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manufactured, in Europe. Thus, on the one hand, we husband our revenue for the construction of remunerative works such as railways, ports, roads, etc., and for the prosecution of research and experiment for the improvement of indigenous products or the introduction of new ones, and, on the other hand, we afford employ- ment to our own people in a twofold direction-first, in that they themselves produce these articles, and, secondly, by the labour employed in the construction of the capital works which we undertake with the aid of the revenue saved.

This policy, I submit, is for the advantage alike of Nigeria and of the Empire. The employment of thousands of skilled and unskilled labourers circulates morey and adds to the wealth of the people in the best of all possible ways, viz., as the result of their own labour. It is thus to the manifest advantage of Nigeria. The Empire, too, gains, for it is of far greater importance that railways should be built and the output of raw materials for export increased a thousand- fold than that a few firms in the United Kingdom should receive orders for what we can supply ourselves. But it is a fallacy to suppose that fewer orders would be sent home. It is merely a change in the nature of the orders. By the applica- tion of the funds saved to railway extension and the making of roads upon which carts and motor vehicles can convey produce, we substitute for our previous orders of coal, timber, cement, furniture, etc., a new set of requirements, viz., rails, culverts, engines, and wagons motor vehicles and mechanical apparatus. Home industries will benefit no less than ourselves.

You are no doubt well aware of the directions in which this policy has so far We hope from an been put into operation, but I will recall them to your minds. early date in the coming year to supply all our own coal, and to bring it to the port of shipment by a railway which would be remunerative even if the coal traffic did not exist. The annual saving is estimated at £150,000. We are now to a large extent consuming Nigerian meat of a quality, I believe, actually superior to what has hitherto been imported. This is due, I am glad to say, to private We enterprise to which Government has afforded such assistance as it could," hope to replace a very large portion of the imported cement by locally burnt lime. This is a project of the coming year. It is estimated that, in the last three years, a saving of £50,000 might have thus been effected. We are cutting logs in the forest and sawing them up here in Lagos, thus saving a sum on imported timber which it is difficult to estimate, but which is very large. With the timber thus locally sawn we are, in the large carpentry shop in Lagos, which has been an unqualified success, making doors and windows and other fittings for buildings and furniture, which compares well with any imported from Europe, at a fraction of the cost. We are just beginning to turn out tiles for roofing which will super- sede the costly roofing material hitherto imported, with an increase of coolness, and consequently of good health, in the houses.

These are the beginnings of a policy capable of large expansion, and I venture to think that it is a policy which will assist materially in the development of the African Protectorates. The drift of my contention may be summarized as follows. that the development of those parts of the Empire which are large producers of pro- essential raw materials can be substantially promoted by the local use of local ducts, with the object of saving revenue for railway and road construction, and for the improvement of the products by scientific research and experiment on the one hand, and of adding to local prosperity by the employment of local industry on the other. The requirements from the home markets will not thereby be decreased but will be changed in character only.

My speech, gentlemen, has extended to great length in spite of my efforts to curtail it, but before I close I wish to invite your attention to the great significance of this debate from two points of view. In the first place it is. so far as my recol- lection serves me and I have now a long experience of colonial work-the first occasion on which His Majesty's Government has invited the opinion of the Crown Colonies and Protectorates on a question of large Imperial policy. and for this reason I am anxious that our reply should be an adequate and not a perfunctory one. In the second place I am not aware that any motion such as this, unconnected with any immediate legislation, has ever before been debated in any constituted assembly in West Africa. The existence of this Council, as I have already observed, affords me an opportunity which I should otherwise have lacked. and I hope that I shall derive much information and assistance from the debate to-day in framing my reply to the circular from His Majesty's Secretary of State.

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THE HONOURABLE MR. AJASA :-Your Excellency has alluded to the opportunity afforded this Council to express its views on an Imperial question. I desire to emphasize the fact, how proud we in Nigeria are in being thus honoured. I have read the recommendations of the Economic Conference of the Allies, which was held in Paris, with great interest. In the past, before this awful War, several in Nigeria were more or less dependent upon German money. All the same, since by their actions they have rendered it necessary that after the War they shall no longer be a menace to the Empire, it is our manifest duty to acquiesce in and endorse the recommendations in question. The loyalty of the native is not measured by the pounds, shillings, and pence he can now make, or that he hopes to make after the War, but by the duty he owes to his country and the Empire he is proud to belong to. I have already indicated my opinion that there should not be the slightest hesitation in adopting the recommendations of the Paris Conference, for the very reason that they appear to be a safeguard to the Empire and all within it. I am one of those whose cry is The Empire for the Empire," that is, for those who owe allegiance to her. She should be absolutely independent and strong within herself to carry on and develop her trade. Our great exports are the produce of the land: palm kernels, palm oil, cocoa. The first was almost entirely in German hands, which should never have been. This was solely due to the system pursued, saturat- ing every nook and corner where the palm trees are to be found with money given out on credit. The poor peasant and would-be trader found himself tied down to the firm thus advancing him money which he never could hope to pay in full, either by bringing produce or returning what he had received. The kernels go to a foreign country, a country now in the deadly grip of war with the Empire she wishes to overthrow! How can any reasonable native wish ever again to see this enemy dominate and control this particular market? It inconceivable that he shall ever be allowed to come back after the War, after trying to strangle the country which has made him what he is-come back with a smiling face to engage in trade in Nigeria on an equal footing with those whose fathers, brothers, sons, or other male relatives have been killed, wounded, or mutilated, in the grand desire of seeing an end to their country! No, sir! No more forging a sword for others to cut our throats!

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I am sorry I have to differ with your speech in one particular. I do it, sir, with the greatest diffidence and respect. I refer to the policy of the "open door." It is this policy which, in part, initiated this war, because Germans wish to domi- nate the world. It will be driving a great part of the trade of Nigeria into German hands. I hope your recommendations to the Secretary of State will be such as to make it almost impossible in the years to come for Germans to have any footing: whatever in the trade of this country, direct or indirect. I would like to see Man- chester and Sheffield goods, or, at all events, goods manufactured within the Empire. given preference over any other class of goods, whatever the country of origin.

I wish also to emphasize that, after the War, everything should be done to con- serve local products, other than palm kernels and palm oil, for local use. In doing so we only assist in the rapid development of the resources of the country. rapid development and improvements which have taken place in Lagos are entirely due to Government initiative. The growth of the cocoa industry is almost entirely due to the agricultural exhibitions held in Lagos some few years back. The Agri- cultural Department of Government is able to further the industry by teaching planters everywhere an improved method of curing cocoa beans for home markets.

Your Excellency referred to Udi coal. The discovery of such good coal-fields can only be fully taken advantage of should machinery be in general or greater use than at present. Government can help in this direction. As regards the holding of land in Nigeria, I venture to suggest that, for a period of twenty-five years after peace shall have been declared, the present enemies of the Empire be not allowed to hold land by way of leasehold, and certainly never freehold, again. For the same period, I should like to see them excluded from the trade of Nigeria.

Having regard to what I have said, I have much pleasure in seconding the motion proposed by Your Excellency, and I suggest that the recommendations of the Economic Conference of the Allies be adopted in their entirety.

THE HONOURABLE MR. HENSHAW:-Your Excellency: On the outbreak of the great War, the people, the native chiefs and rulers in all parts of Nigeria have exhibited,, no doubt, a spirit of loyalty to Great Britain, and we have kept it on. We were willing to give up everything in order that Great Britain might win and

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