being the chief magistrate in each emirate. The operations of the Native Administrations are supervised by the British political officers, who also exercise revisory powers over the decisions of the Mahommedan courts. Capital cases are tried by the emir with the assistance ol his Judicial Council, and death-sentences are submitted to the governor and to his Executive Council for confirmation or revision. Every effort is made to support, strengthen and purify the Native Administrations, which continue to be the de facto governments of the Mahommedan areas; and even in the pagan dis- tricts the more primitive tribal organizations are put, as far as cir- cumstances permit, to a similar use. An annual tax based upon the income of the tax-payer, which has the authority of Mahomme- dan law, is in force throughout the Northern Provinces. The work of assessment and collection is carried out by the Native Adminis- trations under the close personal supervision of the political officers. Half the proceeds furnish the funds for the Native Administra- tions, many of which have large balances to their credit. The remainder is paid into the public Treasury, which annually derives from this source revenue of about half a million sterling.
The system of indirect rule through the Native Administrations has been extended with a fair measure of success to the Yoruba States which occupy the western portion of the Southern Provinces, and here a system of direct taxation, similar to that in force in the Northern Provinces, has been introduced since the amalgamation was effected in 1914. Owing to the primitive character of the tribal organizations existing in the remainder of the Southern Provinces, however, action on these lines has not there been found possible, and the administration of the country has accordingly to be con- ducted more directly by the political officers.
History. The outbreak of war, following so closely upon the amalgamation of the Northern with the Southern Provinces, retarded the completion of the scheme, and for a period paralyzed the activities of the Government of Nigeria. The Nigeria Regi- ment, which consists of four battalions, a battery, and two com- panies of mounted infantry, took part successively in the Cam- eroon and E. African campaigns, in both of which it greatly dis- tinguished itself; and at the time of the signing of the Armistice, a brigade was in readiness for immediate service in Palestine. Officers belonging to the civil department were seconded in large numbers for military service; the local financial position during the first two years of the war occasioned acute anxiety; and the impossibility of obtaining material of all descriptions caused progressive deterioration in the railway and in other similar departments. During 1915 all enemy subjects in Nigeria were deported to Great Britain for internment or repatriation, and their properties in Nigeria, after their businesses had been wound up by an official receiver, were sold by auction in London toward the end oflthc following year.
In 1914 the treaty with the Egba United Government, which had its seat at Abeokuta, was abrogated with the consent of the Alake, and the country, which it had administered and which had hitherto enjoyed a quasi independence, was placed upon the same footing as the adjoining Yoruba States. In 1917 a serious rising occurred in Egbaland, in the course of which much property was destroyed and some miles of track on the western railway were torn up by the insurgents. The insurrection was suppressed by the Nigeria Regiment without difficulty; and with this sole exception the peace of Nigeria remained unbroken throughout the whole cf the World War. The Mahommedan emirs, the Alafin of Oyo and all the principal chiefs throughout Nigeria evinced from first to last the most unswerving loyalty, and notable con- tributions to the funds of the Red Cross were made.
Communications. The railway system of Nigeria consists of the western line running from Iddo island in the neighbourhood of Lagos, to Kano, a distance of 705 m. and passing through the impor- tant towns of Abeokuta, Ibadan, Oshogbo, Ilorin, Kaduna and Zaria. From Minna, the point at which the junction between the railways of Northern and Southern Nigeria was originally effected, a branch line in m. in length runs to Baro on the Niger, which river is spanned at Jebba by a fine railway and road bridge which was completed and opened to traffic in 1917. From Zaria a branch line of 2 ft. 6 in. gauge runs 144 m. to Bukuru on the Bauchi plateau, which is the centre of the tinfield. The railway from Port Harcourt to Enugu Ngwo, a distance of 151 m.. was however completed in 1916, thus tapping the colliery at the latter place, which was there- after able to supply all the fuel required for the whole railway sys- tem and for the river and other marine services of the country. The output in 1921 exceeded 800 tons per diem; and the cost of pro- duction until late in 1919 was approximately 8s. per ton at the pit's mouth, but it had increased by 50% in 1921. This eastern railway was in 1921 being extended to the Benue river, the princi-
pal affluent of the Niger, which it will cross at a point a few miles above Abinsi. The railway bridge which is to be here constructed will be the third largest cantilever bridge in the Empire. From the Benue the line will traverse the Nassarawa and Bauchi provinces to a point some 40 m. E. by S. of Bukuru, to which place a branch line is to be constructed, the main line effecting a junction with the western system at Kaduna, the administrative capital of the North- ern Provinces. With the exception of the Bauchi Light Railway from Zaria to Bukuru, the gauge throughout the system is 3 ft. 6 in.
A fine system of motor roads links up the Southern Provinces, and it is now possible to motor from Lagos through the Abeokuta, Oyo, Ondo and Benin provinces to the Niger at Asaba, and from Onitsha, on the left bank of the river, through the Onitsha, Owerri and Calabar provinces to the Cross river at Itu. In the Northern Provinces, Ilorin can be reached by motors from Ibadan, and dry- season roads permit their use from Naraguta, on the Zaria-Bukuru railway, through the Bauchi and Bornu provinces to the shores of Lake Chad; from Maidugari, the capital of Burnu, to Kano; from Kano throughout the province of that name; from Zaria to Sokoto, and thence through Birnin Kebbi and Kontagora to Zungeru on the western railway. The road from Zaria to Sokoto is being per- manently constructed; and a good motor road has recently been built from Zaria to Kaduna.
River services are maintained by means of shallow-draft stern- wheeler steamboats on the Niger as far as Baro, and during the wet season on the Benue as far as Yola, by the Government and by the Niger Company. Messrs. John Holt & Co. also run steamboats on these rivers.
Trade. During the last two years of the war, during 1919 and until the autumn of 1920, a great boom in local trade was experienced in Nigeria, the prices offering for produce of all descriptions attain- ing to unprecedentedly high figures. This was followed by a "slump" of great severity which temporarily paralyzed the commerce of the country and reacted strongly upon the public revenue. The follow- ing table shows the revenue and expenditure and the principal trade statistics for the years 1913 to 1919 inclusive:
Revenue
Expendi- ture
Value of Imports
Value of Exports
Total Val- ue of Trade
1913
1914
1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
3.362,507 3,048,381 2,703,257 2,943,184 3,492,738 4,014,190 4,959.428
2,916,801
3,596,764 3,434,215 3,609,638
3,219,957
3,459,774 4,529.176
6,331,751 6,276,957 4,983,728
5,174,474 5,808,592
7,423,158 10,798,671
7,197,646 6,420,461 4,946,228 6,029,546 8,602,486
9,5H,97i
14,675,789
13,529,397 12,697,418 9,929,956 11,204,020 14,411,078
16,935,129 25,474,460
Figures for 1920 were not yet available in July 1921, but the revenue for that year exceeded 6,800,000, and the value of imports and exports beat all previous records.
As from Feb. I 1919, the importation of " trade " spirits into all the W.A. Colonies and Protectorates was prohibited, causing to Nigeria an annual loss of revenue amounting to about ij millions sterling. Partially to compensate for this, export duties on produce, which had been originally imposed as a temporary war measure, were retained after the Armistice and were substantially increased during 1920. During that year approximately three quarters of a million sterling was derived from this source.
The value of the principal imports in 1913 was: cotton goods 1,529,361; spirits 452,939; tobacco, cigars, cigarettes 230,962; cutlery, hardware, etc. 154,857; fish 134,998; grain and flour 125,192; kola nuts 117,324. The first half of 1914 showed a great expansion of trade, which, however, was checked by the outbreak of war; and the value of the imports for the years 1915, 1916 and 1917 fell far below the pre-war level, the largest falling off being in the value and quantity of spirits imported. A recovery was made in 1918, in which year the value of the imports exceeded that for 1913 by more than a million sterling. In 1919, notwithstanding the fact that the importation of " trade " spirits was prohibited as from Feb. I of that year, the value of the principal imports was as follows: cotton goods 3,262,933; spirits 99,739; tobacco, etc. 631,531; cutlery, hardware, etc. 295,670; fish 17,300; grain and flour 130,693; and kola nuts 236,848. New items of importance among the imports of this year were coppers' stores (917,896); bags and sacks (580,338) ; salt (510,839) ; iron, steel, etc. (405,791) ; machinery (166,680); and kerosene (159,917).
The values of the principal exports for 1913 were: palm kernels 3,109,818; palm oil 1,854,384; tin 568,428; hides and skins 197,214; ground nuts 174,716; cotton lint 159,223; cocoa 157,- 480; and timber 106,050. The corresponding figures for 1919 were : palm kernels 4,947,995; palm oil 4,245,893; tin 1,324,074; hides and skins 1,262,140; ground nuts 698,702; cotton lint 484,745; cocoa 1,067,675; and timber 116,820. These increases are in part due to the inflated prices ruling in the produce markets of the world, but the quantity of palm kernels exported had risen from 175,000 tons in 1913 to 216,913 in 1919; of palm oil from 83,000 to 100,913 tons; ground nuts from 19,000 to 39,334 tons; and cocoa from some 5,000 to 25,711 tons.
