Govt. may have to recognise Dr. Banda

'C.H.' REPORTER THE Government may have to recognise Dr. Hastings Banda, the leader of the Nyasaland African Congress who has been in prison since the emergency was declared in Nyasaland in March this year. This is the view of Major Patrick Wall, Conservative M.P. for Haltemprice, whom I interviewed last Friday, when he expanded some of the points he made during his speech in the Commons debate on Africa earlier last week.
Referring to the "supreme importance of the challenge that Central Africa will offer in the next few years." he told the House: "The main reason is that. with Kenya. Central Africa is the only British part of Africa where the principle of racial partnership is essential and must succeed."
Only way
Major Wall, who besides being chairman of the Sword of the Spirit Africa Committee has just been re-elected chairman of the Conservative Parliamentary Party's subcommittee on East and Central Africa. told me: " Multiracial partnership in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is the only thing that can destroy apartheid in South Africa. All Conservatives, except the extreme die-hard reactionaries, want to see partnership succeed. Of course. the Europeans will be the senior partners for some time."
The Liberal and Labour view— perhaps more a Liberal than a Labour view—he described as wanting to set up African States in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland and letting Southern Rhodesia go its own way — which would mean. in effect. pushing it into the arms of the Union of South Africa farther south.
Cross-fire
"This Radical view is reasonably logical, but it is the weak way out," said Major Wall. " Partnership will take time: it will take us fat longer to create a multiracial State than a uniracial one, but the rewards will be so much greater."
Major Wall also emphasised the difficulties in which progressiveminded people in Central Africa, whatever their race. found themselves, difficulties which are perhaps insufficiently realised over here. They are raked by crossfire from both sides—from the extremists among the settlers, who hanker after White domination, and from the African extremists, who can perhaps be forgiven for holding the view that recent African history has taught them that "nothing succeeds like excess".
Even though the label " progressive " is not generally applied to him, someone like Sir Roy Welensky, the Federal Prime Minister, finds himself in this awkward situation of being shot at by both sides. And, of course, he dare not go too fast, since, if he did, he would suffer the same fate as Mr. Garfield Todd: he would be disowned by the European voters upon whom he depends for support.
Commenting on the Labour Party's criticism of the Monckton Commission which is to review the question of Federation, Major Wall said: "The point is not the people who are on the Commission but the people the Commission listens to."
To break the deadlock in Nyasaland. Major Wall proposes, once the emergency is over, holding elections for the two vacant seats on the Legislative Council "as a try-out". "We must show the Nyasas that we are listening to their views and that they can and will get somewhere by constitutional means," he says.
Schooling
He also thinks that the Government may have to recognise Dr. Hastings Banda. who is now treading the traditional path to political power by way of the prison-cell. "There is no generally accepted African leader with whom one can deal except Dr. Banda." he says. " but there is a risk that Dr. Banda will not live up to the Devlin Commission's estimate of him. This is a risk that we shall probably have to take, provided he disowns the extremist policies previously advocated by Congress."
Major Walt is insistent upon the need for well-educated Catholic African leaders. One idea he would like to see carried out would be scholarships for African boys to come over to this country to study at our Catholic public schools. " I think this is more important than their coming over to go to University," he says.
" When they are at the age for going to University, most of the presuppositicins upon which they are going to live in later life have already been built up. The time for them to come over is when they ere younger, when they can be moulded by living and studying and praying in a long-established Catholic environment."
There are difficulties, of course. They would have to be of Common Entrance standard, and here the slow development of African education is a problem. Major Wall thought this would be a greater handicap than the language problem: as it is, an African who wants higher education has to use a foreign language for his studies, and English has become the lingua franca of British Africa.