Part 5 — APPENDIX
Reading edition
SIERRA LEONE
EXPENDITURE, LOANS, EXPORT TRADE, RAILWAY
Expenditure 1897-1902. Export Trade 1897-1902.[285]
1897 £112,000 £361,747
1898 121,000 267,156
1899 145,000 307,929
1900 156,000 317,980
1901 173,457[286] 265,433
1902 177,882[287]
RAILWAY
Railway Expenditure 1899-1902. (Included in total expenditure.)
1899 £10,493
1900 23,320
1901 19,642
1902 23,606[288]
LOANS FOR RAILWAY
Amounts advanced to end 1900 £307,539
Loan authorised 631,000
First section, 32 miles, formally opened May 1st, 1899.
Second section, 23¼ miles, “taken over by the open line,” end 1900.
Third section, 80½ miles, in course of construction.
According to the statement forwarded by the Local Traders’ Association of Freetown to Sir A. King-Harman in 1901, the third section of the railway (to Bo) will entail an annual charge on the Colony of £11,000, plus a further sum of £6000 for “increased cost of administering and operating.”
FOR MILITARY PURPOSES
Annual charge of £6000 for eight years from 1899 on account of the sums advanced by the Imperial Treasury for the Hut-tax war.
THE PROTECTORATE
Expenditure 1898-1902. Revenue 1898-1901.
Civil. Military. Total.
1898 £10,455 £20,634 £31,089 £7,754
1899 14,124 25,672 39,796 21,943
1900 17,000 23,499[289] 40,499 33,468
1902[292] 24,807 24,911 49,718
GOLD COAST
EXPENDITURE, LOANS, EXPORT TRADE, RAILWAY
Expenditure 1897-1900 (Inclusive.)[293] Liabilities incurred 1897-1902. (Incomplete.) Export trade 1897-1900. (Inclusive.)[294]
1897 £406,370 1897 £ nil.
1898 377,976 1898 265,000 1897 £857,793
1899 309,656 1899 100,000 1898 992,998
1900 272,303 1900 928,300 1899 1,111,738
1902 1,035,000 1900 885,446
Total £1,366,305 Total £2,328,300 Total £3,847,975
Expenditure, £1,366,305; Liabilities incurred (incomplete), £2,328,300 Export trade, £3,847,975.
The Gold Coast Report for 1901 has not yet been published. According to the statement made this year before the Legislative Council of the Colony by Sir Matthew Nathan, the Imperial Government advanced £400,000 on account of the last Ashanti expedition, but whether this sum includes the £202,300 advanced for the same purpose in 1900 is not clear. Assuming that it does, the liabilities incurred by the Colony from 1897 to 1902 inclusive will amount: (1) Loans by Imperial Government, £1,491,000; (2) Gold Coast Government Loan, £1,035,000; Total, £2,328,300.
The Ashanti Blue Book (1901) estimated the total cost of administrating Ashanti at about £60,000 per annum. According to Sir Matthew Nathan’s statement referred to above, the expenditure in 1902 may be set down at £107,148. Assuming these figures to be correct, the total expenditure in Ashanti from 1897 to 1902 (reckoning an expenditure of £60,000 in 1901) works out at the very large figure of £319,385, entirely exclusive of grants-in-aid (assuming the £202,300 in 1900 to be incorporated in the £400,000 advance), amounting to £695,000. Up to and including 1900, the revenue of Ashanti was £3406. In the Ashanti Blue Book already mentioned, the annual revenue for Ashanti is estimated at £14,600, less 10 per cent. to the Chiefs (i.e. less £1460). Assuming this amount to have been collected in 1901 and 1902, the total revenue for Ashanti from 1897 to 1902 inclusive amounted to £29,686, against an expenditure of £319,385, and grants-in-aid to the amount of £695,000.
These figures should be borne in mind when examining the following tables, which do not go farther than 1900, that is to say, as far as the last issued Colonial Office Report.
EXPENDITURE, GRANTS-IN-AID, AND REVENUE OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORIES AND ASHANTI 1897-1900 inclusive
TOTALS
Expenditure. Grants-in-Aid. Revenue.
Northern Territories £213,338 £195,000 £7,736
Ashanti 175,450[295] 202,300 3,406
DETAILED
NORTHERN TERRITORIES
Expenditure. Grants-in-Aid. Revenue.
1897-98 £121,022 1898 £45,000 1897 Nil.
1899 54,875 1899 100,000 1898 ”
1900 37,441[296] 1900 50,000 1899 ”
1900[297] £7,736
ASHANTI
Expenditure. Ordinary. Expenditure. Extraordinary. Revenue. Grants-in-Aid.
1897 £13,723 1897 £151,614[298] 1897 Nil.
1898 4,304 1898 603 1898 ”
1899 2,608 1899 20 1899 ”
1900 2,578 1900 Not given. 1900 £3,406 1900 £202,300
RAILWAY
Loans from the Imperial Treasury: 1898, £220,000 (Railway Ordinance);[301] 1900, £676,000 (“certain public works, railway construction,” etc.)[302]
Future: Officially expected to reach Obuassi end 1902.
Gold Coast Loan: 1902, £1,035,000, “to defray cost of constructing a railway 169¼ miles from Sekondi to Kumasi.”
LAGOS
EXPENDITURE, LOANS, EXPORT TRADE, RAILWAY
Expenditure, 1891-1902-03 Liabilities Incurred
1891 £66,388 “The amount of the debt of the Colony on 31st March 1901 was £972,902. This debt has been incurred solely for the building of the railway from Lagos to Ibadan, the tramway from Lagos to Iddo, the Abbeokuta branch of the railway, and the bridges from Lagos Island to the mainland. “The Legislature has sanctioned the borrowing of £1,053,700 for these purposes.”[304] It is recognised that the above amount will not be sufficient to defray the entire cost.
1892 86,513
1893 101,251
1894 124,829
1895 144,483
1896 168,444
1897 182,668
1898 203,802
1899 223,289
1900-1901 187,124
1901-1902 231,597[303]
1902-1903 240,718
EXPORT TRADE
(These figures include the export of specie.)
1891 —
1892 —
1893 £836,295
1894 821,682
1895 985,595
1896 975,263
1897 810,975
1898 882,329
1899 915,934
1900-1901 831,257[305]
Owing to the intelligent way in which the Report for 1900-1901 is prepared, it is possible to separate the specie from the total exports for the years 1896-1900, 1901, as given in that Report. The total exports, less specie, for the above-mentioned period were as follows:
EXPORT, LESS SPECIE
1896 £906,393
1897 740,179
1898 821,112
1899 834,358
1900-1901 705,237
There are special reasons to account for the heavy fall in 1900-1901. Nevertheless, a glance at the expenditure and export columns cannot fail to accentuate the fact that the growth in expenditure is incommensurate with the increase in the purchasing power of the Colony. The financial future of Lagos now depends entirely on the railway. When the entire sum authorised has been expended, which will be this year, I believe, and other expenses are added thereto, it is estimated that the railway will have cost about £9000 to £10,000 per mile. In this connection the Dahomey figures should be consulted.
The notes in the expenditure column include, of course, moneys expended on public works. The growth in expenditure and the relation it bears to the producing capacity of the country would, perhaps, appear even more clearly if the expenditure totals were given, minus the expenditure on public works. It has not been possible to satisfactorily separate them in every case; but, as a simple illustration, 1893 and 1900 may be compared.
Ordinary expenditure. Export trade.
1893 £75,207 £836,295
1900 131,742 831,257
It will thus be seen that whereas, within the period given—eight years—ordinary expenditure has nearly doubled, the producing power of the country is found, at the close of the eighth year, to be stationary. It may be argued, and justly, that the area of the Protectorate has been extended since 1893. But the point is, the way these dependencies are managed. Is not the management carried out upon altogether too elaborate and expensive a scale? Does this increase in ordinary expenditure correspond with an increase in the production, that is to say, in the prosperity of the colony and the people of the colony? If it does not, no special knowledge of political economy is required to predict that, if the system be not modified in the future, the steadily increasing expenditure will, before very long, act as a positive deterrent upon the producing power of the country. In fact, there is sufficient evidence to justify the fear that in some instances this stage has already been reached.
COMPARATIVE TABLES OF IMPORT DUTIES IN VOGUE IN LAGOS AND DAHOMEY
Dahomey. Lagos. In favour of
Tobacco (manufactured) 2⅙d. per lb. 8d. per lb. Dahomey.
” (unmanufactured) 2⅙d. ” 4d. ” ”
Gunpowder 2⅙d. ” 6d. ” ”
Trade guns 1s. 7⅕d. each 2s. 6d. each ”
Kerosene 0⅜d. per gallon 2d. per gallon ”
Salt rock 11s. 4½d. per ton 20s. per ton ”
” sea 4s. 10½d. ” 20s. ” ”
Lead ⅑d. per lb. 1d. per lb. ”
Coal Free of duty Pays duty 10% ”
Fresh fruit and seeds ” Pay ” ”
Tools of all kinds (i.e. mechanical, agricultural, etc.) ” [306] Pay ” ”
Furniture ” [307] Pays ” ”
SILKS, VELVETS, COTTONS AND PRINTS
In Dahomey these articles pay duty on their weight; in Lagos the tax is an ad valorem one. How these different duties work out in practice can only be ascertained by giving specific instances. The following examples are taken from actual shipments:
Dahomey. 50 c. per kilo. Lagos. 10 per cent. ad valorem. In favour of
£ s. d. £ s. d.
Silk shipment of £50 value—38 kilos weight 0 15 3 5 0 0 Dahomey.
Velvet shipment of £90 value—384½ kilos 7 13 9 7 0 0 Lagos.
Cottons shipment of £52 value—659 kilos 13 3 7 5 4 0 ”
Prints shipment of £100 value—979 kilos 19 12 0 10 0 0 ”
SPIRITS
Dahomey. Lagos. In favour of
Brandy, rum, &c., 18/20 under proof, equals 46° Tralles, at 1f. 20c. per hectolitre per degree plus 5c. for bottles 2s. 1d. per gallon 3s. per gallon Dahomey.
Gin 0° to 20° Tralles 1s. 9½d. ” ” ”
Gin 20° to 50° ” 2s. 8⅖d. ” ” ”
Gin 57° proof (Sykes) 3s. 1d. ” ” Lagos.
Alcohol:
68 over-proof—96° Tralles 4s. 2¼d. 5s. 0¼d. Dahomey.
60 ” —91° ” 4s. 4s. 9⅗d. ”
THE DAHOMEY RAILWAY
LENGTH—ESTIMATED COST—FINANCE—PRESENT POSITION—GENERAL REMARKS
Kotonu-tcharu (Tchaourou)
Length, 605 kilometres, or 377 miles, in two sections. First section, Kotonu-Acheribe (Atcheribe). Second section, Acheribe-Tcharu.
Length of first section, 186 kilometres, or say 115 miles. Estimated cost of first section, 63,000 francs per kilometre. Estimated total cost of first section, 11,718,000 francs.
In English figures[308]—Total estimated cost of first section, 115 miles long, £468,740, or say £4076 per mile.
It is intended to subsequently carry on this line from Tcharu to Karimama on the Niger.
RESULTS AS FAR AS AT PRESENT KNOWN
Actual work commenced May 1, 1900. In March 1902, 82 kilometres, or say 51 miles, of embankment, earthworks and “ouvrages d’art” complete, were handed over to the Concessionnaire, who is called upon to provide and lay down sleepers and rails, provide rolling-stock, &c. Fifty more kilometres, or say 32 miles, similarly complete, were ready at the date mentioned to be handed over to the Concessionnaire. The Colony, which has itself undertaken the work, has thus prepared in less than two years 132 kilometres, or say 82 miles of line. The chief difficulties met with have been in crossing the swamps between Kotonu and Godomey, the marshy streams of Whydah and the Pahu lagoon, where the earthworks are 26 feet high. To fill up a depression of 16 feet in the centre of the lagoon 40,000 cubic metres of sand and earth were required. A distance of 12 kilometres between Wagbo (Ouagbo) and Taffo required 75,000 cubic metres of embankment. In the crossing of the Lama 2500 workmen were continuously employed for five months in placing 80,000 cubic metres of gravel. All the labour was found in the Colony. The number of natives continuously employed has varied from 3500 to 5000, entirely recruited through the Chiefs. There has been no trouble with the workmen, and no police force has been employed on the works. The export trade of the Colony has not suffered during the process, notwithstanding the withdrawal of so large a quantity of labour from the farms; but, indeed, has increased,[309] a tribute to the wisdom of leaving the recruiting entirely in the hands of the Chiefs.
FINANCE
The Colony undertakes the cutting embankment, earthworks, &c., everything but the laying of the rails, sleepers, the providing of the same, rolling-stock, stations and so forth.
It has undertaken to advance for five years out of its own local resources a sum of one million francs, say £40,000 annually. For 1901 the Colony undertook to provide £60,000, instead of £40,000.
GENERAL REMARKS
The French accurately claim that their railway will carry them much farther inland for a given distance covered than the Lagos railway with the big curve eastward which it takes from Abbeokuta; whereas they are pushing their line almost due north, and at their present rate of progress, in comparison with the time taken over the British line, their iron horse will have penetrated very much farther into the interior than Ilorin, long before the British line creeps up to that place. Upon this premise they base a number of conclusions, the first and foremost of which is that the French line will thus be able to capture the inland traffic which finds its way into the Lagos hinterland from the Niger, along the Nikki road (the French have a “post” at Nikki, which is a great centre for the caravan traffic), and to drain the western portion of Sokoto, to the detriment naturally of Lagos and Northern Nigeria. Well, in Northern Nigeria we do not seem to care much about trade, the military and political policy being more showy, albeit a nice little bill will have to be met presently, for the showy policy cannot be indulged in in West Africa without having to pay the piper some day. But in the case of Lagos it is a different affair, and the French argument is worth looking into. There can be no doubt that if the Concessionnaire of the Dahomey line lays his rails and provides his rolling-stock at the same ratio of speed as the Colony has performed its share of the work, the contention that the French rail-head will in a couple of years be carried deeper into the interior is correct. That the Concessionnaire will do so is, of course, an assumption. He has been engaged in quarrelling with his contractors for a considerable time, but now it appears he is seriously setting to work; at least, that is the information I get from Lagos. It is equally true that the French line, when it has reached its terminus at the 377th mile, will plunge into a network of trade roads, branching eastwards to Lagos and westwards to Togo, and will have an excellent chance of diverting the flow of the internal commerce from both those Colonies. To that extent Lagos will probably be a loser, because the African is very conservative and will cling to his old trade routes rather than abandon them for new ones, and naturally the French railway will benefit him. But the French, perhaps, forget that the Lagos line, as far as Ibadan, at any rate—as far, that is to say, as it goes at present—does not rely upon inland traffic for its existence. It will be fed locally by the increased production which will accrue along its line of march by the conversion of thousands of carriers of produce, into cultivators and reapers of produce. Between Ibadan and Ilorin, it cannot hope to do much anyhow. Beyond Ilorin again, increased local production will feed it, Nupe being a rich and well-populated country. If the British line remains stationary at Ibadan for many years, however, the danger from its French competitor, supposing the latter to follow a progressive construction, would certainly become more acute. Here, again, the question of finance comes in, and the French Colony is decidedly better off. What greater contrast could, indeed, be imagined?—Lagos in debt to the tune of over a million, burdened for all time with an annual drain of £50,000, while Dahomey is not in debt to the extent of one penny, and cheerfully advances £60,000 in one year to the works of construction out of its surplus funds! As for the cost of construction, if the French estimates hold good, or anywhere near it, the French line will be built at about half the cost of its British competitor.
Since the above remarks were written news has been received that 65 kilometres of the railway were opened to traffic in September, and that rail-head is expected to reach Abomey in January next.
FRENCH GUINEA RAILWAY
LENGTH. ESTIMATED COST. FINANCE. PRESENT POSITION
Konakry-Kurussa viâ Timbo
Length, 550 kilometres, or 342 miles.
Highest estimated cost of line, 80,000 francs per kilometre.
Highest estimated total cost, 44,000,000 francs.
First section, Konakry-Kandia, 150 kilometres, or say 92 miles.
In English figures: Total estimated cost of line, 342 miles long, £1,700,000; or say, roughly, about £5140 per mile.
RESULTS UP TO DATE, ACCORDING TO THE REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF FRENCH WEST AFRICA IN JUNE LAST
The earthworks have reached Kandia at the 149th kilometre (say 92nd mile).
With the exception of two places, between the 27th and 44th kilometre, and between the 90th and 107th kilometre, the earthworks and embankment, &c. are finished and in good condition. One steel bridge thirty-three yards long is already fixed up, and two others are in process of being so. The 34 kilometres which remain are being proceeded with rapidly. Seventeen hundred workmen are continuously engaged thereon. Rails and sleepers are being regularly landed at Konakry. The first locomotive has arrived. By October the rolling-stock complete for the first 150 kilometres, say 92 miles, will have arrived in the Colony.
FINANCE
For the first section the Colony borrowed from the “Caisse des Retraites,” on its own guarantee, eight million francs (£320,000), at 4 10% in August 1899; and four million francs (£160,000) at 4% from the “Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations” in March 1901. The first loan is to be paid back in forty annual payments, and the second in twenty-five annual payments, the two annuities together amounting to 430,000 francs, or say £17,200.
These loans will be further supplemented by drafts upon the Colony’s local funds.
WEST AFRICAN MAHOGANY TRADE
IMPORTS OF WEST AFRICAN MAHOGANY INTO EUROPEAN PORTS IN THE YEARS 1898-1901
1898 40,167 tons
1899 48,902 ”
1900 55,959 ”
1901 44,582 ”
DESTINATION OF IMPORTS IN 1901
Liverpool 29,312 tons
London 6,998 ”
Glasgow 278 ”
Germany 4,735 ”
France 3,259 ”
IMPORTS, IN SUPERFICIAL FEET, OF WEST AFRICAN MAHOGANY INTO LIVERPOOL FOR THE PAST 13 YEARS
Sup. ft. 1889 68,000
” 1890 259,000
” 1891 1,600,000
” 1892 3,000,000
” 1893 4,984,000
” 1894 4,700,000
” 1895 3,400,000
” 1896 5,098,000
” 1897 8,134,000
” 1898 10,519,000
” 1899 13,508,000
” 1900 14,034,000
” 1901 11,652,000
IMPORT, CONSUMPTION AND STOCK OF WEST AFRICAN MAHOGANY INTO LIVERPOOL 1898-1901
1898. 1899. 1900. 1901.
Import 10,519,000 ft. 13,508,000 ft. 14,034,000 ft. 11,652,000 ft.
Consumption 10,571,000 ” 13,496,000 ” 13,764,000 ” 11,978,000 ”
Stock 633,000 ” 645,000 ” 915,000 ” 589,000 ”
IMPORTS OF WEST AFRICAN MAHOGANY INTO LIVERPOOL FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 1901 AND 1902 RESPECTIVELY
Logs
January. February. March. April. May. June.
1901. 1902. 1901. 1902. 1901. 1902. 1901. 1902. 1901. 1902. 1901. 1902.
Lagos 1558 799 767 184 386 120 311 42 210 43 72 114
Benin 202 599 62 376 69 — 121 181 56 66 77 —
Sapeli 65 49 44 44 58 — 87 89 36 42 77 —
Other West African Ports 2373 626 505 1130 264 198 604 617 206 502 320 114
THE GOLD COAST MINING INDUSTRY
Having but casually referred to the Gold Coast mining industry, it has been suggested to me that a few remarks might be contributed to the subject in an Appendix. I am somewhat reluctant to write anything on the point, because I know absolutely nothing about mining; and the opinions I have formed, such as they are, are the outcome (1) of conversations with a number of men who are more or less experts, and have formed their views of the prospects of the Gold Coast mining industry from personal investigation on the spot; (2) the perusal of a quantity of reports by Companies which are operating and prospecting ... and by Companies which are doing nothing at all but squander their shareholders’ money; (3) historical research and study of the past performances of the Gold Coast as a gold producer. Beyond that I have no knowledge whatever; nothing but opinions, which perhaps the reader will kindly bear in mind when perusing the following notes.
There is not the slightest doubt that gold exists in considerable quantities in West Africa. The earliest records we have of any trade at all being done on the West Coast of Africa is a trade in gold dust. The external trade of West Africa dates back to the period when the Negroes beheld the Carthaginian galleys bearing down upon their shores. The internal gold trade of West Africa is probably even more remote—but there we enter the domain of conjecture.
There is not the slightest doubt that the Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, and so on, obtained enormous quantities of gold from the Gold Coast.
For many years the gold trade in the Gold Coast has practically been a thing of the past. The gold trade, as a trade, is long since dead.
At the beginning of last century the great gold store—which had been accumulating for ages—of the Coast peoples of the Gold Coast became exhausted. At that period the Ashantis, farther inland, still retained large quantities of gold ostentatiously displayed. James, Bowdich, Dupuis, Hutton, and Hutcheson bear witness to that. With the gradual undermining of the Ashanti Kingdom this store also disappeared.
Coming to more recent times, we find that the geological formation known as “banket” was discovered in 1878 in the Takwa district by a French traveller called Bonnat. That seems to have been the basis of the future modern mining industry in the Gold Coast, replacing the extinct trade.
Many years of disappointment and failure followed Bonnat’s discovery, due in a very large measure to the absence of transport facilities and to mortality. However, some of the mines which had come into existence subsequent to the discovery refused to be discouraged, and went on working, more or less half-heartedly, notably in the Wassau and Takwa districts.
In January 1900 the scene changed, as though by a magician’s wand. The man who waved it was a Mr. Stanley Clay, an engineer reputed of considerable ability, in the employ of the Consolidated Goldfields of South Africa, which Corporation had been approached by the men who owned the Wassau and Takwa mines. This gentleman reported in effect that the banket formation of the district he had been despatched to examine was so like the banket formation of the Rand as to be hardly distinguishable from the latter. Although some years previous to that report the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, Limited—the parent, so to speak, of the Ashanti mines—had come into existence, I believe I am correct in stating that the remarkable “boom” in Gold Coast mining undertakings practically dates from the favourable report above alluded to.
Be that as it may, the last two years have witnessed the extraordinary movement with which every one is familiar. According to “Wallach’s West African Manual” for June 1901, 321 companies had at that time been created, with a total nominal share capital of £25,567,170. “The issued share capital will amount to approximately £15,750,000, if all is fully paid up.”[310]
This is truly colossal. But all is not gold that glitters. The boom, prematurely, and to a large extent, dishonestly engineered, collapsed. Deep distrust has taken the place of sanguine anticipations, and public confidence, greatly shaken, is apt to rush to the opposite extreme. The Gold Coast mining industry has many enemies and many unwise friends. The “boom” was, of course, thoroughly unjustified. The public lost their heads completely. Company after company was formed, a large proportion of which hardly knew where their territory lay, let alone whether it contained any gold. But the public did not care twopence so long as it was a Gold Coast venture, and a great many rascals have done excellently well out of the British investor. Finally, this constant flotation of companies got to be in the nature of a scandal; and the Governor of the Gold Coast, in a courageous speech, which has remained famous, before the local Chamber of Commerce, and for which Sir Matthew Nathan deserves the greatest possible credit, denounced the abuses which the movement was giving rise to. Mr. Chamberlain promptly endorsed the Governor’s views, and caused a public statement to be made which fell like a bombshell on the market-riggers. Flotation of new companies after that was an almost impossible task, and the market received a staggering blow from which it has not yet recovered. There is pretty certain to be renewed activity at some not very distant day. Let us hope that the next time it will rest on something more tangible than fairy tales.
That gold exists in the Gold Coast is demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt. That it can be worked at a profit has yet to be satisfactorily proved, even in the case of the properties which are, or will be, in close proximity to the railway now in course of construction. For the purposes of illustration the Gold Coast may be divided into three portions. First, where gold exists in such quantities—other conditions being favourable—that it is reasonable to believe the mines, if economically and wisely administered, will become dividend-producing. Secondly, where gold exists, but not in sufficient quantities—the conditions of mining in West Africa being what they are—to enable the mines ever to become dividend-paying. Thirdly; where no gold exists at all.
Now when it is borne in mind that options have been acquired by individuals pretty well all over the country, and companies have been formed to work those options, it will be easily understood that shares of a considerable number of existing companies are not worth the paper upon which they are inscribed. In my opinion, if Mr. Wallach’s “321” companies were divided by six, the residue would be an optimistic prophecy as to the number of Gold Coast mining companies existing ten years hence. This number would be amply sufficient to allow of the Gold Coast to become, what I believe it will become, a gold-producing region of very considerable value. Personally, I am as equally convinced that some of the mines will become good dividend-payers, as I am that the majority are rubbish. The two main difficulties which the mining industry in the Gold Coast have to face are climate and transport.
The first is a very real difficulty, and the public would do well to treat with the utmost scepticism reports emanating from directors of Gold Coast companies, especially those whose properties are situate near the coast; who pooh-pooh the danger of the climate. If Major Ross’s indefatigable efforts are backed up by the authorities and the mining companies, we shall see a better state of things before many years are past. But that the climate will always be an adverse element to contend against is positively certain. Those who say the contrary are not dealing honestly with the public.
Many people imagine that transport difficulties will vanish when this crawling single line to Kumasi has been completed. Let those who are inclined to that belief study one of the excellent maps of the Gold Coast mines now available, and see how many of the properties, out of the total of companies floated, approximate sufficiently to the line to feel its usefulness. Before transport difficulties can be said to be overcome, the Gold Coast must be a network of railways. That may come, but the time is not yet by a long, a very long way.
The alleged labour difficulty I have dealt with elsewhere. It is largely fictitious, as the most reputable companies and the most experienced Europeans will bear witness. The boot, the stick; abuse; inadequate pay; dishonest dealing—so long as these incentives to labour exist on the Gold Coast, and they exist to-day, so long will certain people endeavour to make the British public believe that labour is improcurable in West Africa save by measures of coercion, or by Asiatic emigration, or by draining the other West African colonies of their able-bodied men. Decent wages; just treatment; tactful dealing; a high type of representative—the mining companies which supply these have not, and will not have, occasion to complain. The Administration might play a useful part in imitating the French policy of obtaining labour for the Guinea Railway, viz. through the Chiefs, and through them alone, and refuse to allow authorised or unauthorised recruiting agents.
From the point of view of the investing public, those who contemplate putting any money into the Gold Coast mines should carefully weigh the difficulties mentioned against the counterbalancing reasons for optimism in the facts (1) that some undoubted experts, and some men of undoubted integrity and ability who have a reputation to lose, have staked that reputation upon the existence of “paying” gold in the Gold Coast; (2) that a powerful corporation has undertaken a heavy liability in guaranteeing a certain sum for a number of years to the Gold Coast Railway; (3) that a very large sum of money has been sunk in the country for the purpose of mining enterprise; (4) that the past history of the Gold Coast is all in its favour. Finally, the investor should discriminate carefully between the companies and “groups” which are justifying, or honestly seeking to justify, their existence and those that are not.
APPROXIMATE AREA AND POPULATION OF THE BRITISH WEST AFRICAN POSSESSIONS
Gambia. Population, 14,260.
Sierra Leone. Colony, 4000 square miles; population, 136,000.
Protectorate, 30,000 square miles; population, 750,000.
Gold Coast. Gold Coast Proper, 40,000 square miles; population, 1,500,000.
Ashanti proper. Neither area nor population known.
Northern territories, 38,000 square miles[311]; population, 317,964 (C.O. Report, July 1902).
Lagos. Colony, 3460 square miles } Population,[312] 1,500,000.
Protectorate, 25,450 square miles }
Nigeria. 500,000 square miles; population, 25 to 30 millions.[313]
THE RABINEK CASE
(See Chapter xxxii.)
On October 27th, Sir Charles Dilke, having asked the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs if he could say whether, in the Rabinek case, the prisoner was taken by the Congolese authorities from a British ship in British waters, and, if so, what course his Majesty’s Government proposed to adopt, Lord Cranborne, in a printed answer, said: “It is at present uncertain whether Mr. Rabinek was actually on board a British vessel when arrested, or whether the ship was at the time in British waters. Inquiries are, however, being made, and on receipt of definite information his Majesty’s Government will be in a position to consider what action should be taken in the matter.”
Since the above question by Sir Charles Dilke, the doubt as to the actual place of Mr. Rabinek’s arrest has been removed. The Congo State authorities can no longer evade the point. Here is a copy of the Procès-verbal d’arrestation, showing conclusively that Mr. Rabinek was arrested on board a British vessel.
Procès-verbal d’arrestation.
Le soussigné, Saroléa, Louis, Sous-Lieutenant de la Force Publique, commandant la colonne mobile du Tanganyka, stationnée à Mpueto, officier de police judiciaire, a procédé le 15 Mai 1901, à 3 heures de l’après-midi, à l’arrestation du sieur Rabinek en exécution du mandat d’arrêt délivré le 17 Décembre, 1900, à charge du dit Rabinek par le tribunal territorial d’Albertville. Le prénommé se trouvait à bord du steamer anglais “Scotia,” ancré dans le port de Mpueto. Le Sieur Rabinek a été remis à M. Chargois ff du représentant du Comité Spécial du Katanga à Mpueto.
Fait à Mpueto, le 15 Mai 1901.
(L.S.) Lieutenant Commandant la Colonne mobile du Tanganyka.
(Sig.) Saroléa.
The British Government has now a copy of the above.