Note 176 — Chapter VIII

According to the ‘Iwe Irohin’ (Appendix, Oct. 1862), ‘the chiefs of Abeokuta are beginning to feel the evils which are being inflicted on the town by rum-selling.’ The obvious means of discouraging the importation would be to impose a duty of 5 per cent., gradually and by very slow degrees, raised to 50, and even to cent. per cent. on ardent spirits, and with great prudence to make the imposts on gunpowder so heavy as to be almost prohibitory. To effect such innovation, however, we must be free from the presence of rivals; upon the Gold Coast, for instance, and at Lagos, under present circumstances, hasty steps would lead to ruinous consequences.