NEWS OF THE WEEK
BAD luck seems to be conspiring with bad management to make the groundnut prospect in East Africa gloomier than ever. The two must not be confused. Bad management must not be charged with the effects of the serious drought which is threatening the Kongwa and Urambo enterprises with disaster (though it is difficult to believe that more could not have been discovered about the %.sgaries of the weather in those regions before commitments so extensive were incurred). On the other hand, defenders of the groundnut project must not be allowed to ride off, as they will no doubt be tempted to do, on the plea that all would have been well but for deficient rainfall. All would emphatically not have been well, as the new grievances which Mr. Strachey's visit to Tangan- yika have brought to light demonstrate. They are not grievances that can be ignored. There is, to begin with, strong complaint among the men in the field that Mr. Strachey should have given the House of Commons to understand that they had expressed full confidence in the chairman of the Overseas Food Corporation, Sir Leslie Plummer ; it has long been notorious that many, probably most, of them feel no such confidence. At the same time, the employees of the Earth Moving and Constructional Company, ‘‘hose shares are held by Overseas Food Corporation, allege. evidently with considerable bitterness, that promises that after twelve months' service they could be joined by their wives and fsmilies are being ruthlessly dishonoured. The company is offering instead to increase separation allowances from £100 to £250 in the case of employees who extend their contracts. But what con- ,erns the men is not the allowances but the separation, and there Is a certain cynicism in the suggestion that the one is adequate compensation for the other. There may be some better explanation of this than has been given, but on the face of it a very unsatis- factory, not to say inhuman, situation has been created.
