CO885-(21-23) — Page 455

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

חדו

Reference :-

C.O 885

22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC: COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

13.

(1) 1/25,000. See paragraph 10.

(2) Revenue map in sheets, 1/2,500. Sce paragraph 10

(3) I attach a form drawn up after consultation with Mr. Gill and Mr. Tom- linson. It would be the duty of the revenue survey section office to fill up columns I. to V. and send the form to the Resident.

14. Not a survey matter.

15. I agree fully. See paragraph 5 of memorandum No. 2.

The whole of the proposals contained in memorandum No. 2 are framed with the object of giving the Survey Depart- ment as much of a national character as possible.

I agree, but it does not follow that the technical control of the survey being in the hands of the Survey Department would injure native authority.

16. randum.

See paragraph 8 of this memo-

17. The school will be able to do a certain amount. We could probably Complete Danisa sub-district, if not Tà- fida as well, if a revenue surveyor is ap pointed.

18. The extension of the present system of taki assessment does not affect the Survey Department so leng as the taki assessors continue to work under the

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13. Records. Examples can doubt- Aess be found from other countries where

a similar survey is going on.

At present, there should, I suggest,

be:--

(1) Sub-district, or better call it district, map on a scale of, say, 1/50,000 showing all villages. (2) Village map, scale, say, 1/7,500 showing all foldings numbered. (3) Village index, showing number of holding, occupier, place of residence of occupier, area, rate, rent. These re- cords should allow plenty of room for alterations. (Many occupiers have their residences in different villages, or even districts, from those in which they farm.)

14. It is unnecessary to have a ledger account with each occupier as (a) the number of holdings in a village is not so large as to make reference difficult; (b) the village headman is the responsible collector, and, provided the occupier of two farms in different villages pays rent on each to the head of the respective vil- lages, Government is not concerned with the fact that he has two (or more) hold- ings in different villages.

15. It is essential that the record shall be in a sufficiently simple form to he kept by the Native Administration. It is also essential that the detail work should be done entirely by natives, and, what is more, natives of the Emirate or adjoining provinces. If the revenue survey cannot be carried out with a sufficient degree of accuracy unless it is done by Europeans and imported coast natives it would be better to drop it altogether. Apart from the prohibitive cost, the assessment and collection of taxes is so intimately assoc- iated in the natives' mind with executive authority that, if the former were carried on entirely independently of the latter, a serious, possibly a fatal, blow would he struck at the native authority.

16. The question of differentiation of rates according to soils does not arise at present, as even the most elementary classification must, in my opinion, await the cadastral survey of a radius of, say, 20 miles round Kano, or about 1,300 square miles.

17. I expect very little

to be progress made with the revenue survey during the next twelve months, the work to be done being almost entirely instructional.

18. His Excellency has suggested that till the school has turned out trained sur- veyors the extension of the

"taki assessment had better be dropped.

"

direct control of the Resident, and are

kept distinct from the revenue survey section.

1

I do not agree,

because (1) Even with the untrained staff we have, and assuming that the aver- age error is 30 per cent., the assessment is still more equitably adjusted to property (and income) than the natives' method of taxa-

tion, or any other that we can devise for a population almost wholly agricultural.

(2) It accustoms the natives all over the Emirate to the payment of land revenue assessed on an ascer- tainable unit.

(3) It does not in any way prejudice

a more accurate survey, when it comes on the contrary the latter will be welcomed as being more accurate. It accustoms the occu- pier of land to the idea of clearly defining the boundaries of his holding, and thus make the task of the revenue survey party easier. 19. The Hausa is so keen to appreci- ate anything that touches his pocket that I am quite prepared to believe that many

of the peasants will in a few years' time have learnt enough to estimate the size of their holding on the village map.

20. Taki statistics.-In Kano Emi- rate there have been measured by the rough pacing methods employed, and recorded, 168.400 separate holdings. totalling 484.700 acres of cultivated or occupied land, assessed on a basis of 1s. per acre. The increase in the revenue of these districts has been from £15,459 to £29,630, or nearly 100 per cent. The higher figure is well within the taxable capacity of the payers, but I do not know by what other means such a considerable increase could have been secured with so little discontent.

The cost of the staff employed (not calculated accurately, but probably above the mark), including a proportionate amount of the expenditure on the Nas- sarawa School, has been about £2,000. That is to say, for a capital expenditure of £2,000 we have a return of £15,000 per annum, or £150,000 in ten years. Furthermore, our enhancement of the revenue is limited by the probable inaccu- racy of the survey. I have no hesitation in saying that, with a survey we feel we can rely on, the average rent can be doubled at the end of the next five years. so that the following five years will yield £30.000 per annum, or £300,000 increase in 10 years over the limited area of 1,800 square miles all told, which alone I am considering. The Kano Emirate alone contains 12,000 square miles. The devé-

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