Native Land Tenure in East Africa
Opening ParagraphOf all the problems of policy which confront colonial administrations, the question of land alienation is the most fundamental and the most pressing. Colonization is meaningless apart from the provision of land for the colonist to live upon; and from the colonist's point of view it is unattractive unless land is provided in large quantities. But since no African colony—and least of all any desirable tract of land in Africa—is entirely uninhabited, the problem immediately becomes that of reconciling conflicting claims. The first duty of every colonial government is to formulate the principles upon which this adjustment shall be made. Whether or not its initial step is to declare that all land belongs to the Crown is of comparatively little relevance; for in any case it is the white government which decides what shall be done with it. The use of another formula does no more than express an intention; it cannot give the native a power which he loses irremediably as soon as colonial government comes into being.