|
|
Description and Holding Information
|
|
|
1920- , Reports to the League of Nations … on the Administration of the Togoland Mandate
|
|
Report by His Britannic Majesty’s Government to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Togoland under British Mandate for the
Year 1927, which changed the next year to Report by His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the
Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Togoland under British Mandate for the Year 19--. No reports were published from 1939-1946, after
which the title was Report by His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the General Assembly of the
United Nations on the Administration of Togoland under United Kingdom Trusteeship for the Year 19--. In 1952, the title was slightly amended to
recognize the accession of Queen Elizabeth II as … Her Majesty’s government …. A committee at the League, later the United Nations, examined each report and
posed questions for the government to answer. These answers are noted in the margins of each report.
This title was scanned from microfilm, so it is
in black and white only. The illustrations are too dark to be useful. Some pages have bleed through that is annoying, but not fatal.
Many of the
reports had a foreword in the beginning that summarized the information for that year. This was followed by topical discussions; some of these were
extensive and served as the basis for that topic in all succeeding years. Often the same text was used for a topic from one year to the next with slight
variations. Illustrations were scattered among the text in some reports. Most reports had many pages of statistics-heavy appendices matching the
topics, so information was often repeated in a tabular form. Many economic numbers were tied to the Gold Coast and rarely broken out just for Togo.
Any maps were usually at the end of each report.
The British and French took over portions of the German Protectorate in Africa after World War I under
the auspices of the League of Nations. [Boundary approved 1/13/1931, 1931 Report p. 83] The international boundaries created by the European states
did not take account of the indigenous people’s tribal boundaries, so considerable energy was spent over the years resolving conflicts. The League’s
goal was to educate the local population so it could be its own country and run its own affairs. If the reports may be believed, the British agents
in country worked assiduously toward the goal. These agents did lots of ethnographic work with the indigenous people so as to understand their
cultures [see 1929 p. 9-10, 1930 p. 7-9, 1931 p. 11-14, 1932 p. 6-7, 1933 p. 13-14, 1934 p. 12-14, 34-35, 1935 p. 34-37] and learn ways to influence them
toward independence. Of course, this independence was on a western European model. The agents bent over backwards to move slowly and carefully.
British Togo was 40 miles wide and 320 miles long, N-S, without access to the sea. French Togo was to the east, somewhat wider and did have coastal
access. The Gold Coast, also a British colony, was on the west with coastal access. British Togo had northern and southern sections that were different
in topography and soils and very different in culture and language. [1948 p. 3-5] Throughout the reports, the north and south sections were reported
on almost as separate countries. [1927 ¶2 & 3, ¶13-17] Togo was hot, with a dry and a rainy season. [see 1929, p. 4-5] The indigenous population
was tribal in organization, with many groups, languages, and ways of life. References to different areas are confusing, because there was a central
area often called Ashanti that was sometimes treated separately in some discussions. Some topics are treated together with Gold Coast information or
statistics to add another level of confusion. There are map images in most of the reports, but they are not helpful. A user should get a map from
another source and use it with the reports to understand where people lived and where projects or events took place.
In 1927, there were twenty-five
topics discussed: Introductory, Legislation, Administrative Organisation and Progress, Judicial, Slavery, Labour, Arms Traffic, Alcoholic Liquor and
Drugs, Missions and Liberty of Conscience, Military, Police, and Prisons, Economic Equality, Education, Public Health, Land Tenure, Moral, Social, and
Material Welfare, Public Finances, Population Statistics, Import and Export Trade, Communications, Agriculture and Forestry, Public Works, Geological
Survey, Veterinary, Frontiers and Survey, International Conventions. In 1928, Slavery was a topic, but was never mentioned again. Appendices made
their first appearance this year and the list of international conventions appeared there instead, as did Financial Statistics and the Customs Tariff
Ordinance. In 1931 and 1932, the appendices were significantly expanded. In 1934, Witchcraft was added as a topic of discussion, [1934 p. 65-66, 1935 p.
39]. In 1948, the discussion topics had changed a little: Introductory Description, Status of the Territory and its Inhabitants, International and
Regional Relations, International Peace and Security, Political Advancement, Economic Advancement, Social Advancement, Educational Advancement,
Publications, Research, Suggestions and Recommendations, Summary and Conclusion. The appendices had also changed; in 1952 and 1953, the Volta River Project
had its own spot in the appendices.
The British administration in Togo decided that the multiplicity of tribal governments was a barrier to progress.
In the south, there were 68 identified groups! They encouraged the chiefs to consider coming together in mutual governance, explaining that
wonderful improvements could be made by the larger groups. [see 1931 p. 15-16, 1933 p. 6, 1934 p. 6, 1936 p. 2-6] The administration encouraged chiefs’
councils, regional councils, native authorities, etc. to see how they could improve roads, health care, and agriculture by working together and sharing the
expense. Some chiefs saw the light, but others were jealous of their control of even a small group. The administration persisted, and over time,
was successful in its efforts. One successful tactic was to pay a small salary to indigenous people who were leading projects and generally managing
groups of people or an area. As the tribal councils gained experience, they became responsible for the management of most governmental functions, such
as education, sanitation, medical care, etc., and set up a taxation and fees system to pay for it all. Part of the reason the people were so
fragmented was the lack of roads. The British supplied the know-how, some money, and some equipment to begin pushing roads between settlements. The
administration always tried to train anyone who was interested to be able to build and maintain roads. Roads meant farmers could get their produce to market
and generally reach the wider world. Sanitation was next. The indigenous people did not connect sewage and illness, so education began at the most
basic level. The administration worked through the chiefs and did demonstrations to show how much better a village could be if it handled sewage
differently. The connection between clean water and health was also demonstrated. Once again, the administration always tried to work with tribal
councils and to train locals who were interested. Yaws, a debilitating and disfiguring disease of the tropics , was endemic in Togo, but a new course of
treatment could arrest its damage. In slow increments, the indigenous people began to trust the medical providers. There was appalling infant mortality
in the country, so a long project of education and care tried to help with this. Schools were non-existent, but essential if the population was going
to govern itself. The administration had to build a cadre of teachers from scratch and keep growing the local supply. Outside teachers, even from
elsewhere in the country, were stymied by language barriers. All these were big changes for the people in a short time, some of which went well, and
some that were a struggle, but the administration persisted. It always tried to train local people to manage all the new ways so they could govern
themselves as soon as possible. “Governing themselves” meant being on a relatively equal footing with the European world. This may or may not have been
a good thing, but that was the plan.
Togo’s primary source of revenue was agricultural produce. Cocoa was the only crop that was grown in
exportable quantities. Working through the councils, the administration devised a system of selling cocoa to the international market through a marketing
board that took delivery of the crop from around the country, did quality checks, sold the crop, and paid the farmers a set sum for a period of years.
The board kept some of the money back to provide a cushion if the market price dipped. When the market was high, there was money left to pay for
projects that benefited all the growers. However, this was the only crop that consistently made money; the administration spent huge amounts of effort
over decades trying to find other money-making crops, including, cotton, citrus trees, and palm products, but was not really successful by the end of
this run of reports. Another project that never worked was improvement of cattle and sheep by improved breeding. The farmers were willing to do
vaccinations that saved thousands of animals, but were never interested in building an improved herd or flock. [1933 p. 65] There was some fishing, but it
was done by tribes from outside the area who rotated in seasonally. However, even during not so good years, the country raised enough food to feed
itself. There were many local village and roadside markets for food. Women managed all that trade. [see 1932 p. 31, 1933 p. 28]
The administration
made heavy use of what in the United States would be agricultural extension agents. In the very beginning, administration people traveled the
country, an arduous task, to demonstrate how to make latrines, why to cut brush to control tsetse flies, how to use crop strips to control erosion, how to
dig wells and purify water for drinking, how to control mosquitos, how to plan a road to take advantage of the terrain, how tree rows helped protect
crops, and on and on. There were demonstrations farms in selected areas. As soon as an interested local appeared, that person was trained to do the
work. Local teams had no language barriers and knew how to explain things so it made sense to their peers. The local teams were given many
opportunities for further education so they could rise to greater responsibilities. The projects grew in complexity as well: a complete water well to water
purification to a piping system for a large town, dry-weather feeder roads to hard surface trunk roads, all-weather culverts and actual bridges where
needed, one-room schools to multi-room high schools to technical schools, a dressing hut to a three-room clinic to a hospital—all of this built mostly by
local councils and local labor as the people became more educated and proficient.
A system of medical care, and a demand for it, had to be built from
the ground up. The few physicians and qualified nurses were from outside. A system of traveling clinics was slowly built and there were dressing
stations scattered about the country. Midwifery was explained and midwives were trained. Smallpox vaccination education was a priority; by the end of
the report series, the disease had largely been removed from the population. Yaws and other skin diseases, malaria (especially among infants and
young children), pneumonia, and sleeping sickness were endemic. [See 1930 p. after p. 90] Over the years, there were some identified epidemics of
smallpox, (in 1934 there was a 30% mortality rate) yellow fever, and sleeping sickness. The treatment for yaws involved injections over time and, in the
beginning, most people did not stay the course; that behavior improved in later years. Leprosy was common; there were several isolation settlements in
the country. Some were run by the administration and some by the religious missions. Eventually there were four real hospitals. Malnutrition was
rare, but no one ate a lot of protein. The missions, especially the Catholic sisters, did arduous work to help women and children. Once again, local
people with an interest were given every opportunity, including scholarships for education in England, to become medical leaders in their country.
The
country had no industry or mineral wealth [see 1933 p. 67] or water power. Tourism was ruled out because of the heat and primitive accommodations.
International trade had to be done via the Gold Coast.
The administration was very anxious to find some way for the mandate to be self-supporting.
[1948 p. 74 below the table] In 1927, revenue was not quite £51,000, but expenses were £81,000. As the Depression in the 1930s gripped the world, even
British Togo suffered. It was especially hard on agents and staffs whose salaries and benefits were cut; some indigenous people were laid off.
Markets for agricultural products dried up. 1930 revenue was just under £60,000 with expenses of £86,000. In 1931, revenue was £32,000 with expenses of
£81,000. In 1932, revenue fell to £30,000, with expenses of £74,000. In 1935, things started to turn around, even in small ways. Revenue was not
quite £41,000 and expenses were £79,000. A feature of the 1936 report was the acquisition of two refrigeration units so there could be cold beer!
Revenue was £49,000 with expenses of £84,000. Unfortunately, the 1937-1938 reports are not in this collection, so the rest of the recovery was not
documented; nor are the World War II years. However, things picked up after the War. In 1948, revenue was £364,000 with expenses of somewhat over
£625,000. Part of the jump in revenue was from an income tax instituted in 1944. The collection does not include the report for 1949. The entire financial
system changed with the opening of the Legislative Assembly and the changed relationship of the indigenous people’s Councils to the administration.
[1948 p. 74-75] In 1950, revenue was £813,000 with expenses of £800,000. In 1951, revenue was £1,040,000, with expenditures of £1,037,000. In 1952,
revenue was reported at £1,527,000 with expenses of £1,316,000. For 1953 Togo’s revenue was £2,081,000 with expenses of just over £1,960,000. 1954
revenue was reported as £2,617,000 with expenses of £2,370,000. In 1955, Togo’s revenue was £3,400,000 with expenses of £3,234,000, so by the time of
independence, the country was on a better financial footing.
There was already a judicial system in the indigenous culture. [see 1927 p. 12-18] The
British administration built a simplified version of British courts alongside the local one. Criminal cases were heard in British courts, in part to
prevent sentences of flogging and other inhumane punishments. Interestingly, the local people insisted on keeping flogging as the punishment for
armed house-breaking, but that sentence was almost never used.
Land tenure was unlike the European system. [see 1929 p. 50-51, 1933 p. 56, 1936 p.
71-72] The British administration did not seek to change it, but did try to protect the indigenous population from predatory foreigners with strict
controls on land purchases by outsiders. The various missions “owned” a small amount of land and the administration did as well, but it all could be
described in a couple of paragraphs.
It was customary for a chief to call on his people for communal labor on occasion. The League/United Nations was very
concerned about forced or coerced labor, so there was a long, slow campaign to limit such labor. For the most part, the custom was honored
respectfully on both sides, and was actually useful to the administration for getting things done, but as the tribal government became more centralized, the
custom slowly died away and payment for labor became the norm. [1936 p. 108]
The administration encouraged local crafts and art and music, especially
drumming. One potter was sent to England for further training and a particular wood carver was mentioned more than once. [1951 p. v.] However, a
robust market for African crafts came later than the time period of these reports.
In 1914, bauxite (aluminum ore) was discovered in the Gold Coast.
The possible extraction and smelting of the ore were discussed and studied for years, but after WW II, people got serious. Damming the Volta River
could provide the necessary electric power and huge quantities of water, but a new harbor, housing for workers, and government control of the project had
to be built from the ground up, never mind the question of the millions of dollars required. A consultants’ report in 1951 p. 270-285, suggested a
site for the new harbor and laid out the pros and cons for the project. In the 1952 report, p. 260-271, many details were added and a Volta Project
Preparatory Commission launched to keep the project moving on all fronts. In the 1953 report, p. 187-189, there were three pages of questions and
answers about the project. After this, the project dropped out of the reports, since it was primarily a Gold Coast, rather than a Togo project.
A
Constitution was promulgated in 1946, but there was no documentation about it in this collection. In 1948, a Commission of Enquiry recommended changes in
government structure. A detailed explanation of a new Constitution and its implementation was in the 1950 report, p. 19-33, slated to take effect in
1951 [1950 p. iii]. There were still differences in procedure between the north and the south. In 1951, there was an intensive education campaign about
the first general election with secret ballot and universal suffrage. A special publicity campaign was held later in the year to explain the local
government system to the people and to stimulate interest and pride in the activities of their local and district councils. There were 104 election
districts that sent a directly elected representative to the Legislative Assembly. From the Assembly, the Prime Minister and Cabinet members were
selected, all of this on the British Parliament model. The day-to-day administration of the country devolved from the administration to the Cabinet and
Assembly. [1955 p. 14-19] In the 1955 report, p. 25-26 explained the four primary political parties and their platforms. The Governor remained
responsible for implementing the Trusteeship Agreement. Again, in the 1955 report, p. 26-28 explained the Local Councils and Authorities and how they fit
into the system. There were new administrative regions, especially one called Trans-Volta/Togoland to be a homeland of sorts for the Ewe speaking
peoples. There was some discussion about joining the French and British Togolands, but the people of the north of British Togo were firm in their desire
to remain with the northern part of the Gold Coast. In 1955, a special mission from the Trusteeship Council recommended a plebiscite to decide which
areas would unite in a new nation. A consultant examined what needed to be done to the Gold Coast Constitution to make a federal Constitution.
The
plebiscite, held after the time period of these reports, joined the Gold Coast, Ashanti, the Northern Territories, and British Togoland into a unified,
independent country within the British Commonwealth under the name Ghana; French Togo became Togo.
|
|
|
Title:
Report by His Majesty's Government to the United Nations on the administration of Togoland under British trusteeship : reformatted from the original and including, Report by His Majesty's Government to the Council of the League of Nations on the administration of Togoland under British mandate ( -1927) ...
|
|
|
OCLC Number:
1293030273
|
|
|
|
|
|
Available Volumes
|
|
|
|
|
|