§ 20. Mr. Sorensenasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will recommend to the Governors and Governments of African Colonies the need of revising the character of native courts as far as possible in co-operation with the chiefs and native authorities, with a view to the adaptation of those courts to a more popular modern basis.
Mr. Creech JonesThe African Governments, with my full encouragement, are already working, in accordance with settled policy, to develop native courts into more effective instruments of justice, as regards both their composition and the methods of performing their duties. To this end, full-time and expert judicial or native court advisers have been appointed in most territories and have already succeeded in securing considerable improvements. There is a Native Law Panel in the Colonial Office which keeps general 35W policy with regard to the administration of native customary law and cognate subjects under continuous review.