ABSTRACT
The central Government existed, with its agents, the administrative officers and their technical and professional colleagues. The idea of Indirect Rule had been introduced by Lord Lugard and others, and the Gold Coast Government was trying to adapt the Nigerian model of indirect rule to Gold Coast conditions. The Government’s main attention, however, was given to improving the judicial work of the tribunals; and several ordinances were drafted to amend the N.J.O. in this respect. The Government so far yielded to the protests as to refer the Bill to the Secretary of State. The Watson Commission had thus made one appreciation of the state of local government in the Gold Coast, of the state of public opinion on the subject; the British Government had made a different appreciation. The Coussey Committee’s comments on this point are these: “The Native Authorities, through which local government is at present carried on, are virtually the old state councils vested with modern administrative powers.
