Development of the Native SIR,—The article Groundnuts and the African
in your issue of August 18th is very interesting, especially as showing how history repeats itself. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1860 British traders in Burma saw that large profits could be made by exporting rice to Europe. Pressure was brought to bear on our Government in Burma to clear vast areas in the delta to bring them under " paddy " (rice) cultivation. The Burman (like the African) was not enthusiastic. He was quite content to cultivate his own patch of land near his village, which yielded enough for himself and his family. Moreover, there were not nearly enough Burmans available to supply the labour needed. But the European traders were insistent. And would not the " development " of their country be to the ultimate advantage of the Burmese? So the problem of labour was solved by importing large numbers of Indians from Southern India, who, living on the verge of starvation, were only too eager to accept the comparatively high wages offered. Very many of these Indians, whose standards of life were far below those of the Burmese, remained in the country, forcing down the wage level to the disadvantage of the Burmese cultivator. A few Burmese landowners and a large number of Indian merchants and moneylenders became rich. But the Burmese agricultural workers gained nothing by the development of their country and, rela- tively if not actually, became poorer. Racial animosity between Indians and Burmans increased, culminating in bloody riots. The Burmese land- owners fell deeper and deeper into debt. Then, with the sudden drop in the world price of rice came the inevitable climax, and 75 per cent. of the paddy (rice) land in Lower Burma fell into the hands of the Indian Chettyars (moneylenders).
And the moral? Surely it is that the average man, whether European, Asiatic or African, wants only to be left alone. He is not much interested in the development of his country, and if it is done by foreigners he is apt to suspect, rightly or wrongly, that their motives are not entirely altruistic. If we must have groundnuts, let us be honest about it and admit that, in developing his country, we are thinking mainly of our own and not the African's interest. For he, poor ignorant fellow, is, as likely as not, quite content to be left in peace to etjoy his "African Formerly Commissioner of the Tenasserim Division, Burma. 5 Smith Terrace, Chelsea, S.W.3.
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