THE TABLET. December 12th, 1959. VOL. 213. No. 6238

THE TABLET

Published as a NewspafJir

A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER & REVIEW

Pro Ecclesia Dei, Pro Regina et Patria

FOUNDED IN 1840

DECEMBER 12th, 1959

NINEPENCE

I

The Art of Giving : Contraception for Asia rf he Western Response : Living Standards and Political Prospects. By Ion Ratiu

Rival Caliphs: In Cairo and Baghdad. By Czeslaw Jesman The Future ol Man: A Note on the Reith Lectures. By Thomas Harper Tile Liturgical Books : III. The Breviary. By Lancelot C. Sheppard P r i n c e p S Pastoruin : The Pope to the Laity of the Mission Territories

Critics’ Columns : Notebook : Book Reviews :*Letters : Chess

AFRICAN POLEMICS

IT is not quite clear what Mr. Macmillan will do in the

Union, but it should be made very clear that his purpose is only to acquaint himself in a broad way with what is going on. He is not making a goodwill tour of Africa, so much as a brief visit to bring his own impressions up to date in a way brief visits can do. He is by now singularly experienced and skilled at avoiding the traps that journalists and delegations love to set for visiting statesmen. A Prime Minister in office cannot pay quite private visits, but he can make it plain that there is no particular person behind them. This will be particularly important in Central Africa, where there will be a disposition to see him as a one-man commission, likely to be more important for policy than all the drawn-out accumulation of evidence by Lord Monckton and his colleagues. It would in fact be a good thing if statesmen could turn up unofficially in each other’s countries, without elaborate protocol and (lie close attention of the Press. Much juster estimates would result, and there would be much less reliance on impressions formed years previously, about countries where the pace of change is rapid. In the age of the aeroplane, statesmen have very little justification for carrying about in their mental equipment out-of-date impressions.

Like their Asian prototypes, Ghana and Nigeria are remaining inside the Commonwealth not because there are any ties of blood or sentiment, but because it has been made clear to them that there is an immense military advantage, while they remain absolutely free to pursue what internal policy they like, what trade policy they like, what international policy they like. This onesided arrangement was not foreseen or intended. It is mainly the work of Mr. Nehru, who made India into a Republic, with a foreign policy very different from that of London. But the British, who were justly proud that Indian independence had been achieved in an atmosphere of friendship, were also anxious to keep a special connection with their late Empire. But then, of course, all other members of the Commonwealth became entitled to the same latitude ; and the Labour Party should recognise the curious paradox that it is reassuring to the coloured States of the Commonwealth that the South Africans can continue as members while pursuing a domestic policy highly repugnant to the other members. South Africa is the living proof that membership of the Commonwealth really does confer privileges without obligations. We doubt whether the privileges should be carried so far as to include positive support at the United Nations, such as has often been withheld from Britain herself.

If the political future of Africa is ruined, the chief culprits will be the journalists and newspaper owners. What the whole continent needs is tranquil development, the formation—and it can only be gradual—of responsible electorates, which means quietly informative newspapers. Those who provide them will be doing an invaluable but not very well rewarded public service, and making a real contribution to the future of these African States. But the newspapers’ temptation is to do just the opposite ; to scream and shout, and make the most of every incident, and it is a temptation which even the papers which are owned in London arc not eschewing as they should.

This is one of the matters where Ghana and Nigeria should not look to Egypt as their model, for the Egyptian press is conducted—and the official radio is no better—in a way that is very harmful to the long-term interests of the country, by editors who see the journalistic calling as primarily an opportunity for partisan invective. The sordid idea of the so-called Moorhouse museum at Port Said was a typical example of an editors’ war, with the Sunday Express and the Sunday Dispatch both demeaning themselves by giving their