TAXATION OF NATIVES IN NORTHERN NIGERIA. 
19 
of Government (State officials, &c.), to support, and who, there 
fore, receive as a net income 50 per cent, and upwards of the 
total share assigned to the native administration. Minor 
independent chiefs, who have no large native administration to 
support, and who, therefore, receive not more than 25 per cent, 
of the native share, are classed as district headmen. In the 
column of Table A., headed “ Office-holders,” only those are 
included who are recognised by Government as performing 
duties for the native administration at the capital (e.g., Waziri 
Alkali, &c.). " Administrative Divisions ” are sections of a 
province placed under the charge of an Assistant Resident, and 
may include all or a portion of an emirate, and one or many 
“districts.” “TJnits of taxation” represent communities who 
pay through a single individual, but exclude unsettled districts 
not so grouped. Thus, the whole Emirate of Kano is only a 
single unit paying through the Emir, but minor independent 
chiefs, though ranking only as district heads, are independent 
units. In unsettled districts the tax is generally collected 
direct by the staff, and since there may be scores of villages 
paying separately (and, therefore, properly speaking, separate 
units), these are excluded in the list of “ units.” 
CARAVAN TOLLS. 
19. Apart from the taxes with which I have dealt hitherto, 
there is only one ancient tax which, from its importance and 
distinct character, has been dealt with by a separate Ordinance. 
Under the old native régime there existed an elaborate series 
of imposts upon trade in transit, which was distinct from the 
taxes upon traders resident in a town. The insecurity of the 
roads compelled traders who desired to convey merchandise 
from north to south or east to west from great distances to 
travel together in large numbers for mutual protection, and 
exposed them to great risks and losses. These traders were 
exorbitantly taxed, partly by a series of tolls collected at toll 
stations, and at ferry crossings, partly by a system of octroi or 
imposts levied at the gates of the walled cities, and partly by 
a system of enforced presents to the ruling chiefs whose terri 
tory they passed through. Even more vexatious than these 
demands was the enforced delay at each large city, for a cara 
van could not move on until it obtained permission of the chief, 
and this permission, in spite of repeated presents, was often 
delayed for months. Owing to the great abuse of this tax by 
the native administration, the first act of the Government was 
to sweep away the whole of this system—tolls, octrois, and 
presents alike—to secure the safety of the caravan routes, and 
to improve the roads, and bridge the streams. The jungle 
tracks followed for centuries by these caravans have now, for 
hundreds or even thousands of miles in every direction through 
26472 B 2