Connecticut western news., 1920-08-19
OVERFOND OF LAW
Litigation Called Curse of Gold
 Coast Natives.
No Dispute Seems Too Small to Be Taken Into court-ouarreIs Among Petty "chiefs" Provide Fat
 Fees for Native Lawyers.

The Gold Coast, on the west coast of Africa, Is a 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 ad- ministrations are Independent of 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 esti- mates of the colony as a whole, and receive military aid If 1t is required. Of course, they work through the sec retariat, which Is the channel of con- 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 a 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-sizedN Eng fish country village. They fairly turn- ble 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 done1 is the natural query. The answer is that the gold mine they .are tapping is the national chiefs. In this con- nection it must be remembered that, with very few exceptions the word "chief," as here employed may mean little more than the headman of a 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 satis- factorily settled within an hour or two. perhaps. at practically no ex- pense to anybody.
 Not so 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 fly to a native lawyer, or a native lawyer, even more prob ably, flies to them, and the intermin- last three months, or 1t may last three years-the latter if the lawyers think it worth while.
 Counsel are employed at altogether disproportionate fees over the most pettifogging matters, and so 1t 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 oc- cupied over settling a little dispute was a fortnight, and the defending counsel. who lost the case for his eli ent, received as a fee the sum of S6,- 600. Another, a ruling chief who shall be nameless, since he occupies a very important position, has the doubtful pleasure of an overdraft of S4O,OOO at his bank, every penny of which has been frittered away over lawyers.