The Federation Argument
The governing factor in the negotiations or manoeuvres, whichever term may be preferred, regarding Central Affican Federation is the referendum to be taken on the subject in Southern Rhodesia in about three months' time. Practically all the voters will be white, and Sir Godfrey Huggins has little hope of carrying federation unless he can secure the amend- ments which the voters demand to the existing draft scheme. It looks as if he has secured the bulk of what he wants to secure by getting the African Affairs Board, which was to be respon- sible directly to the Colonial Office, fitted neatly inside the Federal Government structure. That gives the whole thing a tidier look, but it is calculated to make the natives more mis- trustful still. And in fact it will leave the Africans of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland with less effective safeguards than they enjoy at present. The fundamental question regarding the proposed scheme is whether it is going to entrench the white minority still further, or whether it will open the way for the gradual progress of Africans towards self-government. A final and vital decision, subject always to the Southern Rhodesia referendum, is probably only a week or two away, and since the right to amend the Federal constitution is apparently to be left in the hands of the Federal Government itself, with its over- whelming white majority, the prospect is that, apart from the subjects that are still to remain in the hands of the separate territorial governments, the Africans will have to be content with taking what is given them. It is not a prospect that inspires any confidence.
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