TAXATION OF NATIVES IN NORTHERN NIGERIA. 23 
canoe transport on the Kaduna would disappear, as goods 
would then be conveyed by rail and not by canoe. But I do 
not think that it would be necessary to await the completion 
of the railway in order to abolish this tax. Canoe owners live 
in riparian villages, and the registration of canoes has enabled 
Residents to obtain a full knowledge of the number of canoes 
in each village. As the General Tax is apportioned to the 
wealth and tax-paying capacity of each village, whether that 
wealth is obtained by agriculture or by any other form of 
industry, canoe villages can be assessed in proportion to their 
tax-paying capacity, and the special licence (involving an 
annual registration) can be abolished. The tax is of no very 
great importance from a revenue point of view, and yields only 
from £2,500 to £3,000 a year. I would, therefore, recommend 
its abolition, and the inclusion of the canoe owners in the 
General Tax, or, at any rate, that it should be limited solely 
to canoes carrying merchandise for hire or employed as ferries. 
Other Taxes (mostly obsolete). 
23. There have in the past been one or two minor taxes 
which were imposed only in anticipation of the “Native 
Revenue ” Tax or for other reasons, and have now been with 
drawn, or practically so. It may, perhaps, render this memo 
randum more complete if I briefly review these taxes also. 
(a.) The Hawkers’ Licence.—This was the correlative of the 
Caravan Tax, and was intended to fall upon the stationary 
trader, just as the Caravan Tax fell upon merchandise in 
transit. It was,however, a very difficult tax to enforce, for 
the reasons I have already referred to in speaking of the diffi 
culty of finding a substitute for the Caravan Tax, viz., the 
persons affected were domiciled in the large cities. It was, 
moreover, difficult to make its incidence fair and just, since 
the petty trader in the market, whose whole stock in trade 
was under £1 in value, was equally liable as the large mer 
chant. Its place has been taken by the Urban Assessment 
under the General Tax, except in so far as non-natives are 
concerned. These latter do not pay the General Tax through 
the native chiefs, and are, therefore, dealt with separately under 
the Traders’ Licence Proclamation, which refers primarily (and 
hitherto in practice exclusively) to non-native traders. The 
organisation of this Urban Assessment is as yet quite incom 
plete, and it is one of the matters which needs further thought 
and consideration. I had intended, had I returned to 
Nigeria, to devote my attention to this question, and, possibly, 
a solution of the Caravan Tax would then have presented 
itself. At the present moment, however, the energies of the 
staff are concentrated on the completion of the assessment 
of rural districts, and the completion of the reforms in native 
administration and taxation with which I have dealt in the 
first part of this Memorandum. When that matter has been