21 APRIL 1950, Page 5

Whether the pinpricks being directed at Seretse Khama now that

he has reached his own country are the result of instructions from Whitehall or result from local decisions I do not profess to know, but they strike me as petty and thoroughly discreditable. A five-day ration of family life, an inevitable welcome from numbers of tribesmen, an inevitable acknowledgement of the welcome by Seretse, followed by the warning that if he opens his mouth again the five-day indulgence will be cut short—is this to be interpreted as representing the typical attitude of a great civilising power towards an African who has taken more advantage than his fellows of the opportunity of acquiring the civilisation thus offered ?