Copies of extracts from letters concerning the decline in trade due to government taxes, and 'indiscriminate' labour recruitment, 7-9 Jul 1903

Item

Shelfmark: MSS. Afr. s. 94, fols. 382-392

Held at the Weston Library

Request
this

From:

(fol. 382) Egga District agent
(fols. 383-384) Watts, Lokoja
(fols. 385-390) complete letter from Watts, S.S. 'Ndoni'
(fols. 391-392) certified extracts from it (annotated in Lugard's hand and returned to Scarbrough) [see fols. 470-471].

Watts considers:

the proliferation of administrative departments absorbs the revenue from the various taxes, and the dues should be collected from the coast and the borders
(fol. 386) that virtually the only enterprise in Northern Nigeria should not be penalised, and that the Directors should urge one fiscal system for both Nigerias
(fol. 388) canoe, salt, trading station, ivory, caravan, rubber, gotta percha, and gum arabic taxes are envisaged, their method of collection criticised, and the possibility raised of this provoking disturbances like that in the Sierra Leone hinterland
(fols. 388-8a) Watts sees it as 'empire building' and the fault of a military administration, blind to the country's need to adjust to the changes brought by British rule
(fol. 392) notes that both governments want him to transport Puttkamer's party.

Dates

11 Leaves

MSS. Afr. s. 94, fols. 382-392

Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository

Contact:
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom
specialcollections.enquiries@bodleian.ox.ac.uk