4

COLONIAL  REPORTS—MISCELLANEOUS.

fief  from  tlie  Emir.  Finally,  the  residuum  which  remained  to
the  Principal  Chief  was  squandered  in  the  maintenance  of  a
large  hareem,  and  in  the  purchase  of  scents,  embroidered  robes,
and  such  articles  of  luxury,  and  no  part  of  the  vast  sums  wrung
from  the  peasantry  was  devoted  to  works  of  utility,  or  to  any
object  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  who  paid  the  taxes.
2.  The  Government  of  Northern  Nigeria  was,  by  the  circumstances ­
  of  the  case,  placed  in  a  difficult  position  in  this  matter.
Prior  to  January,  1903,  no  really  adequate  steps  for  the
amelioration  of  these  abuses  could  be  taken,  for  the  Emirates
of  Sokoto  and  Kano  still  defied  the  Government,  and  the
minor  Emirs  in  the  south  (who.  had  nominally  submitted
to  the  control  of  the  Administration)  waited  sullenly  to  see
which  of  the  two  were  to  be  the  ultimate  rulers  of  the
Protectorate.  They  more  than  doubted  the  ability  of  the
Government  to  conquer  the  Hausa  States  in  the  north,  and
until  this  was  proved,  even  those  who  were  inclined  to
accept  British  rule  dared  not  too  openly  declare  themselves.
Meanwhile  their  power  over  their  subjects  was  gone,  their
prestige  had  been  broken,  and  their  armies  no  longer  existed
for  the  enforcement  of  their  arbitrary  demands.  The  peasantry
refused  to  pay  their  taxes,  and  every  month  which  passed
was  injurious  to  the  utimate  settlement  of  the  country,  in
that  it  appeared  to  prove  to  the  peasantry  that  no  power  now
existed  which  could  maintain  order,  and  enforce  just  and  recognised ­
  obligations  and  taxes.  The  inclusion  of  the  Northern
Hausa  'States  under  British  control  became,  therefore,  a  most
imperative  necessity,  for  if  it  were  deferred  the  remainder  of
the  country  would  have  lapsed  into  a  state  of  defiance  of  all
recognised  authority,  from  which  its  reclamation  would  have
been  a  task  of  very  great  difficulty.  In  1902  Bornu  and  Yola
were  brought  under  control,  and  early  in  1903  Sokoto,  Kano,  and
Zaria  submitted.  At  the  end  of  1903  (on  my  return  from  leave)
a  scheme  was  tentatively  begun,  and  the  revenue  realised  in
the  financial  year  1903-04  was  £8,255.  In  June,  1904,  the
first  Land  Revenue  Proclamation  gave  legal  effect  to  a  system
under  which  the  Government  would  share  in  the  taxes,  and  this
was  superseded  early  in  1900  by  a  more  elaborate  proclamation,
under  the  title  of  the  “  Native  Revenue  Proclamation,”  and
based  upon  fuller  knowledge  of  the  conditions.  In  my  covering
despatch  to  the  Secretary  of  State  I  thus  described  the  object  of
the  new  ordinance  :—  “The  essential  difference  between  this
proclamation  and  the  one  it  supersedes,  is  that  the  former  proclamation ­
  was  limited  to  land  and  produce  (including  livestock),
whereas  this  includes  all  forms  of  taxation  known  to  the
country,  and  makes  any  taxation  not  authorised  by  it  illegal
and  punishable.  While  the  former  proclamation  was  only  a
tentative  one,  with  the  object  of  securing  to  the  revenue  a
certain  proportion  of  the  taxes  on  land  and  produce  levied  by
the  native  chiefs,  and  did  not  in  any  way  touch  the  nature  of