€6 AFRICAN 'POLITICAL SYSTEMS
Administration also live and work in the Reserve. Its total European population, comprising not only Government officials, but the London Missionary Society staff, traders, railway em* ployees, and others, was 376 in 1936, men, women, and children included.
The general policy of the Administration, in dealing with the Natives, has been 'to preserve the tribal authority of the chiefs and the laws and customs of the people, subject to the due exercise of the power and jurisdiction of the Crown, and subject to the requirements of peace, order, and good government'. It early took away from the chiefs the right to make war or enter into independent political agreements, removed cases of murder and culpable homicide, as well as all cases involving Europeans, to the jurisdiction of the European courts, allowed appeals from the verdicts of the chiefs in very serious cases, defined the boundaries of the tribal territories, and imposed a regular annual tax upon all adult male Natives. But for many years thereafter the manner in which the chief administered the tribe was not a matter of Government concern, except when it led to open trouble, and in most cases the tendency was to support him as far as possible in his dealings with his people. More recently, however, the chief's judicial powers were further curtailed. In 1919 provision was made for hearing appeals from his verdicts in any type of case, civil or criminal, by the establishment of a combined court presided over jointly by him and by the local District Commissioner. In 1926 divorce proceedings between Natives married according to European civil law were also brought under the jurisdiction of the District Commissioner's Court, and in 1927 the trial of alleged sorcerers was removed from the tribal courts when the imputation or practice of 'witchcraft' was made a statutory offence. These encroachments did not pass unchallenged. Tshekedi, who became Regent in 1926 for his fraternal nephew Seretse (son of Kgama's son, Sekgoma II), joined the chiefs of several other tribes in protesting against them, but they were nevertheless made law.
Finally, in 1934, the powers of the chief were for the first time clearly defined, and the status and powers of the tribal courts regularized. The Native Administration Proclamation (No. 74 of 1934) specifies the rights, powers, and duties of the chief and other tribal authorities, makes succession to and tenure of the chieftainship subject to the approval of the Administration, which