Federation in Africa
With his impending visit to Malaya and his successive declarations of policy on the advance of colonies towards self- government, an intensive drive for the development of colonial production, and now on federation in Central Africa, Mr. Lyttelton is investing the Colonial Office, and incidentally him- self, with very considerable importance. His statement on federation on Wednesday is of particular value in emphasising the continuity of colonial, as of foreign, policy, a very neces- sary step in view of the hopes expressed in some British circles in Africa that a Conservative Colonial Secretary would show himself less sympathetic to native rights and claims than his predecessor. That idea is decisively dispelled. Mr. Lyttelton has declared his approval of the scheme of federation between Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland drawn up in London last year, and of the statement issued at the con- clusion of the largely abortive Victoria Falls Conference this summer, and has endorsed the proposal then made for a further conference in London in the middle of 1952. The doctrine of equal partnership between British and Africans in Central Africa is affirmed, and Mr. Lyttelton has gone even further than Mr. Griffiths in ruling out not only the amalgamation of the three territories, but amalgamation between any two of them. Federa- tion, not amalgamation, is the policy, and Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland will be safeguarded by remaining protectorates, with ultimate decisions resting with Whitehall. This week's statement should go far to reassure those Africans who have feared that Conservatives might retreat from the position taken by Labour Ministers ; but steps should now be taken to explain the pro- posals, as they have not yet been adequately explained, to the African population of the three territories.
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