pass farther toward the west and connect with the main line. At Suakim, fronting on the Red Sea, a road is projected to Berber, the present terminus of the line running southwardly from Cairo. On the west of Africa lines have begun to penetrate inward, a short line in the French Sudan running from the head of navigation on the Senegal eastwardly toward the head of navigation on the Niger, with the ultimate purpose of connecting navigation on these two streams. In the Kongo Free State a railway connects the Upper Kongo with the Lower Kongo around Livingstone Falls; in Portuguese Angola a road extends eastwardly

these branches connecting it with either coast. Another magnificent railway project, which was some years ago suggested by M. Leroy Beaulieu, has been recently revived, being no less than an east and west transcontinental line through the Sudan region, connecting the Senegal and Niger countries on the west with the Nile Valley and Red Sea on the east and penetrating a densely populated and extremely productive region of which less is now known, perhaps, than of any other part of Africa. At the north numerous lines skirt the Mediterranean coast, especially in the French territory of Algeria and in Tunis, where the

from Loanda, the capital, a considerable distance, and others are projected from Benguela and Mossamedes with the ultimate purpose of connecting with the 'Cape-to-Cairo' road and joining with the lines from Portuguese East Africa, which also touch that road, thus making a transcontinental line from east to west, with Portuguese territory at either terminus. Farther south on the western coast the Germans have projected a road from Walfisch Bay to Windhoek, the capital of German Southwest Africa, and this will probably be extended eastwardly until it connects with the great transcontinental line from 'Cape-to-Cairo,' which is to form the great nerve center of the system, to be contributed to and supported by

length of railway is, in round numbers, 2,250 miles while the Egyptian railroads are, including those now under construction, about 1,500 miles in length. Those of Cape Colony and Natal are nearly 3,000 miles, and those of Portuguese East Africa and the South African Republic another thousand. Taking into consideration all of the roads now constructed, or under actual construction, their total length reaches nearly 10,000 miles, while there seems every reason to believe that the great through system connecting the rapidly developing mining regions of South Africa with the north of the continent and with Europe will soon be pushed to completion. A large proportion of the railways thus far constructed are owned by the

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several colonies or States which they traverse, about 2,000 miles of the Cape Colony system belonging to the Government, while nearly all that of Egypt is owned and operated by the State." -U. S. Bureau of Statistics, Monthly summary, August, 1899.-See also CAPE-TO-CAIRO RAILWAY.

No transcontinental line has as yet (1921) been completed, but in the years preceding the World War much of the above mentioned mileage was constructed. The Cape was connected with the navigable Congo at Bukama. When finances permit, it is intended to construct the main line northward through Tanganyika Territory (formerly German East Africa) to connect with the Egyptian system, thus realizing the plan of Cecil Rhodes. From Dakar at Cape Verde, connection was made with the upper Niger. On the east the road from Jibuti, French Somaliland, was extended to the Abyssinian capital. Algerian lines were carried farther. No early day, however, can be set for the completion of a through East and West road, a trans-Sahara route or even a Capeto-Cairo Railway.

(4) LABOR PROBLEMS. A fourth obstacle to European colonization and the most difficult "problem of trade facing the administration in Africa is that of labour. The question is complicated by the absence of certain factors which minimise the difficulty of the labour problem in the West. Machinery has not been extensively introduced. This is largely due to the absence of railways, a fact which also influences the problem when the difficulty of transporting native labour has to be considered. White labour, whether skilled or unskilled, can be obtained only in very small quantities. The vast mining concerns of South Africa, the great rubber and cocoa plantations of West Africa, the growing cotton industry of Uganda, together with the palm-oil trade which spreads right across the continent, are dependent upon native labour, or, failing that, upon some substitute which will be equally cheap. The problem of the industrial companies of Africa is to obtain cheap labour. White labour is too highly paid to make possible any large demand for white labourers in those classes of work where muscle rather than brain is required. Cheap labour may be bad labour, but white labour is often impossible where a considerable margin of profit is essential. In course of time it may be possible to secure better labour by the payment of higher wages. But the wages offered can never be so high as those demanded by white men in tropical and subtropical countries. Therefore the bulk of the labour demand will continue to be supplied by natives. The increase in wages will be met by better production. Therein lies another difficulty which should only be transient. The native, at present, is only capable of performing work of a certain low standard. Higher wages will not immediately, and ipso facto, coax from him better work. He is incapable of it until education, civilisation and Christianity have removed certain deficiencies from his character. At the present time the African native is too unstable, too apt to abandon his work under slight provocation, too thriftless in the use to which he puts his money, and consequently thriftless of his efficiency as a worker, to make it desirable, or even profitable, to pay him higher wages. These deficiencies sometimes arise from the conditions of his work, and from the treatment meted out to him by overseers and paymasters, though more frequently they are due to weaknesses inherent in the native character. But-it is a fact to be emphasised-the development of the natives, in many individual

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cases, proves that he is capable of overcoming these faults, and promises a time when he will justifiably demand a higher wage, and when the increased return made by his work will enable the employer to meet the demand. The labour problem in Africa is most acute on the Rand. It is said that the white man cannot work on the deep levels in the subtropical climate of South Africa. But Cornish miners are able to work on the deep levels of the Comstock mine in Nevada.

The real objection lies in the fact that the white man is ashamed to work in the presence of black men. He becomes an autocrat of the worst type. He shirks work because physical exertion 'looks bad.' But apart from these considerations, two insurmountable difficulties lie in the way of employing white labour for unskilled work in the mines: the white population is small; it is not possible to pay wages sufficiently high to attract men in large numbers from the West. The problem has not been completely solved by resorting to black labour. Fresh difficulties have been created, while some of those attached to the supply of white labour have not been overcome. Black labour in South Africa is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the mines. It has been estimated that only fifty per cent. of the demand can be supplied by the native races which dwell south of the Zambesi, in spite of large sums of money spent in recruiting.

"While the native races of South Africa have long since abandoned those warlike and migratory habits which made concentration upon settled labour an impossibility, they have not yet become wearied by the habits of an agricultural and pastoral life, nor have their numbers increased sufficiently to necessitate a periodical movement towards the centres of urban industry, such as takes place in the older agricultural communities of the West. Provided they can obtain a satis factory settlement on the land, together with the ownership of a certain number of cattle, they have little spontaneous inducement to send them to the mines. The wants of the native are few. They are easily satisfied by a slight cultivation of the soil, and by the cattle which he allows to roam at random over the veldt. Moreover, these wants are supplied by a very limited amount of personal activity. His occupations on the . . . veldt afford him an easy means of livelihood at the cost of a small amount of labour. It is a simple, though not an idle life, suited to his somewhat indolent and unenterprising habits. The South African native is now a home-loving creature. His social insticts are largely developed. Like the Jew, his great ambition is to found a family. Until the time arrives when, by the process of 'labola,' he is able to make an arrangement with the father of his selected wife, he is content to remain in close touch with his own father's kraal Since the cessation of intertribal wars, the native has swung over to an opposite extreme so far as his migratory habits are concerned. He fears long journeys, especially when the goal will bring him into a sphere of activity unknown to his past and present experience. Moreover, when the allurements of the labour agent, supported by his own desire to hasten the day when he may be able to take to himself a wife, have at last brought him to the mines, he does not often remain at work for any length of time. From three to six months is the average period during which the native stays on the Rand, with the result that the whole labour personnel of the mines changes every two years. His temperament is too uncertain, his moods too changeable, he is too prone to take

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offence under slight provocation, to make possible a sojourn at the mines which would be more profitable to production. To these causes, which belong to the native himself, and which can only be removed by the processes of civilisation, others have to be added. They are created by the administration of labour, and are, therefore, a matter for the attention of the white man. The treatment offered to the natives in the mines is not always equitable. It is sometimes even harsh. The white overseers are often impatient of attempting to understand the native mind and the difficulties which new work under strange conditions presents.... Labour agents and paymasters have not always fulfilled the promises made to the native recruit. Pay has been held back or diminished by the compulsory purchase of goods, sold by interested persons on or near the mine compounds. The accommodation offered has sometimes afforded a poor substitute for the kraals on the open veldt. Overcrowded quarters, insanitary conditions, surrounded by moral temptations, have impaired his physical fitness, so that the arduous labour of the mines has become in itself a cause of discontent. At the end of his contract the native labourer often finds himself at a loss to know how to return to his kraal. Little advice is forthcoming from railway officials. If any of the proceeds of his labour remain to him, he is tempted to dispose of them in an unworthy manner, and at once becomes a member of the community of low-class blacks and whites who surround the mining towns, or attempts to reach his own country by vagrant methods. Perhaps the chief influences which make the native a bad labourer are not due to the native himself, or to his upbringing. They are duc to the aforementioned causes, or to others of a similar nature. That is to say, they are the concern of the white man and his organisation. . Men of varied experience in different parts of Africa have testified to the efficiency and assiduity of the native labourer when adequate supervision and fair treatment are meted out to him. The whole procedure, from the action of the labour agent to the attitude of the repatriation officials, needs to be revised. The recruiting of native labour should be transferred from the control of monopolist labour associations, which are connected with the mining syndicates, to the native affairs department, every care being taken that it does not come within the duties of any revenue official. The native should be transported to the mines without being subjected to annoyance from railway or mining officials, and, if necessary, his ticket should be advanced and debited to the first instalment of his wages. Such a system has been introduced into the organisation of contract labour in Portuguese West Africa.

"Under the Portuguese regulations of January 29, 1903, powers were conferred upon a central committee for labour and emigration to appoint and control labour agents, or their substitutes, for the purpose of recruiting native labour. Funds were to be supplied to the agents by applicants for labour, and these payments were to be chargeable upon the wages of the natives. The agents were to co-operate with native chieftains in securing labourers. The native recruits were to be conveyed to the centres of industry by the principal railroads in the colony. They were to be accompanied by the recruiting agents, who were to supply them with proper food during the journey, whether by road or rail. During halts on the journey the natives were to be lodged by the agents in suitable depôts where the sanitary con

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ditions were free from objection. When the labourer had reached the centre of industry, he would be handed over to the master to whom he had been assigned, and who was responsible for the regular payment of his wages in coin. The native labourers were to be suitably housed by the masters in accommodations which resembled as nearly as possible the native huts. Proper food and clothing, with adequate medical treatment, was also to be supplied by the masters. The regulations insisted that every master employing over fifty labourers should maintain a separate infirmary for members of either sex. On plantations where one thousand or more labourers were employed, the doctors were required to pay a visit every day; where the number employed was less than a thousand, but not less than six hundred, the doctor must visit twice a week; in all other cases once a week. The doctors were to be men qualified at Lisbon, Oporto, or Coimbra. Similar regulations for the care of women and children, especially in maternity cases. were drawn up. At the close of the period of contract, the labourers were to be returned to their own villages by the repatriation agents at the expense of the masters. But they were free to engage for a further contract. On the return journey similar care was to be taken with regard to accommodation and food. The royal regulations of January 29, 1903, were revised by the Provisional Republican Government on May 13, 1911. In principle they remained the same. The whole scheme received the congratulation of the British Foreign Office and colonial officials. But later on heavy criticism was directed against the Portuguese Government to the effect that the regulátions were not loyally carried out in West Africa, and in particular [that] the option given to the native to re-engage was abused by methods which made re-engagement almost compulsory. The important lesson to be drawn from the Portuguese regulations is the method employed in attempting to secure that the recruiting, payment, accommodation, and repatriation of native labour should be conducted by responsible authority. The history of the Congo, and of the more recent Putumayo atrocities in South America, apart from the past record of some British trading concerns in West Africa, prove that trading companies are not capable of restraining commercial enterprise in the interest of the native, even where moral and physical claims are clearly manifest. But where these matters are placed in the hands of an authority which has no commercial or even administrative interest, some of the difficulties which make native labour on the Rand, and elsewhere, so wasteful and inefficient will be removed. Recommendations similar to the regulations of the Portuguese Government, but only general in character, were made by the South African Commission of 1903-5, and also by the Natal Commission of 1906-7. The practicability of reforms of this nature is made apparent by the fact that for some considerable time the housing, sanitation, and medical treatment of the native labourers at Cape Town, Kimberley, and Johannesburg have been organised along these lines. The Commission of 1903-5 drew attention to the conditions in these towns. But there is need for extension and room for improvement."-A. J. MacDonald, Trade politics and Christianity in Africa and the East pp. 11-20.

(5) GROWTH OF ADVERSE OPINION.-Another obstacle to European colonisation is the rapid growth in recent years of a markedly adverse public opinion. Owing to the fact that many of the African

colonies at present cost more to administer than their trade is worth, there is in each European country owning them a considerable group indifferent or opposed to colonial undertakings. "Not all the expectations of the enthusiastic advocates of expansion were realized. The colonial trade of Germany was insignificant, though the expense of maintaining the colonies was very great. France has been more successful; but she, too, has had to make up annually a large colonial deficit. England has more to justify her imperialism than any other country, for she has a large and growing colonial trade; but her important customers are Germany, France, and the United States, and not Canada, Australia, or South Africa. The colonies have not proved successful in drawing off the surplus population of the mother countries. Because they were not attractive to white settlement, very few Germans went to the German colonies. But many went to the British possessions and to the United States. French colonies, although near the mother country, contain few Frenchmen besides military and civil officials. The migration of Italians to Libya has hardly justified Italy's 'war for a desert.' Even Great Britain, with a large surplus population and colonies in every climate, has failed to people the Empire with her children. During 1870-1905, a generation which saw the high tide of imperialism, six and a half million emigrated from the United Kingdom; of these, only two million settled in the colonies, whereas four million went to America and half a million to other places. So reluctant are the English masses to go to the colonies that societies have been organized to encourage them to emigrate there."-J. S. Schapiro, Modern and contemporary European history, p. 682.

1914-1916.—Part played by German colonies, Southwest Africa, and East Africa in the World War. See WORLD WAR: 1914: VI. Africa; 1915: VIII. Africa; 1916: VII. African theatre: a.

1918-1920.-Effects of the World War upon European occupation.-While it is as yet too early to be certain of the results of the World War on Africa, this much may be confidently asserted. (1) A firmer hold upon their African possessions has been secured by Great Britain, France and Italy. (2) Africa seems destined to be for a long time to come less and less a field for European rivalry and conflict. (3) Under the new mandatary system there is a recognition before the world of a stewardship of the Great Powers for their African territories. (4) The excellent service of the Negro as a worker behind the lines and as a soldier on the battlefields of France has not only been accorded grateful recognition but has doubtless deepened the black man's self-respect and consciousness of his rights as a human being. One of the manifestations of this new attitude on the part of both white and black races is to be seen in the recent (1919) Convention of the Powers regarding the liquor traffic in Africa. The British government has made public (Treaty series 1910, No. 19) a parliamentary paper disclosing that on September 10, 1010, the United States and Associated Powers entered into a convention intended to safeguard African races from alcohol and displacing for that purpose the Brussels Convention. This convention supersedes, recodifies and amplifies "former international conventions" dealing with the same subject. Thus come to an end the old liquor clauses of the Brussels General Act (1800) which with their general revisions at periodical conferences of the Powers (1800-1906) have regulated the

Central African spirit traffic. The area of the present convention is almost identical with that of the Brussels Act, though political areas are substituted for arbitrary geographical boundaries. Thus Algiers, Tunis, Morocco, Libya, Egypt and the Union of South Africa are excepted from the agreement, and the islands lying within 100 nautical miles of the coast are included in it. The objects of the convention as set forth in the preamble are to prohibit "the importation, distribution, sale and possession of trade spirits, absinthe," and of other "distilled beverages" containing essential oils or chemical products which are recognized as injurious to the health. Other forms of spirits are to be subjected to a minimum duty of 800 francs per hectolitre of pure alcohol, which amounts to about 36 francs per gallon of pure alcohol. By a further provision it is understood that the existing areas of prohibition of all spirits for the natives of these areas will be maintained. This is the only mention of any race distinction except in the preamble already quoted, reliance being placed upon the exclusion of all cheap and specially noxious distilled liquors. Exceptions are allowed for distillation for scientific or pharmaceutical purposes, or of industrial alcohol, but otherwise distillation is not allowed. Italy is the only one of the signatory powers which has claimed any concession on certain of the conditions of the convention. There is to be a Central International Office, in connection with the League of Nations, for recording the statistics and regulations put in force by each of the contracting parties and the adhesion to the convention of the other states exercising authority over the territories of the African continent will be sought. The convention is to come into force "for each signatory power from the date of the deposit of its ratifications," which ratifications will be deposited in the archives of the French government Signatories:-The United States of America, Belgium, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa, France, Italy, Japan, Portugal.

TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS OF FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN. Under the mandate provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, in effect January 10, 1920, German Southwest Africa and German East Africa became practically British possessions. A district in the extreme northwest of the latter colony was assigned to the Belgian Congo. Cameroon and Togo, the other two former German colonies in Africa, were divided between Great Britain and France. The latter country received the entire coast and rather more than half of Togo and about nine-tenths of Cameroon, incidentally regaining the large districts which France had ceded to Germany in 1911 as a result of the Agadir crisis in Morocco. A strip of varying width along the northwest boundary of Cameroon was given to Great Britain and added to the British colony of Nigeria. This strip includes the great Cameroon Mountain near the sea, and adds to the Bornu district near Lake Chad the part of that ancient sultanate formerly held by Germany. The port of Duala and the main routes to the interior are in the hands of the French.

ITALY'S TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS.-In accordance with provisions included in the Treaty of London. which was followed by Italy's entrance into the World War, negotiations were begun early in 1920 to carry out the promises made Italy by Great Britain and France in 1915, by adding generously to Italy's possessions in Africa. The provision in question, article XIII, stipulated that, in the event that France and England should increase their colonial possessions in Africa as a result of the