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EUROPE AND AFRICA
organize an efficient administration which should embrace
the entire region.! The company had kept very largely to
the chief waterways, and the territory, now taken under
direct control by the British authorities, extended from Idah
to Boussa on the Niger and from Idah to Lau on the Benué.
It was divided into nine provinces, over each of which was
placed a British officer, known as a “Resident.” Some of
these provinces were as large as Scotland, and the difficulties
of administration were enormous. The Resident, who had
only one or two English and several native assistants, was
expected to preserve law and order; hear all complaints and
investigate all crimes; to superintend the police, transporta-
tion, sanitation, and the erection of all public buildings; to
administer the provincial accounts and revenue; to get off the
daily mail, including reports on native statistics, languages,
and customs; to map and become familiar with the condi-
tions and resources of his province; and to encourage trade
and agriculture.
The whole staff for northern Nigeria at first consisted of
but eighty-five men, including secretaries, treasurers, doc-
tors, and marines, of whom only fifty-seven were on duty at
any one time, owing to the established rule that a year’s
service in West Africa be followed by a six months’ leave,
on account of the climate and unfavorable local conditions.
By utilizing the local chiefs and natives, it proved possible
to administer a province with from ten to seventeen men,
where ordinarily three hundred would have been necessary.
Proclamations were speedily issued by the High Commis-
sioner, with the approval of the Crown, forbidding foreign-
ers to acquire land from natives without the consent of the
1For the pacification and organization of Northern Nigeria, see the
Annual Colonial Reports: Northern Nigeria, 1900 to 1909, 1910 to 1911,
and Captain C. W. J. Orr, The Making of Northern Nigeria, 1911: an
excellent account bv an officer in the political service.
