TAXATION OF NATIVES IN NORTHERN NIGERIA. 25 
! ! 
on all manufacturers and sellers of native liquor, in or close 
to a Government Station,—not for purposes of revenue, but as 
a check on the sale to soldiers and other Government employés, 
a sale which results in an increase of crime. Entire prohibi 
tion is hardly feasible, but the licensing of liquor shops in or 
near a Government Station enables considerable control to be 
exercised. 
25. (c.) Under the Wild Animals Preservation Proclamation, 
licences to kill game have to be taken out whether by natives 
or non-natives. It has been found almost impossible to en 
force these, and I think that the province of Illorin is almost 
the only one in which they have been to any appreciable extent 
enforced. The licences are not primarily imposed for the sake 
of revenue, but in order to preserve the wild Fauna of the 
country. The initiative in this matter did not arise from the 
local Government, which enacted the law in consequence of 
the obligations enforced by an International Convention. I 
have recently studied this matter very carefully and have 
submitted a revised Proclamation for the approval of His 
Majesty, under which I hope that the objects in view will be 
more effectually attained, while the legislation will fall less 
heavily upon the native hunters, and its enforcement will be 
brought within the limits of practical administration. There 
is no occasion in this Memorandum to enter into details upon 
this question. 
26. (d.) Duties of Customs are enforced upon the frontiers of 
the Protectorate upon dutiable imports in accordance with 
the Customs Proclamation, which is identical with that of 
Southern Nigeria and Lagos. They call for no special obser 
vations, but must be included in the taxes which fall upon 
natives. Goods—other than salt—which are imported from 
Southern Nigeria and Lagos are exempt from Customs. 
27. (e.) Capitation Fees.—This memorandum is confined to 
taxes upon natives, and I do not therefore allude to traders’ 
licences and to licences to import and to sell arms and 
liquor (other than trade liquor to natives which is wholly 
prohibited) or to mining prospecting licences, &c., which fall 
exclusively upon non-natives. There is one tax, however, 
which has recently been partially withdrawn upon which it 
may be useful to add a word. “ Capitation fees ” were imposed 
upon employers of labour if that labour was to be employed 
under a “ foreign ” or an “ extra-local ” contract, viz., if it 
was to be exported out of the Protectorate or employed at 
distances oï over 100 miles from the place of engagement. 
The fees for foreign contracts have served an extremely 
useful purpose, and prevented the denudation of the labour 
supply at Lokoja which was urgently required there. They 
remain as before. The institution of the “ extra-local con 
tract” fees was not for the purpose of raising revenue.