ITALY'S NEW AFRICAN COLONY
The New Abyssinia. By Major E. W. Poison Newman. (Rich and Cowan. 15s.)
THE chief interest in Major Polson Newman's journey through Italian East Africa in the spring of 1937 and in the book in which he gives a graphic account of all he saw lies in the fact
that he was the first British subject to be in a position to record impressions of the progress made by the Italians in all pans of their new colony since the end of the Italian Abyssinian War. He claims that, travelling as a free lance, he was bound by no editorial policy and was therefore able to see with unbiased eyes, but it must be noted that it was II Duce, knowing his views and being a shrewd tactician, who himself suggested the tour. Moreover, both the author and his wife must have travelled to a great extent as the honoured guests of the Italian Government, by air in Army planes and on roads by military transport, and in out-of-the-way places enjoyed the hospitality of Italian officials, all of which might tend to disarm adverse criticism. Anyone who knows the difficulties of travel in the country in the past may well be amazed at the vast area that was covered in a short space of time, but it is not possible to judge, for instance, of the degree of public security that has been attained in some of the politically difficult provinces by flying over them, for most of the country was seen from an altitude of several thousand feet.
No large-scale colonisation by Italian peasants had so far been attempted, but plans were being worked out. Metalled roads, an urgent need for the complete pacification of the outlying districts, were about where the end of the war left them, though work on them was proceeding. The Emperor Menelik might have been given the credit due to him for making and metalling the road, of which an illustration is given, from Addis Ababa to Addis Alem, though the surface has no doubt been improved by Italian engineers ; and mention of the Gimma road might have been qualified by explaining that the first hundred miles or so at the Addis Ababa end had been already cleared by Haile Selassi with modern mechanical road-graders.
The transfer from military to civil administration seems slow considering the immense army that was available in the country at the end of hostilities, nor was there evidence that the necessary commercial confidence between the natives in outlying districts and the Italian officials had been established. The high price of wheat in Addis Ababa suggests that corn which is or could be grown in the country was not coming into the markets, and a great deal of food was having to be imported at great expense from Italy. The Azebu Galla tribe, who were thorns in the side of the Abyssinian administration, true to the bedawin tradition, were still " agin the government," only now it happened to be the Italian Government.
Prospects of finding minerals and oil were as they were under the old regime, although it is of vital importance, if the new colony is ever to be self-supporting, let alone repay some of the hugc war expenditure, that one or both should be discovered. Somewhat shadowy schemes were afoot for the opening of the country to attract the tourist.
Disarmament of the tribes in the provinces, another necessio if progress is to be achieved, was slow and was meeting with little more enthusiasm than somewhat similar suggestions made in Europe. Even the law-abiding countryman still had more confidence in his own rifle for self-protection than in thc ability of the authorities to safeguard his person and property. In spite of the many difficulties the settlement of a million Italians in the colony within to years was foreshadowed, and a six-year plan for the development of the port of Assab and other Somaliland harbours, the building of roads and other public works,- envisaged the expenditure of £130,000,000. Few will subscribe to the opinion expressed by the author that a British
crowd of pioneers in similar circumstances to the Italians would, as he puts it, "most of them be well oiled by nine o'clock and the Police Station would become busy about ten." There may be exceptions, but the reviewer, who has had experience with British pioneers in many parts of the world and with Italian frontier officials, has always considered both a fine stamp of man, a hard, lonely life seeming to bring out the best qualities in both nationalities. One closes the book with an impression that the Italians are facing a huge task, the greater part of which is yet before them, with stout hearts and an unshaken optimism.
R. E. CHEESMAN.
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