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15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
SIR,
No. 195.
(NIGERIA.)
[Transit and Navigation Regulations.]
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE. ·
Royal Courts of Justice, July 24, 1903. We were honoured with your commands signified in Mr. R. L. Antrobus's letter of the 24th June last, stating that he was directed by you to inform us that on the 18th of March, 1902, despatches were addressed by him to the High Commissioners of Northern and Southern Nigeria, enclosing for enactment in those Protectorates the drafts of pro- clamations dealing respectively with (1) the conditions on which vessels and goods should be allowed to pass on the River Niger in transit through the Protectorates, and (2) the navigation of the River Niger and its tributaries.
That the draft proclamations had been prepared after consultation with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the two High Commissioners concerned, but that it had been found that the enactment of the proclamations would give rise to certain difficulties which were not contemplated at the time they were drafted, chief among which would be the necessity of establishing customs stations on the river on both sides of the boundary between the two Protectorates, and the difficulty of providing for the prosecution in one Protectorate of persons who had infringed the law during their passage through the other. That it appeared to you to be essential that in matters of transit and navigation the Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria should be treated as one territory, and that with this object it was desirable to legislate by Order in Council rather than by separate proclamations in each Protectorate.
That with regard to the Transit Regulations which it was thus proposed to apply, Mr. Antrobus had to explain that, in accordance with the provisions of Article VIII., paragraph 2, of the Anglo-French Convention of the 14th June, 1898, a "basis of transit regulations for the Niger" was drawn up by Commissioners appointed for the purpose by the British and French Governments, and agreed to by the respective Governments in an exchange of notes dated the 29th June and the 19th August, 1898. That a copy of this "basis," together with other printed documents relating to the Transit and Navigation Regulations, would be found in the enclosed paper (African West No. 615).
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That at the time the "basis was drawn up the transfer of the Royal Niger Com- pany's control over the whole course of the Lower Niger (and of its important tributary, the Benue) had not been carried out, and that the difficulties involved by the establish- ment of two separate British Protectorates over the territories through which the river passes had not arisen. That the "basis" accordingly referred throughout to a single territory-"The British Niger Territory," and that it was proposed that that term should be adopted in the Orders in Council dealing with transit and navigation, to include the Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria.
That with regard to the proposed Niger Navigation Order in Council, it was required in order to provide for the establishment and enforcement of a single set of rules govern- ing the navigation of the Niger and its tributaries within "The British Niger Territory," in accordance with the provisions of Chapter V. of the Berlin Act, and with special reference to Article 30.
That Mr. Antrobus was accordingly to enclose (a) draft of a Niger Navigation Order in Council, (b) draft of a Niger Transit Order in Council, which had been prepared in your Department, and in the terms of which the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs had expressed his concurrence; and that he was to request us to report :-
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Whether the terms of the two draft Orders in Council were sufficient and proper for purpose intended.
We have taken the papers into our consideration, and, in obedience to your commands, have the honour to
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That in our opinion the draft Orders in Council initialled by us are sufficient and proper for the purpose intended.
The Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, M.P.,
&c.,
&c.,
&c.