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SIR PERCY NUNN said that Mr. Hussey aimed at establishing local universities and centres for higher training in Nigeria and it was possible that the University of London could assist the creation of such institutions. The question of the School Certificate was very important if the local university aimed at London degrees. The people should be allowed to have their own form of Matriculation and only the very exceptional people should come to this country.
LORD LUGARD said that it was most undesirable to bring Africans to this country if it could be avoided; in any case there would be very few applications from African
women.
SIR JAMES CURRIE remarked that, taking Africa as a whole, there was at present no secondary school system.
MR. MATTHEW said that the problem of native women wishing to come to England for further training would not arise for at least another generation.
MISS BURSTALL asked if the visitors would give the Committee their opinions regarding the question of the inadvisability of very young women teachers (e.g., under 28) being appointed for work in Africa.
MR. RANKINE said that he desired to express his entire agreement with what Lord Lugard and Sir James Currie had said as to the inadvisability of sending Africans to England and as to the dangers arising from sending them. But if Africans were not to come to England it was essential that endeavour should be made to provide adequate facilities for their education and training in Africa, and he reminded the Committee that, in the case of East Africa, Mr. Hussey, while in Uganda, had aimed at establishing there a local institution which might serve the purposes not only of Uganda but of the other East African dependencies. Mr. Rankine said that he entirely sympathized with this object and that he had been most impressed with the work that was being done, especially on the medical side. Zanzibar had sent two of its medical students to the institution in Uganda and Makerere College for further training.
It was necessary to remember, however, that some of the natives and their parents viewed with suspicion endeavours to prevent native youths from proceeding overseas for educational purposes and seemed to think that no local institution could afford equal opportunities. It was most desirable that these suspicions should be removed. Mr. Rankine agreed that it was undesirable to send very young English women teachers to Africa.
MR. LACEY said that he agreed with Mr. Rankine. Africans should not come to this country and the only course to adopt was to build up Makerere College. He strongly supported the suggestion that the home examinations should get more into line with local conditions.
MR LATHAM agreed with Mr. Lacey. In Northern Rhodesia they hoped to develop on the lines of Uganda. Unfortunately Makerere College was at a great distance from Northern Rhodesia and if possible Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland," and Southern Rhodesia should have a similar institution to Makerere.
THE CHAIRMAN said that in many parts of Africa there were no signs of higher education being available and it was not fair to penalize those of the present genera- tion who were capable of being trained further. They should be allowed to come to this country.
SIR JAMES CURRIE, in reply to a question from Mr. Horrabin, said that it must be remembered that life in a European town was such a violent change from the life to which the Colonial student had been accustomed in his own country that he naturally got into difficulty. He was cut off from the authority of his elders and the pressure of local opinion was removed. He had seen a number of most promising lives com- pletely wrecked in this way,
LORD LUGARD added that these coloured students very often returned to their own country with bitter anti-European feelings.
MR. LACEY said that no European could, in the space of five years, get any true idea of the African mentality, and the same principle applied even more strongly Any African who had lived for a time in to an African coming to this country. Europe was looked upon with great distrust upon his return by his own people.
THE CHAIRMAN said that no arrangements had yet been made to help natives who came to this country and as it was realized that it was very important that these people should live in suitable lodgings, every endeavour was being made to establish clubs and hostels for them, but owing to financial depression it was very difficult to raise the necessary funds.
A
A sub-committee was then appointed, consisting of the following members :-
Miss Burstall (Chairman),
Miss Whitelaw,
Mr. Oldham,
Archbishop Goodier,
Sir Michael Sadler,
Mr. Mann,
Mr. Mayhew,
Mr. Vischer.
Sir Percy Nunn was invited to serve, but asked to be excused. He expressed his readiness, however, to help in Sub-Committee in any way they wished, especially
as regards the draft Resolution.
The terms of reference were :-
(a) to consider the desirability of passing a resolution on the lines of the
above draft;
(b) to consider the proposals in the memorandum dealing with the questions
of personnel;
(c) to redraft the remainder of the memorandum so as to make it suitable for communication by the Secretary of State, if he so approved, to the African Governments.
The Sub-Committee was given authority to call in any experts for advice, and were asked to consult a member of the Board of Education as to (a) of their terms of reference.
(Dr. Drummond Shiels left the Meeting and the Chair was taken by Sir John Shuckburgh.)
5. The Supervision of Colonial Students in the United Kingdom.-A memo- randum by Mr. Bowman, Director of Education, Palestine, and a letter from Mr. Ezechiel to Sir J. Shuckburgh had been circulated to members. (A.C.E.C. 17/31.) MR. EZECHIEL informed the Committee that his own opinion was stated in his letter to Sir John Shuckburgh. The numbers of students coming from Palestine and the Middle East territories were very small.
In reply to the Chairman, MR. MAYHEW said that at first it had been proposed that African students should be excluded from the discussion as the matter was being considered separately in connexion with the proposed club; but Dr. Shiels was very anxious that they should be included; it might, however, be convenient to leave them out of to-day's discussion.
Mr. Ezechiel referred to the memorandum he had prepared for the Colonial Office Conference in 1927.* At that time there had been roughly 500 Colonial students, excluding those studying law.
THE CHAIRMAN referred to the arrangements made by the India Office for Indian students but said that the difficulty had always been in persuading the students to come to the house provided for them.
SIR PERCY NUNN said that he had always tried to arrange that no Indian students should come to the London Day Training College except through the avenue of the High Commissioner's office.
Lord Lugard and Sir James Currie both considered that African students would resent any kind of European supervision or control and that was why any idea of a hostel had been abandoned and the suggestion of a club adopted instead. For the same reason a South African had been appointed as Secretary, since he had the confidence of the West Africans.
SIR GEORGE MAXWELL said that in 1923 he organized a society for Malayan students in this country. This society had since been absorbed by the Victoria League. The Victoria League existed solely for Malayan students, Eurasians, Chinese, &c. It was in personal touch with 90 students girls as well as boys.
It was important to distinguished between Government and non-Government students the latter were far more difficult than the former.
A great deal of the mischief was done before the students left their own country, as the arrangements made were very faulty in many cases and they were supplied with quite inadequate funds. It was important that there should be local advisory committees in each country to advise parents before their sons left the country. There should be some liaison between these committees and the organization in England. It was highly desir-
Cmd. 2884, page 219, et seqy.
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