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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
CO.885/25
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- | COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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that are considered necessary to realize the solidarity of views and interests of the Allied Governments. One of the ways in which I venture to think that Nigeria might help the Allied cause is to become self-contained. I suggest that ways and means be found to further develop the pastoral and agricultural resources of the country. It seems to me absurd that, in a time of war, Nigeria should be dependent upon other countries for a large percentage of its food supply. The resources of Nigeria are unlimited, and, when those resources are further developed, this country should be in a position to render material assistance in furthering the cause that the Allied Governments have for their objective. Our aim should be, I think, to increase production within Nigeria and aid the Allied cause by producing raw materials in abundance, such as oils, hides, cotton, cereals, etc. But to do this, we must encourage both Europeans and natives, living under the protection of the Allied Governments, to invest their capital and take up land in Nigeria, and, in order to make the scheme attractive, some measures of a preferential nature should be devised to prevent successful competition by enemy subjects. Whether this prefe- rential treatment can be guaranteed for an indefinite period to pioneers who are willing and anxious to build up an industry in Nigeria is a matter of policy for the Imperial Government to decide, but, without some guarantee of prohibition of enemy competition for a definite period, I doubt if it will be possible to accelerate the development of Nigeria as a self-contained unit on the lines that I have suggested.
I wish particularly to subscribe to the statement, which Your Excellency made in your speech in moving this motion, that "Allies and neutrals should be welcomed and the introduction of their capital and competition facilitated under stringent safeguards."
Motion put and unanimously carried.
On a notice of adjournment by the President, the Council adjourns sine die.
APPENDIX.
LETTER FROM THE HONOURABLE A. R. CANNING TO THE PRESIDENT, Nigerian
YOUR EXCELLENCY,
COUNCIL,
Zaria, 4th January, 1917.
I SHALL always regret that I was unable to reach Lagos in time to be present at the meeting of the Nigerian Council on 28th December, 1916. By my absence I missed participation in an occasion that marks a departure in the status of Crown Colonies and Protectorates a departure to which I shall refer below, and also I failed to hear your own address on the main subject before the Council. From not hearing Your Excellency's words, from what I have been told I was deprived of a great pleasure, in view of my deep interest in the subject of this Economic Confer- ence; moreover, I should have been greatly assisted by information and guidance in that which I am about to write, at Your Excellency's kind request. May I first say a few words on the subject of this Conference generally and its objects rather from my own view, as one who has travelled over, and lived in, many parts of the Empire, before I deal with the special subject of mining in Nigeria, whose interests I have the honour to represent on the Nigerian Council.
I will write as if I were speaking in support of the motion before the Council. Your Excellency: I cannot but be stirred by a very deep emotion that at last that which ardent Imperialists have so long hoped for, the knitting together and the strengthening of the Empire through the co-ordination of its vast resources, is now within the range of practical politics, and has become the first thought of our rulers after the War. It is the no less true that it has been before said, that these resources, if developed under the encouragement of the Government, and wisely allocated when wou to supply the needs and give labour to our manufacturing centres at home, or meet deficiencies in other parts of the Empire, will make that Empire self-depen- dent. Such a policy will free England from being at the mercy of many uncon- trolled factors, which have led to immeasurable misery among our working classes at home. Some of these disasters have been due to actions, perhaps little more than whims, of capitalists in other countries, such as the cornering of cotton some years ago, resulting in great distress among Lancashire operatives; others to the pur- poseful designs of our enemies, such as the monopoly of zinc smelting in Germany, and all that it meant to England in the early stages of the War; or to the securing by Germany of probably four-fifths of the palm kernels of Nigeria, not only reducing
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employment at home in peace times, and depriving England of profit on products and by-products (which a paternal Government might have instructed the farmers how to use to advantage), but also paralyzing sales during the early part of the War, till mills could be established, thus also seriously affecting for a time the local railway freights.
Many other results from lack of organization of the Empire's resources, equally disastrous, could be cited, but I have said enough.
Coming now to the mining industry.
So far only coal and tin have been seriously worked.
and
As to coal, which is at present exclusively in Government hands, there is little to be said. I have heard indirectly of other coal and an undetermined mineral elsewhere in the Protectorate, and it would appear to me to be wise that no applica- tion to other than a British-born subject should be granted.
The tin industry is one of great importance, for two reasons:-
(1) As an undeniable factor in the opening up of the hinterland of this important dependency this enterprise has not, perhaps, received the full recognition and credit that it merits. There are many features that make this work truly remarkable, but I will only mention one--that of the absence of all disturbance among the natives and pagans, and the fact that the Government have been in no anxiety over or expense to deal with trouble, for none has occurred on the Bauchi plateau. About a quarter million of money has annually been paid to native workers, whose position has been bettered and the seeds of civilization sown. Large contributions in railway freights have resulted from the industry, and royalties and rents have been paid in appreciable sums.
(2) The securing to the Empire of a valuable metal. This past year it will approximate 8,000 tons, or, I think, some eight per cent. of the world's output.
The wise determination of the Malay States not to allow the tin ore to go to other countries than England has prevented the formation of trusts in U.S.A. or Germany, whose control would have intensified the fluctuations in price, thereby jeopardizing the predominant factor in the economic life of those States. If this law does not exist in Nigeria for peace times, then it should receive most earnest consideration. Not only would it form a safeguard for the mines in Nigeria and for the revenue of the Protectorate, but it secures constant work for smelters in England. More than this, the British Empire outputs not less than two-thirds of the tin ores of the world, and after the War (if commercial treaties come into exist- ence) the exchange of surplus commodities for those products in which the Empire is not so rich will form a strong lever in the hands of the Imperial Government. A gentleman who has taken a great interest in the development of tin, both in Nigeria and Cornwall, did advance the suggestion early in the War that if a certain quan tity of tin were guaranteed to the United States, who are the producers of not less than two-thirds of the world's output of copper, they should, on their part, guar- antee to supply England with her need of the latter metal at a price not exceeding, say, £100 a ton (the normal price is about £60, and the present price £150). The proposal may or may not have been practicable, but it illustrates the great import- ance, especially at the present time, of controlling the destination of the valuable products of all parts of the Empire.
In the case of Nigeria these refer to metal, vegetable, and animal products, for it cannot be doubted that the vast untapped meat and hide resources will contribute towards the well-being of this country and affect prices in England in the future.
It is interesting to record that six influential institutions in England concerned with metals have approached the Government, petitioning for the co-ordination of information and control of this great industry by the formation of one authority to replace the individual work done at present by no less than eleven different Govern- ment departments.
No one can fail to note with the liveliest satisfaction the inclusion of Crown Colonies and Protectorates in this Conference. Their contribution to the Empire's wealth cannot be ignored. The dependence of England on them for raw products is very great, and increases annually. It right, therefore, that the merchants of Lagos and of like towns in other Colonies of the Crown who have spent the most of their lives under the flag. as well as engineers and others who spend rough times in the country, should feel that they, too, have a say in the great British Common- wealth, which will pattern itself out of the lessons of this unparalleled War.
I beg on behalf of the mining industry to support the resolution which Your Excellency has moved before the Nigerian Council.
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