CENTRAL AFRICA COLONIALISM IN REVERSE MOST BRITISH COLONIAL GOVERNORS ULTIMATELY REACH THE 
POINT WHERE THEY STAND BY, ERECT AND PROUD, AS THE UNION 
JACK FLUTTERS DOWN OVER SOME DISTANT POSSESSION AND THE FLAG OF 
INDEPENDENCE IS RUN UP . AS THE NEW SESSION OF PARLIAMENT 
BEGAN IN SALISBURY, SOUTHERN RHODESIA, LAST WEEK, THE PATTERN OF NOBLE 
WITHDRAWAL WAS BROKEN BY LORD DALHOUSIE, GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE NEARLY EXTINCT 
CENTRAL AFRICAN FEDERATION . REQUIRED BY TRADITION TO READ THE SPEECH 
DRAFTED BY THE LOCAL WHITE GOVERNMENT, LORD DALHOUSIE, RESPLENDENT IN A 
PLUMED COCKED HAT AND SILVER EPAULETS, DELIVERED A SHARP REBUKE TO 
BRITAIN BECAUSE IT " HAS BETRAYED THE PEOPLE OF THE FEDERATION 
AND HAS DONE THEM IRREPARABLE HARM . " AS IF TO 
RUB THE BRITISH GOVERNOR-GENERAL IN THE FEDERATION'S PLIGHT, BURLY FEDERATION PRIME 
MINISTER SIR ROY WELENSKY THEN ROSE TO RAIL AT BRITAIN'S " 
UNPARALLELED TREACHERY AND DECEIT . " CHIN OUT, FISTS CLENCHED, HIS 
VOICE TREMBLING WITH ANGER, WELENSKY CRIED, " THE INTERESTS OF THE 
WHITE MAN AND THE ORDINARY MODERATE AFRICAN IN HIS THOUSANDS ARE 
BEING SACRIFICED IN A LONG-DRAWN-OUT ACT OF APPEASEMENT WHICH PUTS MUNICH 
IN THE SHADE ! " HE CHARGED THAT BRITAIN INTENDS THE 
CONTINENT AS A WHOLE TO " BE HANDED OVER TO RACIALISM, 
WHETHER THE COST BE A CONGO OR AN ALGIERS . " 
WHAT INFURIATED WELENSKY WAS THAT BRITAIN HAS ALREADY AGREED TO GIVE 
INDEPENDENCE TO THE TWO BLACK-CONTROLLED STATES OF NORTHERN RHODESIA AND NYASALAND, 
WHILE RESERVING DECISION ON SOUTHERN RHODESIA (WHERE 250,000 WHITES CURRENTLY RULE 
4,000,000 BLACKS) UNTIL AN AFRICAN CONFERENCE IS HELD THIS SUMMER . 
IN REPLY, SOUTHERN RHODESIA'S PRIME MINISTER WINSTON FIELD REPEATED HIS REFUSAL 
TO ATTEND ANY SUCH CONFERENCE UNTIL HE RECEIVES IN WRITING FROM 
BRITAIN'S DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER R . A . BUTLER A PROMISE 
THAT SOUTHERN RHODESIA GETS ITS INDEPENDENCE CONCURRENTLY WITH EITHER OF THE 
OTHER TWO STATES . RAB BUTLER'S ANSWER LAST WEEK WAS THAT 
THE CONFERENCE SETTLING THE DETAILS OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE FEDERATION 
MUST BE HELD FIRST, WHICH MAKES THE SITUATION LIKE SO MANY 
IN AFRICA APPEAR INSOLUBLE . FLEEING A POLICE RAP, SOUTHERN RHODESIA'S 
BLACK NATIONALIST JOSHUA NKOMO SHOWED UP IN TANGANYIKA TO DECLARE HIS 
DETERMINATION TO FIGHT THE WHOLE IDEA OF SOUTHERN RHODESIA INDEPENDENCE UNDER 
WHITE RULE . VIEWING THE DEADLOCK, BRITAIN'S SPECTATOR COMMENTED : " 
WHAT NOW EXISTS IN SOUTHERN RHODESIA IS A COLONIAL SITUATION IN 
REVERSE, " THAT IS, THE AFRICANS THEMSELVES EARNESTLY HOPE BRITAIN WILL 
RETAIN WHAT POWER IT HAS, WHILE THE WHITE SETTLERS ARE DEMANDING 
INSTANT FREEDOM . 