It has always been to me a matter of regret that I did not know Lord Lugard at an earlier stage in his great career. My acquaintance with him dated indeed only from 1935, when I first began work on behalf of the ‘African Survey’. I need not say that I then received from him that generous assistance which he was always ready to give to those who were interesting themselves in a field of knowledge in which he had such an unrivalled mastery. Nor need I say that he was equally generous in the counsel and guidance he gave me when I subsequently succeeded him as member of the Permanent Mandates Commission at Geneva. At the first meeting of the Commission which I attended, his former colleagues spoke of him in terms which deeply impressed me. It was obvious that they had a most sincere appreciation of those personal qualities which had won for him so much respect among all students of Colonial affairs and so genuine an affection from a wide circle of friends in this country. But there was more; they had clearly recognized that his name had added distinction and prestige to the position which the Commission occupied in the international world.

It is too soon after the death of Lord Lugard to attempt anything more than to write down some ideas and impressions that come into the mind at the first realization of our loss.

The chief impression upon considering Lord Lugard's public career is the immense range of his life and work. This never ceased to astonish, as some chance remark of his suddenly recalled that nearly seventy years before he had been playing his part in imperial affairs. From the moment when in 1878, at the age of twenty, he left Sandhurst, until a few days before his death, his was an active working life. As the needs of the British Empire changed and his own qualities and ideas developed, he passed through four clear-cut stages of his career, any two of which would have represented the life-work of most public men.

Some months ago, in a paper read before the Royal Society of Arts on the subject of ‘Partnership in Nigeria’, I called attention to the necessity for a closer connexion between native authorities and the central legislature. I went on to say that I did not consider the native authority system to be incompatible with self-government at the centre, and that I saw no reason why native authorities should not become an integral part of a representative government. I have been asked to enlarge upon these views, and am very glad to have this opportunity of doing so, particularly because a practical expression of them has appeared in the proposals for the revision of the constitution of Nigeria which have just been laid before Parliament and which, according to The Times, have received the unanimous and hearty approval of the unofficial members of the Nigerian Legislature.

Dans cette étude nous nous limitons aux problèmes posés pat l'existence des mulâtres et nous éliminons la discussion de l'opportunité du mélange des races, qui est une toute autre question. On peut déplorer ce mélange ou l'apptouver — d'après les circonstances, d'après ses idèes philosophiques ou ses sentiments, ses préjugés, etc. — mais il est une réalité objective dont on doit tenir compte; il pose un problème auquel il faut chercher une solution. Si la solution de tout problème doit, pour être raisonnable, équitable, viable et utile, se baser sur des principes sûrs et sains, cela est doublement nécessaire quand il s'agit d'un problème gravement complexe et d'une portée sociale considérable comme est celui qui nous occupe ici.

Princess Bahashule, daughter of the late King Bunu, was close on thirty and not yet married. No one, however, thought of calling her a saliwakati (unwanted woman). Late marriage was the privilege of her rank and Bunu's eldest daughter Ladluli was also single. This had not prevented them from having lovers; indeed Bahashule already had a child by a commoner. Both Bahashule's own parents were dead, and she lived at Zombodze, the former capital of the Swazi nation. She was on good terms with Sobhuza, the king (her half-brother), and the ruling queen-mothrr (her ‘big mother’) and frequently came to stay with them.