Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1920-07-31
OVERLOAD OF LAW
Litigation Called Curse Of Gold
Coast Natives.
No Dispute Seems Too Small to Be
Taken Into Court-Quarrels Among
Petty "Chiefs" Provide Fat
Fees for Native Lawyers.

The Gold Coast, on the west coast
OF Africa, is paradise of lawyers,
say Ethel and Olar Letheridge, spe-
cial correspondents of the London
Daily Telegraph. They write:
A point which must be made in
connection both with Ashanti and the
northern territories is that these adj
ministrations are Independent of the
Gold Coast proper. except in so far
as they acknowledge common gov
ernor who resides at Accra. They are
also included In the financial esti-
mates of the colony as whole. and
receive military aid If 1t is required.
OF course. they work through the sec
retariat, which is the channel of COM
munication to the governor. Beyond
this they are free. They have their
own courts their own police, their
own methods of administering justice
and their own internal legislation.
Now. this may seem small matter,
but, In all truth, 1t is pregnant with
Importance for the future of this col
ony. The matter In nutshell is the
simple fact that the courts of Ashanti
and the northern territories will not
permit the employment of native or
European barristers under any cir
cumstances.
They prefer. and quite rightly so,
to deal with the native population.
be they chiefs or laborers.
Now the curse of the Gold Coast
is litigation. Whatever may be said
about the total population of the col
ony, there are enough lawyers In the
three towns of Sekondi, Cape Coast
and Accra to make a good-sized Eng
fish country village. They fairly tum-
BILE over one another. Yet they are all
prosperous, they all have their motors
and send their daughters to places
like Cheltenham to be educated.
How on earth can it be done? is
the natural query. The answer is
that the gold mine they are tapping
is the national chiefs. In this con-
nection 1t must be remembered that.
with very few exceptions the word
''chief," as here employed may mean
little more than the headman of
village. Forever are these petty des-
pots quarreling over land questions,
the delimitations of their boundaries.
and so forth.
In Ashanti questions of this nature
can be pleasantly swiftly and salts
factOrily settled within an hour or
two. perhaps, at practically no ex-
pense to anybody.
Not 50 upon the Gold Coast. The
cocoa standard" has set the pace.
All those little people have money.
and as soon as they covet their neigh
bors' land they fly to native lawyer,
or a native lawyer, even more prob
ably, flies to them. and the intermin-
able game Of litigation starts. 1t may
last three months, or it may last three
years-the latter if the lawyers think
1t worth while.
Counsel are employed at altogether
disprOpOrtiOnate fees over the most
pettifOgging matters, and so it goes
on until the rival claimants shake
hands over having at least one thing
in cOmmOn-they are in bankruptcy.
This is no exaggeration.
In one case at Addah, the time &C.
cupied over settling little dispute
was fortnight, and the defending
counsel, who lost the case for his eli
ent, received as a fee the sum Of &c.
600. Another, ruling chief who shall
be nameless, since he occupies very
important position. has the doubtful
pleasure Of an overdraft of $4,000
at his bank, every penny of which has
been frittered away over lawyers.