British Policy and Settler Politics in Northern Rhodesia, 1924-1945

Book excerpt: In discussing British policy towards the Northern Rhodesian settlers during the period 1924 to 1945, an attempt has been made in this study to explore the various factors as well as the personalities, both in England and Northern Rhodesia, which influenced this policy. Although it became customary by the end of the First World War to describe British colonial policy in Africa as being mainly based on the principle of trusteeship for the native peoples, the application of this principle in Northern Rhodesia between 1924 and 1945 was mostly half hearted, desultory and, in the end, ineffective. Throughout the period covered by this study, Northern Rhodesia hovered precariously between the sphere of white domination in the south and the sphere of African paramountcy in the north. Not until the setting up of the Central African Council in 1945 did it finally become clear that British policy was firmly set on a policy of binding Northern Rhodesia's destiny with the south rather than with the north. From the late 1920s onwards British policy towards the Northern Rhodesian settlers became largely influenced by the territory's copper production which became very vital to Great Britain's economic and military position as the European powers began to drift towards another bloody conflict. The first chapter deals with the issue of amalgamation between Northern and Southern Rhodesia from the announcement of the British South Africa Company's amalgamation proposals in December, 1915 to the publication of the East African Commission Report in January, 1929. Particular stress has been laid on the views and attitudes of the Colonial Office, the Southern Rhodesian Government leaders and the Northern Rhodesian settlers regarding the suggested union between the two Rhodesias. The chapter also discusses the beginnings of settler politics in Northern Rhodesia in 1924 and analyses the political aspirations of the Northern Rhodesian Elected Members of the Legislative Council under the leadership of Leopold F. Moore. The second chapter discusses the origins of the conflict between the Colonial Office and the Northern Rhodesian settlers during the period of the second Labour Government in Great Britain, 1929 to 1931, in which amalgamation became the battlefield. The third chapter deals with the impact of the depression on Northern Rhodesia's economy and how its political effects helped to drive the settlers and the Colonial Office further apart, particularly with regard to the so-called issue of Africanisation. Chapter four deals with the growing pressure for amalgamation from both the Northern and the Southern Rhodesian settlers and the British Government's attempt to relieve this pressure by sending out a Royal Commission to examine the entire issue of closer union between the two Rhodesias and Nyasaland. The fifth chapter deals with the response of the British Government, on the one hand, and the Rhodesian settlers, on the other, to the recommendations of the Rhodesia-Nyasaland Royal Commission whose Report was published in March, 1939. The chapter also discusses the London talks later in the same year between British authorities and Godfrey M. Huggins, the Southern Rhodesian Prime Minister, on the Report. This led to Lord Hailey's visit to Southern Rhodesia at the end of his African tour in 1940 in order to make a comparative study of the native policies of the three Central African territories in relation to the question of amalgamation. The last chapter examines the change in British policy towards the issue of closer union movement in British Central Africa during wartime culminating in the setting up of the Central African Council in April, 1945.