Continued from last edition
The eastern and western extensions to Bornu and Sokoto {of which the former is the more important) are larger propositions which must wait, with the Warri line, for the present. There are many short branch lines in the South which would develop trade, and would give good returns. For a more detailed examination of these projects see Appendix 8.
Since the open lines are now paying interest and sinking fund on. the entire capital expended upon them, the loans already raised do not constitute any burden on the revenue, and the financial position fully justifies a large programme of railway construction, which in the interests of trade and development, and the cheapening of administration should be undertaken without hesitation.
The existence of coal in the Udi district had been known for some years, as well as that of lignite in the districts on the western banks of the Niger. The latter being more accessible were first investigated, and the Director of the Imperial Institute urged the establishment of a briquetting factory, and supplied much useful information regarding the processes employed in Westphalia. The expense was, however, very great, and the cost of transporting the briquettes from the factory to the Niger, and thence to Lagos or Baro for use on the railway, rendered it extremely doubtful whether that form of fuel could compete, at the same calorific value, with imported coal. Its suitability for river steamers was more probable, but Government transport on the river had dwindled since the advent of the railway. The Niger Company, which owned a large fleet, obtained the lease of a lignite field at Okpanam, and sent out an expert to examine it, but after his report was received they did not pursue the matter further.
Early in 1912 a survey of the district between the Niger and Udi was undertaken by Government at a cost of about £3,000, with Use object of building a railway (60 miles), and a considerable sum was spent in borings to ascertain whether the coalfield approached nearer to the river. Applications for leases of portions of the coalfield were at this time under consideration. The difficulties and cost of Niger navigation made it sufficiently obvious that it would be much more advantageous to bring the coal down to the seaboard if it were possible to find a port, the more so that such a railway would open up a country exceeding rich in palm produce, and would be a remunerative investment apart from the coalfield; whereas a line from Udi to Onitsha about 150 miles up the Niger would he of comparatively little value. The navigation of the Niger had become increasingly difficult of late years, and only shallow-draught vessels could reach Onitsha except during three month in the year. The investigations, which in December, 1012, led to the discovery of Port Harcourt, and the decision to build a railway from that port to the coalfield have already been described The line reached Udi in May, 1916, and the first truck of coal arrived at the seaport at the end of that month.
Meanwhile considerable development had taken place The Government had decided that the coalfield should be retained and worked as n Government monopoly, at any rate until full statistics had been obtained of the extent and value of the deposits and the cost of working. The coal outcrops on the side of a short range of hills running north and south, which fall steeply to the general level of the country traversed by the railway. The rail-level here is 774 feet above datum at Port Harcourt, and the coal seam where first located was at 1,048 feet.
A small staff was organised under two capable and experienced men, selected by Professor Cadman, who was nominated as Consulting Engineer. They arrived in October, 1014, and at once selected the most suitable place for driving an adit into the hillside. An inclined plane was constructed, down which the coal tubs should run, and deliver the coal into the railway trucks below. Surface and underground labour gangs were organised, arid by the time that the railway was sufficiently completed to carry the coal to the coast, 9,207 tons were ready stocked.
The coalfield is situated near the large native town of Enugu, and the surrounding country is densely populated. The natives under the sympathetic handling of Messrs, Leek and Hayes came forward in largo numbers, and there has never been any lack of purely voluntary labour, in spite of its arduous nature at high temperatures underground. They soon learned to appreciate payment by results, and the present wage is ‘fixed at 3d, to 4d. per tub of 5 to 6 cwt. Natives are gradually being trained to replace Europeans. Quite recently the re-lining and heightening of the main drift, including the extraction of the timber and the blasting out of two feet of stone from the floor and re-lirnbering, was successfully done chiefly in night shifts, under the sole supervision of a native foreman engaged in February, 1915. A section of the mine has also been placed under a native, with good results. A convict prison has been established at Enugu, and the prisoners are employed on suitable surface work.
The friable nature of the over-burden necessitated an unusual quantity of pit-props and continuous roofing (adding considerably to the cost of the coal). These were supplied from the mangrove forest surrounding Port Harcourt and sawn on the spot.
Exploration continued pari passu with development. It was found that the coal dipped downwards, and Mr. Hayes ascending the valleys of the small streams Obweti and Iva on either side of the great spur in which the workings are situated, located the outcrop at two points separated by only 2,000 yards, where the neck which connects the spur with the main range is narrowest. Both these points being at approximate rail level, were accessible by sidings from the main railway, and he submitted a scheme for driving a tunnel in the coal between them, and excavating on the rising gradient of the coal stratum towards the present adit, so that the whole underground workings will have a natural drainage outwards. The line of this tunnel would mark the point at which the coal seam dips below the general ground (or rail) level. Throughout the spur coal will be excavated and loaded on tubs running on a down gradient to rail level-on the other side of the tunnel they must ascend. It is estimated that there are about twelve million tons of coal in the area taken up.
The siding to the Iva Valley (4£ miles) was at once put in hand, and was completed in November, 1917. The coal here is at the level of the siding and progress has been made in driving the main horizontal shaft; while winning the coal from the ” districts ” on the rising gradient to left of it. A labour camp, and houses for the staff, were erected. It is not at present intended to start work on the Obweti side.
The present output is over 400 tons a day maximum 768. It can be increased indefinitely according to the demand, the supply of tubs, and the capacity of the railway to handle it. An output of well over 200,000 tons is anticipated in 1919, and there should be a surplus, when Government requirements are satisfied, of 8,000 tons a month for sale to the public. The cost of winning will, of course, be decreased the greater the output, and by the installation of proper machinery, and the employment of native skilled labour. Meanwhile the high market price of coal has enabled the colliery to pay for all development work out of earnings, and in addition to contribute about £47,400 to revenue. As soon as it is possible to procure the machinery the electrification of the mine will be undertaken, and proper haulage engines and fans will be installed.
The pit mouth cost, exclusive of interest on capital outlay for development and exploration, has varied from 9s. 2d. to 7s. 2d., the Iva Valley output being of course much cheaper. Railway freight to the port and handling charges there, add 195. 6d. a ton. The cost f.o.b. at Port Harcourt may therefore be put at 28s. a ton It fetched 33s. a ton during the War.
The normal cost of freight to Lagos cannot at present be calculated accurately owing to the abnormal cost of shipping. The cost by vessels chartered from the Admiralty is put at 24s. &f. a ton with a margin of profit. The shipping line charges were 40s. a ton. The cost to Government departments ex wharf Lagos in 1917 was 58s. 6rf., reduced to 60s. in 1918. The value of the coal for steam raising purposes is estimated at 80 per cent, of the best Welsh; this percentage can probably be considerably increased by the adaptation of the fire-boxes, since Mr. Lumley, Superintendent Engineer (Marine), has discovered that the coal requires a large amount of air to obtain the best calorific value. Forced drought merely results in waste.
Before the War the price of Welsh coal landed in Lagos was about 37s., at which price the Udi coal cannot compete until the cost of winning has been reduced by better machinery, larger output, and cheaper ocean transport. Welsh coal is practically unprocurable now, but commanded 105.S-. a ton at Lagos in 1916. At that figure the relative price of Udi coal would be 76s. 2d.
To the energetic development Wore the War of this coalfield and the railway which serves it, Nigeria owes more than is easily calculable. Without it the Western Railway, which is earning £1,200,000 a year, could not have been kept running at full capacity, even at enormous expense, and the supply of oleaginous produce and of tin, so much needed in the United Kingdom, would have been greatly restricted, the exploitation of local timber would have been impeded, and the administrative machinery would have suffered the greatest inconvenience. Great as these direct advantages are, the indirect and permanent results are hadly less. A particularly turbulent tribe has been taught to seek labour for wages, and has sarned not less than £34,000 in cash, with which to purchase imports, and improve its standard of living. The new railway has been able to pay its way, instead of being a burden on the depleted revenue; a new outlet has been afforded for native skilled labour with a new means of training it, and a coin currency has been promoted through a large and densely populated district.
The prospects of the colliery are very promising. The spur cut off by the tunnel to be constructed from Iva to Obweti should, in my opinion, continue to be worked by Government for its own requirements. Leases of other areas can be granted to private enterprise as soon as the railway is able to provide adequate haulage, and the wharf and other arrangements at Port Harcourt arc able to cope with the traffic. Government is now in a position to fix a reasonable royalty from actual knowledge.
The Chief Accountant has calculated that at present the working costs of a company (including directors’ fees, &c.) would be’8s. 4d. a ton, and that with a pit’s mouth price of 10$. a dividend of 8 per cent, would accrue on the capital outlay with royalty, or 12 per cent, with a royalty at 6a. The profits would be largely increased by a greater output and up-to-date machinery.
Many believe that subterranean oil exists in this district. The preliminary borings between Udi and the Niger disclosed artesian water, but so far no oil has been round.
Samples of coal were tested for oil in October, 1917, by the Petroleum Oil Research Department of Munitions under the low temperature carbonization process (Del Monte System) with the marginal results: Sir Boverton Redwood reported that 2813 gallons of good quality oil per ton was obtainable from the sample, compared with 21 gallons only from the Midland coal. It was estimated that about 5,000 cubic feet of gas, and 30 to 40 Ibs. of sulphate of ammonia would also be obtained, but as the test was for oil only this was conjectural.
The importation of vast quantities of Continental spirits, and their utilization as a principal source of revenue, is, I believe, peculiar to the West African Colonies. It is a matter which so closely affects both trade and finance, and, moreover, is a question of so much importance in regard to native policy, that it merits some special consideration. Their introduction into Northern Nigeria was prohibited by the Brussels Act, as being a territory in which, at that date (1892), its sale was not already established. This prohibition has been rigorously enforced, and it is to the credit of the Royal Niger Company that they had not introduced spirits into this area prior to the passing of the Act.
Whether the traffic tends to the demoralization of the native races, in \ie\\ of the quantity imported relatively to the population, the quality of the spirit, and its replacement by native-made liquor, is a matter of controversy into which I do not propose to enter. A strong Committee appointed by Lord Crewe in 1900 reported very definitely in an opposite sense. I will merely observe that, in my opinion, many of the evils attributed to imported spirits, e.g., physical deterioration, decrease in birth-rate, and spread of tuberculosis and insanity, are traceable to the appalling prevalence of venereal disease, for the control of which measures are urgently needed.
But, however this may be, no one can deny that it is a sterile import, upon which the native wasted over one and a half million sterling annually, without securing any improvement in his standard of comfort, or increasing productive output, that it is a disgrace to an Administration that the bulk of its Customs, and nearly half its revenue, should be derived from such a source; and that it is a foreign product, and pro tan to decreases British imports of a more useful character. Before the War spirits were imported chiefly in German bottoms. Mr. Chamberlain stated that he held it as a matter of deep conviction that the traffic wan discreditable to the British name, and disastrous to British trade.
It has been argued on the other hand, that if the supply of imported liquor were curtailed, its place would be taken by native made liquor at a sacrifice of over a million of revenue, and the purchasing power of over four million gallons of spirit in native produce, with possibly worse effects on the moral condition of the people, and a danger of destroying the wealth of the country. I hope to show that these fears are at least greatly exaggerated. Whatever residuum of truth may remain will not form a justification for participation, in the view of any impartial exponent, of the obligations laid upon a Government which is in the position of trustee for the welfare of the native population. Freed from this reproach it is the duty of the Administration to control as far as possible the abuse of native intoxicants. Other parts of the Empire, e.g., India, Hong Kong and the Straits, have made an equal sacrifice in the matter of opium.
In the paragraphs relating to trade and finance I have mentioned the fact that revenue from trade spirits ceased in 1917 to appear in the Budget of Nigeria. In the year before the War the import of these spirits was over 44 million gallons or 3,616,000 gallons at 50° Tralles). The revenue derived from these imports reached a sum of about £1,120.000. In March of that year (1013) the duty per imported gallon was raised from 5s. Qd. to 6s. 3d., with 2%d. for every degree over and for every degree under 50° Tralles In January, 1915, this was again raised to 7$d. in January, 1916, to &f. 9rf and in 1918 to 10,9., practically double the pre-War rate. This represents 500 per cent, on the normal pre war value and was imposed with the declared intention of crushing the trade, and not for revenue. The cost of a case of gin which was 0 3(7. in 1913, rose to about 16s. The import fell from 4,635,000 bulk gallons to 209,000 bulk gallons. This was due to the difficulty and cost of shipping spirits from Rotterdam during the War, and to the increasingly heavy duty.
The loss to revenue has only to a very small extent been recouped by the duty on British textiles, &c.t which to some extent have replaced the spirits, nor can it ever be made good by such substitutes, since the duty on trade spirits is about 500 per cent. ad valorem, while that on British manufactures is only 10 per cent Thus in 1913 four and a half million gallons, valued at about £450,000, yielded a revenue of about £1,120,000 when the duty was at 5s. 6rf. and 8s. 3d. only. When increased to 10$-. the revenue would be about £1,800,000. Textiles, to the same value, would yield only £45,000. Indirect taxation has thus been greatly reduced. Whereas, before Amalgamation, spirits formed 34’26 per cent, of the revenue of Nigeria, they had fallen to 2’8 per cent, only in 1917 (1’23 per cent, in 1918). I have already described how this loss has been made good.
I hope that the demand for a comforting beverage may, at any rate, in the coast towns and closely adjoining districts, where a very large proportion of the spirits are consumed, be met by the establishment of a brewery in Lagos, where a light beer, containing not more than 4 per cent, of alcohol ginger beer, I believe, usually contains a certain percentage may be locally brewed. Arrangements are already nearly completed with the promoters.
I understand, however, that such beer will not stand transport to the interior, nor would its price admit of transport charges. It is reported that such beers are popular, but being imported m the bottle they are very expensive. The local brewery aims at selling at is a gallon.
The love of the natives for bitters is shown by the demand for imported beer and the immense demand for the bitter kola-nut, of which 1,130.000 Ibs. paid duty in 1917, in addition to the imports over inland frontiers and the considerable local supply. I have, therefore, hope that such a beverage would largely replace spirits, and counteract to an equivalent degree their replacement by local ” palm-wine.” The Excise duty would, at the same time, yield an appreciable sum. The French, I observe, advocate the substitution in their Colonies of French claret.
Total prohibition of imported .spirits for the natives accustomed to their use for decades, while admitting spirits for Europeans (and they should not, 1 think, be wholly prohibited in West Africa), would violate the principle which forbids class legislation, and would be unjust. 1 have suggested a prohibitive tariff for foreign-made spirits, and I should welcome a refusal on the part of the shipping company to carry them, but I do not desire to see the manufacture transferred to British firms as advocated by Mr. G. A. Moore, and unanimously endorsed by the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and by the Agent-General of the Niger Company. This attitude has, however, been entirely changed as the result of recent experience. I propose, therefore, a progressive increase in duties whatever the source of origin on this class of cheap spirit, until the prime oust plus duty equals the prime cost- plus duty of ordinary whisky.
I claim that the facts I have recorded establish two conclusions: First, that the Government of Nigeria can dispense with revenue derived from spirits. Even the export duties can bo abolished as soon as direct taxation in the Southern Provinces is fully developed, or they may be retained solely to pay the interest &c. on the six million war debt assumed by Nigeria.
Secondly, that the produce trade can he conducted successfully without them. In the year 1917 the value of the native produce exported, exclusive of tin-ore and gold dust, was £6,9iHJ,840, the highest value recorded, and in excess of 1913 by £785,000 and of 1912 by £1,856,000. Yet in 3917 the import of spirits had practically ceased and existing stocks had almost completely disappeared. The gatlonage in Government bonded warehouses had fallen from 141,603 in 1913 to 2,030 in 1917. The allegation that the native would not produce except for spirits has thus been abundantly disproved.
The Comptroller of Customs writes: ” Continental trade spirits were the mainstay of German outward cargoes, and Germany’s African trade was built up on them. In Lagos in 1913 two German firms imported nearly as much as all the British firms put together.” The extended use of specie, and the substitution of a cash for barter trade, tend to limit the spirit traffic, and the use of gin as a medium of currency and banking reserve, and are a direct benefit to trade. The profits arising from the minting of silver coin should be paid to revenue, in part replacement of the duties on liquor, which currency replaces as a medium of trade.
Writers in England have assumed that no individual colony can deal effectively with this question, unless its neighbours agree to a common tariff, owing to the danger of smuggling, and have bent their energies to International Agreement, by a modification of the Brussels Act. With the need for such action in other colonies (British or foreign), I am not at the moment concerned, but the facts I have adduced show that Nigeria hay not considered it necessary to defer action on such grounds, or make its policy dependent on that of a foreign Power. The vast size of the African Protectorates minimises the importance of such smuggling as may take place over a short frontier.
Continued next week
