The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1920-07-26
COLO COAST NATIVES ARE
0V[RF0ND OF THE LAW
No Dispute Seems Too Small To
Be Taken Into Court Qnarreis
Among Petty Chiefs
Provide Fat Fees


The Gold Coast. On the west coast
az Africa, Is 8 paradise Of lawyers.
say Ethel and Olar ietheridce. sg,e-
cial correspondents @. The London
Daily Teegraph. They write:
A point which must he made IN
connection both with Ashanti sud the
northern territories is thNt these ad-
mintsrrations are indepe7dea, az the
Gold Coast proper. except In SO far
as they acknowledge a common gov.
ernor who resides at Accra. They are
also included In the financial esil-
mates OF the colony SIS q whole. snd
receive military aid II IL Is required.
OF course, they work through the Scc-
resarlat, which is the channel of COM
mUnicatioa "a the governor. Beyond
this Hey are free. They haV, their
own courts, their own police, their
own methods of administering justice
and their own internal legislation.
Now. ihls may seem small matter,
hut- In an truth, IL j. pregnant with
importance for the fafure az this cob
ony The matter in a nutshell Is ,hp
simple fact that the courts Of Ashanti
and the northern territories viii not
permit the employment ~ native az
European barTtSters under anv cir
cumstances
They prefer. and quite rightly So,
20 deal with the native population,
be they chiefs or laborerS.
Now the curse Of the Gold Coast
Is litigation. whstever naAy he said
about the total population az the cob
ony. there are enough LAWYERS In the
three towns u Sekondl. Cape Coast
and Accra to make 8 go0d-siaed Eng. 1
lssh country village They fairly tum-
bic over one another Yet they are an 4
prosperous, they an have their motors
and send their daughters Ia places 4
like Cheltenham 10 be elncatea. 4
How On earth can II be donet Is
the natural query. Tie snswer IS
that the gold mine they are tapping
Is the national chiefs In this con-
Dectlon il must De remembered that.
with very few exceptions the uord
"chlet." as here enploFea may mean
little more than The headraan ii $
village. ForeVee are these petty 0es-
pots quarreliag over land questions
The deliml,ations az their boundaries,
and SO form.
In Ashanti questions Of this nature
can bs pleasantly swiftly and salts
factorily settled within an hour or
two, perhaps. st practically ne ex-
pense 10 anybody. g.
NOT 50 upon the Gold Coast. The
"cocoa standard" has set the pace.
All these little people have money,
and as soon as they covet their neigh
bors' land they fiy TO q native lawyer.
or n Dative lawyer, even more prob
ably. flies TO then. and The interIuin-
able game cf litigation starts. It may
LAST three months. or il may last three
rears-the latter II the lawyers think
Il worth while.
Counsel are employed Al altogether
alsproportionafe fees over the nos,
matters, and SO 1t goes
an until the rival claimants shake
hands over having AT least one thing
In common--ther are in bankruptcy.
This is no exaggeration.
In one case st AdlSh. the tire oc-
-upied over settling & little dispute
was q fortnight and the defending
,ounsel. who lost the case FOR his eli
snt- received as q fee the sum Of Sc.
400. Another, q ruling chief who shall !
Ne nAmelesS since he occupies d very !
position, has the doubtful )
pleasure Of an over6raft Of $4,000
Il his hank. every penny Of which has
,een frllered away over lawyers