TAXATION Oí' NATIVES IN NORTHERN NIGERIA. 21 
furtherance of such a policy I would not be deterred by any 
initial loss of revenue. The tolls have yielded from a third to 
a half of the annual revenue, and it would, of course, be diffi 
cult to replace this sum (¿£40,500 last year), but even so great 
a loss might be preferable to a system radically unsound. But 
the greatest difficulty in abolishing them is a purely administra 
tive and technical one, which British merchants in Engand 
have no means of knowing. It is this : The traders are the 
wealthiest portion of the community, and their profits are 
said to be very large. They have reaped the greatest benefits 
from the introduction of peace and security, and the improve 
ment of roads, and they are able to pay cash, wnicfi can be 
credited to revenue without the difficulties inherent in payment 
in kind. So keen is the trading instinct among the Hausas, 
that already, as I have said, there is an undue tendency to 
desert the paths of productive industry and to go to and fro 
through the country carrying goods on their heads for the 
pleasure of making a profit by barter. The problem is, how 
can this class be taxed otherwise than by tolls ? And, so far, 
I have been unable to find a solution. They are a class of 
varying domicile ; often living a considerable time in one 
town and then in another. Many only casually engage in 
trade, and at other times are agriculturists, &c. At best, they 
are dwellers in the big cities, and in the present stage of 
development of the taxation question in Nigeria, the taxation 
of the great cities offers the most difficult problem of all. 
Even were this to some degree solved, how is an assessment 
of their tax-paying capacity to be arrived at? The methods 
familiar to those who live in civilised countries are altogether 
inapplicable here. Reference to Residents produces the 
unanimous reply that the thing is impossible. Such a scheme 
(they say) would be productive of the greatest difficulty and 
friction, and would involve much waste of energy, and when 
done would not produce one-tenth or, perhaps, one-twentieth 
of the sum realised by tolls. As it is agreed by the traders 
themselves that they are not over-taxed (and the Emirs say 
they are very lightly taxed), this would mean that the class 
best able to pay were, in fact, only paying one-tenth or one- 
twentieth of their proper share. I should not despair of find 
ing a solution before long, but until it is found the traders 
should continue to pay as at present. 
21. I have pointed out, in my observations upon these tolls 
in my Annual Reports, that to some extent they operate as a 
preference to imports, since the bulk of the caravan trade 
consists of local produce which competes with imported goods, 
and that while the latter is subject to an ad valorem duty of 
10 per cent, at the coast, the former, except for these tolls, 
would be untaxed. It might, perhaps, be urged in reply, that 
an exemption should then be made in favour of all imported 
goods which, having paid Customs, should be liable to no 
tolls. If this were done, however, the receipts would decrease,