which they are called upon to preside, the selection being, however, confined to candidates belonging to one or more noble families in which the office of chief is to this extent hereditary. Descent is traced exclusively through the female side ; wherefore a chief is suc- ceeded by one of his brothers, by one of the sons of one or other of his mother's sisters, or by the sons of one of his own sisters, but never by any of his own sons. This causes the position of the queen- mother in a tribe to be one of great prominence, and it not uncom- monly happens that, when a doubt arises as to the rival merits of two or more candidates for a vacant office, the decision as to which shall be nominated for election by the tribe is submitted to her for determination. The omanhene and the various ohene of each tribe exercise criminal and civil jurisdiction within the tribal bound- aries, the extent of such jurisdiction being limited by the orders of the chief commissioner, issued with the approval of the Governor of the Gold Coast. Courts possessing progressively wider powers are presided over by the assistant district commissioners, district com- missioners and provincial commissioners; and until recently all capital cases and civil cases of importance were tried and deter- mined in the court of the chief commissioner. Shortly before 1921, however, a post of judicial commissioner was created, which is held by a qualified barrister, whose duty it is to try all capital and all important civil cases, and to revise the judicial work of the officers of the administrative staff. Lawyers are not permitted to practise in any of the courts of Ashanti, and the chiefs have taken up a very strong resistant attitude whenever their admission has been mooted. They deprecate action which they believe will cause justice to become expensive and which is calculated to promote ruinous litigation among the tribes, especially in connexion with land disputes.
After the conquest in 1900, the internal peace of Ashanti remained undisturbed, and the decade immediately preceding the outbreak of the World War was marked by considerable progress. The administrative staff was greatly increased; a first-class motor road from Kumasi to Ejura, a distance of 61 m., was completed in June 1912; schools were established by Government at Kumasi and Sunyani to supplement the 24 schools which in 1913 were being conducted by the Basle Mission; and the cultivation of cocoa spread from the colony, where it had already made great progress, into Ashanti.
No idea of the true financial position of Ashanti is conveyed by the published statistics, as the Protectorate is not credited with the cus- toms duties on articles designed for consumption within it, which are collected at the ports of entry on the Gold Coast, nor yet with the revenue derived from goods carried on the Sekondi-Kumasi railway. On the other hand, the main expenditure upon the Gold Coast regi- ment of the West Africa frontier force is shown in the accounts as a charge against Ashanti, Kumasi being the headquarters of that corps, though the regiment is no longer even nominally maintained to insure the tranquillity of the local population. In 1913 the total value of the exports from Ashanti amounted to 1,155,378, the items being gold worth 475,089, cocoa worth 400,000, kola nuts worth 126,000, rubber worth 75,209, cattle and sheep worth 45,600 and hides worth 33,480. By the end of 1913 good paths, suitable for bicyclists, had been made and were being maintained by the various tribal organizations throughout the greater part of Ashanti.
In his annual report for 1914, Mr. (afterwards Sir Francis) Fuller was able to record " the unanimous and deep loyalty expressed by all the Ashanti chiefs towards their Sovereign and Government on the outbreak of war "; and so complete was the confidence felt in these sentiments that from Aug. 1914 onward the Government of the Gold Coast was able almost totally to denude Ashanti of troops in order to dispatch expeditionary forces to take part successively inthe Togoland, Cameroon and East African campaigns. Ashanti provided few recruits for these forces, the people disliking the military discipline which is so dissimilar to their own methods of warfare, and the spread of permanent cultivation (cocoa) having attached them to the soil to an extent unknown in former times. Their loyalty, how- ever, remained unabated throughout; and the years of the war were marked by great local development.
By the end of 1918 over 380 m. of roads suitable for motor traffic were available, most of which had been constructed by the tribes themselves under European supervision, and large numbers of lor- ries were at work carrying the cocoa crop to rail-head. The exports in 1919 were valued at 2,433,205 (gold, 421,696; cocoa, 1,425,- 185; kola nuts, 493,680; rubber, 632; cattle and sheep, 70,000; hides and skins, 7,012; snails, 10,000; miscellaneous 5,000). The value of the imports had risen to l ,773,257, the principal items being European merchandise worth 1,201,257, cattle worth 370,000, sheep and goats worth 100,000 and dawadawa and shea butter worth 92,000. The quantity of gold exported had slightly declined, but the export of cocoa had risen from 8,693 tons in 1913 to 32,000
tons in 1919, and the increased imports of live stock are due to the enhanced consumption of meat by the rural population alike in Ashanti and in the colony as a result of the wealth consequent upon the spread of cocoa cultivation. Wild African rubber had ceased to be worked. Large numbers of live stock and snails, which are a local delicacy, were reexported to the Gold Coast.
REFERENCES. D. Kemp, Nine Years on the Gold Coast (1898); C. Hayford, Gold Coast Native Institutions (1903); Frederic H. Gough, The Ordinances of Ashanti, etc., revised edition prepared under the authority of " The Reprint of Statutes Ordinance, 1909 " (1910) ; S. R. B. A. Ahuma, The Gold Coast Nation and National Consciousness (1911); L. P. Bowler, Gold Coast Palaver: Life on the Gold Coast (1911); C. Hayford, Gold Coast Land Tenure and the Forest Bill (1912); H. Waetjen, Zur Geschichte des Tauschhandels an der Gold- kiiste urn der Mitte des i?ten Jahrhunderts (1915) ; Reports, Notes of Cases and Proceedings and Judgments in Appeals, etc., and Refer- ences under Rules, Orders and Ordinances relating to the Gold Coast Colony (1915); C. Martin, Les Possessions britannigues en Afrique Occidentale. III. C6te de 1'Or (Renseignements Coloniales, etc., 1917); T. W. H. Migeod, " Tribal Mixture on the Gold Coast," Jour. African Soc., vol. xix., pp. 109-125 (1920). (H. CL.)
ASHBOURNE, EDWARD GIBSON, 1ST BARON (1837-1913),
Irish lawyer and politician, was born in Dublin Sept. 4 1837,
and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was called to
the Irish bar in 1860, and in 1872 became a Q.C. In 1875 he was
elected for Dublin University as a Conservative, and in 1877
became attorney-general for Ireland in Disraeli's Government.
In 1885 he was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland with a seat in
the Cabinet, and raised to the peerage, holding the same office
in the Conservative Governments of 1886-92 and 1895-1905.
Lord Ashbourne took a prominent part in the early negotiations
for land purchase in Ireland. He died in London May 22 1913,
and was succeeded as 2nd baron by his eldest son, William Gib-
son (b. 1868).
ASHFIELD, ALBERT HENRY STANLEY, 1ST BARON (1874- ), British politician and man of business, was born at
Derby Nov. 8 1874. He spent his early years in the United
States, and was educated at various American technical schools
and colleges. He entered a railway office and had a successful
business career, becoming general manager of the Detroit
United Railways and the Public Service Railways of New Jersey.
In 1910 he returned to England, and took up the position of
managing director of the traffic combine which included the
Underground Electric Railway Co. and the London General
Omnibus Co. In 1914 he was knighted. On the formation of
Mr. Lloyd George's Government in 1916 Sir Albert Stanley
was elected to Parliament for Ashton-under-Lyne, being in-
cluded in the Cabinet as President of the Board of Trade. He
was a notable instance of a minister selected as a " business
man " and not for any of the usual political considerations.
He retained his office until May 1919, when he resigned and
was raised to the peerage.
ASHLEY, SIR WILLIAM JAMES (1860- ), English econo-
mist (see 2.733*), served during the World War on a number of Government committees, especially with regard to food prices
and the cost of living. He was a member of the Consumers'
Council appointed in 1918 to assist the Ministry of Food. In
1913 he had been president of the Economic History section of
the International Historical Congress, and in 1914 he was one
of the authors of the report on Industrial Unrest published by
the Unionist Social Reform Committee. In 1912 he published
The Rise in Prices and Gold and Prices, and in 1914 The Economic Organisation of England. He was knighted in 1917.
ASHWELL, LENA (1872- ), English actress (see 2.734), at the outbreak of the World War organized a Women's Emergency Corps for rendering services of all kinds to the Allied
forces and to refugees, as well as assistance to women at home
thrown out of work by the dislocation of industry. She also
formed a company of actors and musicians and went with them
to France, where they provided excellent and much-appreciated
entertainment to the troops when resting. She was made
O.B.E. on the institution of the Order of the British Empire Aug. 24 1917.
ASIAGO, BATTLE OF, 1916 The Asiago plateau was the
scene of various battles on the Italian front during the World War (see ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS); but what is called preeminently
- These figures indicate the volume and page number of the previous article.
