in 1903, 276,681. The number of letters, packets, &c., handled in the postal service in 1903 was 4,097,756.

Ashanti was placed under British protection on August 27, 1896, and a British Resident was appointed to Kumasi. Under orders in Council of September 26, 1901, the country was definitely annexed by Great Britain, the Governor of the Gold Coast being appointed Governor of Ashanti, though the laws and ordinances of the Gold Coast will not apply to the annexed territory. At the same time the Northern Territories lying to the north of the parallel of 8° N. lat., bounded on the west and north by the German possessions and on the east by the French possessions, were also annexed. The Territories are administered under the Governor, by a Commissioner and Commandant with his head-quarters at Gambaga. On the basis of a partial census taken in 1901 the population of the region to the north of Kintampo (variously estimated at from 38,000 to 50,000 square miles) is put at 317,964. The revenue (1903) was chiefly derived from caravan taxes (8,9177.) the total amount being 11,8917., while the expenditure amounted to 51,9417. The grant-in-aid amounted to 23,000l. Good permanent roads are being made and the Volta is now used for traffic by light steamers. A silver currency has been introduced with good results, but for small purchases cowries are still used. The Northern Territories are capable of producing various agricultural crops (cereals, indigo, tobacco), and are said to contain wide auriferous areas.

Chief Commissioner of Ashanti.-Vacant.

Commissioner and Commandant of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast. -Vacant.

LAGOS.

The Lagos Territory as constituted under an Order in Council of July 24, 1901, consists of the Colony proper and the Protectorate. The former comprises Lagos Island and about 140 miles of coast lying between Dahomey and Southern Nigeria; the latter extends northwards over Yoruba to the confines of the French possessions on the Middle Niger within the boundaries defined by Order in Council of December 27, 1899. Governor, Walter Egerton, C.M.G., (3,000%.). There are Executive and Legislative Councils, the latter consisting of 10 meinbers, 5 official and 5 unofficial. For provincial govern. ment steps have been taken to confer legal authority on chiefs and Councils. It is understood that the Lagos territory is about to be administratively united with Southern Nigeria.

The area of the Colony proper is 3,460 square miles; that of the Protectorate is 25,450 square miles. On the total area of 28,910 square miles the estimated population in 1901 was about 1,500,000. The number of resident Europeans being 308. Lagos town and suburbs had 41,847 inhabitants of whom 233 were European. Of the native inhabitants, 10,636 were returned as Christian; 22,080 Mohammedan; and 9,131 Pagan. In 1902 the deaths in the Colony were in the proportion of 46.2 per 1,000 living; of Europeans, about 7 in 100. Of the whole population of the Lagos Territory, 3,479 (or 1 in 500) could read and write; 673 could read English; and 5,058 (1 in 300) could speak English. In the Colony in 1902 there were 34 schools with 4,310 pupils, the average attendance being 3,275. The grants for the year 1902 amounted to 1,4597. The schools mostly belong to missionary societies, Anglican, Wesleyan, and Roman Catholic. The Government Mahometan and Pagan schools had 192 pupils. In many schools industrial training is

The military force consists of 520 men with 17 European officers, and 3 native officers. There is also a semi-military force of native police. In 1902, 1,235 persons were convicted summarily, and 48 in the superior

courts.

The chief agricultural crops are maize, yams, cassava, plantains, earthnuts, and fruits; other products being palm oil and kernals, ivory, gum copal, rubber, cotton, cocoa and coffee. The Lagos savings bank had on December 31, 1903, 1,465 depositors with 20,5561. to their credit. The Bank of British West Africa is established at Lagos.

In 1903, 224,236 letters and 10,993 parcels passed through the post-office. Government telegraph lines to Jebba and Wushishi on the Niger, and 17 miles of telephone line are in operation, and a cable connects with England. The railway from Lagos to Ibadan (124 miles, with a 3ft. 6in. gauge), with a branch (11⁄2 miles) to Abeokuta, has been working since March, 1901. There is a tramway from the sea to the Iddo railway station. Up to June 30, 1903, the capital expenditure on the railway was 882,9617. Routes for other railways have been surveyed, and there is a project to construct a line to the Niger and into Northern Nigeria.

GAMBIA.

Gambia, at the mouth of the river Gambia, formerly formed part of the West African Settlements, but in December 1888 was erected into a separate colony. Governor, Sir G. C. Denton, K. C.M.G. (1,500l., and allowances 6007.). Executive and Legislative Council nominated. Area of colony proper, 69 square miles; population (1901), 13,456, including 198 whites, 7,707 Mohammedans, 5,340 Christians (Protestants and Roman Catholics), 2,209 pagans. The population consisted of 7,383 males and 6,073 females. In the Protectorate (area, 4,500 square miles) the population was returned at 76,948 (36,552 males and 40,396 females). For the Colony and Protectorate the populaion was thus 90, 404. These returns, however, were regarded as incorrect and in 1903 official estimates were made according to which the area of the Colony and Protectorate is 3,061 square miles, and the popula tion 163,718. With exception of the Island of St. Mary (area, 4 square miles; population, 8,807), on which Bathurst, the capital, stands, the whole Colony is administered on the Protectorate system. In June, 1901, an agreement was made with the local chief for the administration of the Fula Dugu district by the British, both banks of the Gambia being now under direct British control up to the Anglo-French boundary.

In the Colony there are 6 government aided schools, with 1,164 pupils enrolled; and an average attendance of 685; Government grant, proportionate to results (1903), 3931. Of the schools, two are Roman Catholic, three Wesleyan, and one Anglican. The Wesleyans have also a secondary school with 24 boys, and a technical school with 21 pupils, which receives a grant of 300l. There is an armed police force of 80 men, and a company of the West African Frontier force of 120 men. In 1903, there were 406 convictions (mostly of minor offences) in the colony and Protectorate. Chief products and exports: ground nuts (45,774 tons in 1903), bees'-wax, rice, millet, sweet potatoes, cotton (about 60 tons in 1903), india-rubber. The trade is mostly with or through the adjoining French colony. Bathurst is connected with St. Vincent (Cape de Verde) and with Sierre Leone by cable, but there are no local telegraphs or railways. There is about a mile of telephone line connecting the Government offices at Bathurst A tramway is in contemplation. The Gambia savings bank has 349 depositors and deposits amounting to 5,3821. The coin in circulation is estimated at

137,0007, Though the legal currency is British, Freuch 5-franc pieces pass freely, about 90,000l. worth being in circulation.

SIERRA LEONE.

Sierra Leone lies between French Guinea on the north and the Republic of Liberia on the south. Governor, Leslie Probyn, C.M.G. (2,5001.); Colonial Secretary, G. B. Haddon-Smith, C.M.G. There are Executive and Legislative Councils, nominated. Sierra Leone proper consists of the peninsula about 26 miles long, and 12 miles broad, with an area of about 300 square miles, terminating in Cape Sierra Leone. The colony of Sierra Leone extends from the Scarcies River on the north, to the border of Liberia in the south, 180 miles. It extends inland to a distance varying from 8 to 20 miles and includes the Yellaboi and other islands towards the north, as well as Sherbro and several smaller islands to the south, but the Los Islands are ceded to France under Convention of 1904. Area about 4,000 square miles; population (census, 1901), 76,655, of whom 444 are whites. Protestants, 40,790; Catholics, 571; Mohammedans, 7,396; the rest pagans. The birth rate (1903) is 19 71 per thousand, and the death-rate 23 12; infant mortality is very high. The Christian schools are all denominational, belonging to 6 missionary societies. In 1902 there were 85 primary schools with 7,039 enrolled pupils and an average attendance of 4,834. Their total expenditure was 2,9311., and their grant-in-aid 1,0767. There were 3 secondary schools for boys with 448 pupils, and 3 for girls with 348 pupils. A technical school begun in 1897 has 14 pupils. Furah Bay College is affiliated to the University of Durham, and is approved as a training school for teachers. In 1903 it had 35 students in residence. Under the Government department of Mohammedan Education, 4 schools, with an average attendance of 440, are at work in Freetown, taught, for the present, by Christian teachers. Mohammedan youths are being trained as teachers. Chief town, Freetown, 34,463 inhabitants-headquarters of H.M.'s forces in West Africa, 800 men of the West India Regiment, and a West African Regiment raised in 1898, besides engineers and artillery. The battalion of the West African Frontier Force contains 523 men; the civil police contains 260 men. Freetown, the greatest seaport in West Africa, is a second-class Imperial coaling station, with an excellent harbour fortified with several batteries of heavy guns. There is a Supreme Court, and police and petty debt courts in each district; in 1903, 54 persons were convicted of indictable offences. At Freetown there is a botanical garden, and at Songotown an experimental farm for instruction of the natives, the distribution of seedlings (eucalyptus, landolphia, &c.), and experimental cultivation of plants (cinnamon, cocoa, fibre plants, and rubber trees). Chief products and exports: palm oil and kernels, ginger. ground nuts, kola nuts, india-rubber. Cottongrowing is extending. There are many native skilled workers in gold and silver. Government savings banks with 57,6167. to the credit of 5,307 depositors in 1903. There are good roads, and much traffic on the many lagoons and canals. A government light railway, a single line of 2ft. 6in. gauge, is open from Freetown to Songotown, and across the Ribbi river to Rotifunk and Bo, beyond which it has been extended 40 miles. The length of line in February 1904 was 186 miles. Capital expenditure, 958,1867. The receipts in 1903 amounted to 36,6207. and the working expenses to 31,9267. Further railway and port works are projected for which a loan of 1,338,000l. has been obtained. In 1903, 519,777 letters were posted in the colony; money order transactions amounted to 46,974l., and 19,156 parcels were forwarded.

There are 136 miles of telegraph line. In 1003, 13,391 inland telegrams were sent. There is a telephone system in Freetown. There are 8 savings bank offices. At the end of 1903 there were 5,307 depositors with 57,6167. (exclusive of interest) to their credit.

The Protectorate extends inland about 180 miles, being bounded by the line demarcated by the Anglo-French and Anglo-Liberian Boundary Commissions. It has an area of about 30,000 square miles, and a population roughly estimated at about 1,000,000. The protectorate was proclaimed August 21, 1896, and the whole territory has been divided into 5 districts each of which is placed under a European commissioner. There are native courts for disputes between natives. Cotton goods, tobacco aud spirits are imported; rice, palm kernels, and kola nuts are exported. The revenue of the Protectorate in 1903 amounted to 43,4477. (38,2801. being from hut tax), and the expenditure to 12,7157.

The following are the statistics of the four colonies :

The Gold Coast received a grant of 100,0007. in 1899, 252,3007. in 1900, 222,7007. in 1901, 19,7487. in 1902, and 23,000l. in 1903, in aid of operations in the Northern Territories, &c.

Leading items of revenue (1903): Customs, Lagos, 257, 1837.; Gold Coast, 369,5757.; Sierra Leone, 126,8117.; Gambia, 41, 6297.

The expenditure of the Gold Coast included in 1900, 243, 4537.; in 1901, 124,3927.; in 1902, 34,7357.; in 1902, 14,6247. on account of military expeditions into the interior.

The outstanding debt of Lagos on March 31, 1904, amounted to 1,248,3297.; of the Gold Coast (1904), to 2,252,9751.; of Sierra Leone, 783,3697.

Each of these four colonies has its own customs tariff. In the Gold Coast Colony, Lagos, and Sierra Leone, the usual rate of import duties is 10 per cent. ad valorem; in the Gambia Colony 5 per cent.. In Gambia, the duties on spirits is 4s. par proof gallon.

£

£

£

£

£

966,595 830,470 737,285 930,745 864,147 1,314,922 1,289,343 1,795, 187 2,120,433 2,082,544

689,806 558,271 548,286 625,935 700,827

240,907 277,659 252,647 303,615 341,063

The chief imports (1903) of Lagos were: cotton goods, 381,9377.; spirits, 69,2787.; tobacco, 24,4237. Gold Coast: cottons, 337,0747.; spirits, 136,1737.; tobacco, 41,1207. Sierra Leone: cottons, 182,9967.; tobacco, 34, 1067.; spirits 24,8947. Gambia cotton goods, 64, 8707.; kola nuts, 32,8207.; rice, 22,5397,; spirits, 4,1407.; tobacco, 6,5017.

£ 909,232 1,337,865 1,146,323

Lagos

£ 915,934

£ 885,112

£

£

885,446 559,733 774,186 980,942 362,471 304,010 403,518 418,631 241,936 281,976 233,667 248,140 334,017

2,605,619 2,415,005 2,006,642 2,763,709 2,879,913

Chief exports (1903) from Lagos: palm kernels, 567,6127.; palm-oil, 218,2477.; rubber, 15,5837. Gold Coast (1903): rubber, 196,500l.; palm-oil, 145,8967.; palm kernels, 105,2727.; gold, 254,9717.; kola nuts, 50,5617. Sierra Leone: palm kernels, 201,3567.; palm oil, 13,5447.; rubber, 8,1921. kola nuts, 60,5177. Gambia: ground nuts, 275,3947.; rubber, 1,5447.

The recorded values and quantities are, in general, those disclosed by invoices and declarations, but spirits are gauged and measured. At Gambia and Gold Coast the cost of freight, insurance, and packages is added to the invoice value of imports, and the cost of packages is added to the declared value of exports. The imports into Gambia.are only those for consumption. The countries of origin and destination are those shown by the shipping documents.

According to the Board of Trade returns, the total imports into the United Kingdom in 2 years from the West African colonies and the exports of British produce and manufactures to these colonies were as follows: