Captain Lugard on Tuesday delivered, a striking lecture at the
Royal Colonial Institute on the prospects of East Africa. Captain Lugard thinks that region offers a fair field to English settlers of the right kind,—that is, men with a little capital, who, aided by cheap native labour, can cultivate coffee, tobacco, rubber, cotton-fibres, and, indeed, all tropical products. They will receive leases from the Government at law rates; and their produce will be carried over the new railway to a port of export. There is no deficiency of labour, for the black people work well enough for regular wages. Captain Lugard thought that the whole of East Africa should be placed under the Colonial Office, or better still, under a Secretary for Africa, who, assisted by a Council like the Secretary for India, could pursue in all divisions of the Continent a consistent policy. The present Colonial Empire was, in his judgment, too vast and varied for one man's capacity. The second suggestion is a striking one, and has been received with great favour, but we are not certain that it is wise. We suspect that the varied experience of the Colonial Office could be made of the greatest service to settlements in Africa, and that to separate them from other Colonial possessions woad only be to throw them back. Ceylon, as Captain Lugard, judging by his suggestions about planting, must himself perceive, presents the true ideal to be reached by a Central African Colony.
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