develop the faculties of the Coloured races so that they may live
a full life, but to keep them forever in a servile position.
The Conference among other things recommended:

That steps be taken necessary to further the industrial education
of the Coloured children. At present no provision is made for the
education of children of Coloured parents living on farms. It is
desirable in the interests of both farmers and labourers that some
educational facilities be provided by the establishment of poor and
farm schools for Coloured children.

That the Conference express its approval of the action of the Coloured and Native women in resorting to passive resistance against the degrading Pass Laws of the Orange Free States, and trust that the noble example of these women will be followed by other women in resisting unjust and degrading legislation; and, further, that the Conference pledges itself to support them in their action.

Disapproval of the action of the Divisional and Town Councils in enforcing the Curfew Regulations without any discretion what

soever, and, further, Conference questions the legality of its appli-
cation to Cape Coloured people. That representations be made to
secure the exemption of Cape Coloured persons from the operation
of the Curfew Regulations, and that Government be requested to
make provisions for a better and more satisfactory administration
of those regulations.

On June 19th, a new Land Act went into effect in the Union of South Africa. The substance of the act is the segregation of the natives into certain prescribed areas outside of which they are not to be allowed to purchase or hire interests in land. A native to live outside of these areas must be in service to some white person, generally on farms or in the mines. July 25th and 26th, the South African Natives' National Congress held a special meeting at Johannesburg, and adopted the following resolutions protesting against the Land Act.:

1. That a deputation be sent to the Imperial Government to protest against the Natives' Land Act, 1913, and also to arouse public opinion of the British people on the broad question of Native grievances under the Act of Union, and that this resolution be forwarded to His Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Gladstone, for transmission to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

2. That the Congress feels with deep concern the fact of displacement of Native interpreters by Europeans in magistrate's courts, who have hitherto discharged their duty with admirable ability. The Congress feels that this change is fraught with the greatest danger; knowing as we do the inaptitude of our people in defending their cases in courts. We fear that to allow men who are not well versed in the idioms of the native language to act as interpreters will lead to a miscarriage of justice. This Congress strongly, but respectfully, requests the Minister of Justice to see that the present European interpreters are superceded by qualified Native interpreters.

3. That in view of the ever increasing number of native passengers by rail, the Congress resolves respectfully to request the Minister of Railways to give more accommodations as third-class passengers for respectable Natives.

4. That Congress would remind the Government of the promise made under the Vereeniging Peace Treaty that the franchise would be extended to all qualified Natives and Coloured people in Northern Provinces as soon as Responsible Government was granted to those Provinces. This meeting feels that the time has now arrived when such a promise should be redeemed.

5. That this S. A. N. N. Congress representing the Natives of the Union of South Africa having decided at its meeting in Johannesburg on July 26 to appeal to the Imperial Government and the British people against the Natives' Land Act, 1913 hereby appoints Mr. Saul Msane to organize, in behalf of, a deputation to proceed

to England and also to arouse Chiefs and Native people and all
friends of Native rights to support the scheme by their moral and
financial support.

Negro Literature in the United States

in the Year of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Negro Freedom

The year 1913 was the fiftieth Anniversary of Emancipation. This fact was especially emphasized in Negro literature. James W. Johnson, United States Consul at Corinto Nicarauga, published a notable poem in the New York Times of January 1st, entitled "Fifty Years." Its literary merit was widely commented upon.

A note of optimism runs through the articles on emancipation. Kelly Miller, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, in the Independent for August 7th, had a poem, "I See and am Satisfied." After reviewing the incidents of slavery times and after, he says of the future of the Negro that in the end:

The great generous American Heart, despite the temporary flutter,
Will finally beat true to the higher human impulse,

And my soul abounds with reassurance and hope.

I see him who was once deemed stricken, smitten of God and af-
flicted,

Now entering with universal welcome into the glad fellowship of

humanity,

And I look calmly upon the centuries of blood and tears and

Travail of soul, and am satisfied.

W. E. Burghardt DuBois writing on the "Social Effects of Emancipation in the Survey" for February 1st, was of the opinion "that the efforts of the Negroes since emancipation have been very promising and beyond what could be reasonably expected."

Negro Contribution to Academy of
Political and Social Science on the
Negro's Progress in Fifty Years

The Academy of Political and Social Science devoted the September issue of its Annals entirely to "The Negro's Progress in Fifty Years." Eleven of the twenty-four contributors were Negroes. Their names and the articles they contributed are: Kelly Miller, Washington, D. C., “Professional and Skilled Occupations"; Richard R. Wright, Jr., Philadelphia, "The Negro in Unskilled Labor"; Thomas C. Walker, Gloucester Courthouse, Va., "Development in the Tidewater Counties of Virginia"; Thomas J. Edwards, Dade