it is more difficult to secure reasonable discussion and study than the
subject of drink; none upon which it is more easy to generalize, or which
lends itself more readily to prejudice and misunderstanding of the real
points at issue. That moral reformers in England and elsewhere should
feel strongly about drink is natural enough. A considerable proportion of
the population of this country, of France, Germany, Belgium, and other
European States live wretched and unhealthy lives. They are over-worked,
under-fed, herded in insanitary tenements with insufficient space,
ventilation, and light, under conditions which preclude decency and
breed moral and physical diseases. Their horizon is one dead, uniform,
appalling greyness from birth to death. Who can feel surprise that
people thus situated should seek momentary forgetfulness in drink? The
drink problem in Europe is not a cause but an effect. The cause lies
deep down in the failure-side of our civilization, and statesmen worthy
of the name are grappling with it everywhere. Those of us who think
we see beyond an effect, are striving to prevent the reproduction in
tropical Africa of this failure-side of our civilization. We are striving
to maintain the economic independence of the West African; to ensure
him a permanency of free access to his land; to preserve his healthy,
open-air life of agriculturist and trader, his national institutions,
his racial characteristics and his freedom. We are endeavouring to show
him to the people of Europe, not as they have been taught by long years
of unconscious misrepresentation to regard him, but as he really is. We
feel that if we can protect the West African from the profounder economic
and social perils which encompass him on every side; from the restless
individualism of Europe; from unfair economic pressure threatening his
free and gradual development on his own lines; from the disintegrating
social effects of well-meaning but often wrongly informed and misdirected
philanthropic effort; from political injustice—that if we are able to
accomplish this even in small measure, the question of drink, while
requiring attention, becomes one of secondary importance. The West
African has always been a moderate drinker. From time immemorial he
has drunk fermented liquors made from various kinds of corn, and from
different kinds of palm trees. It is not a teetotal race, as the North
American race was. It is a strong, virile race, very prolific.
Unfortunately this question of drink has been given a place in the
public mind as regards Southern Nigeria altogether disproportionate to
the position it does, and should, hold. It has been erected for many
sincere, good people into a sort of fetish, obscuring all the deeper
issues arising from the impact upon the West African of civilization at
a time when civilization has never been so feverishly active, so potent
to originate vast changes in a few short years. The temperance reformer
in England strikes, often blindly, at “drink” anywhere and everywhere
on the same principle, utterly oblivious to physiological and climatic
differences; he cannot see beyond or behind the subject which specially
interests him and which has become his creed. The use of intoxicants of
some kind is common to humanity all over the world. It responds to a
need of the human body. Christ Himself did not condemn its use, since
He Himself, the Sacred Writings tell us, changed water into wine at a
marriage feast. Excessive indulgence in liquor, like indulgence in any
other form of human appetite, is a human failing. It is not the drink
which is an evil, but the abuse of it. The abuse of liquor nine times
out of ten is the outcome of social discomfort and unhappiness, a way
of escape, like a narcotic, from the pangs of conscience, or of misery.
People who concentrate merely upon effects are unsound guides when
constructive measures are required. The temperance reformer in England
approaches the question of drink in West Africa from the subjective point
of view which characterizes the home outlook upon most questions lying
outside the home latitudes. Saturated with his home experience, the
English temperance reformer places the West African in the same economic
and social setting as the European and argues on parallel lines. To that
mode of reasoning, three-fourths of the evils which civilization has
inflicted upon coloured races may be traced. Nothing is more curious or
more saddening to observe than the unfailing success of such methods
of thought translated into public action, in their effect upon home
sentiment. Consumption sweeping through the ranks of a coloured people
as the consequence of the educationary and religious processes of
Europeanism may make a holocaust of human victims. The public remains
indifferent. European marriage laws; European ethics, or nominal ethics,
in the matter of sex relationship; the European individualistic social
system grafted upon the communal life of a coloured people—these things
may produce widespread human misery and immorality. The public is cold
and unconcerned. European interference and innovation in social customs
and usages essential to the well being, to the political and racial
needs of a coloured people in one stage of development, but repugnant
to European twentieth-century notions, may cause social disturbance and
widespread anarchy which those who are responsible for such interference
can never themselves witness, let alone suffer from. It is virtually
impossible to arouse popular interest. For these and kindred disasters
are very largely brought about by the uninstructed zeal of God-fearing,
Christian men and women in Europe who judge other countries by their
own, other peoples by their own people, other needs by their own needs,
with the best of intentions and with the purest of motives; and outside
a small band of students, ethnologists and experienced officials, the
public mind is scandalized and even incensed if any one ventures to doubt
the excellent results necessarily flowing from disinterested action. It
is disinterested: therefore it must be right. That is the popular belief
and the general fallacy.
Poor Mary Kingsley, who knew her West Africa as few have ever known it
and who had the true scientific mind, fought hard against this ingrained
characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon temperament. But she fought in vain.
Despite her charity, the geniality and the humour in which she clothed
her truths, she had against her the whole weight of what is called the
philanthropic school of home opinion, responsible for so much good and
yet for so much unconscious harm.
“The stay at home statesman,” she once said, “think that
Africans are all awful savages or silly children—people who
can only be dealt with on a reformatory, penitentiary line.
This view, you know, is not mine ... but it is the view of the
statesmen and the general public and the mission public in
African affairs.”
And again:—
“The African you have got in your mind up here, that you are
legislating for and spending millions in trying to improve,
doesn’t exist; your African is a fancy African.... You keep
your fancy African and I wish you joy of him, but I grieve more
than I can say for the real African that does exist and suffers
for all the mistakes you make in dealing with him through a
dream thing, the fiend-child African of your imagination. Above
all, I grieve for the true negro people whose home is in the
West Coast....”
No, you cannot excite public interest in these matters. But mention the
liquor trade, describe the Nigerian as an infant in brain, incapable of
self-control, down whose throat wicked merchants are forcibly pouring
body and soul destroying drink which a wicked Administration taxes in
order to raise revenue. Public sentiment responds with alacrity. It
becomes at once a popular cry, and the most inconceivable distortions
of native character and native life pass muster. Oppose that view and
it will be a miracle if you emerge with any shred of reputation you may
once have possessed. Stones from episcopal catapults will whistle round
your ears. Scribes, utterly ignorant of the country whose inhabitants
they portray in an absurdly false light, and who make their living by
going shuddering around in professional temperance circles, will hint
darkly that somewhere in the dim back of beyond your attitude is dictated
by personal interest. A certain type of missionary will denounce you
from the housetops, ransack the Bible for quotations to describe the
extent of your fall from grace, and end up by praying the Almighty for
the salvation of your soul. You will be described as a man who cynically
ministers to the degradation of the negro. People who believed in you
will ponder sadly over your moral declension. You may consider yourself
lucky if your best friend does not cut you in the street. To disparage
the Administration, to describe the English gentlemen who serve it in
Nigeria as callous onlookers while a people sinks down before them in
ruin and decay; to paint the sober Nigerian as a drunken brute—all this
is permissible. But the deafening clamour which arises, the protesting
and outraged indignation which obtains if a humble voice is heard to
deny the accuracy, and to resent, in the public interest, these sweeping
charges against White and Black alike, beggars description. You find
yourself denounced to the whole world as a cruel libeller of godly men,
and much else besides. It would be humorous if it were not pathetic,
because amidst all this froth and fury the vital problems arising out
of European contact with West Africa are obscured, and a force which,
instructed and directed in the right way, might be of untold benefit is
wasted on a sterile issue.
The onslaught upon Southern Nigeria in the matter of the liquor traffic
carried on by that sincere, but tactless, misinformed and pugnacious
cleric, Bishop Tugwell, and the bulk of his assistants in West Africa,
aided by the Native Races and Liquor Traffic United Committee at
home, is a typical example of the harm which lack of perspective and
muddle-headedness can do to a good cause. The liquor traffic is common to
the whole of West Africa and requires constant and vigilant attention.
For more than a century, long before the bulk of the coast line was
occupied by the Powers in a political sense, spirits had been exported
to West Africa from Europe together with cotton goods, woollen goods,
beads, ironware, hardware, haberdashery, perfumery, salt, tobacco and
a host of other articles. At first the trade was untaxed. As European
political influence extended, the various Administrations found it
necessary to control the traffic by placing an import duty upon spirits
at the port of entry. In this policy Great Britain has always led; the
other Powers have always lagged. When interior penetration from the coast
began and the scramble for Western Africa was well on its way, Great
Britain’s influence was responsible for the proposal that the import
should be prohibited beyond a certain geographical limit interiorwards.
Thus Northern Nigeria was excluded from the accessible zone of European
spirit import. By general consent the trade has been looked upon as a
potential danger, if unregulated, and nowhere has the determination to
prevent it from becoming an active evil been so clearly recognized as
in Southern Nigeria; by successive increases of duty, and, as I shall
show, by so adjusting taxation as virtually to penalize spirits of high
potency in favour of spirits of weak strength. The Governor-General
of French West Africa, M. Ponty, told me only last autumn at Dakar,
how he desired to bring the French duties up to the British level, and
what difficulties he was experiencing in doing so. Now the existence
of a permanent, outside influence, whatever its origin, directed at
encouraging the Administration in this course could only be to the good.
While differences of opinion must exist as to the relative importance of
the matter compared with other problems of administration, I have met no
one who would not regard a policy of letting in spirits free, as wrong.
I have met no one who is not convinced that it is right to tax the trade
just as high as it can be taxed, up to the point, that is, when people
will still buy and not be driven to illicit distilling, which in the West
African forest could not be suppressed. If Bishop Tugwell and his friends
had concentrated upon the potentiality of the danger, and had given every
help and assistance to the Administration to cope with it, supplying
the Administration with such information as they might possess of a
specific, controllable, accurate character, it would have been difficult
to over-estimate their usefulness from this particular point of view.
But the course they have been pursuing for the last few years has been
quite different. It has been so illogical, so lacking in judgment and
sobriety, and so pronouncedly foolish and unjust, as to disgust every
fair-minded man who has looked into the facts for himself. Instead
of common-sense and reasonable debate, there has been violent and
senseless denunciation accompanied by the grossest misstatements. The
Administration, urged perpetually to increase the tax, has been cursed
with bell, book and candle for the automatic result in swelling the
proceeds of revenue derived from these increases. What was demanded as a
moral duty has, in its inevitable result, been stigmatized as a crime,
and the very men who clamoured for more taxes, have denounced the effect
of them. A trade forming from time immemorial, as already stated, part
of the general barter trade of the West Coast has become identified
in the public mind with a particular British dependency, the very one
where official vigilance has been specially exercised. A difficult
and complicated economic and fiscal problem has been handled in so
unintelligent a manner that it has degenerated into systematic and silly
abuse of British officials, who have no more to do with the existence
of the traffic than has the Duke of Westminster who presides over the
Native Races and Liquor Traffic United Committee. These officials of
ours, some of whose difficulties I have attempted to portray, have
actually been accused—nay, are still being—of encouraging the trade in
every possible way, of forcing it upon the people, of thriving on the
drinking habits of the native. Fanaticism has even gone the length of
stating that they are “financially interested” in the traffic, as though
they received a percentage from Government on the revenue derived from
taxing the article! The very Commission which Lord Crewe sent out to
investigate the charges persistently brought, has been assailed with
unmeasured vituperation for the crime of having rendered a truthful
report on the evidence produced, and the public at home has been asked to
believe that these Commissioners, the Political and Judicial Staff of the
Protectorate, the Medical Staff, the Roman Catholic missionaries[15]—the
most numerous in the Protectorate—together with prominent natives and
independent outside witnesses as well, are either deliberate perjurers
or incompetent observers; although the accusers’ testimony was
hopelessly, even pitifully, inadequate when brought to the test of public
examination and inquiry. In an official pamphlet issued by the Native
Races Committee the statements of Sir Mackenzie Chalmers, the Chairman
of the Commission, as recorded in the minutes of evidence, have been
reproduced in mutilated form, presumably in order to carry conviction
of his bias with the public. Those who can stoop to such methods do
irreparable injury to a good cause. What in its origin was undoubtedly a
movement of a genuine philanthropic character, has been converted into
an agitation which has so incensed authorized Native opinion, that Mr.
Sapara Williams, the leading Native member of the Legislative Council
of Southern Nigeria and a fearless critic of the Government, found
it necessary to voice the feelings of the community in the following
vigorous language uttered in the Legislative Council itself:—
“I must say that I believe every unofficial member and every
member of the community of these countries feel bound to say
that the majority of the statements made by Bishop Tugwell
are untrue. It is a slander on the Administration, a slander
on the gentlemen who sit here, and a slander on the general
public; and for a man in Bishop Tugwell’s position as the
head of the Church here—namely, a Church which always makes
it a boast amongst the native communities of its connection
as being in communion with the great Church of England—to
go before the British public and endeavour, by means of
gross misrepresentations and statements which are absolutely
incorrect and palpably false on the face of them, to enlist
their sympathy and induce them to support a noble cause, is
not only detrimental to the good cause itself, but also to
the progress of Christianity and missionary work in these
countries.... If Bishop Tugwell will talk of something else,
instead of this persistent indulging in calumny and malignity
simply to promote the movement against the Liquor Traffic it
would, perhaps, be better for the interest of this Colony and
Protectorate, and the welfare of the Church, and of the mission
work in Western Equatorial Africa under him. I say that, to
my thinking, these misstatements are made deliberately with a
view to influence subscriptions towards the various branches of
his many diocesan funds, a course clearly opposed to the true
principles of Christianity, inconsistent with the high purpose
and professions of his calling and the dignity of his office.”
I am not concerned with Mr. Williams’ views, but nothing could be more
significant than this speech—and it is not the only Native protest which
has been made in the Southern Nigeria Legislative Council—coming from a
native in Mr. Williams’ position, a Christian and a total abstainer. The
Native Races Committee has been singularly ill led. It has identified
itself completely with extremists whose looseness of statement, whose
persistency in statistical and other errors, and whose extraordinary
lack of judgment were so painfully apparent when they testified before
the Commission of Inquiry. It is matter for regret that divines of high
position in this country and Members of Parliament have plunged into the
fray without exercising sufficient caution before allying themselves to a
campaign conducted on lines inconsistent with accuracy and fair play.
The literature on this subject is enormous, and several chapters would
be needed to follow it in any detail. I propose, however, to summarize
certain points.
First. The statements as to race demoralization and deterioration, of
decrease of energy for labour; of decrease in other branches of trade;
of an increase in crime and decrease of population as the result of
the spirit trade, have been totally disproved. They have, indeed,
been officially dropped by the Native Races Committee. Secondly. The
allegations as to the evil quality of the liquor imported have also been
disproved and dropped by the Committee. Thirdly. By a system of sur-taxes
upon the higher forms of alcohol initiated by Sir Walter Egerton, the
character of the Southern Nigerian spirit trade has been revolutionized
for good in the last six years. The system inaugurated in 1905 imposed,
over and above the general duty, a sur-tax of ½_d._ for every degree
or part of a degree in excess of 12·4 under proof. This sur-tax was
successively raised until it reached its present figure of 2½_d._,
with the result that while five years ago nearly 60 per cent. of the
total spirits imported varied in strength from between 45 degrees and
55 degrees _Tralles_, to-day something like 90 per cent. of the total
spirits imported are just under 40 degrees _Tralles_, _i.e._ 28 per
cent. under proof.
Fourthly. Not only is the general trade (_i.e._ the trade in cotton
goods, hardware, etc.) increasing at a far greater ratio than the spirit
trade, but the amount of alcohol imported into the Protectorate is
actually decreasing, notwithstanding the enormous development of general
trade and the steady opening up of the country to which the former is
largely due. Here are the figures. They are official and their accuracy
has been endorsed by the Secretary of State—
GALLONS OF ALCOHOL
Years Totals Annual average
1902-04 8,947,000 2,982,332
1905-07 8,746,000 2,915,333
1908-10 8,626,000 2,875,333
Fifthly. The population of Southern Nigeria, according to the 1911
census, is 7,750,000. It is believed to be, and probably is, much
greater. Thus on the basis of estimated population the consumption of
alcohol per head works out at a fraction over one quarter of a gallon.
It is, of course, not nearly so great, and this for several reasons. The
alcohol imported is not all drunk, to begin with. A great deal of it is
stored, sometimes for years, as banked wealth. A great deal of it, in the
Central Province and to some extent in the Eastern Province, circulates
continuously as a sort of barter currency. This system, a purely native
one (in certain regions cloth and tobacco are also used as currency) will
gradually fade away with the increased circulation of silver coin. Then,
again, a good deal of it is wasted, poured out on the ground as libations
to the gods; how much it is impossible to say.
I will now conclude with a consideration of what other steps may be
possible to adopt with a view to further controlling the traffic. The
policy of the Native Races Committee and of Bishop Tugwell and his
friends has apparently changed. Up to the time of the Commission
of Inquiry they alternated between a demand for higher duties, and
prohibition. Some years ago a deputation waiting upon Mr. Chamberlain put
forward a request for a 4_s._ duty per Imperial gallon. The duty to-day
is 5_s._ per Imperial gallon, apart from the sur-taxes already referred
to. “Total prohibition” was officially demanded by the Native Races
Committee shortly before the Commission was appointed. The Committee has
now dropped the demand for total prohibition, which does not prevent
Bishop Tugwell’s friends and coadjutors from continuing to denounce the
Administration and describe the ravages of the traffic in lurid terms up
and down the country. That the demand for prohibition has been abandoned
is significant. Coupled with a cessation of the abusive tactics it would
indicate the beginning of wisdom. That the latter continue suggests the
possibility that the demand for prohibition will be or may be revived.
The only concrete demands now put forward by the official spokesmen of
the Committee (_vide_ the deputation to Mr. Harcourt in July) are (1)
an international conference; (2) what is described as a system of local
option. That is the somewhat feeble conclusion to the raging, tearing
propaganda of the last ten years.
How the Native Races Committee can reconcile it with the furious attacks
upon all and sundry in which they have indulged is not my affair. At any
rate, it is a confession of constructive impotence. And for this reason.
International conferences on this subject are held regularly every few
years, and much portentous talk is indulged in by grave gentlemen sitting
round a table. As a matter of fact, Britain, as already stated, leads in
the matter of high duties and adjustment of duties to strike at spirits
of higher potency. We have difficulty, which is perennial, in getting the
other Powers to agree to our level. At the present moment the duty levied
in the French territory of Dahomey, which borders Southern Nigeria, is
much lower than ours, and smuggling is the result. Therefore, whatever
good a Conference may do, that good will affect foreign territory, not
Southern Nigeria. As a practical policy the international conference is,
thus, devoid of import so far as Southern Nigeria is concerned. “Local
option” is largely a catch word which appeals to the public—always
influenced by the subjective point of view. What is really meant by it
is that a native community should be given the option of not buying
spirits. But it has that option now! The native community of Ibadan and
of Abeokuta stopped buying spirits three years ago for several months on
end, because the people objected to a licensing duty, which naturally put
up the price of spirits and was an innovation entirely foreign to the
native mind. Any native community in Southern Nigeria is free, to-day, to
buy or not to buy spirits, or cotton goods or tobacco or anything else.
But a native community consists not of one Chief, but of a Paramount
Chief or King (when the native state form has developed to that extent
which, in the Eastern Province, for example, is not yet the case), a
number of ordinary Chiefs with their councillors, and the people. It is
one thing for a Native community to make up its mind not to buy spirits.
It is quite a different thing for a Chief to impose his caprice, which
may be purely temporary in its action, upon his people. If, for example,
we suppose a Chief desirous to please the missionaries in his locality,
or objecting to the present high price of imported spirits and wishing
to pull it down, or for some other reason, forbidding his people to
buy spirits; then the Administration would be clearly in the wrong in
supporting that Chief if his views did not coincide with the views of
his people. Such action would amount to coercion and interference with
the liberties of the people themselves. The Chief so acting would be
violating native law and assuming the powers of a dictator, which in
Southern Nigeria under the native system of rule he does not possess.
He could only do so backed by the British Administration, and in backing
him the British Government would be making native rule impossible and
inciting to disturbance and turmoil.
The Native Races Committee’s suggestions carry us then no further. The
alternative line of action I suggest is the following:—
The liquor traffic in Southern Nigeria (as everywhere else in
Western Africa), must be carefully watched.
It is not now an active evil in Southern Nigeria. It need never
become one if certain things are done.
Those things are—
_A._ Frequent analyses of the imported article. Severe
punishment if bad stuff is going in.
_B._ Continuation of the legislation, consistently followed
since 1905, of taxing, over and above the general tax, higher
degrees of alcoholic strength _pro rata_. Perhaps pursuing that
still further by prohibiting altogether the importation of
liquor above a certain strength.
_C._ Keeping duties to the level of safety, raising them
whenever possible, but never so highly that the population will
altogether cease to buy, and take to distilling, which by the
pot-still process is the easiest thing in the world.
_D._ Not permitting the proportion which the spirit trade now
bears to the general trade to increase—that means watching, and
increasing the duty when possible. At every sign of the present
proportion being increased, another increase of duty should be
made.
_E._ Restricting, if possible, the present proportion, by
_degrees_ either by the policy of successive increases of
duty; or by an arrangement with the merchants (very difficult
to bring about, owing to the advent of new firms; but not,
perhaps, impossible), whereby they would be precluded from
exceeding in the spirit branch of their trade a certain fixed
proportion to their general trade turn-over—the imports of
each firm being calculated on a basis which would establish
a decrease in the total volume of the spirit trade. This
arrangement, if it were possible, would have, really, the same
effect as judicious increases of duty, by making the imported
article dearer.
_F._ The creation of a sitting committee in Lagos—sitting and
permanent—the members of which would be gazetted and paid a
small salary: with two branches, one in the Central and one in
the Eastern Province, and (if necessary) with corresponding
members in several of the more important centres—with the
object of creating in each province a sort of bureau of
information on the spirit trade to which every one would feel
free to communicate.
_G._ Standing instructions to every medical officer to give
attention to the subject from the physiological point of view,
within his area and to furnish a half-yearly report to the
Principal Medical Officer. These reports would be annotated by
the P. M. O., who, reviewing the whole evidence, would give
_his_ report. Specific instances raised by any medical officer,
might if necessary be referred to the permanent committee above
mentioned.
_H._ A yearly report to be furnished by the Chairman of the
permanent committee, and by the P. M. O. respectively, to the
local Government, and published in the Official Gazette.
_I._ Maintenance of the prohibitory line under amalgamation;
and its deflection southwards in the Eastern Province in order
to keep from the influence of the trade, the northern portions
of the Eastern Province where the trade has, up to now, not, or
barely, penetrated.
_J._ Gradual, _very gradual_, introduction of direct taxation
in the Central and Eastern Provinces, working upwards from
the coast line—preceded by full explanations, and the calling
together of District Chiefs and Heads of Houses for purposes of
_discussion_. In the Western Province, where direct taxation
by the British Government would be a violation of Native law
and of Treaties and Arrangements, a policy (sketched in Part
II.) of re-constituting according to native law, the old Yoruba
Kingdom, and reviving through the Alafin, the tribute which
in native law is due to him, and eventually controlling the
expenditure of the proceeds through the Alafin and the heads of
the various Yoruba States. These respective proceedings being
taken with the object of _gradually_ making us independent, or
virtually independent, of taxation on spirits as a source of
revenue.
That is, broadly, the constructive policy I venture to recommend. It
might have to be modified here and there. But in its main lines I believe
it to be sound.
On the main issue I would say this. The Southern Nigeria Administration
stands for high ideals and good government, sound native policy,
preservation of native authority and land tenure. In my belief the
untruthful and malignant charges brought against it are weakening that
for which the Administration stands. This is a grave danger, and one’s
sense of justice revolts at allegations made against an Administration
the bulk of whose officials are doing good work under many difficulties.
It is bad for the Empire and for the forces making for just native
government within the Empire, that public opinion should be led to
believe that Southern Nigeria is a thing to be ashamed of rather than to
be proud of—which ought legitimately, on the facts, to be the case.
It is bad for public policy and the integrity of public life that a
Commission of Inquiry should be dragged in the mud when it has recorded
the truth.
It is Imperially foolish, and essentially unjust in itself, that the
natives of Nigeria should be represented as degraded and demoralized,
helpless creatures, when they are nothing of the kind. They resent
it, and it is untrue. The propagation of continuous untruths about a
native race will sooner or later lead that native race to be held in
such low estimation, that it will be persecuted and unjustly dealt by.
This picture drawn of this race, strengthens, in public opinion, the
various forces which are bent upon perpetuating the legend of the African
half-child and half-devil, which is so great an obstacle to sane public
views at home, and, therefore, in the ultimate resort to sane policy in
Africa.
If the Colonial Office is driven to prohibition or any violent step of
that sort, direct taxation must immediately follow in order to raise
revenue, and that will mean the massacre of thousands of innocent people.
It will also lead to the destruction of palm trees, which will impoverish
the country and lower trade; to the stoppage of all export in cereals,
the surplus crop being used to produce fermented liquors, and thus,
again, to the impoverishment of the country and possibly to the shortage
of crops, with the resultant scarcity of food supply; to the creation of
illicit stills and the production of a crude liquor full of impurities,
and, consequently, very harmful in effects. The Nigerian population of
the south must have liquor of some sort. It requires it, like every
race does, that is not naturally a teetotal race, which the Nigerian
race has never been. To stop drinking is impossible—nor, perhaps, is it
desirable if it were possible, especially in the forest zone which is
more or less under water for six months in the year. _Anyway, it cannot
be done._ The Nigerians do not over-drink. They are much more sober than
we are—that is incontestable. They occasionally drink more than is good
for them at weddings, etc. (just as many people do in this country), and
at their religious feasts. But they did that (since feasting and drinking
has always been part and parcel of the religious stage of humanity the
Nigerians are now in—part of the cult of the fertilizing spirit of
nature) long before we knew they existed.
The danger of increasing over-indulgence in drink by “educated” natives
is a very real one. But “trade spirits” have nothing to do with this. The
secret of this tendency is to be found in the false ideal of Christianity
which is propagated by many of the missionaries and the denationalizing
tendencies which appear to be inseparable, on the present system, from
our religious and educationary influences.
The establishment of the European licensing system away from the
chief towns of the coast is, I consider, impossible for at least a
generation—and undesirable if it were possible.
As an antidote to any dangers of over-indulgence in drink among the mass
of the people which may exist, the spread of the Mohammedan religion is
automatically the most effective, from the purely social standpoint;
and this, not because of any special virtue attaching to Islam, but
because Islam in West Africa has become an African religion which does
not denationalize, and does not produce the social unhappiness which
denationalization brings in its train.[16]
FOOTNOTES
[1] With the exception of the articles on Cotton, which appeared in the
_Manchester Guardian_.
[2] Lord Scarborough, I am glad to know, is instituting a movement
designed to put up a monument to Richard Lander and Mungo Park at
Forcados, one of the mouths of the Niger. The suggestion that a monument
should be erected to the memory of Richard Lander at the mouth of the
Niger was made last year in the _Times_ by the writer, who had the honour
of reporting to Lord Scarborough upon various sites examined in the
course of this year, and recommending Forcados as the most appropriate.
[3] The total value of the nett commercial trade of Southern Nigeria
amounted to £9,288,000 in 1910, viz. imports £4,320,000, exports
£4,968,000. Among the imports, cotton goods amounted to £1,306,812. Ten
years ago the total import of the latter was only £605,146. The whole
commercial movement has grown enormously in the last few years, the total
nett turnover in 1907 amounting only to £6,974,000.
[4] Vide Part IV.
[5] In this connection Mr. Dennett’s paper in the September issue of the
journal of the Colonial Institute is very valuable.
[6] Vide Part IV.
[7] February, 1911.
[8] “Affairs of West Africa.” Heinemann, 1902.
[9] The subject is discussed at greater length in Part IV.
[10] In the case of some of these companies, such as the West African
Mines, Ltd., the Anglo-Continental Mines Company, Ltd., etc., only a part
of their capital is invested in the tin mines.
[11] Perhaps the above remarks are a little too sweeping. It has been
brought to my knowledge that in one such case where permission was sought
by an experienced ex-Government official and granted by the authorities,
the former’s action was, as a matter of fact, twice instrumental in
preventing a fraudulent concern from being unloaded upon the public; and
no doubt there is something to be said in favour of the practice from
that point of view, arguing from an isolated case. But I must adhere to
the opinion that, speaking generally, the practice is objectionable, and
lends itself to incidents which are calculated to impair the very high
standard of public service of which Great Britain rightly makes a boast.
[12] Whose administration offers no problems comparable with the task of
governing a Hausa province.
[13] Now the capital of the Niger province.
[14] It is only fair to state that Mr. W. H. Himbury, of the British
Cotton Growing Association, has since pointed out, in regard to the
prices fetched by indigenous Southern Nigerian cotton (p. 227), that
the prices here given only refer to small samples and cannot be taken
as indicative of the general selling value of Southern Nigerian cotton.
The official report of the Commercial Intelligence officer of Southern
Nigeria, from which the figures here given are quoted, is thus somewhat
misleading. But the correction does not appreciably affect my general
line of suggestion. Referring to the cotton grown in the Bassa and
Nassarawa provinces of Northern Nigeria, Professor Wyndham Dunstan in
his recent report states that in making a comparison of the lint for the
Liverpool market the standard employed is “Moderately rough Peruvian,
which is a grade of higher price than Middling American.”
[15] And some of the Wesleyans—notably the Superintendent of the Wesleyan
Missions in Southern Nigeria, the Rev. Oliver Griffen.
[16] It may, perhaps, be well to emphasize, in view of the printed
statements describing the writer as the “champion of the liquor traffic”
and so forth, which are so freely made in certain quarters, that the
above remarks are concerned solely with the liquor traffic _in Southern
Nigeria_—not in West Africa as a whole. They deal with specific facts
affecting a specific area of West Africa and with specific circumstances
surrounding those facts which have formed the subject of public
controversy.
INDEX
Abeokuta, city of, 78, 79, 80, 84, 224
Alake of, 79
Alkalis, their functions, 149
Amalgamation of the Protectorates, 46, 187, 209.
(_See under_ British policy.)
Anthropological research, British indifference to, 185.
(_See under_ British policy.)
Ants, white, 29
Arab traders in Kano, 166
Baikie, Dr., 46
Baro, 91, 195, 203
Barth, Dr., 123, 152
Bassa, 117, 202, 231
Bauchi, people, plateau and Province of, 4, 19, 127, 138, 171, 177,
179-186, 192, 202
a unique ethnological field, 185
(_See also under_ Mining and Tin.)
Beecroft, John, 45
Bees, 29, 114
Beit-el-Mals, the, 147, 148, 149
Bell, Sir Henry Hesketh, Preface, 136, 172, 241
Bello, Emir, 99, 100
Benin, country and people of, 65, 68-70, 140, 203
Benue, river and region of the, 94, 170, 171, 180, 183, 202-203
Bida, city of, 29, 31, 110, 119, 128
Blyden, Dr. E. Wilmot, Preface, Introduction
Borgu, 118, 138, 177, 202, 203
Bornu, 99, 101, 126, 127, 138, 170, 177, 202, 232
British Cotton Growing Association, 222, etc.
(_See under_ Cotton.)
British policy, its ultimate effects, 6-7, 102-105, 171
danger of interference with social life, 20, 151-154
in Nupe, 29-30
a _tour de force_, 41
absence of constructive views from home, 46, 189-190
towards Mohammedanism, 47, 111, 112, 133-135, 152-153, 164
lack of home interest in, 48
as to forest development, 58-61
towards domestic “slavery,” 62-63
in the Central and Eastern Provinces of Southern Nigeria, 64, 65
in Benin, 68-69
in Yorubaland, 76-80, 82-88
neglect of the Niger river, 93-94
towards land tenure, 117
towards European trade in the Hausa towns, 133, 135
of indirect rule, its character and objects in Northern Nigeria;
its enemies; arguments for its retention, 136-139, 145-150
consequences of direct rule, 139-140, 154
in connection with native law and custom, 140-144
in connection with the preservation of national life, 151-154, 159
towards Christian Missions in Northern Nigeria, 153
towards the national weaving industry of Kano, 152, 240-241
towards education, 160-165, 188
towards European trade, 172-174
towards mining enterprises, 180-183
towards ethnological research, 185
in Southern and Northern Nigeria compared, 188-189
position of a West African Governor, 189-190
position of officials, 190-193
in connection with officials’ wives, 192
opposing views regarding, Preface
(_See also under_ Amalgamation, Christianity, Islam, Railways,
Education, _etc., etc._)
Bukuru, 179, 183
Butterflies, 32, 33, 56
Carrier, the, 14-17, 23
Cattle, 12, 108.
(_See under_ Nigerian.)
Cerebro-spinal meningitis, 9
Chad, Lake, 124, 179
Chalmers, Sir Mackenzie Dalzell, 252
Chamberlain, Right Hon. Joseph, 256
Chirol, Mr. Valentine, 160, 165
Christianity, character of mission work, 26-28
in Yorubaland, 77
an untouched field, 96
and indirect rule, 138
in the Mohammedan provinces, 153
in Kano, 133-135
and Islam in Southern Nigeria, 213-221.
(_See under_ Islam, and British policy.)
Civilization, failure side of, 245
Clapperton, Commander, 100, 123
Clegg, Mr., 224
Cocoa, export of, 57, 224
Cotton, cultivation, manufacture and export of, 57, 114, 115, 119,
127, 152, 168-169, 222, 224.
(_See under_ Hausas, Nigerian, Kano.)
Crewe, Earl of, 252
Cross, river, 51
Delimi, river, 119, 180
Dennett, Mr. R. E., 61
Dress, question of, 219-220
Drum, the Nigerian, 32
Eaglesome, Mr., Preface, 194
Educational policy, 72-76, 154, 158-159, 160-165, 188.
(_See under_ Nassarawa, British policy.)
Egba, district of, 224.
(_See under_ Yorubas.)
Egerton, Sir Walter, Preface, 11, 74, 254
Emigration, Fulani, 170
Finances of Northern Nigeria, 207-208.
(_See under_ Amalgamation and British policy.)
Fireflies, 34
Firmin, Mr., Preface
Food supplies, 58, 142, 171, 179, 182, 191, 243
Forcados, port and river of, 45, 49, 73, 91, 93, 202
Forest belt in Southern Nigeria, 56-61, 224, 251
forestry resources in Northern Nigeria, 170
Forestry Department in Southern Nigeria, 58-61, 69, 84
need of one in Northern Nigeria, 170
Foulkes, Captain, 185
Fulani, women, 19, 21, 119
as rulers, 23, 30, 47, 98, 118, 137, 140-142
as herdsmen, 29, 118, 119, 169-170
place in West African history, 98-99
conquest of Hausa, 99, 101, 124
as a spiritual force, 155-159
in Bauchi, 186
(_See under_ Othman, Bello, British policy, Nigerian.)
Girouard, Sir Percy, 94, 137, 142, 143, 198
Gober, country of, 124, 157
Goldie, Sir George, 45, 166
Gombe, Emirate of, 184
Gummel, Emirate of, 130
Gwarris, the, 116
Hadeija, division of, 236
Harcourt, Hon. Lewis, 256
Harmattan, the, 8, 9, 11
Hausas, the, and their country, 19, 21, 45-47, 98-101, 108, 156, 169,
217, 231, 232, 237.
(_See under_ Kano, Nigerian, British policy.)
Henna, 30
Himbury, Mr., Preface, 231
Holt, Mr. John, Preface
John & Co., Ltd., Preface, 166
House-rule, in Southern Nigeria, 62, 63
Ibadan, 78, 80, 81, 85, 110, 196, 218, 224
Idah, 96
Ilorin, 99, 127, 177, 202, 203
Islam, in Nupe, 29
in Zaria, 35-41
as a political and social force, 47, 48, 111-112
in Lagos, 72
in Yorubaland, 77
Othman’s _jihad_, 99
formative of Nigerian civilization, 103, 140-141, 149
morning prayer in Hausaland, 111-112
etiquette at Mohammedan Courts, 130
Emir of Kano’s views, 133-135
inadvisability of interference with, 153
as a reforming force, 156-157
as a spiritual influence, 164-165
and Christianity in Southern Nigeria, 213-220
as a preservative to national life, 213-220, 260
Kabba, province of, 202, 203.
(_See under_ Mining.)
Kaduna, river, 31, 180
Kakandas, the, 171
Kano, Province and Emirate of, 115-116, 130, 138-139, 145, 147, 153,
167, 177, 192-193, 202-206, 229, 232, 236, 239, 241
city of, 45, 91, 121, 123-129, 133, 146, 163, 166, 191, 195
Emir of, 45, 130-135, 148, 153, 164
native administration of, 145-150
Katagum, Emirate of, 130, 236, 239
Katsina, city, Emirate and Province of, 123, 124, 130, 153, 236, 239,
241-242
Kingsley, the late Miss Mary, Dedication, Introduction, 248
Kitson, Mr., 176
Kontagora, 138, 202
Lagos, 51, 63, 71-75, 76, 83, 84, 91, 110, 195, 203, 218
Land, Nigerian tenure of, Introduction, 83-84, 117, 140-144.
(_See under_ British policy.)
and Natives’ Rights Proclamation, 143
legislation in Northern and Southern Nigeria, 188
Lander, Richard, 45
Lever Bros., Ltd., 54
Life, preservation of national, 151-154
Lignite, 175-176
Liquor traffic, problem of, 66, 245-261
Liruei-n-Delma, 177
Liruei-n-Kano, 121, 177, 178
Loko, 183
Lokoja, 46, 94, 97, 110, 163, 171, 203
Lugard, Sir Frederick, 46, 123, 131, 134, 136, 142
MacGregor Laird, 46
Merchants, British, 95, 96, 153, 172-174, 227, 243
Mining Development, 175-183.
(_See under_ Tin and Bauchi.)
Minna, 195
Moor, Sir Ralph, 58
Mungo Park, 45
Muri, Province of, 138, 170, 177, 202-203
Naraguta, 180, 183-184, 191
Nassarawa, Province of, 138, 177, 231
national schools at, 161-165.
(_See under_ Education.)
Native Races and Liquor Traffic United Committee, 254, etc.
(_See under_ Liquor.)
Niger, delta of, 49-54, 218, 223
river, 51, 75, 91-97, 124, 180, 195, 202, 203
Province, 138, 167, 202, 243
old civilizations of, 155
company, 166, 172, 178, 179, 181, 183, 186, 191
Nigeria, importance of, 47
size of, 47, 49, 63, 138
need for public interest in, 48
flora of, 10, 29, 36, 50, 51, 52, 113, 114, 170
history of, 98-104
self-sufficing character, 119, 171
a land of contrasts, 72, 184
anomalous position of Northern Protectorate, 190
comparison with American cotton belt, 222
Nigerian, perils which beset him, Introduction, 245-248
false ideas about, 247-249, 260
his alleged callousness, 13
as a carrier, 14-17
his modesty and courtesy, 19-23
his dancing, 31-32
as a fisherman, 34
as a trader, 50-52, 107-110, 125-127
his capacity for labour, 57-58, 181-182
his spiritual side, 24, 28, 67, 111-112, 155-159
as an agriculturist, 112, 113, 118, 120, 172, 185, 224, 228, 231,
233-237
as a cotton manufacturer, 121, 127, 185
as a dyer, 121
as a tanner, 121, 127, 163-164
as an artisan, 119, 120, 121
as a smelter, 6, 120-121, 177-178, 185
as a potter, 128
as a herdsman, 118-119
his law-abiding character, 146-147
his probity in Kano, 147
as an _intéllectuel_ and reformer, 157-158
his capacity for self-government on indigenous lines, 130-159.
(_See under_ British policy, Trade, Kano, Railways, Education,
Islam, Cotton, Tin, Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Othman Fodio, etc.)
Ningi, country and people of, 184
Nupe, people of, 29-31, 126, 171, 218
soap, 129
Officials, labours of British, 6, 7, 30, 31, 41, 65-66, 104, 137,
143, 154, 190-191, 244
Oil palm and its products, 52-55.
(_See under_ Trade.)
Old Calabar, 51, 73, 202
Onitsha, 176, 218
Oshogbo, 202-203, 224-225
Othman Fodio, 99-101, 118, 157, 159
Oyo, city of, 78, 203, 218, 225
Alafin of, 80, 81, 87
Railways and railway policy, 91, 167, 183, 194-200, 239
Rat-catchers of Kano, 146
Religions, African, 24-28, 35, 67-68, 218.
(_See under_ Islam.)
Revenue, method of distribution in Northern Nigeria, 147-148.
(_See under_ British policy and Amalgamation.)
Road, the great white, 7, 8-13, 28
the Riga-Chikum-Naraguta, 182, 183
its _rôle_ in social life, 218
Roman Catholics, 11, 27, 252
Ross, Mr. W. A., 84
Rubber, in Bauchi and in the Benue region, 170-185
in Benin, 69
Salaries of officials in Northern Nigeria, 192
Sallah, the, at Zaria, 35-41
Sarbah, the late John Mensah, Introduction
Shuwas, the, 170
Sokoto, 12, 100, 116, 126, 138, 153, 170, 117, 203, 218
Songhay, Empire of, 156
Taxation, Hausa and Fulani system of, 120, 140.
(_See under_ British policy and Fulani.)
_Jangali_ or cattle tax, 169-170
Temple, Mr. Charles, Preface, 147
Thompson, Mr. H. N., 61
Thomson, Mr. Joseph, 45
Tin, 124, 127, 128, 166, 232.
(_See under_ Mining.)
Trade, internal, 12, 107-110, 120-122, 127-128, 217-218
external, 50-53, 121-122, 154, 166-174
Trees, destruction of, 10-12, 59, 84
Tripoli, 124, 127, 128, 166, 232
Tugwell, Right Rev. Bishop, 250.
(_See under_ Liquor traffic.)
Udi, district of, 176
Vischer, Mr. Hanns, 164.
(_See under_ Education and Nassarawa.)
Wallace, Sir William, 150, 178
Warri, 51, 203
Wesleyan Missionaries, 252
Williams, Hon. Sapara, 253
Women, European, in Nigeria, 192
Wyndham Dunstan, Professor, 150, 178
Yola, province of, 138, 163, 202
Yorubas, the, and their country, 74-88, 99, 140, 171, 203, 218, 221,
227, 229.
(_See under_ Abeokuta, Ibadan, Oyo.)
Young, Mr., 79
Zaria, Province and Emirate of, 167, 202-203, 229, 236, 237, 241
city of, 35, 46, 127, 237-238
Emir of, 39, 40
Court fool of, 38
learned families of, 100
old pagan customs of, 157
missionaries in, 153
Zinder, 239, 241
Zungeru, 148, 191, 195, 202
THE END
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