The following news items appeared in TA issue 41 (Jan 1992) and are taken from issues of the Tanganyika Standard in the first three months of 1942:

MASAI MUNIFICENCE
Following on an agreement reached between the government and Masai elders at the Kiama or Annual Council Meeting held in August 1940 the Masai are subscribing 6,000 cattle (1% of the 600,000 total) each year for the duration of the war. The cattle are sold to Liebigs Cannery in Kenya and the proceeds are then divided into three equal parts: 1) a contribution to Britain for the purchase of armaments; 2) investment in interest-free War Loan; and , 3) used for the development of Masai land.

ODE TO MASIKA
Extracts from a letter to the editor (with apologies to Keats) from reader H. P Griffiths (March 1942) :
Season of mists and multi-mouldiness;
Close bosom friend of March’s moist monsoon;
Conspiring with her how to cause distress;
By washaways and floods, a doubtful boon;
To warp and swell our doors and rust the keys;
To fill with Tembo each palm tree flower;
And stimulate each fungus long and dark;
And rapid spreading weeds and grasses rank;
Where are the songs of summer? Where are they?
Think not of them – thou hast thy music too;
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying days;
Touch Msasani beach with rosy hue;
Then in a baleful choir mosquitoes hum;
And would-be travellers mourn with grumbling tune;
The boggy, slushy roads, now closed till June;
The thunder rolls; torrential showers come.

NEED FOR RUBBER
All of us must know the calamities which have fallen in the Far East (collapse of British forces in rubber-rich Malaya, fighting in the Dutch East Indies) wrote Mr Malcolm Ross of Tanga in response to an urgent appeal by the Director of Agriculture for owners to clear the land in derelict Ceara rubber plantations in Tanga and Eastern provinces so that tappers can get to the trees. The Agricultural Department said that tapping ‘needs no great skill and is well within the capabilities of the average African once the method has been demonstrated to him’.

Mr Ross went on to describe the rubber boom in Tanganyika in 1910-12 when as much as Shs 8/- per pound was paid for best quality rubber in London. The Germans had been planting ,up every available spot with Ceara rubber and there were over 50 plantations in Tanga district alone although the land was often entirely unsuitable. But by 1914 there had been a slump and rubber had fallen to Shs 1.2 per lb. The majority of the German planters would have become bankrupt but for the First Great War and when the Germans were eventually defeated in Tanganyika and the plantations were taken over by the British authorities, plantations were rarely worked. Later, sisal was planted instead.

The following excerpts were included in Issue 40 (Sept 1991):

MAIL LOST BY ENEMY ACTION
The Post office has announced that letter mail posted from Dar es Salaam between April 15th and 26th and mail from Tanga posted between 15th April and May 1st has been lost by enemy action – Tanganyika Herald, September 12. 1941.

BROADCAST BY HIS HIGHNESS THE SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR
On the occasion of Ramadhan His Highness the Sultan of Zanzibar said in a radio broadcast: “We thank Our God that Our Island Dominions have, through His great mercy and the might of the British Empire been spared the horrors of war…. We rejoice when we recollect that the forces of the British Empire have, during this year, saved three Muslim countries – Syria, Iraq and Iran – from domination by the German tyrants. Now they are protected by their true friends and at the end of the war they will be free sovereign states” – Tanganyika Herald, September 12, 1941.

THE GREAT NORTH ROAD
The British War Office has announced that, in order to improve the line of communications between South Africa and Kenya, a sum of £355,000 is to be made available to reconstruct the Great North Road from Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia via Tunduru, Iringa and Arusha to Nairobi. The road will be reconstructed to 24ft width of which 16ft will be gravelled and all water courses will be crossed by bridges or drifts. 50% of the funds for the two-year task will be allowed for the 809 miles of the road which runs through Tanganyika.. …. Owing to the high cost in money, manpower and in administering, guarding and rationing, it will be possible to use prisoners of war on only a few sections of the road – Tanganyika Herald, October 10, 1941.

WAR TIME OFFICE DRESS
The Government has stated that, in the interests of economy, sanction has been given for the wearing in government offices, for the duration of the war, of the following form of dress: White shirt, open at the neck, worn with shorts and stockings, which may be white or khaki or with trousers of ordinary cotton material. – Tanganyika Herald, November 7, 1941

ESCAPED ITALIAN PRISONERS
Seven Italian prisoners of war who had escaped from the Athi River Prisoners of War Camp, Kenya, on 31st October were captured in Rufiji on November 7th. Their escape had been facilitated by the theft of a PWD lorry and an ample supply of petrol in large drums. On one occasion, asking the way from a Native and speaking in broken English, they said that they were Greeks, When necessary, all but the driver hid in the back of the lorry. But when they attempted to cross the Rufiji ferry after dark, an unusual proceeding, they were noticed by the sharp witted District Commissioner who took them into custody. Their destination had been South Africa where they intended to give themselves up – Tanganyika Herald – November 11, 1941.

TANGANYIKA’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE WAR
The Acting Governor of Tanganyika spoke in the Legislative Council about Tanganyika’s contribution to the Second World War. The date was December 8, 1941 the day after Japan entered the war. The previous Governor, Sir Mark Young, had just been posted as Governor of Hong Kong. “Like every good general who is given the chance, he had marched towards the sound of the guns” the Acting Governor said. “We extend to him the thoughts, the hopes and the confidence of this Council”. The Acting Governor announced that there were, on June 14th 1941, serving under the General Officer Commander-in-Chief, East Africa, the following personnel from Tanganyika:
Europeans 450
Asians 330
Africans 17,500
At the recent last battle against the Italians in Ethiopia two Tanganyika battalions of the Kings African Rifles had played an important part and fought with great courage.
Tanganyika had also contributed to the war effort by paying the full cost of maintaining hundreds of enemy aliens arrested in Tanganyika at the beginning of the war. 475 had been sent to South Africa, 600 to Southern Rhodesia and 948, two thirds of whom were missionaries, and 200 of whom were Jews, both groups on parole, remained in Tanganyika.
£170,000 had been invested in war securities and had been put aside towards post-war work of reconstruction. Voluntary contributions during war Weapons Weeks had raised £51,000. Gold output had been increased by 12.5% compared with 1940 and 75,000 cattle had been supplied to the armed forces – Tanganyika Standard, December 12, 1941

COMPULSORY LABOUR
During l940 42,724 men were called up for work on essential public
services. Of these, 4,660 worked on porterage and 37,550 for 10-day periods
of communal work against soil erosion and tsetse fly. The number of men
working to pay their poll tax was 22,205 in 1940 compared with 17,255 in
1933 – Tanganyika Standard. September 19, 1941

The following appeared in TA issue 39 (May 1991)

The following items come from the Tanganyika Standard in the period April July 1941.

THE WHITE MAN IN THE TROPICAL HIGHLANDS (Extracts from an editorial)
In the midst of the new and complex problems of the war it was like a soothing echo of the far off days of peace to find evidence in a recent publication that one of the perennial problems of pre-war times was still alive. Nobody, it seems, can get away with any suggestion that settlement in tropical highlands is not suitable – on physical and mental health grounds – for White men.

‘Trust the experts’ is a proverb which would have a good deal more weight if experts did not differ so frequently and so deeply. What one learned doctor says today you can almost invariably find two other learned doctors to contradict tomorrow. The ‘Great Sun Helmet Controversy’ is a case in point. The proportion of sun helmets to total headgear sold to Europeans in East Africa must have dropped immensely during the last 30 years and, at least as many doctors, sporting their own trilbies or panamas, have been in favour of the change as have been against it. The immense helmets that were ‘de rigeur’ are seen but rarely now, and almost invariably on the heads of old-timers who imbibed the medical opinion prevailing thirty years ago.

According to scientific theory, living in the tropics at great altitudes, ought to have some effect, probably deleterious, on Europeans. Some day scientists might find out what the effect is. In the meantime scientific caution demands that no risks should be taken. However, practical White laymen who come to Tanganyika find the country very good and go ahead with their settlement. What is more, they produce children and grandchildren who show no sign of degeneration – rather the contrary ….

TANGANYIKA’S BRITISH MANPOWER
The Director of Manpower, Sir William Lead, has announced in the Legislative Council that the number of unofficial male British Europeans of military age was, in June 1940, 949. The number not available for military service (missionaries, ‘protected’ subjects such as Cypriots) was 254; certificated’ Key Men’ fulfilling essential civilian tasks totalled 480 and the number who had joined the military forces was 215. The number of male officials was 930 of whom 171 were serving in the forces.

COCONUTS AND COMPENSATION (Extracts from an editorial)
In the midst of a world war a Tanganyikan Bill to check the stealing of coconuts seems of small moment but the Coconuts (Thefts) Ordinance caused, and rightly so, one of the most interesting discussions at yesterday’s (July 3, 1941) session of the Legislative Council.

Coconut thefts are very common. Plantation owners are compelled to pick their nuts before they are ripe in order to get ahead of the thief. But from unripe coconuts you cannot get good copra and copra is of value to the war effort. In the new Ordinance there will be delegation of power of arrest to persons other than the police and the setting aside of the principle of British justice that a person is innocent until proved guilty. A coconut estate owner will be able, in future, if he finds somebody in the plantation without a reasonable explanation, arrest and detain him, though, ‘not for longer than is necessary’. A person proved to be in possession of coconuts shall be deemed guilty of stealing them unless he proves himself innocent.

Canon Gibbons, nominated to represent Native interests in the Legislative Council, expressed reservations about the Bill but considered that, as a temporary expedient, it was justified. The question of compensation was also raised. Canon Gibbons said that the African, in his own customs, accepted the principle of restitution and reparation for theft but that this was neglected in British legal practice. Canon Gibbons said that compensation should be in kind. ‘Most Natives have a few coconut trees of their own’ he said.

IRAQUI ADVENTURES
To be captured by Iraqui rebels, to fail in an attempted escape by flying boat, to be machine gunned by the RAF while prisoner in an Iraqui lorry, to be led blindfold into a trench that he was told would be his grave, and, finally, to have had ‘not at all a bad month’ in an internment camp run by a pro-British Iraqui operating against his superiors’ orders – these were some of the adventures of Mr Henry Davidson, until recently a Tanganyikan resident employed by Imperial Airways. He had been transferred to Iraq a week before a pro-German Iraqui leader had seized power. After Britain defeated the new regime and an armistice had been signed, Mr Davidson was released unharmed.

FAREWELL TO THE GOVERNOR
On the occasion of the departure of the Governor, Sir Mark Young, at the end of his tour of service, the African publication KWETU wrote a valedictory in the form of an open letter to him. ‘It was you who deprecated the idea of officially addressing Africans without the courteous title of Mister; it was you who invited advice from this press in connection with the Tanganyika Development Committee; it was you who wholeheartedly backed Tanganyika’s financial contribution towards building Makerere College; it was you who thought of an African member to the Makerere College Assembly without our pleading for one. We honestly cannot thank you enough’.

This appeared in TA issue 38 January 1991

The following items come from the Tanganyika Standard in late 1940 and early 1941.

M.P’s QUERY
Mr Creech-Jones MP (Labour) asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies in the House of Commons whether he was aware that Tanganyika had recently sent a considerable war gift to the UK but had had to make cuts in medical, educational and agricultural services as a result. What steps were being taken to prevent these already inadequate services from being crippled in this way?

The Under Secretary replied that Tanganyika had sent £200,000 which had been drawn from the Territory’s Reserve Fund and not from current cash balances. ‘While the Tanganyika Government is, of necessity, refraining from expending social services in the manner and to the extent that might have been possible but for the war, the services are not being crippled’ he said. ‘In fact, the 1941 estimates exceeded the actual expenditure in 1939 by £17,000 in the case of medicine, £5,000 in education and £6,000 in agriculture . These were not cuts’.

REPATRIATING PEOPLE IS ILLEGAL
The Dar es Salaam Township Rule under which an administrative officer can send back to his home any African who may be considered to be undesirable was declared by His Honour, Mr Justice Roberts, to ‘offend against every canon on legality which has ever been established’.

A Resident Magistrate’s conviction of Ramazani Mbendo for having returned to the Township was quashed. In his judgement Mr Justice Roberls said ‘There are few checks as far as Township Rules are concerned. They are not made by the people and f or the people nor are they subjected to public criticism by a vigorous press or by public bodies before they become law and these are, after all, the most effective safeguards and those in which a democratic people place most store.’

‘In this case the accused has been convicted twice for being a rogue and vagabond and six times for offences connected with property …. and he is the kind of person who is best kept out of the town. But the question before this court is whether the Rule under which he has been expelled and for disobeying which he has been punished is one within the rule making powers of the original Ordinance. In this matter any Native could be thrown out of any place at the behest of an administrative officer without nay reason assigned …. Just as equity was once said to vary with the length of the Chancellor’s foot, so might ‘undesirability’ vary with the length of an administrative officer’s temper.’ Mr Justice Roberts further pointed out that Europeans and Indians were exempted from the rules which was unjust and oppressive.

‘It is no good telling me, ‘ he went on, ‘that no District Commissioner could be unreasonable enough to prevent a man showing his face 1n Acacia Avenue .. . . Give a man despotic power, make him accountable to no one, excuse him from giving reasons for what he does and it is perfectly astonishing what such a man may do.’

The Attorney General also indicated that he was unable to support the original conviction.

FINES FOR BLACKOUT OFFENCES
Seven cases under the Dar es Salaam Lighting Regulations in respect of the blackout from September 30 to October 3, 1940 were brought before the Dar es Salaam Resident Magistrate and fines were inflicted in each case. Mr Kassam Damji – Shs 30; the Railway European Club – Shs 30; New Palace Hotel – Shs 60; and, the Dar es Salaam Electricity Supply Company – Shs 70.

TANGANYIKANS AT MAKERERE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
At the end of 1940 there were 32 Tanganyikan students in residence – 11 in medicine, 16 on the teacher’s course, 4 in agriculture and one in veterinary science.

MAIL DELAYS
In an editorial the Tanganyika Standard stated that the average time for airmail from London to Tanganyika was 35 days; surface mail took only seven days more. The Dar es Salaam Chamber of Commerce suggested that an airmail service via the West Coast of Africa might result in big time savings.

WARTIME EMPLOYMENT OF SCIENTISTS
The Amani (Tanga) Agricultural Research Station originally set up by the Germans was under government scrutiny. It had been agreed in 1939 that the station should be maintained but that the research programme should be modified to release as many of the staff as possible for work of more immediate importance to the war effort. It was then decided that they should a11 be released for military service. In 1ate 1940, however, the policy changed again. The scientists would be retained at Amani to work on military supply problems.

The following appeared in TA issue 37 (September 1990)

The following are extracted from the Tanganyika Standard in the last quarter of 1940 – Editor

LETTERS TO ENEMY COUNTRIES
A Government statement announced that persons in enemy occupied territories wishing to reply to letters received from persons living in Tanganyika should address the letters via P.O. Box 506, Lisbon, Portugal.

SOCKS
The Arusha correspondent reported that women there had knitted over 3,000 pairs of socks for the troops during the previous six months. Mrs Baldwin had knitted 73 pairs closely followed by Mrs Bailey with 56.

MARCH OF THE CORNED BEEF
Under this heading there was a long article describing how Liebigs, the Kenya Meat Processing Company, was now working 24 hours a day. When the factory had first opened in 1938 they had been slaughtering 30 beasts every night. By the beginning of the war in September 1939 the figure had reached 75. And on August 19th 1940 it was up to 300. 80% of all the beef was being converted into corned beef – 20,000 tins a day all destined for the troops.

‘And every day, unhonoured and unsung, a northward migration Comprising a caravan of some 250 to 300 cattle is wending its way 600 miles from Tanganyika to Kenya to keep the factory supplied. The journey takes 30 days and is not easy. There are East Coast Fever, tsetse flies, hungry lions, irritable rhinos (the herdsmen frequently have to rush to the nearest tree to escape) – but, in spite of everything, normally only 5% of the animals are lost en route.

CRIME STATISTICS
There were 1,000 fewer cases of crime during 1939 than in the previous year. Of the various people dealt with by the Police during the year 636 were Europeans, 1,471 Asians, 153 Arabs, 55 Somalis, 709 Alien Africans and 6,890 ‘Aboriginal’ Africans. There were 98 cases of murder (30 convictions obtained).

BISCUITS
Huntley and Palmers Biscuits Ltd took the unusual step of publishing a full-page advertisement in the Standard on November 8, 1940 – the first time in the year the paper had presented such a prominent advertisement :

Some people may be surprised that it is still possible to buy ENGLISH BISCUITS in Tanganyika even though they are rationed at home. But biscuits furnish a good example of the kind of manufactured article Britain particularly wishes to export. The UK imports wheat, sugar and butter …. Hand these over to one of our famous biscuit manufacturers and their value increases enormously; workers have earned wages, manufacturers have made a fair profit and, because the whole world recognises the supremacy of the ENGLISH BISCUIT, the money that goes back to Britain is much greater than the money she originally paid for the wheat, sugar and butter. So, in buying Huntley and Palmers Biscuits, you are helping to finance Great Britain’s WAR EFFORT.

This appeared in TA issue 36, May 1990

The following articles are taken from the Tanganyika Standard in the middle of 1940 at the time when Britain was suffering defeat after defeat in the Second World War and fearing a German invasion.

TOWARDS A NATIONAL PARK FOR TANZANIA
The Game Bill 1940 introduced in the Legislative Council established a National Park in the Serengeti Plains. All hunting of animals was to be forbidden and the entry and movement of people in the Park would be controlled by a permit system. A special committee set up to examine the Bill invited the public to make its views known. However, there was only one response. An official commented that the writer of this response came from the Southern Province which was well served by the flying boat service between Dar es Salaam and Lindi. He doubted whether other members of the public in less accessible parts of Tanganyika would have had time to submit views.

AEROPLANE CRASH IN MASAILAND
Four South African soldiers on their way to the war in Northern Kenya (against Italian occupied Ethiopia) survived when their plane crashed on Longoi Hill in Masailand. As soon as the plane was found to be missing an official rescue party set off from Moshi. It was first held up by tyre trouble and then by the impassability of the bush. The party continued the next day on foot but met a lioness whose unwelcome attentions were only repulsed after even more time had elapsed. Meanwhile, the survivors from the plane had located a Masai family who immediately provided them with water and milk, slaughtered a sheep and built a boma for them to sleep in. A Moran was sent off to Kibaya to get assistance and did the night journey in record time. The Native Authority Dresser there organised a rescue party with food, water, medicine and a stretcher and set off immediately on the six hour walk to the scene. He then dressed the airmen’s burns and guided the party back to Kibaya later the following day.

So appreciative were the airmen for all the help they had received that they left all the money they had with them, Shs 160/-, to the various people who they had met. The survivors later said they could not express too highly their appreciation for the help and kindness so readily rendered to them by the Masai.

DISCIPLINE AT ARUSHA SCHOOL
Speech day at the Arusha (European) School was held on July 26th 1940. The Headmaster, in his report, said that in a tropical country where children grow old too soon and associate with adults far too much and where they see little of other children, the school had provided them with the normal family life so lacking In Tanganyika.

He went on to say that the background of the tropics had given a large number of people two extremes in dealing with child control and character building:
a) the all too frequent and utter negligence on the part of parents and the almost criminal leaving of children to ayahs and ‘house boys’ – an abnormality with which they had to deal 1n the school; and,

b) the hard and often choleric beating which summed up some people’s idea of discipline.

“Much of the constructive work of the school is”, he said “with all respect to parents here in Tanganyika, undone during the holidays. Late nights, drinking parties, unwholesome dependence on ‘boys’ for even the lightest of tasks, all militates against the building up of discipline, Character is formed neither by over indulgence nor by extreme rigidity. Later in his speech the headmaster said “We hold in honour the twelve boys who have gone from this school and who are today holding ranks as commissioned and non-commissioned officers in His majesty’s Forces. It was an old boy of the school, Raymond Hance, who was the first from East Africa to give his life for his country.

SENTENCE FOR RUMOUR
Juma bin Barwani, an African from Kigoma District was sentenced to three months with hard labour in August 1940 for ‘publishing a rumour likely to cause fear and alarm to the public’ The accused had told several people that soldiers were coming by train to Kigoma that night to impress male villagers for war service and that they would be seized when asleep in their huts ..

This appeared in TA issue 35 (Jan 1990)

The following extracts are from the Tanganyika Standard in the early months of 1940.

KNCU GIVES SHS 20,000 TO WAR FUNDS
The members of the Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU) expressing the aim of the Chagga people to help the Government to win the war so that they can live in peace and happiness under King George and the British flag, have given Shs 20,000 to help the war effort. The money has been made over partly to the Red Cross Fund for the benefit of African troops and partly invested in War Loan.

The cordial and grateful appreciation of the Government is being conveyed to the KNCU for their public spirited and munificent action.

ZANZIBAR EXPECTS £10,000 SURPLUS
Despite increased expenditure of £15,000 due to the war and an expected decrease in customs revenue because of wartime restrictions, Zanzibar is budgeting for a surplus of £10,000 in 1940. This is largely due to a sharp increase in the price of cloves, Zanzibar’s 1940 revenue is estimated at £445,000 and expenditure at £435,000.

His Excellency the British Resident said that customs tariff incidence is not satisfactory. Poorer people eat imported food, wear imported clothes, smoke imported tobacco and therefore contribute a quite disproportionate share of total revenue, he said. On the other hand, the richer classes, European and Asiatic alike, whose expenditure on foodstuffs and other necessities represents a negligible fraction of their total expenditure, at present contribute much less than is their just due …. The Government has therefore decided not to increase indirect taxation but to introduce instead a new measure of direct taxation – income tax. (Income tax was also introduced in Tanganyika at the beginning of 1940 – Editor).

TANGANYIKA IS FORTUNATE IN ITS AGRICULTURE
Mr. A. J. Wakefield, Tanganyika’s Director of Agriculture, had some cheerful things to say at a recent meeting in London … Tanganyika was more fortunate than some other colonies because its major industry, sisal, was a ‘priority war need’ he said. Scarce shipping space was always made available for sisal.

Speaking of the official policy to ‘produce to the limit’ he said that there was a risk of unsold surpluses in some crops because of lack of shipping. However, the tea surplus (over local requirements) would be bought by the UK Ministry of Food; coffee would be exported to existing markets in South Africa, Canada and the USA; an expected surplus of groundnuts would be sold to South Africa, a nearby market requiring little demand on shipping. It was also expected that India and Japan would buy most of the cotton out turn and the Middle East offered a market for oilseeds.

Tanganyika had been importing some £60,000 worth of maize from Kenya but the new policy was that Tanganyika must become self-supporting in maize.

THE AFRICANS AND THE WAR
Provincial Commissioners in their annual reports for 1939 were in agreement that most Africans had been little disturbed by the start of the war. But many had unpleasant recollections of the previous war when thousands had been conscripted by the Germans for porterage and road making; many had also had much of their food supplies and livestock commandeered. What appeared to have impressed Africans most had been the rapidity and lack of any kind of trouble attending the internment of enemy aliens. In the Southern Highlands Province 90% of the plantations and farms had been in German hands – they had employed some 8,000 Native labourers (There was considerable debate in the newspapers at this time as to whether the term ‘Native’ should still be used for Africans – Editor). There had therefore been immediate financial loss to Natives due to dislocation caused by the outbreak of war but the early action taken by the Government to assume control of enemy property had saved the economic situation from complete collapse.

But the inhabitants of a remote village in Tunduru district had ‘suffered stage fright’. The villagers had killed off all their chickens ‘so that the invading Germans would find no food’. There had also been a few cattle raids by the Masai against the Wasukuma. The Masai assumed that the authorities would be too busy with the war to deal with them.

A NORTHERN RHODESIAN ASKARI LOOKS AT TANGANYIKA,
A summary of the translation of a letter to his friends at home written by an Askari of the 1st Battalion of the N, Rhodesian Regiment explaining about Tanganyika included the following: Bad roads; good beer (made out of bananas); the men wear long Khanzus, even those who are not houseboys; the women wear lots of brass and beads; the sun is very hot; and, we are having the best food we have ever had; maize meal and rice, groundnuts and salt, sugar and tea and lemons and sometimes onions and always plenty of meat. ‘So we are sending this message to Hitler: It is he who has brought this about, this very good food, better than the food in Germany – so we are laughing at him very much’.

WHAT HAPPENED IN TUKUYU?
The Indian owned ‘Tanganyika Opinion’ on March 1st 1940 asked the question on its front page – What happened in Tukuyu. It wrote: A harmless Indian barber, Barber Jagjivan, plying his humble clippers found himself one fine day recently asked to accompany a Police Inspector, ride on a lorry laden with African peasants and taken to the Boma in Tukuyu. We have asked the authorities more than once what happened. Let us look at the facts as it is commonly believed that Jagjivan was taken to the Boma because of some indiscrete remarks he had dropped about the war. We are prepared to advise our readers that, at the present time, they should exercise great discretion in what they say or do in relation to the war …… We must be taken into confidence. Instead the authorities are stolidly silent. Why?

This appeared in TA issue 34 (Sept 1989)

THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

The pages of the Tanganyika Standard (TS) from September 3, 1939, the date of the outbreak of the war, to the end of the year were dominated, as were those of most of the world’s press, by news from Europe. Little was published about what was going on in Tanganyika itself because most of the country was relatively untouched by the war. The following extracts give an idea of the atmosphere at the time.

INTERNMENT OF GERMANS
This was the main headline in the Tanganyika Standard (TS) of September 8, 1939. 80% of the German males in the territory had already been rounded up and were on their way to an internment camp in Dar es Salaam – they eventually totalled about 1,000 – and ‘reports were awaited from certain remote areas.’ A correspondent wrote about what happened in Moshi. ‘Herr Ernst Troop, the ‘Fuehrer ‘ of the Tanganyika Nazi Bund, not believing to the last moment that Britain would go to war, was on his way to Moshi from Lyamungu in his car on Sunday afternoon when he was ‘halted by a picket of administrative officers and special constables at Karanga Bridge outside the township. He was astounded when he was taken into custody. Some of his lieutenants, including Dr. Mergner and Herr Kageler, the latter leader of the Hitler youth, were also arrested. So far, 208 Germans have been temporarily interned in the commodious German-owned premises of the Kilimanjaro Coffee Works pending the erection of a permanent camp. Most Germans gave themselves up in good humour and many are helping to erect barbed wire entanglements around their camp’.

Interestingly, in the same issue of the Standard, in the classified advertisement column, under the heading ‘Where to Stay’ the following appeared: ‘German Boarding House. Daily rate Shs 10/-. First class cuisine. Cleanliness assured. Above Kassum’s stores.’

By December 316 of the enemy aliens had been repatriated. They were sent home on an Italian ship and given their expenses for the journey all the way back to Germany.

THE FIRST EFFECTS OF THE WAR
Vehicles were requisitioned, air raid practices were held in Dar es Salaam, no currency was to be exported (TS Sept 22), the price of foodstuffs was controlled (TS Oct 11) and farmers were exhorted to ‘produce to the limit and export what you can’ (TS Dec 22). It was announced that income tax would be introduced in 1940.

A ‘Tanganyika Naval Force’ had come into existence legally on August 26 but it then consisted of only one officer. Two weeks later there were six officers, 12 petty officer’s and 76 African ratings. Its main function was to sweep Dar es Salaam harbour for mines every day.

Dhows began to return (TS Oct 20). ‘Dhows are again being favoured for coastal transport of goods between Rufiji and Dar es Salaam. The lack of motor lorries during the recent requisition of power trucks for the war has turned the eyes of traders to dhows and dhow ports have not been so busy since 1929. Mr. M. Graui the Kilwa merchant, is said to own a fleet of 100 and Mr. Jaffer Alladin of Mbwera has brought from India a new fast sailing dhow of fine lines and accommodation’.

The first Donkey Company of the East African Pack Transport Corps was raised in Tanganyika (TS Dec 15), ‘The unit comprises two Europeans and 100 Africans with 500 donkeys. Personnel have been drawn from Mbugwe, Arusha and Meru areas. Thanks to the patriotism of the Africans, requisitioning of donkeys proved unnecessary. Although donkeys are not normally sold the owners took the view that if they were needed for the war then they (the owners) were prepared to sell them. Each carries a load of 100 lbs and the donkeys can cover a good 15 miles a day. It is the desire of the military authorities to avoid the use of porter transport and to make as much use as possible of mechanical and animal transport.’

Constructive effects of the war were the start of publication of a newspaper in Swahili – Baraza – and the first Swahili news broadcasts, in both cases emanating from Nairobi. All householders were requested to allow their staff to listen to the broadcasts which came out every Tuesday and Thursday from 5 pm to 5.15 pm. (TS Sept 15).

African participation in the war effort received little attention in the press. But on September 29th the Standard referred to a message sent by King George VI to the Sultan of Zanzibar thanking him for the assurances he had sent of the full support of the Sultanate ‘during the struggle in which the empire is engaged’. And on December 1st the Standard wrote ‘The fighting days of the Chagga tribe have been recalled in Moshi where Chief and people have offered a proportion of their harvest as their contribution to the war effort. It was customary in olden days when the tribe went to war for those remaining at home to contribute foodstuffs. The foodstuffs were to be used for feeding troops of the King’s African Rifles stationed at Moshi’ .

FRUSTRATION AND GLOOM
Reference was made often in the press of the time to the fact that the Allies and Germany seemed to be fighting a war only of words and propaganda.

As early as September 29 a reader’s letter in the Standard said: ‘Many of us with past war experience who feel that we ought to volunteer to serve in a military capacity …. feel justified in taking no step which might mean abandoning our families and being sent off into the blue on some relatively unimportant job while no actual hostilities are in progress in East Africa. If such hostilities should break out there would be no lack of volunteers’.

In a column by ‘Exile’ headed ‘Random Talk of the Day’, the following appeared on September 22. ‘The British take their war news (like their pleasures) sadly. At a time when there is so much to do and so great an example to be set the sight of a number of Britons listening to a radio news bulletin is about one of the worst pieces of propaganda that can be imagined. For studied gloom and pessimist ie resignation there is nothing to beat their expression and attitude. I should think that bar waiters who attend with eyes that miss nothing will be able to spread to the Native population the very worst interpretation of mass gloom.’

THE REALITY OF WAR
The first indication of the kind of news which was going to dominate the media for the next five years came in the Standard on October 29th. ‘Among those lost in the sinking of H. M. S. Royal Oak in Scapa Flow in Scotland was 18 year old Travis Hanch, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Hanch of the PWD, Tanga. He is thought to be the first man from Tanganyika to be lost in the war. A memorial service was held in Tanga Church.’

Then, on November 24th Tanganyikans felt the war again. A British ship, the 700 ton Africa Shell, was sunk by a German cruiser just south of Tanganyika, off the Mozambique coast. The crew managed to reach land and were found by Portuguese officials.

LIGHT RELIEF
Towards the end of the year the Standard was prepared to write about the lighter side of the war.

It described how army manoeuvres in Namanga district had included a full scale ‘invasion’ of Kenya by Tanganyika. The Standard’s correspondent observed however that he was ‘killed’ before the campaign really began as an enemy aeroplane dive-bombed his car. He was impressed most by the skill with which the two KAR armies camouflaged themselves. It was hard to see how the dual purpose of the manoeuvres – to give the well-trained and enthusiastic African troops practice in modern warfare and to obtain practice in the operation and control of mechanical units was being achieved – as he could rarely see them! And, just after the main battle, with Kenyan troops retiring to Kajiado, the correspondent was ‘killed’ again by an enemy scouting aeroplane!

The Standard also found it possible to give considerable prominence on its main page to an important news item. (October 6): ‘There have been many cases of chicken stealing in Dar es Salaam recently. The Police have now arrested an African who is alleged to have been concerned in at least one of the thefts. He was found by an Askari on patrol with seven fowls in his possession. Mr. Henin, who claims that he disturbed someone attempting to steal fowls from his compound, was unable however to identify some of the fowls found in the possession of the accused African’

And, finally, there was the inevitable ‘The day war broke out’ anecdote (November 17): Special constables from Dar es Salaam had been immediately mobilised and sent on duty to various key posts up country. One such key area was the fictitious place called ‘Asante’;

The specials both sat at Asante
Waiting for things to begin
From dawn to sunset, hard at it,
Drinking the D.O’s gin.

The D.O. kept calm in the crisis
He said there was nothing to fear;
His greatest trouble at this time
Was that the specials would finish his beer.

As last light appeared on the sky-line
When the office looked just like a bar
And the booze was very near finished
The specials were called back to Dar.

Editor

This appeared in TA issue 33 May 1989

SETTLER FARMING
Tanganyika Opinion (January 7, 1939) discussed non- native agriculture in the light of the annual report of the Department of Lands and Mines. More land was in the hands of other Europeans than in the hands of British settlers. Germans held some 455,000 acres and Greeks 177,000 but the total non-British European settlement totalled 1,014,000 acres. Indians held 278,000 acres and South African ‘Dutch’ 55,000.

But it was the quality of the farming which was exercising the newspaper. According to the then Director of Agriculture (a Mr. Harrison) settlers had an overweening tendency to speculation, there were too many bad coffee estates, many ill-tended and worthless cotton fields and a waste of valuable labour. There was, he said, “a poverty of knowledge, aptitude and money”.

The indictment of Mr. Harrison, the paper wrote, must be wiped out by the creation of better conditions. “This cannot be done by reading lectures …. it can be done by sympathetic guidance, co-operation and the creation of opportunities for self-training”

TANGA TOWNSHIP AUTHORITY TURNS NAZI
Under this heading Tanganyika Opinion (January 27, 1939) outlined new town planning regulations laid down by the Tanga Township Authority. One condition required that in any new building plans flats must not be occupied by more than one family and the family must consist of not more than six adults or, alternatively, two adults and eight children all of whom must be under the age of ten years. Great indignation was said to prevail in Asian circles in Tanga and the Indian Association had brought the matter to the attention of His Excellency the Governor of Tanganyika. The Governor had indicated however that he could not intervene as the conditions were due to the requirements of hygiene and sanitation.

This appeared in TA 32 (Jan 1989)

Fifty years ago Tanganyikans knew that a major war was threatening Europe. The Tanganyika Herald of 1939 included the following news items.

January 21. The East African Indian Congress passed the following resolution yesterday; ‘This conference is of the opinion that H.M. Government should not bargain with Germany on the fate of Tanganyika; that the future of that territory should be decided on the principle of self-determination by the peoples residing in the territory and that, in the meanwhile, the administration should remain on the basis of British mandate under the League of Nations as at present.’

February 3. In a report from a correspondent in Britain: ‘The activities of the Tanganyika League have been well received here. At any rate most intelligent people here now know where Tanganyika is on the map – which in my experience is quite a new thing. The ordinary man is, I think, opposed to giving the Territory away to Germany. But the Tanganyika League should not relax its activities; rather should it increase and intensify them. Absolute security is far from being won.’

February 25. Quoting from the News Review of London: ‘On orders received from the Chancellery, the Berlin Colonial League has started classifying Germany’s colonial claims. The details are to be included in a report which will form the basis for Germany’s first demand. It will probably be for the return of Tanganyika which is needed for its sisal, cotton, timber, rubber, coffee, ivory, wax, leather and skins. The draft report also states that the number of German farmers in Tanganyika has grown from 400 in 1931 to 4,000 in 1939. All were said to be members of the German Colonial League.’

February 25. At a meeting of the Executive Council of the Joint East African Board in London it was revealed that the Council of German Jewry had stated that it was disinclined to organise Jewish settlement in Tanganyika.

April 1. Under the heading Town Gossip: ‘I have heard it said that Tanganyika is the safest place in East Africa because the Germans will not throw bombs here when they have it in their minds that they would be destroying a country of which they hope to be the owners.’

April 22. It has been decided to carry out an experimental blackout in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday evening when all lights must be switched off between 9.30 and 10.30 p.m. Sirens will sound at nine p.m. An observer will cruise over the town in an aeroplane to report on the experiment.

May 5. The well known Indian advocate, Mr. D. M. Anjaria addressed a meeting of nearly 1,000 people in Dar es Salaam and explained about air raids, bombs, gas, precautions for the safety of buildings and measures already taken by the government.

May 5. With a view to accelerating the raising of the additional company of the Kings African Rifles which was announced on Friday. Certain officers of the KAR Reserve of Officers have volunteered for service pending the arrival of regular staff from England.

May 12. The people of Zanzibar have been warned that in the event of an air raid it will be necessary to evacuate the town. Zanzibar possesses 800 vehicles and all of them will be used under Government supervision. The population should start constructing shelters at Shamba.

May 20. Under the title ‘German Land in Africa’ the first of a series of films is being shown in Germany. In the film German settlers at work in Tanganyika are described as model colonisers and the natives are depicted as awaiting with impatience the return of a German administration. It is remarked that ‘the German has a hard hand but a soft heart – the Englishman a soft hand but a hard heart’.

May 27. Nazi attitudes to Indian settlers in East Africa have been made the object of a special article in the Deutscher Kolonialdienst. It states that Indian settlers are a serious danger to the vital interests of Europeans. They are accused of acquiring properties from Germans after the Great War at a fraction of their true value.

June 3. H.E. the Governor has stated that ‘the conviction is now, I believe, widespread, that whatever may be the terms of any settlement between H.M’s Government and another power, it is not within the bounds of possibility that the handing over of Tanganyika Territory will be included in those terms.’